Mr Ken Dee cuts a striking figure in a dress. He is really rather gorgeous and talented. Perhaps I am biased by the vast wealth of cringingly poor female impersonators, but from the moment he strutted on stage, I had little difficulty in believing he was a top class diva. His set consists of a slickly choreographed hour of feminine power ballads and lip syncs, as well as some impressive quick changes between elaborate costumes.The combination of an overlarge venue and middling-sized audience made the whole experience seem like a surreal out-of-hours indulgence, but Ken carried it off with the ease and grace of a true performer. Each member of the audience was engaged and heckled with a smooth charm and comedy that had the rest of us roaring with laughter. With just Ken on stage, and with periods during his changes when there was nothing at all to look at, the performance dragged a bit (no pun intended), and the predictable song-costume change-song-costume change skit became tired quickly. I would love to hear more backchat and see more audience participation to add some variety. Ken’s natural ease with the audience makes me confident that he could pull it off (no pun intended). The genuinely impressively quick changes from one gorgeous dress to another were lessened as a bare stage made thirty seconds seem endless. Nevertheless, we were all dancing along by the end to Ken’s infectious good cheer and optimism. With the support of just a little backing to fill in between changes, Mr Ken Dee could be a real showstopper.
