In episode 10, Eddie Perfect chats to host Libby O'Donovan about his affinity with Adelaide Festival Centre and his experience as a former Artistic Director of Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
I feel like you have to do your duty and your hours of service at this place and then they show you another room or another little hallway that connects to another thing. I’ve been in the Banquet Room warming up in front of refrigerators and stretching between canapes and then there’s also all the production rooms that I got to see once I became the Artistic Director [of Adelaide Cabaret Festival].
I think I’ve played pretty much every piano, I’ve rehearsed in every rehearsal space and now I’ve performed on every stage from up in the Artspace all the way through to the Festival Theatre stage itself. So through years I’ve developed this sort of nice relationship [with Adelaide Festival Centre] it feels like when I come back, it’s to an old friend.
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Eddie Perfect
Former Artistic Director, Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Eddie Perfect is one of Australia's most diverse, respected and prolific writer/composer/performers. His most recent work as composer of Beetlejuice The Musical on Broadway won him a nomination for Best Original Score at the 2019 Tony Awards.
He has already made his mark in the fields of comedy, musical theatre composition and book writing, playwrighting, screenwriting, classical music, jazz and acting for stage and screen. He has won multiple awards, both as a performer and writer, and has worked with top creatives from Baz Luhrmann and Global Creatures (Strictly Ballroom The Musical, King Kong on Broadway) to Simon Phillips and Neil Armfield (Shane Warne The Musical, Keating! The Musical), along with Richard Maltby, David Shire, Jason Robert Brown and Andrew Lippa (Adelaide Cabaret Festival). Also the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO Town Hall Proms), Victorian Opera (The Threepenny Opera), Opera Australia (South Pacific), the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (Symphony Under The Stars), Malthouse Theatre (Babes In The Wood, Drink Pepsi Bitch, The Big Con), the Australian National Academy Of Music, Iain Grandage and the UK's Brodsky Quartet (Songs From The Middle).
Eddie's theatre performance credits include Shane Warne The Musical (Token), Misanthropology (Sydney Festival), Songs From The Middle (Adelaide Cabaret Festival), The Threepenny Opera (Malthouse), Bat Boy (Loudmouth/MTC), A Poor Student (The Storeroom), Take Flight, Babes in the Wood (Malthouse), The Big Con (Malthouse) and Keating! The Musical (Belvoir) 9 to 5 The Musical. His television credits include the series regular role of Mick in 10’s Offspring, FOX8's Ultimate School Musical, It’s A Date, Play School, Kath and Kim, Stingers, MDA, Spicks and Specks and as a judge on Australia’s Got Talent. He can currently be seen starring in Gristmill’s isolation rom-com web series Love In Lockdown, available to watch on YouTube.
Eddie has been a regular fixture on the Australian comedy circuit, including as the host of the 2014 Melbourne Comedy Festival Oxfam Gala. His solo music comedy shows (Angry Eddie, Drink Pepsi Bitch, Misanthropology, Songs From The Middle) have received Helpmann and Green Room Awards and have toured Australia, New Zealand, Edinburgh and London. In 2013, Eddie wrote his first play for Melbourne Theatre Company, the black, satirical comedy The Beast, breaking box office records and garnering critical acclaim, including an Australian tour of the show in 2016.
Libby O'Donovan
Host, The First 50 podcast
Libby O'Donovan is a powerful and sassy performer (Sydney Morning Herald), renowned for her nuanced interpretations and extraordinary voice. She is a critically acclaimed jazz and cabaret performer and an award-winning Musical Director. Libby has entertained audiences the world-over with her unique talents, performing in New York, Tokyo and Toronto as well as Australia-wide. Equally at home in small ensemble acts as well as solo performances, she has been a proud member of ARIA nominated Cocos Lunch, Flat on Your Bacharach, and Women With Standards, for which she won a Green Room Award for Musical Direction.
Highly regarded as a solo artist, Libby has performed seasons for the Adelaide Festival of Arts, Edinburgh Fringe, Sydney Spring Festival, Perth International Arts Festival, the International Jazz Educators Convention, Adelaide Cabaret Festival (including working with Broadway composers Jason Robert-Brown and Andrew Lippa), Melbourne Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, Feast Festival, and the Wangaratta Jazz Festival.
Her theatre credits include Matthew Robinsons Metro Street, Doppio Parallelos DJ Squat, Contaminations Lab and The Last Child, Vitalstatistixs Way Dead Cool and Patch Theatre Companys Sharon Keep Ya Hair On! Libbys recent body of work in Cabaret includes The Story of Meredith Crocksley, Some of My Best Friends Are Single, Gady La La: Songs for the Sophisticated Fag Hag, Kate Leigh: The Worst Woman, UNSUNG and The Cowgirl and The Showgirl.
As a recording artist she has featured on numerous Jazz and Cabaret albums, as well as her critically acclaimed self-penned albums The Complication, Home to You and Back to Broken Hill.
Libby is also highly in demand as a composer, arranger and musical director.
Libby was the recipient of Adelaide Cabaret Festival's Icon Award in 2022.
About The First 50 Podcast
Hosted by the powerful and sassy Libby O'Donovan, The First 50 podcast series will provide 12 snapshot moments that cover the Centre's 50-year history. Hear stories, anecdotes and memories by those who have had their lives touched by the theatre: performers, artistic directors, ushers, and Walk of Fame-ers.
The 12 episodes within the series will be published monthly across 2023. Be sure to follow for monthly drops.
Related pages
The First 50: Our 50th Anniversary Podcast
Hosted by the powerful and sassy Libby O'Donovan, The First 50 podcast series provides 12 snapshot moments that cover the Centre’s 50-year history.
The First 50 Podcast — Episode 1: Robyn Archer
In Episode 1 of The First 50 Podcast, hear internationally renowned cabaret and theatre performer Robyn Archer chat to host Libby O’Donovan as she delves into her history at Adelaide Festival Centre.
The First 50 Podcast — Episode 2: William Barton
In Episode 2 of The First 50 Podcast, hear didgeridoo virtuoso and acclaimed composer William Barton chat to host Libby O’Donovan about his inspiring career as a First Nations artist and his connection to Adelaide Festival Centre.
The First 50 Podcast — Episode 3: Rhonda Burchmore & Todd McKenney
In Episode 3 of The First 50 Podcast, hear how two iconic Australian performing artists met for the first time… at Adelaide Festival Centre!
The First 50 Podcast — Episode 4: Sally Chance
In Episode 4 of The First 50 Podcast, hear how past DreamBIG Artistic Director, teacher and artist Sally Chance has had a significant impact on the wellbeing and self-expression of young people around the world.
The First 50 Podcast — Episode 5: Kate Ceberano
In episode 5, our host Libby O’Donovan chats to Australian music icon Kate Ceberano.
The First 50 Podcast — Episode 6: Anthony Steel & Douglas Gautier
In episode 6, our host Libby O’Donovan chats to Adelaide Festival Centre's first General Manager, Anthony Steel and current CEO and Artistic Director, Douglas Gautier AM, in celebration of 50 spectacular years of arts and culture.
The First 50 Podcast — Episode 7: Slava Grigoryan
In episode 7 of The First 50, Adelaide Guitar Festival Artistic Director, Slava Grigoryan, talks about his family’s musical history, his journey to Australia and how he navigated success at a young age.
The First 50 Podcast — Episode 8: Celia Coulthard, Nancy Bates & Temaana Sanderson-Bromley
In episode 8 of The First 50 podcast, delve into First Nations music, art, and storytelling, with guests Celia Coulthard, Nancy Bates, and Temaana Sanderson-Bromley, ahead of Adelaide Festival Centre’s OUR MOB and OUR YOUNG MOB events.
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