CHRISTINA BIANCO | STAGE REVIEW
Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, Tue 10 Sept
With her Everyman Band – three young men on piano, drums, and guitar, all prodigiously talented not just at playing music but at doing so impromptu – Christina Bianco sweeps onto the stage in the style of a starlet. Which indeed she is. Full of energy, brimming with humour, and possessing more talent in her tiny frame (her own shortness is one of the running jokes of the evening) than all the winners of X Factor combined, her forte is bringing the voices and characters of countless ‘divas’ of stage and screen to immediate, awe-inducing, life.
In most cases, the divas we heard at Sherman Cymru were singers, but in some they were actresses. And so, in a two-hour show which swept by almost as quickly as Bianco’s ability to switch voices, we heard Liza Minnelli alongside her mother Judy Garland; Keira Knightley and, in the next moment, Drew Barrymore; Billie Holiday’s bluesy timbre and, just a little while later, Bette Midler giving it her all. Modern divas such as Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Paloma Faith, to name just a few, were also brought out of Biano’s seemingly infinite supply of spot-on reproductions.
Each impression was so incredibly perfect that the audience couldn’t help but respond with wows and wondering sounds, and Bianco’s description as the ‘woman of a thousand voices’ was undoubtedly a fitting one. However, in addition to this awe-inspiring ability was the clever humour of the show, with certain celebrity voices giving expression to songs and scenes from famous films that were so ill-befitting their character that the audience were all in stitches.
Add to this, again, Bianco’s ability to mimic the stars not just in voice and style of expression but also in body and gesture (Edina, Patsy and Bubbles from Ab Fab were my particular favourites) and, in all, you really couldn’t help but be blown away by the mimic’s abilities. No wonder she has been featured on television programmes such as The Ellen Degeneres Show in the USA and The Paul O’Grady Show over here, and received such wide acclaim.
Punters were lining up after the show for photos and souvenirs. Bianco left everyone starry-eyed, essentially, but her impressions of the stars were so superb that it was clear who the real star was. Not my usual sort of show, not the kind of thing I’d watch usually – but I’m a fan, now, too. Christina Bianco is simply world class.
words MAB JONES