Ali McGregor's Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night

Variety is the spice of life, or so they say. But at Ali McGregor's Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night, that spice is a fairly merciless Cayenne pepper. A veritable grab bag of an evening, you can't be certain what you'll witness until you're sat there looking at it. And even then you may not be sure. What you can be certain of is that it'll be sultry, sassy and (nearly always) entertaining.

This cabaret-cum-variety show sees Ali McGregor—a former principal soprano with the Opera Australia, would you believe—intersperse her own brand of cabaret with performances from the finest, funniest, and weirdest talents from across the Fringe. Tonight, guests include Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby, musical theatre performer Michael Griffiths, and... a hula-hoop wielding male stripper (usually part of circus troupe Briefs) with the temerity and, well, hips of Louis Spence.

For her part, McGregor transforms the likes of Foo Fighters' "Best of You" and The Prodigy's "Firestarter" and "Smack My Bitch Up" into smoky, Rubenesque, barroom numbers. And even when that powerful voice is at ease, her audacious repartee with sideshow comedian (“for God's sake, get your hand off my bump!”) Virginia Gay is enough to keep the audience on side.

Ali McGregor's Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night is a remedy to those endless festival listing catalogues. If you're bored of the flyers and of the infinite battery of adverts, and frankly can't see the wood for the trees, then this might be the show for you. An outrageous cabaret variety performance with a sting in its tail, you'll never be bored for long.