Divas: From Stage to Screen
★★★★★ Quality cabaret
Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Venue 24): Wed 2 – Sun 27 Aug 2023
Review by Torya Hughes
For an evening of top quality vocal entertainment, look no further than BBD Productions and Divas: From Stage to Screen their hour long cabaret of non-stop hits at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose.
With five singers each night, drawn from a pool of nine, and a four piece live band under MD Caitlin Morgan, the company promise a “high-energy celebration of the greatest Divas of all time”, and they certainly deliver. Each diva gets a chance to shine with a solo number showing off their distinctive vocal qualities, but the real strength is in their harmonies. The cast move from soulful ballads to uptempo numbers with ease, ensuring that the energy never drops and the time flies by.
The cast of Divas: from Stage to Screen. Pic: BBD productions.
Jessica Nolan performs a beautiful emotional version of Emeli Sande’s Clown, while Nicola Meehan leads the cast in a sassy Does Your Mother Know by ABBA. Meehan also demonstrates a gorgeous soprano voice in the company’s cover of Into the Unknown from Frozen, which is a highlight of the programme.
Rosie Houlton has a rich quality to her voice which lends itself well to the more jazzy numbers, and Danielle Logan is clearly a very talented dancer as well as a great singer, adding a little extra pizazz to the simple choreography. The final member of the cast, Halla Eaglesham, while billed as a newcomer, more than holds her own alongside the other divas.
The songs cover a wide variety of musical styles and eras, moving from Carole King’s You’ve Got a Friend into a Pink/Jessie J medley, and then into Shania Twain’s Man, I Feel Like a Woman belted out with huge energy. The group finish with a bluesy rendition of Peggy Lee’s I’m a Woman, leaving the stage to a standing ovation. The four piece band onstage add greatly to the atmosphere, and the sound levels are balanced perfectly between instruments and singers.
simple but effective
The set is simple but effective – a velvet chaise longue, martini glasses, and a glitter curtain at the back. Lighting is used effectively to highlight solo performers, or to create a disco feel in the bigger group numbers. This feels like a very polished cabaret, and all of the cast are clearly seasoned professionals who have great stage presence.
As the cast members can change from night to night, presumably the programme of songs will vary as well. However, with a show of this standard a great night is surely guaranteed.
Running time: One hour (no interval)
Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Other Yin), 3 Chambers Street, EH1 1ET (Venue 24)
Wednesday 2 – Sunday 27 August (not 14, 21, 22) 2023
Evenings (not 14, 21/22): 10.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
BBD Productions links
Twitter: @BBDProductions_
Facebook: @BBDProductions
Instagram: @bbdproductions
ENDS
#MadeInEdinburgh
