music review

Bal Masqee

Bizarre

One won't see a more eclectic show this month than this cabaret rollercoaster. With elaborate costumes, excellent musicianship and some deadpan gags, influences come from Grace Jones, Kylie Minogue and Rufus Wainwright in an audiovisual thrill of a show. A French soprano trills Mozart and Piaf; an oboist dons a dress and soliloquises existentially; a piano releases its melodies with the deft touch of a troubadour. It bills itself as Victorian but it's as if the Tardis has been employed to bring them closer to the now. Competing with the pounding drums from downstairs, this quartet create a powerful show with odes to freedom, love and loss and it would be churlish not to recommend this with utmost vim.

Universal Arts @ St George's, 6 - 17 Aug, 9.30pm, prices vary, fpp 139

tw rating: 5/5

published: Aug-2009

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