BELLA GREEN IS CHARGING FOR IT is a re-worked show of one woman’s experience of working in the sex industry. A winner of Best Comedy at Melbourne Fringe 2018, Bella Green is Charging for It is a narrative of stand-up comedy and jokes. Bella Green discusses how she came to work in comedy, the different reactions she encounters in the show and the conundrum of dealing with positive hecklers. But what did Bella say in her show that made her mum blush? This episode features music from John Kander and Fred Ebb, aka Kander and Ebb, including: All That Jazz (Chita Riveria), Show People (Curtains), Go Back Home (Audra McDonald), I Wrote the Book (Lauren Bacall), New York, New York (Liza Minelli), But the World Goes (Matt Bogart), Kiss of the Spider Woman (Kim Criswell), Boom Ditty Boom (70 Girls 70), My Colouring Book (Barbra Streisand), Nowadays (Karen Ziemba), and Willing to Ride (Caroline O’Connor).

The Cabaret Room celebrates the 20th Birthday of ‘Melbourne cultural institution’, The Butterfly Club. Special guests Simone Palsa, Alice Tovey and Anna Piper Scott talk about performing at the venue and what to expect at the 20th Birthday show coming up on the 25th November. Music includes: Hungry & Horny (Jude Perl), NBN Rollout (Sammy J), Tomboy or Badass (Tash York), Sit Stay Shake (Alice Tovey), I’m Un-Australian (Sammy J), Singing This Song (Gillian Cosgriff), and I Have a Face (Jude Perl).

In this episode of The Cabaret Room, Peter and Jessamae explore the works of creative duos Pasek & Paul and Ahrens & Flaherty. Having first started working together at the University of Michigan, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have gone on to write music for James and the Giant Peach, Dear Evan Hansen, Dogfight, Smash, The Greatest Showman and La La Land. Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty first teamed up in 1988 and have provided the music for Broadway musicals Ragtime and Anastasia and the movie Camp (among others). Ahrens & Flaherty were inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2015. Music in this episode includes: Back To Before (Ahrens & Flaherty, Original Broadway cast recording of Ragtime), Go Back Up Again (Pasek & Paul, Anna Kendrick from Trolls movie), Come Alive (Pasek & Paul, Hugh Jackman from The Greatest Showman), Someone In the Crowd (Pasek & Paul, La La Land), So Big, So Small (Pasek & Paul, Original Broadway cast recording of Dear Evan Hansen), Once On This Island (Ahrens & Flaherty, Once On This Island), Ballerina (Ahrens & Flaherty, performed by Stephanie J Block on the Nice Fighting You: A 30th Anniversary Celebration Live at 54 Below), Middle of the Moment (Pasek & Paul, Elise McCann from James and the Giant Peach), Pretty Funny (Lindsay Mendez from Dogfight), Running Home to You (Pasek & Paul, Musical episode of The Flash), The Genius on Cleveland Street (Pasek & Paul, A Christmas Story Live), Caught in a Storm (Katherine McPhee from Smash) and Close But No Cigar (Ahrens & Flaherty, Annelie Ashford).  

In this episode of The Cabaret Room special guest, pianist and Sondheim-aficionado Cameron Thomas join Vince and Daniel in paying tribute to the genius of Stephen Sondheim.   Music includes:  Not While I’m Around (Sweeney Todd), Company (Company), Sunday (Sunday in the Park with George), Opening Doors (Merrily We Roll Along), Stay With Me (Bernadette Peters), and Loosing My Mind (Liza Minelli).

The Mega-Church of DREAMSONG has been hit hard by the Recession, so Pastor Sunday, the head Pastor at the church of DreamSong concocts a plan to bring his church back into the spotlight! But will the true Jesus see his actions as Holy?  In the Cabaret Room this week Olivia Charalambous (Jesus), Nicola Bowman (April Sunday), and Dean Robertson (Executive Producer) spoke about the EbbFlow Theatre Co. production, the characters, and re-writing the score to suit a “lady-Jesus”.  DreamSong is an playing at the Alex Theatre, St Kilda.

In this week’s Cabaret Room we feature Australian music from Boy From Oz, Miss Saigon, Evita, Moulin Rouge, Westside Story, Beetlejuice, and Muriel’s Wedding including music also from Vanessa Amorosi and Rhonda Burchmore.  We also have a first listen to the new Cabaret Room intro!

THE LADY OF THE SWAMP is a true story out of Gippsland Eastern Victoria about two sisters that were swindled out of a massive fortune and the story of their impacted lives thereafter. Patricia L’Nane spoke to the Cabaret Room about what drew her to the story and how the musical has evolved given the show has squeezed into a one hour duration. The story begins in 1907 and ends in 1980 and includes original songs. Music in the episode includes: By Myself (Renee Zellweger from Judy), Hey, Little Songbird (Hadestown), The Turn of the Tide (The Lady of the Swamp), The Lightning Thief (George Salazar), Seeing You (Andy Karl), What Baking can Do (Waitress), Fright of their Lives (Beetlejuice), Lover Come Back To Me (Barbra Streisand), and God Only Knows (Cynthia Erivo and John Legend)

Cloc Musical Theatre were fortunate enough to acquire the amateur theatre rights to produce MAMMA MIA. Matt Jakowenko and Mitchell Groves were in the Cabaret Room to talk about the production, the cast, audition process and the small freedoms available to amateur production houses. After a stint at Kings Cross Sydney, RELATIVE MERITS is showing for the first time in Melbourne. Barry Lowe’s classic play is a moving and humorous story of a gay footballer and the sudden arrival of his naive and homophobic younger brother. Samuel Welsh talks about the show and the importance of providing a performance that is true to experience.   Darren attended the media call for the premier of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and spoke to some of the show’s cast, Elijah Slavinskis (one of five boys who play Charlie), Paul Slade Smith (Willie Wonka), Lucy Maunder (Mrs Bucket), and Tony Sheldon (Grandpa Joe). On the Opening Night red carpet Darren then caught up with two well-known names in the Australian musical industry, Natalie O’Donnell and Adam Fiorentino. Music in this episode includes: I’ll make a man of of you (Donny Osmond from Mulan movie), Dancing Queen (Caroline O’Connor from Mamma Mia), Hot Patootie (Lea Delaria from Rocky Horror Show), and More of Him to Love (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

Daniel Baker and Tim Addicoat are in the Cabaret Room to talk about Babirra Music Theatre’s production of THE PRODUCERS. Based on the 1968 film, Mel Brooks’ musical The Producers is a laugh-out-loud, outrageous, crowd-pleasing farce that has been a smash hit since its 2001 debut. It ran for more than 6 years on Broadway and won an un-precedented 12 Tony Awards, a record that still stands today. Luke Belle reminisces about the good old days through a wacky lens in I’M NOT EVEN MAD ABOUT IT. Growing up in country Victoria with a truck driving step dad whose military parenting techniques made Luke long for the times where finger knitting and pressing flowers with nan were an afternoon treat…suddenly the lowlights become the highlights. Music in this episode includes: Come What May (Moulin Rouge the Musical), When You’ve Got It (The Producers), Don’t Rain on my Parade (Barbara Streisand), Cell Block Tango (Catherine Zeta Jones), Strangers Like Me (Phil Collins), and Cabaret (Natasha Richardson)

Cameron Taylor plays character Pisca who was born to be a duck. PISCA is a combination of clowning, physical theatre, song, and imPECKable timing, this Cabaret will duck dive deep into the exploration of Pisca’s life, and his desperate search to find what he’s good for. An irreverent showcase of comedic sketches in a cabaret style PUPPET JAM will make audiences cry, laugh and wee a little bit. Jet Phoenix is part of the creative team at Melbourne based Puppetsmithery, a company specialising in quality puppetry, performances, workshops and builds. From a rat faced mobster, to a drag puppet cat-walk, to whimsical Kate Bush, this show is for the child you suppressed when you became an adult that still wets the bed when you get drunk. From the imagination of writer/performer Chris Fieldus, drag chanteuse Ms CeCe Rockefeller returns to Melbourne with her signature work of song and storytelling in SOMEBODY’S SOMEBODY. Set in Sydney’s 1960s, this sapphic salon celebrates a queer awakening that makes love, hope, and possibility abundant. From Dusty Springfield to Alanis Morissette, Ms CeCe’s eclectic musical selection is lovingly woven through her uniquely poetical style of story, as she reflects on how it all began… Take an unfiltered look into the genesis behind creative genius in this all new song cycle composed by Green Room Award winner Shanon Whitelock and starring Adam Noviello. THE MUSE will take the audience on a narrative journey that sheds light on the question ‘how the hell did they think of that?’ In this Cabaret Room, music from The Prom, Grease, Pretty Woman, and Rent.