Ali McGregor’s Opera Burlesque

Ali McGregor must be one of the hardest working performers on the Fringe headlining several other shows. Although now into the third week, I saw the opening night of Opera Burlesque. There was something of the preview feel about the show with a number of glitches, but Ms McGregor, being the trooper she is, was completely unfazed. She ad-libbed her way through and the audience were very sympathetic. She appeared along with two other singer/musicians, Kathleen Friel and Jacqueline Tate. (Hope I picked their names up correctly when she was giving her thanks at the end of the show.)

As to the show itself, most of the elements of Burlesque appeared – exaggerated operatic send ups, coarse songs and a touch of striptease. About a dozen musical items were performed. When they were good, they were very, very funny, but there were times when the humour was laboured. 

What worked best were the pop songs given the full throated operatic treatment such as a Wagnerian version of Bon Jovi’s ‘Living on a Prayer’; a Marlene Dietrich send up ‘If you can’t sing, sing in German’ and perhaps best of all a song entitled ‘Cunning Linguist’ in which the highest pitched note is right off the scale.

Undoubtedly, Ali McGregor is a highly talented singer/comedienne and has a devoted following. They certainly enjoyed the show but for myself there is a better show to be experienced once it is honed and perfected.

***

B

Fringe Programme Page No

24

Company

Gilded Balloon  Productions  

Venue Name and Number

Gilded Balloon Teviot  V14

Dates and Times

20  to 27 August  18.00  to 19.00

Comedy 2007

Music 2007

Others 2007

Theatre 2007

Musicals 2007

press at one4review.co.uk