The video that Frisky and Mannish play as the audience files in is marvellously appropriate; the pair are shown dominating BBC News 24, both as the stories and as the newsreaders. This conquest of popular culture is absolutely accurate both in general and within the show itself. These guys have received near universal acclaim and have sold out audiences for years on end - and every bit of positive praise that they’ve got, every ticket they’ve sold and every standing ovation they’ve received is absolutely, 100% justified.

It says something about a musical cabaret act when they could probably put on a straight comedy show for an hour and still get a five star review. The onstage dialogue between the performers is hilarious and their Made in Chelsea sketches are probably the best out of the endless send ups of the show. Frisky and Mannish are personalities that are impossible to ignore, both dominating the stage with a look that is somewhere between sleek chic and someone falling through a fancy dress box.

Add in their songs and you have the formula for the perfect cabaret hour. Every piece of music is sublimely executed, brilliantly written and laugh out loud funny. Frisky and Mannish have a knack for getting to the root of pop songs, ripping them apart and rewriting them for their own devices; it’s insane just how well these pastiches play out, combining pop culture references, hilarious rewrites and inspired genre switches. Their music hall adaptation of the Pussycat Dolls may well be the most brilliant piece of parody I’ve ever seen. All of this is twinned with the skill of the two performers. The flexibility of both voices can not be faulted; both Frisky and Mannish have the variation needed to mimic any popstar they choose and put their voices to anything they see fit. This leads to a massive diversity in what they mock. I like to think that I’m fairly clued in when it comes to music and I’m pretty confident that I must have missed tons of tiny references to well loved pop songs just because of their genius subtlety.

Frisky and Mannish are consummate performers whose mocking of the stars most definitely deserves five of them. If these are their extra-curricular activities, I would love to see what their actual school work is like.

Reviewer:
Thom Louis

Thom Louis has written 36 reviews for Broadway Baby since joining the team in 2011.