Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2026

Image: Reuben Kaye - Photographer: Claudio Raschella.

In his debut program as Artistic Director, Australian comedian, singer, and writer Reuben Kaye presents the 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival showcasing 79 performances over 12 nights, featuring local, national and international artists from United Kingdom, USA and Cuba, kicking off with the decadent 2026 Variety Gala on Thursday 4 June at Festival Theatre, hosted by Kaye.

Australian pop-rock group Lime Cordiale will give their ARIA chart-topping tunes a symphonic facelift in a special collaboration with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

A one‑night‑only event, featuring Australian stars from the Olivier Award‑winning production Jesus Christ Superstar, performing iconic songs and sharing behind‑the‑scenes stories in What’s The Buzz. Featuring Reuben Kaye, Mahalia Barnes, John O’Hara, Elliot Baker, Graeme Isaako, Javon King, Peter Murphy and Michael Paynter. 

Casey Donovan will bring Amy Winehouse’s iconic anthems to life in This Is Me.

Opera and Broadway star Alfie Boe (pictured right) makes his Adelaide Cabaret Festival debut alongside soprano Amy Manford, performing greatest hits and songs from Facing Myself.

The festival closes with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox – The Future is Vintage, transforming modern hits into a high‑energy, vintage‑style party.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2026 Artistic Director Reuben Kaye: “This year’s festival is every inch the Reuben Kaye definition of cabaret. It has edge, sex, comedy, fantastic music and hilarious, nail-biting comedy. A festival that pushes your sensibilities to the limits. From Aussie icons and international acts of immense fame and scale that you know and love to basement dwelling unknowns from distant shores who will change your life. This is a festival of risks, of leaps of faith, huge laughs and bigger heart. There is no other festival that could pull this off. No other festival would give me free rein!”

Audiences can indulge late into the night with Festival Late Nights, featuring a different show each week hosted by a rotating line‑up of artists including Gillian Cosgriff, Frankie McNair & Isaac Haigh, Tina Del Twist and Reuben Kaye. Kaye will also take to the stage with his award‑winning show The Kaye Hole on the penultimate night of the festival.

Festival highlights include:

• Em Rusciano presenting Addicted to Love, an unfiltered take on romance, validation and the myths we’re sold.
• Jay Laga’aia shares songs and stories in Unscripted, an intimate, nostalgic evening reflecting on his journey from Play School to Water Rats.
• Vince Jones will celebrate five decades of Australian jazz through a selection of his most beloved classics in A Maverick’s Tale
• Mahalia Barnes performs Bette Midler’s award‑winning The Rose, delivering a raw, late‑’60s tale of fame, addiction and heartbreak, punctuated by hits from women of the era.
• Libby O’Donovan OAM and Michaela Burger bring Short, a high‑energy celebration of mega hits, tall tales and the power of small packages.
• Paul Capsis joins Adam Noviello in HOUSE OF ROT: Grey Gardens, a world‑premiere reimagining of the 1975 documentary exploring legacy, survival and collapse.
• Sarah McLeod gets up close and personal, sharing songs and wild stories from thirty years on stage.

Image: Mahalia Barnes - Photo by Jarrad Seng.

Free Festival experiences include:

• Dr Trevor Jones at the Quartet Bar by Corryton Burge with Piano Man and Show Tunes Trevia. 
• The LGBTIQ+ Elders Dance Club returns to Space Theatre.
• Festival Theatre Foyer exhibition, Rags to Riches, celebrates cabaret’s glamour and grit, featuring iconic costumes from Rhonda Burchmore, Reg Livermore, and Kitty Bang Bang. 
• Pull up a chair for Festival Talks, a series of candid, intimate conversations hosted by Reuben Kaye with special guests, unpacking the art, history, and style of cabaret.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2026 is from 4 – 21 June at Adelaide Festival Centre.

www.adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au

Full program available here.