Jess returned from 2016’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the end of a fantastic month. This year’s show was bigger, bolder and better. Featuring over 100 impressions, more laughs, amazing vocal gymnastics and an impeccable live band.
Jess Robinson: Impressive sold out at The Pleasance Courtyard and Jess and her band enjoyed four and five star reviews, gaining another award – Pick of The Fringe 2016 (Arts Award Voice Award).
If ever there is an accurate show title in Fringe 2016 then I have seen it. Jess Robinson has this nailed down.
From the get in she and her hugely talented band are on stage as she encourages people to take their seats, some even given an on stage table. She is very smiley and welcoming. This done, Jess launches into what she does best, impressions, normally singing impressions where she masters everyone in seconds, hell the opening number alone has ninety nine of them.
The hour is rammed with some of the best impressions you could hope for, except men, she can’t do men she says, but she is telling the story of her divorce intermingled with the music.
The show has obviously been fine-tuned and the direction is top notch. It oozes class from the beginning and maintains this standard to the very end.
She has devices, the simple method of making angsty songs unangsty, playing musical chairs with the instruments and of course the funnies. Jess has all bases covered. Even her parents, who were actually present when I attended come under the microscope to great effect.
This show was an absolute delight to attend and I would thoroughly recommend getting a ticket if any are still available.
*****
– Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
Jess Robinson sings her way through the story of her divorce, embodying over 100 popular voices in her latest show, Impressive. Starting with a song that includes ninety- nine impressions, from Kate Bush to Julie Andrews, we are left wondering how she could possibly top it.
Robinson exceeds expectations, managing to perfectly impersonate both the mannerisms and voices of so many well known women. She delivers side-splitting comedy, mesmerising storytelling, sensational music and a good helping of improv. If you’ve ever wondered what a reggae Alanis Morissette would sound like, Robinson will show you. She is a character all on her own whose fast-paced approach entertains the audience from beginning to end.
No matter what your tastes this fringe, the tremendously talented Jess Robinson will entertain them all and leave you feeling truly impressed.
Boasting outstanding vocals, a brilliant sense of humour and multiple voices of many famous female celebrities, she literally blew us away.
From the moment I first sat down, Robinson impressed us all with her ability to sing in a variety of accents of famous celebrities from Alanis Morrisette to Janis Joplin.
And from then on, Robinson and her band managed to spoil the audience with a reggae version of Sinead O’Connor, amazing impressions of Natalie Cassidy who plays Sonia from Eastenders and an empowering and inspiring back story of Robinson’s divorce, detailing the five stages of grief that she went through over the past year. What can I say? Robinson’s performance was perfection and the relationship between the artists and the audience was fantastic.
Impressive, incredible, inspiring! You have got to see this show.
