The Wonderful Sisters are a singing trio cabaret act from Australia who welcome us to their show with a charming three part harmony song, ‘Down in Louisiana.’ With witty and sometimes crude lyrics, these three singers are all very talented and perform classic wartime style ditties with style and finesse.
Echoing the Andrews Sisters in fashion and performance style, I was hopeful for a pleasant hour’s entertainment. However, the downfall of this show came with the clumsily written, un-funny script that linked the numbers together. With the act comes a mini plot and back-story surrounding the life of the Wonderful Sisters, which the show could have really done without. The Sisters explain how they make their living by motivating the troops who are fighting for America in the Second World War. Their career is then threatened by the potential of peace, so the sisters make it their mission to continue the war in any way they can. This bizarre plot left most of the audience cold and some the jokes could only be classed as offensive, not ‘smart satire,’ as it is described.
The clunky script and awkward silences massively frustrated me, because every time the girls prepared themselves for the next musical number, the audience breathed a sigh of relief as we enjoyed the soothing tones of three very capable singers. The confusion for me lies in the discrepancy of the weak script compared with the dark and satirical lyrics of the songs, which were much funnier than the dialogue. ‘Now Baby’s an Amputee’ is just one example of a deliciously dark, yet very amusing number delivered with coy gusto by the girls. The lyrics were witty, well put together and executed with perfect grace.
This show could benefit from having all the gags removed and just sticking to the songs. As the political jokes dropped like stink bombs and the projected image of an actor playing Churchill (very unconvincingly) bellowed across the room, I sat squirming in my seat with awkwardness. There is no doubt these girls are talented and good at what they do, but this is singing alone as they are certainly not comediennes and it doesn’t help that they are working with such an poorly written script. Stick to the songs girls, otherwise your audience will be desperately searching for the closest evacuation point!
