Lady Rizo

A fixture on the New York circuit, Lady Rizo is soulful, uproarious, slightly scary and utterly irresistible – a worthy winner of 2012's inaugrual Time Out & Soho Theatre Edinburgh Cabaret Award (aka TO&ST). All erratic eroticism, 'eye choreography' and chandelier earrings, she also boasts an awesome voice: she sings songs about passion, revenge and freedom by Piaf, Hendrix, Dolly Parton, Nine Inch Nails and herself. She's also crazy funny, thinking and speaking on her feet, doing freaky bits of oral business with sequinned gloves and roses, dragging a punter behind a screen for an awkward silhouetted liaison. And she's inspirational. She gets more juice out of her opening number than most shows manage in an hour and I nominate her closing number as the national anthem of cabaret.