All this fuss about Taylor Swift has obscured the fact that another superstar singing sensation is touring this year. Adele. Yes, you read that right, Adele.
Well, almost Adele. Because the sensational Naomi Price, regarded by many as Queensland’s first lady of song, is reviving her smash-hit Adele show, Rumour Has It, which kicks off a five-city national tour at QPAC’s Concert Hall on March 2.
This Little Red Company production presents the music of Adele live on stage, starting in Brisbane then on to Perth (April 12), Karralyka in Victoria (April 19), Sydney (May 24) and Melbourne (June 28).
Rumour Has It was co-created by Naomi Price and Adam Brunes and spawned Little Red’s collection of modern songbook adaptations including Wrecking Ball, Lady Beatle, Christmas Actually, From Johnny to Jack, There’s Something About Music and Your Song.
It is a career-defining tour de force for British-born Price and charts the astonishing story of soul sensation Adele with the upfront wit and heartfelt tunes that made her one of the highest-selling recording artists of the 21st century.
Adele’s story comes alive through the delectably brash words of world-class stage performer Price, supported by the stunning vocal talents of Rachel Everett-Jones, Luke Kennedy and Lai Utovou – and a 20-piece live band. The national tour marks the blockbuster production’s return to the stage for the first time since 2021.
Featuring the biggest hits from chart-topping albums 19, 21, 25 and 30, including the titular Rumour Has It, Rolling in the Deep, Hello, Skyfall, Easy on Me, Someone Like You and more, Rumour Has It is an unmissable evening of story and song.
“So, Taylor Swift is not the only A-list celebrity touring this year,” Price cheekily insists. “Obviously Adele is touring as well. I feel like I have been touring a bit longer than Taylor Swift.”
She has nothing against Swift but is a much bigger fan of Adele. Her rendition of Adele is faultless.
“I infamously went on radio in Brisbane once and people thought it was really Adele,” she recalls.
Price has never met Adele but she got close once by association when her partner in life and music, Luke Kennedy, performed with Adele at the Gabba in 2017.
“He was asked to form an all-male choir for the concert,” Price recalls. “So, there were these 50 or 60 men in suits who came out and sang Skyfall.”
I may have been better that she didn’t meet Adele in Brisbane? But she certainly follows her career to stay up to date.
“It’s nice to study a celebrity and perform as a person you admire,” Price says. “What’s been interesting about Adele is watching her grow into the person we wrote the show about. Turns out she’s exactly who we thought she was. I don’t identify as a celebrity, however. My pronouns are ‘hard’ and ‘work’. I like to work behind the scenes as much as on stage.”
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And she has been doing plenty of that with The Little Red Company, which is now a major force in arts and entertainment in Queensland and nationally.
Price is rehearsing for the Rumour Has It reboot at Queensland Ballet’s Thomas Dixon Centre where The Little Red Company is the company-in-residence for 2024. The Judith Wright Arts Centre in Fortitude Valley is still headquarters, but Price says they are loving rehearsing in a building filled with ballet dancers.
Rumour Has It debuted as a work-in-development at Brisbane Cabaret Festival in 2012 before making its mainstage premiere at Judith Wright, winning a 2013 Matilda Award for Best Musical or Cabaret.
More than 85 performances have since delighted audiences in iconic venues including the Sydney Opera House, Adelaide Festival Centre, Hamer Hall, QPAC’s Concert Hall and Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre.
rumourhasit.com.au
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