EDINBURGH 2015 - BWW Interviews: CHRISTINA BIANCO

BWW:UK speaks to Broadway, West End and Youtube star Christina Bianco about her 2015 Edinburgh Fringe show "Party of One".

So how are you finding it doing a solo show this year?

I'm loving it. You know it was really easy for me to bring this show to the Fringe because I had done it in London a few times. It's a slightly different version but it feels good to be doing something that I already have under my belt. And of course having done the Fringe last year, that Fringe shock you have your first time here, wasn't so great this time around.

Did you feel like you knew what to expect from the festival having done it before?

First and foremost I packed appropriately for the ever changing weather. Also lots of vitamins and good stuff to keep me healthy because last year I was sick for so much of the run. So I feel like I have a leg up this year and I'm able to see a lot of shows.

Is that why it's a shorter run this year?

No it just happens I have a lot planned and I already had some gigs booked. I did want to return to the Fringe so when Assembly approached me I said I really want to come back but I can only do a limited run and thankfully they were so accommodating. It worked out perfectly.

You didn't even take a day off last year, did you?

No because last year, I'm blessed to have been working, but I came directly from a symphony gig in the States, flew here the day before my first performance, did the straight run, went home to the States for 24 hours and then flew directly back to London to go into Forbidden Broadway. It's more enjoyable this time around because last year I was learning Forbidden Broadway when I wasn't onstage with Divallusion. So this time I actually get to go out and see the plays and have a bit more fun.

What can audiences expect from Party Of One?

If people saw Divallusion last year then they can expect some of the same diva worshipping in this show but also a lot more because I tell you a bit more about me. It's really fun for me because I get to share my story and talk a bit about where these voices came from. It's nice to be able to share that and have everybody know why I am the way I am.

When I was here in Scotland with the Tonight From The West End concerts I met so many people who had no idea who I was. I'm so happy to see some of them here and I encourage more of them to come!

Party Of One was originally a much longer show - how did you decide what to cut?

It was difficult. When you create a show you want it to flow and it was very different doing two forty minute sets with an interval to a sixty-minute set straight through. You can't just take things out and kind of push the bits back together- it doesn't work that way. So I had to reorder a few things and I had to change the ending a little bit. I'm aware that for a Fringe audience it is a wider audience and I've tried to make my show accessible to a wider age group and demographic. I've had to cut a lot of the band stuff where they really get the chance to shine, which is a real shame because they're so brilliant.

Have you ever had any feedback from anyone you've impersonated?

The only one was Kristin Chenoweth. It was a very sweet little tweet. Somebody else had tweeted her one of my videos and she tagged me and wrote back like "fabulous!" or "brilliant!" or some one word that was positive like that and that was great. Bernadette Peters is the one I'd love to meet the most just because she's sort of the first one I did. But the big one of course would be Celine Dion. So I'm working on that, making some calls..

What are you working on after the festival?

Lots of different stuff. I'm going to go and do a big gig in South Africa. And then I'm finally bringing Party of One to the States, I'm doing two big performances at Birdland. And that version will have to be a 75-minute version so that will be slightly different to this one as well. And then I'm taking some time to do some straight theatre. I have some projects in the works that you shall hear about.

Party of One runs at the Assembly George Square Gardens until Sunday 16th August.

Photo credit: Darren Bell

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