Underbelly Festival Southbank 2019 today announces its final raft of shows including its last headliner and a multitude of blockbuster variety, circus, cabaret, comedy and music.
Bringing down the curtain as the climactic headline act is grown-up circus-cabaret Rouge: a decadent blend of sensational acrobatics, operatic cabaret and tongue-in-cheek burlesque. It is a non-stop celebration of the astonishing, the surprising and the downright sexy, receiving its London premiere after critical acclaim in Australia (28 August – 15 September).
Further circus and variety announced today includes Roundhouse Presents which brings the best up-and-coming circus and variety acts from the iconic producer to the South Bank for the first time (1-4 August) Two Festival favourites have also added new dates due to phenomenal demand: the legendary boylesque cabaret-nightclub Club Briefs (3 August), and Cocoa Butter Club the variety show celebrating performers of colour and set to a soundtrack of hip-hop, jazz, funk and soul (22 August). Also announced today is Tarot – a top class circus show in which a live Tarot card reading conjures up a magical night of circus, music, improvisation, imagination and divination (3-4 Sep), a unique mix of circus, cabaret and live music purpose-built for the magnificent Spiegeltent: Electro Swing Project (17 Sep)..
Comedy and cabaret is also in rich supply with shows including the world’s premiere Octogenarian burlesque comedian Lynn Ruth Miller with new show I Love Men (18 August), and award-winning cabaret artist Keith Ramsay, who will deliver an electrifying, haunting and devastating valentine to one of the great entertainers on the 50th Anniversary of her death: Keith Ramsay is Judy Garland (24 Aug).
September’s offering includes the glorious Marvel Cinematic Universe spoof MARVELus: All of the Marvel Movies…Kind Of (17 Sep), rising comedy star (as seen alongside Stephen Fry on C4 and Derren Brown on Netflix) Dave Bibby: Crazy Cat LAD-y (18 Sep), Aussie superstar-in-waiting Rhys Nicholson: Nice People, Nice Things, Nice Situations (26 Sep), and master-of-musical diva mimicry Christina Bianco: First Impressions (27 Sep).
Underbelly Festival Southbank has also become home to the best and brightest alternative music and this summer will only enhance that reputation with shows announced today including REFRESH – a spectacular new tribute to musical theatre from a top class vocal choir (13-15 August), an immersive 80s workout with a banging soundtrack We Are Synthetics (21 August).
Now in its 11th year on the Southbank in the heart of the world’s cultural capital, Underbelly Festival Southbank has become a staple of London’s live entertainment scene – the original, biggest and best pop-up festival providing world class performance at affordable prices across two distinctive and atmospheric venues, a sumptuous array of street food and drinks, and some of London’s finest outdoor bars.
