REVIEW: The Lady Boys of Bangkok

The Lady Boys of Bangkok bring much-needed glamour to the city during the Fringe with their new production Beauties and the Beats.

THIS year’s bevy of beauties are quite simply stunning and in my humble opinion the most glamorous LadyBoys we have seen in the 17 years the troupe has been returning to play the May Festival in Brighton.

There is something for everyone, with numbers by Cher, Katie Perry, Rhianna, Jessie J, Nicki Minaj and a tribute to Franki Valli led by the cute boy dancers.

There were medleys from Grease, Cabaret, a three-minute version of the Sound of Music and no-show is complete without reference to Frozen with Let it Go.

Humour abounds in this production mainly delivered by Ole and a small dwarf. Ole’s comic timing is spot on as is his performance of Tina Turners Simply the Best. These comic interludes could quite easily fall on their faces but this comic pair have managed to build up a successful rapport with their audience.

Visual highlight of the evening was Diana’s Diamond Fashion Show, a brilliantly staged fashion show with the LadyBoys parading in a variety of stunning costumes to a brilliant backing track on the Sabai catwalk.

The audience at a LadyBoys shows continues to evolve. I have seen this years show twice this year and there are clearly more gay people in the audience than last year.

The Sabai Pavilion is a great setting for this show, the sound is first class and the smell from the Thai kitchen is the icing on the cake.