EDINBURGH 2019: Pick Of The Programme - Cabaret
By: Natalie O'Donoghue Jun. 11, 2019
With nearly 4,000 shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, it can be a little overwhelming to select which shows to see. BWW reviewer Natalie O'Donoghue has narrowed down her top ten picks in the cabaret section of the programme.
Christina Bianco: First Impressions
From The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Paul O'Grady Show, and ITV's The Imitation Game, the girl with a thousand voices returns to the Fringe with a brand-new show. Through her uncanny impressions and musical mash-ups, this 'comic firecracker with a pyrotechnic voice' (Time Out) will celebrate the stars who've made lasting impressions on us all. 'A tour de force!' (New York Times). 'It's likely anyone observing this vocal obstacle course will spend many dazzled moments wondering how Bianco does it.
The queen of the Fringe premieres a new show exploring the dark and light of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' music in her dangerous yet fragile theatrical style. Camille embarks on a personal discovery of a man of many guises; violent, beautiful, crazy, devout and religious. Chameleon-like and celebrated worldwide for her five-star sell-out performances.
Remember when I got cancer and had a breakdown in Tesco's? Then literally went mental and posted some songs on Twitter? When anxiety was at full capacity level, my mum bought me a ukulele and it has saved my life. I wrote some songs and randomly posted them online. Shit. Got. Real! Before I knew it there were millions of hits. I have no idea how it has all happened but people just seemed to relate to my random bedroom tales! This is a common story about common people. Directed by Kathy Burke.
Len Blanco's the modern man of your dreams: Woke. Feminist. Vegan (Monday to Thursday). He just wants to talk to you. For God's sake, let him talk to you. In his musical comedy cabaret, this recovering boy band member and drag king amongst men will be exclusively revealing just how far he's come since the 90s (spoiler: not very far). Blanco's larger-than-life debut solo show will deliver live vocals, live lip-sync, and live choreo.
After winning four Fringe awards around the world, Alfie Ordinary makes his Edinburgh Fringe debut with his five-star show. Set in a camp, queer utopia with a soundtrack including Village People, Whitney Houston and the Sugababes, this coming-of-age story in drag will leave you feeling fabulous.
Winner: Pick of the Fringe, Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award 2017 and 2018. The darkest, funniest and most debauched kabarett club this side of Berlin! A gin-soaked, Weimar-punk jazz band soundtracks a hazy night of dangerously funny kabarett, breathtaking circus and fire-breathing sideshow at its most inappropriate, provocative and hilarious best. Join multi award-winning mistress of mayhem, Bernie Dieter (star of La Clique, EastEnd Cabaret) with her riotous, witty and hilariously degenerate family of fantastic freaks for an unmissable night in the Spiegeltent.
Join West End Producer as he auditions special guests for his Free Willy musical. You, the audience, are on the panel as WEP challenges guests to perform such iconic whale-based hits including: My Willy Needs to Be Wet and One Whale More. Interspersed with theatrical musings, WEP will teach you the perfect jazz hand technique, how to bow properly, and gives one lucky person the chance to win some genuine, worn West End show pants.
After a swift rise to fame with her Nobel-nominated book Diary of a Drag Queen, DENIM's Crystal is back. Bringing her pages to life through song, dance and writhing around in a children's swimming pool. A tour-de-force show of a lifetime, 108-year-old Crystal reveals how to escape shame, escape the debt collector and escape James Franco who has been obsessed with her since 1996.
The obscenely intelligent, beautifully filthy, and rib-crackingly funny, Reuben Kaye finally returns to Edinburgh in an explosion of high camp and filthy humour. Reuben Kaye is also bringing late night cabaret The Kaye Hole to Edinburgh on selected nights.
Ginger Johnson's Happy Place
The alt-right is rising, permafrost is melting, and every other sea turtle has a plastic straw jammed up its nostril... It's a bit much, to be honest. In a valiant, ridiculous attempt to cope with the increasing horror of everyday life, Ginger Johnson packs her bags and poses the question: how far are we willing to run to escape reality, and at what cost? Part cabaret confessional, part Sesame Street special, Johnson puts two fingers up to sadness and jumps - high-heels first - into a world of absolute delusion.
For the full programme visit www.edfringe.com
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