Ariana DiLorenzo (stage name Ariana & The Rose) has touched down in Australia for the first time, stepping into Melbourne and then Sydney with her signature creative curiosity. 

Starting in New York musicals at just eleven after training at Manhattan’s Professional Performing Arts School she evolved into a shimmering synth‑pop identity, with critics calling her sound everything from “Kylie‑esque” to a cosmic blend of Kate Bush and Robyn.Her pandemic‑era “Piano Chats” made her a viral comfort‑creator, while her EPs, debut album Lonely Hearts Club, and her immersive NYC show Light + Space cemented her reputation as a boundary‑blurring performer deeply rooted in queer community and self‑expression. 

Ariana’s confessional songwriting and her gift for turning heartbreak into something communal and cathartic have shaped The Breakup Variety Hour into a live experience that blends concert, cabaret, and conversation into one beautifully unpredictable night.What struck me most in our chat was how deeply she thinks about connection — not just performing for people, but performing with them. Her show is built to shift, breathe, and respond to the room, and she lights up when she talks about the moments that only happen because an audience is right there with her. 

And yes — somewhere between the art talk and the show talk, we fell into helpless laughter about the countdown to seeing her first koala, cute vs butch kangaroos, and Australia’s apparent global reputation for being “unfairly good‑looking.” I sincerely hope she puts that bit in the show, because she tells it far too well to waste.

So without further ado,  here’s Faith’s Top 5 with Ariana DiLorenzo/ Ariana & The Rose. Lets get live!

Q1. You’ve built this really singular career — part pop artist, part storyteller, part glitter‑powered ringmaster. What set you on the path to the performer you’ve become, and where do you feel that path is pulling you next?

My intuition has been the thing that has always  guided me. I’ve always been somebody who gets an idea in my head about something I want to make or create, and then I become single‑mindedly focused on making that thing and taking something from being an idea into being real. I’ve gotten better, as I’ve done it more times, at balancing the planning of bringing things into the real world and leaving space for synchronicity. You have to make things and believe in them, and then leave space for stuff to happen.

I love a lot of different pieces of performing. I’m a songwriter, I love pop music, and I love theatre, and I come from a theatre background. Doing The Breakup Variety Hour has been a culmination of the last ten years of my career, pulling in all these different pieces of myself and things I’ve explored over the last decade, and putting them into one show and album. I have no clue what I will do next — truly no idea.

Q2. Your online presence is so intimate — the piano chats, the affirmations, the storytelling. How does the Ariana your followers meet on their phones differ from the Ariana who walks out under stage lights?

She’s basically the same. When I first started making music and came up with the idea of wanting a moniker as a musician, I think I did that as a self‑protection thing — giving myself a little room between me the person and me the artist, because I didn’t totally know who that would be yet. You’re trying on different things when you’re first starting out.

Doing the piano chats and getting on TikTok was a function of the pandemic, and it was the most myself and the least personified I had ever been. When it came time to create a live performance, I realised that was what I wanted to do — I didn’t want to put on a pop‑star veneer. That pop‑star side of me lives in me, so now I’m both at once — a little New York pop‑star next door. You can be having a deep and meaningful conversation and also be laughing and feeling fabulous. Those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

I’ve found that I don’t have to put something on when I go on stage — I get to be myself. It’s scary, but it’s been liberating and validating to do that on stage and have it resonate with people.

Q3. The Breakup Variety Hour turns heartbreak into something communal, funny, and strangely healing. What was the moment that made you realise this wasn’t just a song or a story online, but a show you had to make — and what part of it still feels the most essential to you now?

During COVID, I started doing piano chats and talking, and that resonated. After eight years of singing, people really liked it. Once things opened up, I started performing in piano bars in New York City because it was easy — just me and a piano. The limitation forced me to rely on myself.

I had gotten a grant from the mayor’s office in New York City to make my next album, so I knew I had funding. It was a perfect storm of functional things. I thought, how do I marry what’s resonating — me talking and sharing about my life? I didn’t want to make another pop album because that asks audiences to do an extra step. I wanted people to see the same person in real life that they saw on the internet.

That’s where the idea of making it a one‑woman show came from. I decided it would be a show before I even knew what the show would be about, and then I figured it out along the way.

Q4. What did you want the live experience to give people that your music alone couldn’t?

I want the live experience to give people a sense of community. My favourite thing is when people come up to me after the show and start talking about their experiences of heartbreak and healing, because that tells me that while you were watching the show, you were thinking about you and your life.

The best music makes us think about ourselves. Our favourite songs are attached to memories and moments in our lives. When you see a show and it hits you in your heart centre — when a performance puts into words or art an experience you couldn’t explain yourself — that’s when it’s doing its best job. My hope is that the show is accessible and lets people inside themselves.

Q5. What have you noticed about Australian audiences so far — or what are you excited to discover?

I’m excited to find out what resonates with Aussie audiences. You never know until you get in the room. My humour is pretty dry, and my New York directness is something I’ve connected with my Australian friends. I’m talking about dating and relationships, and every city has different moods about that.

I recently did a tour in the UK with a slightly older audience, and nobody was on dating apps. I do a whole bit in the show about dating apps, and city after city everyone was like — absolutely not. I adjusted the bit and did an auction‑style thing about how long people had been in relationships. It was a totally new moment that came out of the audience reaction.

The show can be alive like that. I have set things I do, but I’m really talking to the audience every time. No two shows have ever been the same. It’s taught me a lot about myself as a performer and about my feelings on relationships. I’ve learned as much from the audience as I hope they’ve taken away.

Bonus Question: What’s one question you were secretly hoping I’d ask – and what’s your answer?

* What’s it like performing so far from home?

It’s such an honour to be in a country so far away and get to explore the culture and the city and be immersed somewhere that has similarities to New York and Melbourne and probably Sydney. As a performer it’s cool, but as a person I feel very grateful that I get to be here and meet people. I’ve had multiple moments where I’m like – this is so amazing that this gets to be my life right now.

Ariana & The Rose brings The Breakup Variety Hour to the Enmore Theatre for two nights only on 23 and 24 April 2026.
For further details see: https://www.sydneycomedyfest.com.au/event/ariana-the-rose-the-breakup-variety-hour/

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