‘The first place that really understood me was London’
Touring The Rise & Fall of Little Voice will be US actress, singer and impressionist Christina Bianco’s first job in the UK since moving permanently to London at the start of February.
It’s a play which will offer the perfect showcase for all the skills which made Christina a YouTube sensation.
The Olivier Award-Winning comedy-drama from Jim Cartwright – famously a film starring Jane Horrocks and Michael Caine – is set in Scarborough, North Yorkshire 1992. Meet Little Voice and Mari Hoff, a mother and daughter as far apart in character as can be. Left to her own devices, Little Voice starts to embody the famous divas she plays on repeat, from Judy Garland to Shirley Bassey…
The show heads to Southampton’s Mayflower Studios from next Wednesday to next Saturday (March 23 to 26); Horsham’s Capitol from March 28 to April 2; and the Theatre Royal Brighton from April 25 to 30 – all part of Christina’s new life living in London – and the perfect start.
Christina captured international acclaim as a YouTube sensation with her diva impression videos, gaining more than 25million views. Dubbed ‘the girl of a thousand voices,’ Christina has performed on shows including The Ellen Degeneres Show. She has also performed her critically acclaimed concerts to sold-out crowds in NYC and across the US.
In the UK, she’s enjoyed extended runs headlining at London’s Hippodrome and The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
This is a country she has long had an affinity with.
“When I first started out as a concert performer, my YouTube went viral and I was being booked all over the world but it seemed that the first place that really got me and really understood me in a true way was London and the London audiences. After London I was playing in lots of other cities and in Scotland and in Wales and I found that there was something just wonderful, this ease, this wonderful connection.
“But as long as I can remember I’ve always gravitated towards a lot of British arts and TV. I was watching Fry & Laurie before I knew what they were talking about and I was a huge Monty Python fan and I absolutely loved Absolutely Fabulous and I do think that has helped me with my accents and dialect work. I remember being quite little and Four Weddings and a Funeral came out on video and my parents kept pausing it and saying ‘What was that? What did they say? Can you rewind that?’
Christina watched the scenes she wasn’t considered too young for: “I was just telling them what was being said and it seemed so easy. I could understand it perfectly. There was something in me that just got it. I used to think that I was just born on the wrong continent! Those are my people! And that’ s just part of the journey.
“But the lovely thing is that I have been getting such wonderful opportunities as an artist and performer in London and I’ve got an incredible agent over there.”