For one dazzling month, Slide will feature over 23 of the world’s best cabaret artists, hailing from the USA, France and Australia including interstate artists from Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Time Out asked the stars of the festival to nominate their absolute favourite, never-fail, roof-raising, show-stopping, secret-weapon numbers. Here’s what they told us.
Tom Sharah
“So far, it’s been my Spice Girls medley. The majority of my audiences tend to be folk who remember the 90s fondly, and as a huge Spice Girls fan myself it’s a number I always go for gold on. I think audiences are quite surprised how well that kind of music lends itself to piano and a cabaret setting. Those chicks had some bloody good pop melodies.”
Robert Shaffron
“‘Que Sera Sera’ in The Doris Day Collection, because it’s sung by Miss Day herself.”
Catherine Alcorn
“Over the past year, I’ve been playing The Divine Miss Bette in my cabaret show at Slide and there have been two numbers that never fail to evoke audience reactions. ‘Dr Long John’, a very naughty 12-bar blues number about a thrilling trip to the dentist where ‘cavities’ are filled and ‘drilling’ occurs. It finishes on an extremely climactic... note. And ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’. Yep, it’s simply beautiful. This song is so powerful and truly touches an incredibly diverse range of people. Everyone has a memory or a story that relates and it’s the song that people are waiting to hear. I’ll have diehard Bette fans with tears streaming down their faces in the front row, and others hugging each other on the mezzanine. It’s always a special moment in the room when that song is sung.”
David Raleigh
“Why would I tell you that? If I did, it wouldn’t be my ‘secret weapon number’ anymore! Come to the show, listen, and tell me what it is.”
Kelfi and Fikel
“Probably ‘We’re Very, Very Scary’, a number that our wannabe villain characters, Lenny and Schnash, sing. It’s one of our craziest, most insane songs and we have an absolute ball doing it and the audience seems to have a ball with us.”
Marika Aubrey
“Anything loud and high! I recently had a gig that called for some soft, folksy-style singing and one member of the audience remarked, ‘I was waiting for you to sing your way.’ Made me giggle.”
Joe Guido
"George Michael doesn’t really do too many Wham! numbers – and we all love Wham! numbers. I thought the Australian audience would like some 80s flashbacks, so I put together a Wham! medley which goes for 12 minutes. We give ‘CHOOSE LIFE’ T-shirts out and get everyone up on their feet and on-stage as the Choose Life dancers."
Phil Scott and Vincent Hooper
“‘No More Tears (Enough is Enough)’. It worked for Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer and if we can channel those divas we can’t lose. Also, the lyric ‘My love life is boring me to tears’ – who doesn’t relate to that?”
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