Little Voice signals the start of Christina’s new life in UK
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 March 23-26; Horsham’s Capitol from March 28-April 2; and the Theatre Royal Brighton from April 25-30 – 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 25 million views. Dubbed ‘the girl of a thousand voices,’ Christina has performed on shows including The Ellen Degeneres Show. 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. I kept saying no to opportunities because it was too difficult to get there and it came to a time after I said no to lot of things that I was thinking what are the opportunities that actually excite me and so I started thinking that if I didn’t spend at least couple of years in London to see whether I can make a success of it, then I would always see that as a missed opportunity. I will be so grateful whatever happens. I don’t expect to move to London and get the red carpet rolled out and get a million jobs but I am confident that there will be good opportunities there and I know I would regret not trying. I do have faith that it will work out. The grass is always greener. I love New York and I have always lived in New York and I have lived in Manhattan since I was 17. We are a New York family but there is a kind of comfort that goes with that, and it is not like I won’t ever be able to go home again. I am a US citizen but there is a fascination for many Americans in seeing what it would be like to live in England.”