Ben Noir Cabaret

Ben’s foray into all things French began as a flamboyant flash of colour as he backflipped  his way across the screen in the opening scenes of the hit film by Baz Lhurmann “Moulin Rouge” . Following this, two years living in French speaking Switzerland resulted in lingual fluency. He performed in the Fete de la Musique in Lausanne, and he was invited  to perform in Jazz clubs in and around  Paris in 2011. His vocal performance at the Paris Burlesque Festival left the audience begging for more as well as the Montreal Burlesque Festival in 2016. 

His penchant for all things French culminated in creating  his own  semi-autobiographical show  “Ben Noir; A French Cabaret” about a young Aussie boy who travels to Paris to fulfil  his dream and discovers much mayhem in the process. 

“Though a chaotic chance meeting with a local French busking musician, I learned some  tough lessons  about protocol in the French busking scene.  Through a bizarre set of events, I found myself performing in the legendary underground club, Le Caveaux...” 

Between his stunning flute-like vocals, and his ability to sing Non Je Ne Regrette Rien while maintaining a perfect handstand this is a performer like no other! Incarnations of his show were performed in Paris, Geneva and London as well as at The Basment in Sydney. The current  show debued at the iconic Butterfly Club in Melbourne in 2016 and has performed by invitation at the Australian Embassy in Paris in 2018. Most recently in July 2019 at Le Festival, French Festival in Brisbane to critical acclaim. 

“Stumbled across the Ben Noir Cabaret while waiting to go and see Cabaret de Paris at The Playhouse in Brisbane. While the QPAC performance was very professional, I found the Ben Noir Cabaret much more appealing. It was riddled with wonderful French sauciness and naughtiness that exuded heaps of fun. I really thought I was in France. Oohh la la!“  

‘Ben dazzled our embassy guests with his fabulously flamboyant show,  capturing the best of Australia’s humour, colour and talent. Ben was inspired by France and the French love him back.’

Brendan Berne Australia’s Ambassador to France 

He also  recorded  and released an album of the French Chanson repertoire with musicians who specialize in the genre.