When Darlinghurst Theatre Company threw open its doors to host dinner and a show at Two Trout Restaurant on Friday, June 12, with Red Carpet Cabaret it was one of the first theatres in Australia to do so. Perhaps even in the world.
It's proven so popular, the run has been extended though to July 4, adding Shakira Clanton (The Weekend, The Long Forgotten Dream), Timothy Springs (Book of Mormon) and Elenoa Rokobaro (Caroline, or Change).
Red Carpet Cabaret is the genius idea of newly appointed co-artistic director Amylia Harris. Brainstorming the future of the theatre, she hit on the idea of hopping on the hospo re-openings to raise the velvet curtain once more. As she told Time Out, “It’s so exciting because I can give Sydney’s exceptional cabaret performers an actual paying job, doing what they love with an audience.”
The first performer to take to the Two Trout stage was Cats and Book of Mormon alumnus Daniel Assetta. He was starring as Al in Darlinghurst’s A Chorus Line when theatres went dark across the land. He’s pretty stoked about the return.
“I feel incredibly honoured to be invited to lead one of the first live performance initiatives in Australia,” he says. “Thanks to the wonderful Darlinghurst Theatre Company team, it will be a chance for performers and theatre-loving audiences to be reunited and I can’t wait.”
Red Carpet cabaret went on to showcase multiple Helpmann and Green Room award-winning mezzo-soprano Jacqueline Dark, and saw the 2018 Broadway World Award-winning The Divine Miss Bette star Catherine Alcorn join Daniel Edmonds. Check out the rest of the extended line-up below.
Each two-hour session (5.30pm and 8.15pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 1pm and 5pm on Sundays) seats six tables of four, with each table costing $500. That includes a glass of champagne on arrival and a three-course fine dining menu expertly prepared by Two Trout, plus the show. You can book here.
This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
