I will admit, I had no idea what I was signing up for when I volunteered to review this play. Google wasn’t helping me out much either, and I went into the show blindly. After a rather late start, and a musical introduction that lasted long enough to exceed the realms of a tense build-up, a figure in a sequinned silver dress and a feather boa appeared on stage and began belting out show tunes. At this point, I had to re-evaluate.

The songs were wonderfully delivered and sung incredibly well. The ‘life story’ anecdotes kept the audience laughing and rapt, and there were even convincing twinges of pathos for the tragic sections. Handing out cocktails during a show is always a plus, but even aside from the free drinks, the rapport with the audience was excellent, with little asides directed at select members, and some naturalistic running gags with the band. One of the most memorable bits of the performance was the one-man rendition of what was basically the entirety of Annie in five minutes. Rife with costume changes, props, and comic turns, it was a joy to watch.

As the show continued, however, it began to drag a little. The comedy became a little too farcical; and whilst outrageous excess was definitely the flavour of the evening, after a while it hit the ceiling of fun and semi-convincing, and became rather stiff, cliché and irritating. Then there was a curious false ending, where after a suitably rip-roaring performance of ‘Cabaret’, the audience were treated to an ‘insight’ (more of an onstage mental breakdown) where the star supposedly revealed that she despised what her life had become, and ended on a sad wistful note. It was somewhere near poignant, yet missed the mark a bit. To its credit, it wrapped up just around the time when you felt you ought to start checking your watch, but my companion for the evening expressed it best, that if the ending was taking the proverbial, all well and good, but if it was going for genuine pathos, it fell somewhat short.

Overall, the main strength of the show was how brilliantly Margot herself was realised, and that the façade never slipped. Also, I have to award kudos for the fact that I was convinced for a large part of the show. The parts where it dragged pulled the performance down irrevocably, along with the curious ending, but generally it was an indulgent and amusing evening out.