Send in the Clowns: Queeny Todd, presented by Fatt Projects, The Door, The Birmingham Rep | 26 September 2026. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David Gray & Paul Gray

Photo credit: Emwa Jones

Send in the Clowns: Queeny Todd

presented by Fatt Projects

The Door, The Birmingham Rep | 26 September 2026.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David Gray & Paul Gray

“A riotous, outrageous, anything goes show.”

‘Send in the Clowns’ have established a winning formula for their drag cabaret extravaganzas. A first half of free-standing songs which show-cases their individual and distinctive talents, bookended by ensembles, and strung together with bawdy badinage. Then a second act where they present a much distilled (and seriously bastardised!) version of an iconic musical. The victim this time; Sondheim’s masterpiece Sweeney Todd.

Although the show is clearly thrown together on a tight budget, imagination and artful costume-making elevate the show visually beyond its financial constraints. The Pierrot outfits used for the opening numbers, for example, are delightful and quite classy. And the numbers delivered in the first act are all given with style and character.

Alana Boden’s ‘The Ladies Who lunch’ is louche and suave. She has a hell of a voice and gives a nuanced and dramatically convincing performance.

‘Broadway Baby,’ from Follies is a multilayered song. On the face of it, a crowd-pleasing belter, underneath, there is so much more going on. This is a number about hope and youthful optimism delivered by an older woman who has been through the professional mill. Dahliah Rivers not only looks stunning but manages to hit all the emotional notes in a barnstorming performance.

Blü Romantic dredges up an old unflattering review to turn the tables on a couple of critics siting not a million miles away from us…….! Hats off to Blü.

The four clowns deliver a playful and endearing ‘Giants in the Sky.’ Last - but certainly not least - to step up to the mic, is Fatt Butcher, who slays ‘Being Alive.’ This was a towering interpretation of thrilling emotional commitment.

And so, to Sweeney Todd, here Queeny Todd; a difficult show to parody in this way. Difficult, in that it is through-composed and therefore not easy to pull out musical numbers. As a result, there is less musical content than we might have had in previous shows. At the same time, the sheer outrageous tasteless of the original show concept seems to give The Clowns licence to throw all inhibition out of the window. Really, nothing is sacred, and the result is, as one expects from this gloriously innovative company, anarchic, hilarious, and very outstanding indeed. Brava

Another brilliant show from this unique and wonderful set of performers.

Cast

Blü Romantic/ Dahliah Rivers/ Fatt Butcher/ Alana Boden