Fascinating Aida: Cheap Flights

Having only seen snippets of Fascinating Aida at press launches and not, in all honesty, having been bowled over, I was unsure whether they would live up to the rave recommendations I’ve heard this Fringe. I was quite wrong in my past impressions and they did – with a splendid, silly and beautifully sung and performed show.

The witty, warm and varied material – from the sharply satirical to the very daft and dirty – makes for a hugely entertaining hour. I particularly enjoyed the opening number and the shorts in the Bulgarian song cycle. Songs such as YouTube classic, “Cheap Flights and Dogging”, which have established them as one of the finest comedy cabaret acts around, are beautifully delivered and were rapturously received by the packed house. There are moments of genuine pathos too as Dillie Keane leads a song about absent friends.

The troupe’s newest member, Sarah-Louise Young is rather younger than Keane and Adele Anderson, which does show in the way the voices blend leading to the odd balance problem with harmonies and melody. The new material from Young also stands out a little but adds a new dimension to these masters of variety performance and reinvention and with a little time, I’m sure will successfully bed-in.

Cheap Flights is a treat of a show that will entertain, move and uplift you. And, good news for those who missed it in Edinburgh, it’s headed out on tour and for the West End later in the autumn. Book now.

– Edwin Plumber