A Critical Stages Touring Production
Creator/Performer – Michaela Burger
Director – Jane Packham
Music Director – Carol Young
Arranger – Dave Higgins
Bouzouki/Guitar – George Grifsas
Dramaturg – Sally Hardy
Costume Design – Artemis Sidiropoulou
Lighting Design – Tom Bayford
Moving & Musical True Migrant Story
Igniting memories of a story that millions of Australians can relate to, Michaela Burger pays tribute to her Greek migrant family and hard-working, fun loving larrikin father Luke who defied all odds.
From early morning deliveries for the family bakery at age seven, down opal mines in Coober Pedy at age sixteen and opening a chain of discount supermarkets in Adelaide, Luke’s road was not one for the faint-hearted.
Premiering to a sell-out Adelaide Cabaret Festival season and Winner of the Frank Ford and Best Cabaret weekly awards for Adelaide Fringe 2019, this critically acclaimed work conveys tells an incredible true story, brought to life through original music written & performed by Burger alongside local community choirs.
Featuring a live band, including piano and bouzouki, Michaela tells her family story with poignancy and comical aplomb. The show is both hard-hitting and hilarious, traversing 100 years from Russia to the Australian outback – following the hardship, ingenuity, tragedy and triumph in all migrants’ stories.
Available to Tour
2023
Artform
Cabaret, Live Music, Music Theatre, Choral
Audience
Suitable for audiences 13+
Duration
75 minutes
plus optional interval
Venue Format
Theatre, Hall, Black Box Venue, Outdoor
Warnings
Occasional course language
What people are saying
“A far-reaching generational story that crosses divides, ignites memories and pulls at your
heart-strings…” Stage Whispers
★★★★★ “Burger is extraordinary. A singer who can act and an actor who can elevate an audience out of
itself into the middle of the story she is conveying” Glam Adelaide
★★★★★ “Achingly beautiful” The Upside News
“A perfect cabaret show – fun and laughter, tragedy and triumph along with sadness and passion…told by the perfect cabaret performer” Arts Review
“This is what theatre is for: what it is all about.” Canberra Critics Circle
Previous Seasons
2018 – Butterfly Club Melbourne, Adelaide Cabaret Festival
2019 – Perth Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre, Festival of Voices, Noosa Alive!, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Centenary Hall, Goolwa, Country Arts South Australia Regional Tour
2020 (Live) – Hopgood Theatre SA
2021 (Digital) – Geelong Arts Centre, Drum Theatre Dandenong, Whitehorse Centre, Gannawarra, Riverside Theatres
2023 TOURING DATES COMING SOON
About Michaela Burger
Described by Kate Ceberano as “an asset to the cabaret community”, Michaela Burger is the recipient of the award for Best Cabaret Adelaide Fringe 2016 and has been nominated for a Helpmann Academy for Best Cabaret Performer 2016.
A graduate of the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music and the Mountview Academy of Performing Arts London, Michaela’s voice is known from Soho to Sydney.
Michaela is the 2015 Winner of the International Cabaret Contest, and has performed in her own work in festivals around the world.
Community Engagement
Community choirs to be part of the touring show
Carol Young [MD], contacts community choirs [ahead of time] in whichever towns we are going to. They are sent sheet music to work on the songs. We then rehearse the show with the choir once we arrive and they perform with us during the show. This has proven to be highly successful and has enhanced the impact of the show in addition to involving communities on a deeper level – bringing people together demonstrating the power of community and acceptance first hand.
Free Your Natural Voice workshop with Michaela Burger
Experience what it’s like to speak and sing with your natural voice. Learn how to have more ease, flexibility, strength and confidence in your voice and how to sing and speak from a more open, expressive and comfortable space.
Free Your Natural Voice workshops focus on helping people, through awareness, find the full potential of their natural voice. These workshops include one-on-one personal advice on how to connect with and free your natural voice and proven to be of benefit to anyone who simply wants to reconnect and discover the power of their natural voice.
Additional fees for this workshop. Maximum 20 participants.
Good to Know
This is a multicultural show that will appeal to ticket holders who have ever doubted their ability to prove their circumstances wrong or struggled starting a new venture as a minority. It is a tale of strength, passion, determination, inspiration and a hunger to change the course of one’s destiny, all for the sake of ‘family’.
It features all-original Australian songs written by Burger and it is “the story that millions of Australians could relate to” [Australian Stage].
An excellent digital version of the show has been screened at multiple venues. This version can be deployed should a tour be interrupted, or to be included in your next film or theatre festival for both in-person screenings and online streaming. Talk to us about the potential of linking a screening with a livestreamed Q&A with Michaela.