Musical comedy is one of the hardest things to pull off, with very few artists in the Sydney Comedy Festival performing a musical style cabaret show. Ariana Di Lorenzo, better known as Ariana and the Rose, attempted exactly that, coming all the way from New York to perform as part of the Sydney Comedy Festival and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. With Sydney marking the final stop on her quasi-world tour, she took to the stage for one last show on Friday with The Breakup Variety Hour, which guided the audience through her six steps to get over a breakup, blending songs and comedy into a cohesive variety format.

Di Lorenzo has a strong voice and she showed it off from the outset with a Mariah Carey style snappy power ballad before introducing herself to the audience, many of whom revealed they were in relationships, which made her job a little harder, as the show clearly feeds off a single audience. She was engaging and entertaining between numbers, joking about dating apps with audience members who met that way, before sharing anecdotes about her own breakup and weaving them into song.

For someone with such a strong voice and engaging stage presence, it is perhaps a shame that the songs did not quite live up to her comedic talents. They often felt clichéd and not particularly insightful, with the humour sometimes lost in balladic runs as Di Lorenzo attempted to balance strong musical performance with sharp comedy. Her presence was consistently compelling and it felt as though a full hour of stand-up might have better showcased her strengths as her personal anecdotes and the structure of her six-step breakup framework were genuinely interesting.

Ironically, one of the funniest moments came when Di Lorenzo brought up an audience member to share an absolutely rogue story about a bad first date, which absolutely cannot be printed in this review but which had the audience in stitches from both the shock and the humour. It feels harsh to say, but from that moment it did seem that the audience story in some ways upstaged the main performer as it lingered over the rest of the night. Di Lorenzo played into it well, although it created a slight awkwardness given just how big a reaction it got, as it did prove to be the highlight of the night. 

It should also be noted that Di Lorenzo had the difficult task of performing a one woman show which is not something that should be underestimated, especially on the other side of the world. It takes real guts and the audience clearly had a fun time, with Di Lorenzo handling the moment very well.

Overall, this is an interesting show that takes familiar breakup material and turns it into song and dance, with a healthy spread of comedy throughout. While the songs did not always land and the improvised ad-lib proved the most compelling element of the show, it was certainly an entertaining watch and a fitting way to cap off Di Lorenzo’s run in Australia.

Ariana and the Rose – 24 April 2026- Enmore Whipcord Wine Bar