I'm sure I must've heard of "YouTube sensation" Christina Bianco before this week but had no idea who she was when she turned up on the bill of Lili La Scala's variety show on Tuesday night. Suffice it to say she had won me over within about three seconds. She was doing her own show (PROTIP - everyone is) and as I had nothing booked for Saturday snapped up a ticket.
Her main selling point is her uncanny ability to impersonate just about any well-known female singer. She's small, looks a bit like Lucy Porter (if that helps) and for a wee wummin has the most incredibly powerful and compelling voice. Really, what a vocal range - rock, pop, opera, rap and, of course, torch-songs and showtunes. The format of the show is her talking through her life and influences, various digressions and working her way through an A - Z of impressions - all showcasing that incredible mimicry and simply awesome voice (she does a couple of numbers in her own voice too). And in case anyone has leapt ahead, for Q she did the Queen Of Pop (Madonna) and for X she did Xtina Aguilera.
What an incredible range and number of impressions she did. All the big ones were present and correct - Babs, Garland and Minnelli, Bassey, Celine Dion, Whitney, Dolly. Some very up-to-date ones - Ariana Grande, Jessie J, Iggy Azalea (which always sounds like a flower to me). Plenty of Brits - Amy Winehouse, Cheryl Cole, Keira Knightley and a frankly stunning Julie Andrews (Ms. Andrews really needs to record a version of Big Booty if Ms. Bianco's version is anything to go by). Plenty of comedy banter too, including a frankly hilarious sequence where Ms. Bianco read out extracts from Barbra Streisand's book "My Passion For Design" - hearing Babs' inane profundities read out in the style of Cheryl Cole was really rather funny (sidenote - an audience member in the front row had brought along his copy of the book. I'm not suggest that chap was gay but he was camper than Butlins ...).
I was in the third row and the place was packed. It was a superb gig and showcase for Ms. Bianco. I've never seen so many middle-aged and elderly men shedding stoic emotional tears (I count myself among them and yep, my cheeks were moist. FACE cheeks, you sicko) - the place nearly passed out choking back emotion when she struck up the opening of "The Way We Were". There were two standing ovations and I've never seen that at a Fringe gig before - she deserved even more; she was absolutely sensational.
As we all filed out, middle-aged men everywhere blowing their noses and rubbing their eyes, I realised two quite profound things: the first was sudden clarity about show-business, show-tunes, gender identity and a particular song in Rocky Horror - I'm still mulling that over as it might be worth a separate post; the second was that my late Dad would've absolutely loved this show. I hope he saw it.
Please check her out. A huge talent, and easily my favourite show of Fringe Binge 2015.
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