Review: Laughs galore with Dolly Diamond

Dolly Diamond Alive and Intimate | Circus Theatre | Until Friday Friday Feb 12 | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

Cabaret singer Dolly Diamond and her pianist sidekick maestro Mark Jones deliver a show that is filled with hilarity, great tunes and camp style.

Well known and respected Melbourne performer Dolly Diamond can certainly deliver a laugh-out-loud one-liner. I laughed all the way through this show, it was a comedic treat.

Diamond and her pianist Jones are a fabulous double act who gave a performance that was risque, outrageous and tapped into some truths that we all share.

Sometimes Fringe shows can be a little bit predictable, if you go see a number of shows in succession you can hear the same songs performed by different people, ukulele’s become common place and sights of people playing a saw like a violin become ho-hum. It seems some performers can get locked in the zeitgeist.

Diamond has a lovely ability to pick tunes that are largely outside the regular fare.  This show had a great mix of old show tunes, long forgotten standards and unique original numbers. It was fresh and fabulous.

Often Diamond would substitute new lyrics into a much loved classic tunes. ‘Que Sera Sera’ will certainly never be the same again.

A highlight of the show is Diamond and Jones working their way through the whole musical ‘Oliver’ in just a few minutes. A rousing chorus of ‘Oom Pah Pah’ certainly brought the crowd together in the style of an old musical hall sing-a-long.

While the show is filled with laughs from start to finish, underlying the overt comedy is too performers who can really deliver the musical goods. Diamond has one hell of a voice.

This is a show worth seeing, make an effort to catch one of the two remaining performances.

Graeme Watson