Get some joy in your diary for 2024! Cabaret is back for more this Spring to once again bring the very best in drag, comedy, burlesque, live music and more to Wales Millennium Centre.
Cabaret became a firm fixture in Cardiff’s nightlife and cultural scene in its first year, and promises to continue serving emerging and eclectic talent like nowhere else in Wales. Tickets are on sale now for Spring’s shows at wmc.org.uk/cabaret.
Welsh talent will once again take centre stage. Emily Davis comes home to Wales as Blodwen – often mistaken as the lovechild of Tom Jones and Victoria Wood – in her musical comedy Blodwen’s in Town. Local drag clown Anniben leads Altered States, a night of queer performance and storytelling with special guests Justin Drag, Alia Milan and Jordropper. Up-and-coming Cardiff pop/R&B artist Aisha Kigs will launch her new EP Fire Hazard in a highly anticipated show.
In The Extras Strike Back, the supporting characters of Star Wars finally get their leading moment in the sun in a comedic musical cabaret. Bog Off! reimagines Tracy Beaker and the Dumping Ground crew with lipsyncs, dare games and more; while revue show Send In The Clowns make their Cardiff debut with a drag assassination Andrew Lloyd Webber in TW*TS! (yes, like CATS), hosted by Drag Idol UK winner Fatt Butcher.
There’s plenty of belly-laugh comedic talent fresh from last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. BAFTA Breakthrough comic Luisa Omielan is Bitter and ready to write some new rules. Multi-award-winning MC Hammersmith has emerged from the ghetto of middle-class west London for an evening of improvised comedy raps. Cabaret star and magician Ada Campe visits with her show Big Duck Energy, promising fantastical flights of fancy, lots of interactive titting about, and a deep dive into the wonder of esoteric waterfowl.
Several previously sold-out hits are back for more this year. Wales’ learning disabled drag troupe House of Deviant are back with another Eurovision Watch Party to cheer on Olly Alexander in Malmö. Musician Pete Saunders of Dexy’s Midnight Runners returns to Cabaret with Belle de Beauvoir in their sultry Blues and Burlesque show, following last year’s sold out Big Band Burlesque evening. There’s a warm welcome back to Cardiff for the award-winning Tracey Collins in Bingo at Tiffany’s with Audrey Heartburn, the amaZING bio musical Judy & Liza, and an iconic night of cosmic drag and cabaret in the Doctor Who-inspired Gallifrey Cabaret. The queer TARDIS crew will also test our Whovian knowledge in the big queer Whoniverse quiz Who Knows?!
Celebrations of musical icons include Simply Barbra, Steven Brinberg’s celebration of Streisand performed worldwide for over 25 years; 1930s star of musical comedy Gertrude Lawrence: A lovely way to spend an evening; and How Sweet It Is, an evening of much-loved James Taylor songs performed by Vernon James. Queertet brings together a collection of London’s finest LGBTQI+ musicians to celebrate everything queer about the world of jazz and musical theatre.
The hard-hitting issues of death and abortion will get a light-hearted take. Death Becomes Us will face death head-on and consider whether our lives could be made richer by talking about it; and award-winning Lilly Burton’s comedy-cabaret All Aboard! At Termination Station will have you slamming down your pints in support of reproductive rights.
The new for 2024 Cabaret for Kids programme gives families the chance to get silly on a Sunday afternoon. Britain’s favourite French comedian Marcel Lucont presents Les Enfants Terribles, a gameshow for awful children which is every bit as entertaining for adults as it is for kids. In the paint-splattered comedy Artiste a bumbling artist has fifty minutes to create a new masterpiece, while Madame Chandelier’s Opera Party for Kids gives an interactive introduction to opera’s greatest hits.
Tickets for most shows have remained at £15, with discounts available on every performance for under 30s, students, those who are living with a disability, and the unwaged. See the full season information at www.wmc.org.uk/cabaret.
