Stream It Or Skip It: ‘An Audience With Kylie’ on Hulu, A Career-Spanning, Celebrity-Packed Fete Of Kylie Minogue

Television special An Audience With Kylie , now streaming on Hulu , was shot in December 2023 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, as the Australian superstar celebrated the release of Tension , her sixteenth studio album. This was in the midst of her sold-out More Than Just a Residency , er, residency at the Venetian in Las Vegas, which concluded in May 2024, and it also acted as a kind of throwback for An Audience With… , which since 1980 has appeared in various forms as a fixture of British TV. (In 2001, when Kylie last did one of these things, her duet partner was Kermit the Frog.) This time around, and dropping on Hulu during Pride Month , An Audience With Kylie features British celebs’ hearts going “ Padam Padam ” as they toss Minogue questions from the audience and enjoy a selection of her biggest hits. Those interacting with Kylie include Andrew Scott, Sir Lenny Henry, Tom Allen, and Bridgerton stars Nicola Coughlan and Jonathan Bailey.

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Opening Shot: “I’m so excited,” Andrew Scott gushes on the red carpet outside Royal Albert Hall. “I’m a lifelong Kylie fan.” And as we move inside the venue, a Kylie Minogue career retrospective plays on a sleek video screen setup. Her first single, a cover of “Locomotion,” appeared in 1987!

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The Gist: “Royal Albert Hall, are you ready to break the tension?” Appearing onstage to cheers, and draped in a black trench with shoulder pads designed to match her fleet of backup dancers, Kylie Minogue runs through the title track of her latest album as cutaways capture celebs in the venue’s choicest seats grooving along with the music. Removing the jacket, which indeed looks oppressive, Kylie then tosses the garment to Andrew Scott and advances onto an attitude square placed in the center of the audience. It’s Q&A time. Which is pre-coordinated, of course, with the questioners already possessing microphones. But that’s OK. When Kylie calls on comedian and actor Sir Lenny Henry – you died too soon, Sadoc Burrows of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – he leaps up with a salute, and Minogue tells him that only real job she’s ever had, besides being a global pop icon, was working at a little video store as a teenager back in Australia.

Minogue next fields a question from Nicola Coughlan, aka Penelope Featherington , who is very funny and charming on the mic. “First, thank you from all of the short women in the world – you’re our icon.” And when Coughlan wonders whether Minogue ever “borrowed” anything from a set, the singer and actress says “Charlene’s overalls,” referencing her memorable tomboy look from Neighbours . (For her part, Coughlan also shares that there may or may not be a few items in her own home “that are very Regency.”) A performance of the 1989 single “Spinning Around” follows, complete with a million pinpoints of light reflecting off an enormous glitter ball, and Minogue is joined by the London-based House Gospel Choir for “All the Lovers” and “Hold on to Now.”

After a costume change from slinky cocktail dress to gorgeous red gown, Minogue sings a song from atop a grand piano, takes a few more questions, jokes with her interlocutors, and basically holds court for the breezy one-hour run time of An Audience With Kylie, which even includes a marriage proposal between two Minogue superfans.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The concert special/Oprah Winfrey interview Adele One Night Only that appeared on Paramount+ in 2021 was in conjunction with An Audience With Adele , filmed at the London Palladium that same year. And in 2022, Kylie Minogue briefly returned to long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours as Charlene, her very first acting role.

Our Take: In An Audience With Kylie , the concept of actors, singers, and television presenters popping up from the audience to ask questions occasionally feels like the Saturday Night Live monologue conceit of seeding the Studio 8H crowd with stars who’ll play along with the bit. The difference here? Whether it’s Andrew Scott, Nicola Coughlin, English comedian Tom Allen, or singer and actor Olly Alexander, they are all positively enamored with their opportunity to speak and interact with the Princess of Pop. In one gracious moment, Minogue calls on Scott to assist while she slips elegantly from the top of a piano. That’s after the first costume change, as Kylie has draped herself and her subtly sparkly red evening gown across the instrument’s gleaming white lid. And it also becomes the most chatty and intimate sequence in An Audience With Kylie . She’s surrounded by a crowd of nearly 6,000, but you wouldn’t know that from how relaxed she is, laying on her stomach, reaching to air kiss record producer Peter Waterman, and laughing as she cues the audience with lines from her songs. And whether they’re the celebrities up close or regular folks up in the rafters, they’re ready for the singalong.

Sex and Skin: Nothing here – it’s all class from Kylie. But she does get a few hubba hubba-type whoops when she removes her black trench to reveal a sparkly one-sleeve dress with matching slouchy boots.

Parting Shot: The closing moments of An Audience With Kylie feel likely imported from her Vegas residency, as she brings down the house with a four-on-the-floor medley of “Padam Padam” and “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”

Sleeper Star: Would you believe it’s Nick Cave? The pop superstar and the Bad Seeds frontman have developed a friendship over the years, and Minogue brings him up twice during An Audience With , once in answer to a query from Jonathan Bailey and again during her introduction for the ballad “I Should be So Lucky.” “This song reminds me of this place, the Royal Albert Hall. in 1996, at the Poetry Olympics, Nick Cave asked me to read this song as a poem. And trust me, I tried everything in my power to NOT do it, but I did end up here reciting, amongst the great literary world of London, the lyrics to this song. But tonight, I will be singing it.”

Most Pilot-y Line: “We’re gonna have a party tonight. I’m gonna be singing some old songs, some new songs, and I’m gonna be taking questions from some of these lovely people. So be nice!”

Our Call: STREAM IT. An Audience With Kylie functions both as a boutique concert from the veteran pop star and as a light, entertaining back-and-forth with her adoring celebrity fans.

Johnny Loftus ( @glennganges ) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.

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