Brisbane Festival 2012

Last night was the launch of the 2012 Brisbane Festival. In attendance were festival sponsors, politicians, key players in the Brisbane arts scene, partner organisations, the beautiful people and … me.

The Brisbane Festival is inarguably the centre-stage show piece on the Brisbane arts and cultural calendar. First held back in the 60s, the Festival became an annual event in 2009 and since 2010 has been under the guidance of Artistic Director Noel Staunton. Along with incredible local and international acts such as Circa and the Paris Opera Ballet, Brisbane Fest serves up small, professional up-and-coming work in the Under the Radar program hosted with Metro Arts and more risqué late-night fare in the sexy Speigeltent, this year to be based at South Bank.

The crowd waits for the launch to start.

The launch was held in the newly re-furbished Grey Street section of the Brisbane Convention Centre. On arrival I was informed that I had to have one of the cocktails – a royale. A Brisbane Festival Royale, to be precise. I have no idea what was in it but it went down quick and there was a flamingo, so it was good for me.

A Brisbane Festival Royale, complete with flamingo. 

Apologies for photo quality – taken on my phone.

Hot pink is the new theme for the festival this year and it looks to be a very appropriate colour judging from the line-up: sexy, fun, outrageous, stand-out and in-your-face.

Looking at my beautiful catalogue – seriously, well done BrisFest folks, it looks awesome! - my must-sees include;

• Dance Energy
• Bluebeard's Castle
• L'Orfeo
• S
• Boundary Street
• Soap - The Show
• Tender Napalm
• Mnozil Brass
• A Soiree (in the Spiegeltent)
• Underground and Blind Date (both part of Under the Radar)

Yes, I do want to see most of the program. 

Soap - The Show. Photo courtesy of the Brisbane Festival website.

You can go online right now to the Brisbane Festival website and check it out for yourself. Some of the shows, I'm thinking 'S' in particular, are sure to sell out quickly. Also check them out on Twitter and Facebook.