Cooee Cabaret

The National Registry of Recorded Sound

Cooee Cabaret is an original family cabaret show that weaves together iconic Australian songs and sound recordings, drawn from the NFSA’s Sounds of Australia registry.

The NFSA tours Cooee Cabaret nationally to regional communities. In February 2012, the NFSA toured Cooee to Tasmania, wowing audiences in Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie. In May 2012, Cooee travels to Western Australia. The WA Cooee tour schedule is as follows:

Cooee Cabaret is free but bookings are recommended. Bookings are made by contacting the venue.

Created by contemporary musical director and cabaret performer Nigel Ubrihien, the show is a fun, magical journey through the history of sound and song in Australia, from the earliest recordings of Indigenous language in the late 1890s, through well-loved advertising jingles and radio broadcasts, to popular contemporary music.

Cooee Cabaret will delight both young and old (and all those in between!) as the audience discovers and learns more about these songs and sounds, with the help of three mischievous and engaging characters, played by Nigel and talented young character actors, Stephen Anderson and Guy Simon.

Songs and sounds featured in the show include the Vegemite and Aeroplane Jelly jingles, much loved country larrikins Dad and Dave, Slim Dusty’s Pub With No Beer, Dorothea Mackellar’s classic ode to outback Australia My Country, The Road to Gundagai and Waltzing Matilda, and pop classics I Am Woman and Indigenous protest song Treaty. Visit these and the rest of the Sounds of Australia on australianscreen.

The shows also include local performers presenting their interpretations of songs from the Sounds of Australia registry – choirs, acapella groups, local actors and musicians. Watch Shane Howard’s guest appearance in Warrnambool on YouTube. Not to be left out, audiences will also be encouraged to sing along to their favourite Aussie tunes and jingles and nominate their own favourite Sound of Australia.

Who are the performers?

Nigel Ubrihien

A graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium, Nigel continued his studies at the Academy of Music in Prague, Czech Republic. He works in many areas of music theatre as performer, teacher, actor, writer, arranger, composer and conductor and in genres as varied as opera, cabaret, drama and musical theatre.

Stephen Anderson

Stephen Anderson graduated from NIDA in 2006 and has since built a career as a talented and versatile dramatic and musical performer. His credits include the sadomasochistic dentist in Little Shop of Horrors and the Emcee in Cabaret (for the New Theatre). He has performed Swan Lake with the Paris Opera Ballet and appeared in the Sydney premiere of the contemporary opera Dead Man Walking. Most recently, Stephen has toured Australia, New Zealand and the UK as ‘The Predators’ with the highly successful productions of The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child.

Guy Simon

Guy hails from the Worimi people (near Taree, NSW) and is a recent graduate from NIDA. He appeared in a range of NIDA productions including Lord of the Flies, Hamlet, The Threepenny Opera and The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, with acclaimed physical theatre company Legs on the Wall. He also appeared in Leah Purcell’s recent award-winning short film, Aunty Maggie & The Womba Wakgun.

Check out highlights of Cooee Cabaret’s previous performances at Mildura, Vic, Gunnedah and Coffs Harbour, NSW, Boonah, QLD, and Tasmania on YouTube and Flickr.

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges funding support from the Australian Government through the National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program.