The Nualas

Having shaved their armpits and touched up their roots, the Nualas arrived back in some style from their near-triumph in the …

Having shaved their armpits and touched up their roots, the Nualas arrived back in some style from their near-triumph in the West End to put on an extra-special son et lumiere treat for their home crowd, dispelling any notions that they had lost the run of themselves and confirming that they were only joking when they said they were going to become the new Gloria Hunnifords of British radio.

With the new Nuala (the natural blonde, or more expensively highlighted, maybe) fitting in seamlessly, these jumped-up farmhands sure pulled out all the stops on a most extravagant stage setting, all faded Hollywood glamour, the odd tree and a real live grand piano - goodness knows how much tights and lipstick money went into that.

Displaying plenty of new material, they've tweaked the old formula to produce a real crowd-pleaser of a show. Like an IFA version of Fascinating Aida, the Nualas lay it on as if they had been born and bred in Ballykissangel. At the level of stardom they've reached now, there's plenty of material about their glamorous new lifestyle. There's also name-dropping aplenty and we can only wonder in envy how these three doughty divas overcame such manifest rural traumas to emerge as Kinnegad's response to The Supremes.

With glitzy dresses adorning their curvaceous bodies they sang about matters of the heart (and jet-skis), pausing only to share some words of wisdom as they poignantly described the (often heartbreaking) circumstances behind each song. Evenly-paced throughout, the only difficulty with the show is that their humour is pitched on two levels - mainly it's self-referential and heavy on parody, but it's also cutting and contemporary, and there are occasional gaps between the two. This is a minor complaint, though, and on this evidence the Nualas have consolidated their progress to date and show glimpses of areas they'll be travelling to in the future. They just keep Nualaing along.

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Continues until June 26th.

Booking: 01-4544472.

Brian Boyd

Brian Boyd

Brian Boyd, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes mainly about music and entertainment