Fascinating Aida: Charm Offensive - Review by Jasmine Ward

***** (5 Stars)

Grand Opera House, York - Thursday 13 February, 2014

After a sell-out tour in 2012, British comedy singing trio Fascinating Aida, have returned for another UK tour. Charm Offensive is a satirical cabaret piece created and performed by the company that was founded by member 'Dillie Keane' in 1983.

The set consists of a black grand piano centre stage and numerous types of lamps neatly positioned around the performance space. However, do not be fooled by the elegance of these visuals, the show in fact involves what can only  be described as a group of wild, raunchy females singing about their opinions of life as a middle age woman in 2014.

Dillie Keane, Adele Anderson and Liza Pulman have worked together and created a performance that includes cleverly written songs about a wide range of current issues in the world such as flooding, immigration, Miley Cyrus, and Facebook, as well as some more personal songs. If you are a long term fan of the group don't be put off by the word ‘personal‘, each song still delivers the wit and naughtiness they have been creating for the past 3 generations.

Each member of “Fascinating Aida” has absolutely outstanding vocal abilities, and as a team their harmonies throughout the show are absolutely perfect, particularly within the “Bulgarian Song Cycle” a collection of hilarious haiku’s sung acapella in an authentic yet very over the top style. To think that the women themselves created each note and lyric is out of this world.

The audience members of the York Grand Opera House were in hysterical laughter throughout the whole evening, the lyrics within the show are harsh and rude but at the same time very relatable to the opinions of the audience member. If describing the show to someone briefly the best way to do it would be to say that it is like watching a sung through version of the news, but told from the perspective of members of the British public.

The show is recommended for adults and pensioners and is definitely not suitable for anyone under the age of 16 due to the language within the show. The performance promises laughter from start to finish and is faultless, it deserves a definite five stars out of five.