REVIEW: Skank Sinatra and Dolly Diamond Deliver a Brilliantly Funny Drag Homage To Mel Brooks’ Classic with THE PERFORMERS.
THE PERFORMERS
Friday 20th February 2026, 9pm, The Loading Dock Theatre QTOPIA Sydney
Drag Divas Skank Sinatra (Jens Radda) and Dolly Diamond(Michael Dalton) have joined forces for a brilliantly funny new cabaret musical THE PERFORMERS. Big wigs, sparkling bling, sky high heels and fabulous frocks come together with high camp classic drag mime and original music for a fun new show for Sydney’s Mardi Gras season.
Drawing inspiration from a little musical currently playing on the West End about trying to stage a flop to evade debts, THE PERFORMERS pairs the wonderful ‘odd couple’ of Drag Queens as they work out a way to clear their Edinburgh Fringe debts and avoid deportation. While the audience serves as Dolly and Skank’s fictional audience, they are also taken backstage, with a series of amusing mime effects, to witness the seemingly fractured friendship and the fear the two have around not being able to raise enough money to save them.
In classic cabaret fashion, they reference contemporary culture, pushing the limits as expected of a drag cabaret with the amusing responses from the audience when the impending gag becomes clear. Dolly delivers some more classic Drag mime numbers while Skank sings new numbers in multiple languages, referencing her heritage as growing up in South Africa and having Danish heritage before her parents migrated to Australia. The two join forces for duets that also play up their differences with Skank being a leggy blonde and Dolly a curvy brunette. The intimate space of The Loading Lock Theatre allows for audience interaction and Skank and Dolly are well versed at interacting and reacting to the audience making for a wonderfully unique experience where the audience feel safe throughout.
THE PERFORMERS is a wonderful opportunity to escape the real world for an hour and bask in the joy that is a brilliantly funny Drag show by two dazzling Divas. While the Sydney Mardi Gras engagement was only a short season, hopefully Skank Sinatra and Dolly Diamond will bring it back for an encore season.
The Performers - Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
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