A review of Ivy Paige: Burlesque Bombshell

Birdy once again found herself at the Voodoo Rooms, this time to watch the Burlesque Bombshell herself, Ivy Paige!

I’d actually seen a little of Ivy Paige before tonight, at Vive la Variete, and it was off the strength of her performance that I decided to go and see her perform at her own show, Burlesque Bombshell.

Ivy was joined by the fabulously talented Pete Saunders, who I’d also seen at Vive and Blues and Burlesque. Ivy and Pete have a great rapport on stage together.

The format

The format is some gorgeous singing, interspersed with a bit of chat and audience interaction from the burlesque bombshell herself.

As Ivy herself admits, there isn’t really much burlesque in this show, but that’s okay; it works, and Ivy can hold the audience’s attention just by being herself and showing off her incredible vocal talent.

The vibe

The vibe is friendly, and a little bit smouldery! The audience is very supportive, and some people have come to see Ivy having seen her on The Voice – others have maybe seen her at another of her shows, and of course there are some Ivy Paige virgins in the crowd.

Ivy gives a little bit of an introduction to herself (again, curves sponsored by Gregg’s sausage rolls) and her background, and we get to learn her behaviour on The Voice was apparently deemed ‘inappropriate’ by the tabloids, so that’s a definite win!

She also made it to made it to the semi-finals, which although was news to me, wasn’t exactly surprising.

The show itself

I’ve used this word already, but Ivy truly smoulders on stage in a floor-length, jewel encrusted dress. It’s easy to see why her show is called Burlesque Bombshell, and one of my favourite performances was definitely the Jessica Rabbit number Why Don’t You Do Right? – it was absolutely perfect.

The strength of Ivy’s singing really carries the show, and I feel like we’re in good hands throughout. Other highlights for me included Close to You (audience participation included) and a song about men with facial hair, which were just as good when hearing the second time round.

Ivy got a little break when Pete took over for a song, and that was a nice change of pace. Pete himself is actually quite famous, having been in Dexys Midnight Runners, and we get to learn a little bit about how the pair know each other.

Because this is Ivy’s show, she also opened up a bit more to the audience, and we learned about some of the phases she’d been through in terms of body confidence in her life – which fit perfectly with the standout number Fall in Line. I absolutely loved this, and applaud Ivy’s decision to ‘be a threat’.

Unfortunately, the show did run a little over, and I had to run out before the end to get to Bristo Square to get to my next show, but that doesn’t stop be being confident with my rating (and hopefully I didn’t miss too much of the show).

Overall

This was such a fab show, the song choices are perfect and Ivy and Pete perform each number with expert precision. As long as you’re not expecting full-on burlesque – or if you already know of and are a fan of Ivy – you’ll definitely enjoy Ivy Paige: Burlesque Bombshell.