A whole bunch o’ people @ The Gaiety Grande (Sideshow Paradiso)
11:59pm, Sat 25 Feb 2006
Score: 6
The Grande Cabaret is, as you might guess, a cabaret consisting of acts that are performing at the Gaiety Grande (within Sideshow Paradiso). And if you did indeed guess that, then you’re one up on me – I had no bloody idea.
Anyhoo, with the show staring a whopping 40 minutes late (at twenty-to-one in the morning), The Von Trolley Quartet provided a splendid musical backdrop for a show MCed by Birdmann, who warmed the crowd up by pouring water through his nose. Strong woman Ella Brawn hefted weights and audience members, Bam Bam provided wry slapstick, Ruby Rubberlegs proved to be really quite flexible, Eric the Robot Dog showed up (sans voice), and Joel Salom performed some excellent juggling… with the help of an audience member.
As previously mentioned, all the acts in this performance are either appearing in their own shows at the Gaiety Grande, or in Sideshow Paradiso’s Tiny Top ($5 for 15 minutes – pretty good VFM). This was a generous and entertaining collection of morsels that couldn’t help but pique interest.