Dancing Queens: The ABBA Drag Party
★★★☆☆ Greatest hits
The Three Sisters (Venue 272): Weds 9, 16 & 23 Aug 2023
Review by Torya Hughes
Drag queens Rujazzle and Sissy Scorpio host an entertaining evening of ABBA and party games, running at the Three Sisters in the Live Room, every Wednesday night of the Fringe.
Billed as a two hour “ultimate ABBA drag experience”, Dancing Queens: The ABBA Drag Party promises to be something special.
Rujazzle and Sissy Scorpio
The Live room at Three Sisters offers mainly standing room, with a bench at the back and some tables dotted around for drinks. The queens arrive fifteen minutes late, wearing distinctive shiny pink and blue lurex catsuits with trumpet sleeves and immediately launch into a greatest hits medley, seamlessly segueing between songs.
Both performers are clearly very experienced, showing off faultless lip synching and perfectly synchronised disco moves. However Rujazzle encourages the audience to visit the bar, claiming that “the more you drink, the better the show will be”. Whilst not strictly true, the more inebriated audience members do appear to be the most engaged with the performance.
After this introductory number, the queens disappear offstage for what is ostensibly a five minute break to allow everyone to replenish their drinks, but ends up being much longer. When they return one might expect a costume change, but the catsuits stay on for the duration.
This break is repeated later on in the show. However the DJs do a great job of choosing a wide variety of floor fillers which keep the atmosphere going.
party games
The rest of the show was mainly a series of party games to ensure audience participation, which was handled well. As with comedy, many drag shows can feel slightly risky as an audience member, particularly if sitting in the front row. However these queens were mostly complimentary about their audience volunteers, and there was no pressure to get involved. Fitting with the drinking theme, the winners were sent away with trays of shots.
The show ends around twenty minutes sooner than expected, meaning that the total onstage time is around half of the billed time. This is a little disappointing, given that the performers clearly had the capabilities to offer a lot more entertainment.
However, this show is likely to be popular with large groups as part of a night out, who will enjoy the interludes for dancing, and the chances for participation.
Running time: Two hours (including many breaks)
The Three Sisters (The Live Room), 139 Cowgate, EH1 1JS (Venue 272)
Wednesdays 9, 16 and 23 August
Evenings 11pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
#Made in Edinburgh
ENDS
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