Wilmas Rating ****
The Hippodrome Casino, London
Broadway star and recent YouTube sensation Christina Bianco has exploded onto our computer screens over the past few months with her celebrity impressions of well known stars.
Christina came to London’s West End Hippodrome Casino for four sold out shows titled ‘Diva Moments’. On stage Christina explained the night was to be filled songs made famous by well known divas. Some performed in her own voice and some in the voices of the divas who made the songs famous.
What exactly is a Diva? Of course, I turned to Wikipedia for the accurate answer to this!
“A diva is a celebrated female singer; a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and by extension in theatre, cinema and popular music”.
I’d never considered Alanis Morissette to be a Diva but going by the statement above, she fits the description. However, I would argue that the song Christina chose to sing ‘Hand In My Pocket’ is not really the song that made her a diva. You Oughta Know or Ironic would be been my expected choices but Christina gave a great impression regardless.
Bernadotte Peters ‘See me on a Monday’ from the album ‘Forbidden Broadway Goes To Rehab’ was the highlight of the night for me. Featured early on in the show, this gave us a taste of the comedy and talent that we would see for the rest of the evening. Christinas greatest impression was undeniably Celine Dion and so it was a shame not to hear a whole song performed in her voice.
Drew Barrymore, Julie Andrews and Kiera Knightly were all hilarious although it is really hard to pick out highlights from a show like this, where every second was a delight to watch.
Of course, the night wouldn’t be complete without a rendition of ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ sung in the voices of 19 different divas. The YouTube video that had 2 millions views in 2 days recently. With a little help from host Velma Celli, Christina took the audience through a re-cap of the voices heard in the show.
Having sold out four shows in a matter of days, tells you something about the impression Christina has had over UK audiences recently. With fans clambering for tickets to these sold out shows, I hope it won’t be too long until the greatest diva of them all, Christina Bianco, returns to London to show the rest of London why she has become such a sensation.
Photo: Darren Bell
