SLICK back your hair and gyrate those hips, the spirit of Elvis Presley is coming to town for the 2023 Festival of Sydney, which runs from January 5-28.
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Created by Paul Grabowsky and starring Australian performers Joe Camilleri and Deborah Conway, Edge of Reality is a unique tribute to the cultural icon that is Elvis.
With heartfelt, reimagined renditions of the king's greatest hits, Edge of Reality celebrates one of the 20th century's most prolific musicians, who continues to influence generations to this day.
Later, Conway and her husband Willy Zygier will present a no-holds-barred music and words memoir of their rock 'n' roll life in Songs From the Book of Life, exploring their four-decade-long musical careers through eight scenes and eight songs.
Also appearing at the City Recital Hall is one of the most striking folk singers performing today, Ireland's Lisa O'Neill. Renowned for her transporting live shows, O'Neill's voice is raw, evocative and laden with emotion. She's a powerful storyteller with a strong sense of self.
CABARET
RnB soul songstress Prinnie Stevens (The Voice; The Bodyguard) returns to the festival with more heart-wrenching ballads and soul-stirring pop stories of the greats for Lady Sings the Blues Volume II. Stevens draws upon her experience spanning music theatre, pop, soul and gospel, with a setlist paying homage to Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and more.
The World Premiere of Send for Nellie tells the true tale of the most impressive career in Australian cabaret you've probably never heard of: the legendary singer and cross-dressing cabaret artist Nellie Small.
Written by Alana Valentine, co-curated by Kween G, directed by Liesel Badorrek and produced by Sue Donnelly, this bold new work unearths one of our great untold stories in song and Nellie's own words, with powerhouse performer Elenoa Rokobaro centre stage and dressed to the nines.
Helpmann Award-winner Michael Griffiths takes audiences on a very personal, funny and sometimes melancholy deep dive into the songs of pop superstars The Pet Shop Boys - musical beacons for gay men growing up and coming out.
Directed by Dean Bryant, It's a Sin: Songs of Love and Shame sees Griffiths bring his inimitable cabaret style to PSB classics like Rent, Love Comes Quickly, Suburbia, You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk and Go West.
VISUAL ARTS
The Art Gallery of NSW will share a comprehensive exhibition from one of the great innovators of European abstraction in Kandinsky.
Drawing from the Guggenheim's rich holdings, this comprehensive prevention will reveal Vasily Kandinsky's work in depth - from his beginnings in Munich, to his return to his birthplace of Moscow with the outbreak of World War One, followed by the interwar years in Germany where he was an instructor at the Bauhaus, and his final chapter in Paris.
AT THOME
Enjoy livestreams of the floating opera Il Tabarro, this year's Vigil: The Future, and catch acrobatic and dance performance Living Sculptures: How the Birds got their Colours on world-famous Bondi Beach.
On demand, watch the Australian premiere of Cirque du Cambodia (a documentary that follows two young Cambodians on their quest to join the big tops of Cirque du Soleil), and uncover the story behind the ground-breaking Warumpi Band, in the Big Name No Blanket 2013 documentary.
Tune in to concerts from Tim Freedman, Lisa Moore and Hamed Sadeghi and discover the inspiration behind incredible new dance work, GURR ERA OP.
See the full Sydney Festival lineup here.
