*****

5 Stars (only because I can’t give six)

 I have been attending Fringe performances from this superbly talented Franco- Irish performer for a number of years now, and each time I see her it is in a bigger space and each time it is sold out. Not altogether surprising really, ‘cause the lady is a legend.

Nobody I know give the performance she does, she is sultry, sleazy, sexy, ballsy, very theatrical in the performance and boy can she sell a song, be it rock, jazz, blues or ballad she has the voice to excel at so many levels.

With the brand new show ‘Chameleon’ Ms O’Sullivan has rested a lot of her more established, well loved songs and replaced them with, for me anyway, less familiar numbers, but what is constant is the quality of performance of her and her extremely tight and virtuoso band.

From the onset, with a stage dressed in so many props, not least of all a functioning swing, to the end an hour or so later the packed Music Hall were hooked on her every movement, every word, every nuance of the experience and her stage presence was barely contained in the vast arena.

She had a shocking problem with a live mic that would have thrown many, but although visibly shaken, soldiered on with the show as if nothing had occurred.

Highlights? Too many really, but if pressed, the return of Brel’s Amsterdam and a Leonard Cohen finale would maybe just edge it me.

There is only one thing that worries me though. Is there a bigger Fringe space available in Edinburgh that will be able to cope with the ticket demands for next year’s extravaganza?

*****

Reviewed by Geoff

Assembly Music Hall Venue 3

5 – 30 August

22.25 to 23.35

Fringe Programme P 178