Lady Rizo

Apparently Lady Rizo is not afraid to rustle the feathers and gentle inhibitions of a Fringe audience. Admittedly, a cabaret show that tends towards the coarse and risqué is nothing to write home about, but the laughs sound like awkward collective hiccups on more than one occasion tonight.

Not long after one poor soul finds himself silhouetted behind a dressing screen being quizzed about his first sexual encounter, the extrovert New Yorker takes her opportunity (before her vintage cover of Pixies' ‘Where Is My Mind’) to suggest that another suffers from mental illness. Later, more seat-shifting ripples through the room as Rizo adopts a full-throttle soprano voice to repeatedly wail a particular racial slur during her (admittedly brilliant) cello-accompanied take on Jamie Foxx and T-Pain's ‘Blame It’.

The point is this: Rizo's show isn't for the faint of heart. But if you’ve a robust sense of humour, there’s certainly something here for you. And even if not, there’s no denying the calibre of the music. Supported by a four-piece band, Rizo offers a mixture of pop covers and a few original numbers, drawing on the unhinged fury of classic vocalists such as Peggy Lee and Nina Simone – her cover of Simone’s ‘Sinnerman’ driving those influences home.

Lady Rizo's show is cabaret to excess. Gut-wrenching where others are simply funny, with a voice that's potent where others are just good, and shocking where she could have just been suggestive, the bawdy but gifted Rizo certainly holds her own amongst this year’s cabaret performers.