The Christchurch Cabaret Festival kicks off on June 18 at three different venues across the city. The only dedicated Cabaret Festival in New Zealand, it presents international and national acts in music, song, comedy and satire.

Paris-born superstar of the smoky stage and widely feted in Europe, Caroline Nin has been described as "a modern day version of Edith Piaf". For her first ever appearance in New Zealand, she pays tribute to France's most famous chanteuse in a show titled 'Hymne a Piaf'. The Christchurch Cabaret Festival kicks off on June 18 at three different venues across the city. The only dedicated Cabaret Festival in New Zealand, it presents international and national acts in music, song, comedy and satire.

Paris-born superstar of the smoky stage and widely feted in Europe, Caroline Nin has been described as "a modern day version of Edith Piaf". For her first ever appearance in New Zealand, she pays tribute to France's most famous chanteuse in a show titled 'Hymne a Piaf'.Sequinned sex bomb Meow Meow wows international audiences with vamped-up kamikaze cabaret and cheeky, sexy dialogue. These acts should not be missed.

From New Zealand Besser and Bravura, featuring the irrepressible Jackie Clarke of When the Cat's Been Spayed, bring a totally original repertoire mixing classical, jazz and klezmer. Christchurch offers two of its own celebrated chanteuses. Naomi Ferguson sings a tribute to some of the best of the 20th century ranging from Joni Mitchell to Randy Newman, and Juliet Reynolds-Midgley performs a show in homage to the immortal Barbra Streisand. Melbourne musical comedy act Tripod, well known to New Zealand audiences from their appearances on the improv TV show SkitHOUSE, delight with their celebration of the world of the geeky male.

Actor Peter Feeny offers up an evening with manic self-help guru Beau Tyler, a role he made famous in a series of TV commercials for Tip Top Memphis Meltdown. Arthur Meek performs his controversially quirky one-man show On the Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark taking me as her Young Lover in which he plays Richard Meros, a mysterious essayist from Balclutha and product of the Rogernomics Era. Helen Clark's image will never be the same again.

New Zealand's Lonesome Buckwhips are a bickering family who do both kinds of music: country and western, and in a Kiwi accent to boot. Country music's notorious underdogs revive their greatest hits and face their demons live on stage.

With music hall, vaudeville and cabaret music, lush, colourful costumes, dramatic lighting, pastiche, parody and wit Berlin Burlesque mixes it up with the finest dancing girls, chanson singers, exotic pole dancers and more.

Full programme

13/06/08