London may now offer plenty of choice when it comes to impressive cabaret-style shows, but La Soirée’s mix of slick showmanship, saucy tongue-in-cheek humour and razzle dazzle is hard to top as a complete entertainment package.
This year’s show combines old acts and new. When Mario, Queen of the Circus, goes crowd surfing or Hamish McCann repeats his breathtaking pole act – a clever subversion of the romanticism of Singin’ in the Rain – it’s like greeting old friends. In a way, La Soirée is the bastard child of the old music-hall turns, and a reminder that audiences can get real pleasure from revisiting familiar routines – such as Captain Frodo’s contortions – rather than constantly clamouring for the new.
Of course, that only works if the acts combine the skill and layering that make them worth repeated viewings. There are plenty here that do, most notably the English Gents’ elegant send-up of Englishness in a balancing act that is as physically demanding as it is witty in its dissection of a particular kind of self-deprecating understatement.
There is a lot that’s new, too. Asher Treleaven reminds us that La Soirée is grownup entertainment – but with the filthy mind of a teenager out to shock. Treleaven performs a funny, exquisitely timed reworking of the traditional Mills & Boon genre, while Melanie Chy’s hand balancing act gets extra revs with the addition of a motorbike. La Soirée knows how to dress things up, but also revels in the fact that the tawdry may lurk somewhere behind the glitter. There is darkness behind the dazzle.
It doesn’t all work. Mooky’s audience participation is more lame than gold lamé, but La Soirée still springs surprises. The unexpected hit of the evening is Denis Lock’s captivating bubble act. A reminder that, for all its swagger, La Soirée really deals in enchantment.
- Until 17 January. Buy tickets at theguardianboxoffice.com or call 0330-333 6906.
