Fascinating Aida
DEPRESS RELEASE
Tepid News!
10 reasons to feel depressed
- Boris might win.
- Ken might win again.
- Hillary might beat Barack.
- McCain might win.
- Putin is quite frightening.
- Hu Jintao is very frightening indeed.
- Robert Mugabe is wicked and even more scary.
- The world is on the brink of environmental catastrophe.
- Gordon Brown is a massive disappointment
- Fascinating Aida are only doing two weeks at Jermyn Street.
Not a comeback, just a quarter-century birthday celebration. 25 years ago, Dillie Keane formed Fascinating Aida and has tried to shake it off ever since. It keeps coming back to haunt her - and you. 25 years, 5 continents, 6 West End runs, 6 albums, 5 nominations (3 Olivier, 1 Drama Desk, 1 Perrier), 2 books, 1 glorious transsexual and 784 sopranos. Not bad going.
Now with new songs, not for money, just for the fun of it, and playing to an even older audience than before! Shuffle to get a ticket! Grumble at the steepness of the stairs! Thrill to the beauty of the harmonies. Marvel at the rhymes. Laugh in the certainty that your pacemaker will look after your heart.
Oh fuck, I'm past caring. Publicise us if you want, this show's so cheap I'm even doing my own Press Release.
Dillie Keane
Performance details:
Monday 19th May – Saturday 31st May at 7.30
Matinees – 24th, 25th and 31st May at 3.30.
No performance on Monday 26th May
Tickets: £25 + £17 concessions
BIOGRAPHIES
Adele Anderson. In addition to Fascinating Aida since 1984, as a solo artist Adele has played the Edinburgh and Hong Kong Fringe Festivals. Other theatre credits include Let's Kick Arts (Bridewell Theatre); Ken Hill's Phantom of the Opera (national tour); Mother Goose (Salisbury Playhouse); Wasp (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Salad Days (national tour); Into the Woods (Forum Theatre, Manchester); Sunset Boulevard (Sydmonton Festival); Nine (Royal Festival Hall); and Tales My Lover Told Me (King's Head). She has also directed Mother Goose and Aladdin at the Theatre, Chipping Norton. Writing credits include many Fascinating Aida lyrics; a song (with Dillie Keane) for The Shakespeare Revue (Vaudeville Theatre & tours) and sections of the collaborative musical The Challenge (Shaw Theatre) and The Ten Commandments (The Place) - both as co-writer. Adele and Warren Wills perform cabaret/jazz together at Pizza on the Park, and she has been in two of his Babel Theatre productions. Television work includes playing Gemma Masters in the BBC drama.
Dillie Keane studied music at Trinity College, Dublin, and acting at LAMDA. A burgeoning acting career was hijacked by the success of Fascinating Aida, which started in 1983 with Marilyn Cutts and Lizzie Richardson. When Adele Anderson joined in 1984, she found her great writing partner. When Fascinating Aida hung up their sequins, ostensibly forever, in 1989, Dillie returned to solo performing in Single Again (1991 - nominated for a Perrier Award) and Citizen Keane (1992), both directed by Nica Burns. Her most recent one woman show, Back With You toured the UK, played Pizza on the Park and the Edinburgh Festival, a West End season at the Arts Theatre and also played at Berlin's premier cabaret venue, the Bar Jeder Vernunft. Acting parts include The Plough and the Stars (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Juno and the Paycock (Leicester Haymarket); Present Laughter (Birmingham Rep); the Dublin premiere of The Vagina Monologues and Charley's Aunt with Eric Sykes. Recent songwriting credits include Big Night Out at the Little Palace Theatre by Sandi Toksvig, in which she starred in at the Palace Theatre, Watford alongside Sandi and Liza Pulman. Television work includes Pie in the Sky and The Truth About Women. Dillie has also had a column in the Stage for over ten years and has written extensively for newspapers and radio -m she had her own page in the prestigious MAIL ON SUNDAY for over two years, and has appeared regularly in the Sony Award nominated show Booked!
Liza Pulman recently appeared in The gondoliers and The Coffee House at Chichester Festival Theatre. Previously she created the role of Violet in the original company of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London Palladium) and starred opposite Philip Schofield and Russ Abbott in the national tour of Doctor Dolittle. Other parts include Cathy in Wuthering Heights (European tour), Eurydice in the world premiere of Harrison Birtwhistle's The Second Mrs Kong (Glyndebourne), and leading roles with Music Theatre London, the D'Oyly Carte and Carl Rosa Opera Companies. Her many cabaret performances include Listen Up! with composer/lyricist Jason Carr.
Hats off to women with bags of talent!
That's FASCINATING AIDA!
3 times nominees for Best Entertainment in the London West End's prestigious OLIVIER AWARDS!
BRITAIN'S SASSIEST, FUNNIEST, CRAZIEST MUSICAL COMEDIENNES
Imagine SEX AND THE CITY with harmonies...
Imagine Absolutely Fabulous sung by the Andrews Sisters...
Imagine Noel Coward, but ruder...
Tom Lehrer with heart...
Jacques Brel with jokes...
Monty Python set to music...
Edith Piaf with better frocks...
Marlene with cellulite...
Emma Thompson with rhythm...
CATCH THEM AT 59e59 etc...
"People keep asking us what the show's about. We-e-e-ll, it's sort of about sex, surgery and hot flashes... Oh, and it's also about science, survival and modern art... Actually, it's about life, love and how men are occasionally quite nice, really. And you'll learn how to acquire the famous British Stiff Upper Lip whilst laughing like a drain."
(Bags and hats by Lulu Guinness, naturally!)
THE PAPERS
"See them before you die otherwise your life will have been meaningless."
Mail on Sunday
"Quite simply, Fascinating Aida are the tops"
Daily Telegraph
"They are more than ever quite irresistible"
News of the World
"One of the most exquisitely polished shows you are ever likely to see"
Financial Times
"Simply Hilarious"
News of the World
WEST END SHOWS
| 2003 | One Last Flutter Comedy Theatre |
| 1999 | Barefaced Chic at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket |
| 1997 | It, Wit, Don't Give A Shit Girls at the Vaudeville Theatre |
| 1994/5 | Fascinating Aida at the Garrick & the Apollo Theatres |
| 1987 | Fascinating Aida at the Piccadilly Theatre |
OTHER LONDON SHOWS
| 2000 | Barefaced Chic at the Lyric, Hammersmith |
| 1998 | It, Wit, Don't Give A Shit Girls at the Lyric, Hammersmith |
| 1994 | Fascinating Aida at the Lyric, Hammersmith |
| 1989 | Fascinating Aida at the Lyric, Hammersmith |
| 1986 | Fascinating Aida at the Lyric, Hammersmith |
| 1985 | Fascinating Aida at the Lyric, Hammersmith |
| 1984 | Fascinating Aida at the Donmar Warehouse |
ALBUMS
| 1999 | Barefaced Chic |
| 1997 | It, Wit, Don't Give A Shit Girls |
| 1994 | Live at the Lyric |
| 1987 | A Load of Old Sequins |
| 1984 | Sweet FA |
All recordings owned by First Night Records
BOOKS
| 1995 | The Joy of Sequins - the Fascinating Aida Songbook (Methuen) |
| 1985 | Fascinating Who? (Elmtree Books) |
TELEVISION
| 1988 | BBC2 Fascinating Aida Special |
| 1985 | BBC2 40 Minutes Documentary - Sweet FA |
Appearances on most major light entertainment and chat shows.
WORLD
| 2004 | 59E59 Theaters, New York |
| 2003 | Red Pear Theatre, Antibes, France |
| 2000 | Season at Raffles Hotel, Singapore |
| 1999 | 3 week season at the Bar Jeder Vernunft, Berlin |
| 1999 | Two performances at Hemingways Resort, Watamu, Kenya |
| 1998 | Small national tour of Australia |
Wellington Festival, New Zealand
4 week season at the Firebird Cafe, New York
Return 2 week season at the Firebird Cafe, New York and performance
at the New York Cabaret Convention.
1988 Opened Sydney Festival for the Bicentennial at the Opera
House & played a 4 week season & national tour
4 week season in New York
7 week season at the Mason Street Theater, San Francisco
1986 Sydney Festival & small national tour of Australia
OTHER
Nominated for Best Entertainment @ Olivier Awards 1995 and 2000
Voted Most Popular Act 1985 City Limits.
For more information visit the Fascinating Aida websites:
www.fascinating-aida.co.uk and www.planetaida.com