Rosa Waxes Lyrical

With accents somewhere between Borat and a Bond villain, Rosa Wax and her fantastically-named pianist partner Boris Longshlongadongski offer a riotous hour of quirky and trashy character comedy. Don't expect an evening of intellectual laughs. Essentially a series of pubic hair gags and slightly naughty songs performed by the clearly talented singer, this performance is a cabaret-style show featuring stories of the Russian beautician and her famous clientele.

Despite the rather corny material—there's plenty of celeb-bashing, 2009's ubiquitous Susan Boyle joke, and talk of "backs, sacks and cracks"—Wax gives the show an engaging twist with her brusque manner and unashamed cheesiness. Longshlongadongski's brooding presence in the background provides a pleasing and slightly sinister balance to her extravagant character, and his infrequent but precisely calculated one-liners contribute a great deal to the chemistry of the show. There's a bit of audience interaction, which culminates in Wax directing a short romantic scene between a couple of "volunteers." She handles the audience expertly — while it comes close to embarrassing at times, the effortless enthusiasm of both performers maintains the momentum and they both recover quickly from unexpected interruptions.

This show is not going to win any awards for its edginess. It takes a while to kick off, and there are a few moments in the first half where the writing is a little light on the naughty innuendo that makes the rest of the set so appealing. But after they get going, this is a thoroughly fun, devilishly silly and highly entertaining performance.