WALK OF FAME GALA

Adelaide’s Festival Centre has seen the world’s brightest and most glorious stars showcase their work on its various stages since the Centre’s opening in 1973. Names such as Robert Helpmann, Tim Minchin, James Morrison, Rudolph Nureyev and Nancye Hayes are just some of these artists.

On January 19 the Festival Centre launched its newest initiative, its Walk of Fame, a glittering walkway that, for each year since the centre opened, features the names of three stars who shone that year. The artists are decided upon from three perspectives - a critics’ choice, a public vote and the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust’s annual award. The exterior walkway is being integrated into major refurbishments currently taking place at the Centre.

The launch Gala featured only a few of the stars whose names can be found on the walkway. However, their towering performances endorsed their right to be immortalised in the unique concept and also paid classy tribute to all *130 stars named there to date.    

Adelaide Festival Centre is located on the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and a moving Welcome to Country was performed by Jamie Goldsmith and the Taikurtinna dancers to commence the evening.

Standing at the top of a dramatic staircase, Greta Bradman was a vision in gold. Her glorious high soprano voice shone as she sung Puccini. Her performance heralded the high standard of performances to come, stunning the audience, before Todd McKenney arrived as master of ceremonies. McKenney brought his own star quality, rich with infectious humour, as he kept the show bubbling over throughout the night.

Other stars to grace the evening were Nancye Hayes (whose ‘You’re Getting to be a Habit with Me’ duet and effervescent  repartee with McKenney was delightful), along with the hilarious and wonderfully talented Beccy Cole, exuberant children’s entertainer Peter Combe and one of Australia’s favourite ladies, Rhonda Burchmore.  Paul Blackwell added a comic cockney touch with a monologue about vaudevillian performers.

The humour in many of the night’s performances was beautifully balanced by the presence of fine instrumental artists. James Morrison’s trumpet work was simply wonderful, while classical guitarist Slava Grigoryan and violinist Niki Vasilakis were superb. Australian Dance Theatre, whose choreographer and artistic director Garry Stewart is also a Walk of Fame award-winner, performed a stunning excerpt from their Beginning of Nature program.

It seems everyone was waiting for the final performer and they were not to be disappointed when Tim Minchin descended the staircase and took his place at the piano. Following the unveiling of his new song, the quirky yet unsettling ‘If this Plane Goes Down’, he sang and played a terrific medley of his well-known songs, including ‘When I Grow Up’ from Matilda the Musical. Minchin had the audience in the palm of his hand but when Todd McKenney joined him to sing Peter Allen favourites, it was bliss.

The band included the Zephyr Quartet together with individual musicians. Despite the diversity of the acts, they adapted to each act seamlessly under the fine musical direction of Mark Simeon Ferguson.

Technical elements were excellent, including Chris Petridis’s atmospheric lighting. Wendy Todd’s simple but elegant stage design reflected the triangular shapes in the Festival Centre’s well-known roofing structure and worked a treat.

As slick and memorable as the skills and talents it showcased under the creative direction of Zac Tyler, the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Walk of Fame Gala was a fitting recognition of the stars already featured on the walkway and a fine anticipation of the many more to come.

Lesley Reed

*The Walk of Fame Award-Winning Stars 1973-2016