On A Night Like This: The Erin Minogue Experience - Midsumma preview

There is not a household in Australia that is not familiar with Kylie or Dannii Minogue. Whether you love them or loathe them, they are two of Australia's biggest celebrities. But little is known about the other Minogue sister, Erin. The youngest sibling has often been overlooked and overshadowed when it comes to musical talent by her older sisters. Presented as part of Midsumma Festival, On A Night Like This: The Erin Minogue Experience explores the life of the Minogue sister who never existed, based on an entirely untrue story.

Lizzie Moore has been performing as Erin Minogue since 2014 when the show premiered at Adelaide Cabaret Festival but she's been a fan of the singers for a lot longer. "The Minogues have been part of my life since I was little," she says. "I have strong memories of my older sister dressed up as Dannii on Young Talent Time (me as Courtney Compagnino), wearing a very cool oversized black jumper from Dannii's K-Mart range, driving around the streets of Melbourne singing to Kylie's Impossible Princess album, dreaming of being Simon Cowell's not so secret love affair (made that one up. What were you thinking, Dannii??!!)"

However, the fascination goes deeper when conversation turns to the 'forgotten sister'. "The show was conceived by Kris Stewart as a funny cabaret vehicle for me and I thought the idea of a big tall forgotten Minogue was hilarious so I jumped at the chance to develop the character and to incorporate all the amazing Minogue songs into a show," Moore explains. 

"Erin is the youngest of the three, and she wanted everything Kylie and Dannii did growing up singing and dancing in the backyard in Wantirna. There just wasn't any room for her on Young Talent Time (bloody Tina Arena), and even by the age of 10, she was a foot taller than Kylie and Neighbours couldn't fit them both in the shot. So Erin has been busy honing her skills while running the Erin Minogue Fame School in Frankston. She teaches kids aged 5-12 during the day, and at night works on her own routines: rehearsing for the next audition, or gig at the local pub or nursing home."

While Erin is a talent in her own right, the show consists of a variety of both Kylie and Dannii singles, with a few surprises thrown into the mix as well. Choosing between which songs made it to the final cut was not the easiest, given the sheer volume of music between them. "Oh there's definitely a huge number of songs, though not all of them good - Dannii recording "Coconut" HAD to be a joke," Moore laughs. "There were some songs we just knew we had to include but mostly, once we had the outline of the story and some script, we fitted songs where they made most sense. There are also some INXS songs and Jason Donovan classics as we chronicle Kylie's love life, and also Erin's love for Jason." 

On A Night Like This: The Erin Minogue Experience has had constant changes in the show to reflect the changes in the lives of all three Minogues. "It started under the name The C-Side (if Kylie is the A-side of an album and Dannii is the B-Side), which was commissioned by Kris and the Festival of Voices. We keep evolving the show, based on audience response and things constantly changing for Kylie and Dannii.  I started with jokes about the Minogues being better than the Kardashians as they didn't have to rely on reality TV; then Dannii was on Britain's Got Talent, so the joke was Kylie would never do reality TV, and then she joined The Voice!"


Venue: Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran
Season: 20-21 January | Fri - Sat 8pm
Tickets: $35
Bookings: Midsumma Festival

Main Image Credit: Joel Devereux