Lady Rizo

"I have trouble with personal boundaries," Lady Rizo explains while climbing onto a third-row punter's lap. We appreciate the disclaimer, but nobody seems to mind.

Indeed, ten minutes into Lady Rizo there are decreasing numbers of us who have not been petted, mounted, or individually serenaded. But Rizo's physical humour, like the rest of her act, is organic and thoughtfully crafted – a natural extension of her tangible talent and intelligence, making her brand of live lounge cabaret unlike any other.

We are taken through the hits, so to speak: 'Close To You' melds fluidly into 'Pure Imagination', and Nancy Sinatra gets sprinkled into '90s R&B. Rizo manages to inject her powerhouse pipes into these more lightweight moments: accessible and twinkly as they are, Rizo doesn't seem like the type to hold back. She somehow makes window-shattering vibratos and Broadway-calibre belting look effortless. There is mildly smutty mischief (and some saucy costume changes), but the real show seems to start when Rizo takes us into her backstory.

Far from the bewitchingly glam melodrama of her act, Rizo's real life story is utterly candid: a stint as a cruiseline singer, young love, an attempt at an open-marriage, and the fallout therein. It is around the time that she enters this refreshingly unfamiliar territory that the songs start to sound less familiar as well. While they may not have been what hit-hungry lounge junkies were in for, her numbers are moving, masterful, and beautifully supported by accompanying musician Yair Evnine. Punctuated with bawdy wit throughout, our journey through Rizo's past is sensuous and utterly unexpected.

While not your mother's "cabaret superstar", Lady Rizo is a fierce, fun spectacle – a heavenly nightcap to any Fringe day.