By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 8 October, runs to 16 October 2022 RUNTIME: 170 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

The best bit during this celebration of the 3rd series of BBC’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is when it is compered by runner-up queens Ella Vaday and Kitty Scott-Claus (see pictured below) who have real warmth and charisma.

• Read on for reasons including how queens Kitty Scott-Claus and Ella Vaday are the stand-outs here

Scott-Claus is the funniest thing on this stage, slips effortlessly into a spot-on Cilla Black impression at 1 point and the pair even manage to give their own 11-date Christmas tour a plug including a gig at London’s Clapham Grand on 23 December.

We love our drag queens and we want our Drag Race UK contestants to be able to make us laugh, to interact with us, singing is a bonus and lip-synching, while fun, isn’t where our condragulations are won.

Each of the 12 queens in this season is given their moment to shine in an overlong near 3-hour show and Scott-Claus’ Spice Girls’ inspired routine is our highlight with Vaday’s take on Moulin Rouge a classy moment.

Elsewhere there are a lot of standing ovations and Vanity Milan lipsynchs for her life in tribute to Beyonce and Choriza May gives us a very funny and saucy vignette which includes a routine to Spanish Eurovision runner-up SloMo by Chanel.

The emphasis is very much on individual performance and we think it’s a real shame that the girl group numbers that appear in the show – 2 versions of Big Drag Energy featured in this season (see The Slice Girls’ below) – have not to our knowledge featured in this touring version of Drag Race UK.

We saw the season 2 tour shantay you stay at this venue earlier this year and would like to take this moment to pay tribute to the recently dearly departed Cherry Valentine who featured.

We were sat two rows behind TV’s Linda Robson, from Birds Of A Feather, and the most surreal moment of the night was when she responded to Lemon’s calls for crisps and threw a bag onstage.

There’s nothing quite so memorable at this 2,300-seater venue tonight or an act that is seriously going places such as Bimini Bon Boulash who we still think is destined for far bigger stages.

One improvement is a quick run through some of the more memorable lipsynchs from the show and the quick-fire nature of the segment with some incredibly catchy pop, some footage from the series and some killer looks from the queens is a lot of fun.

The tour remains a celebration of the season’s entire cast and if you’re looking for something more from your favourite star of the show then it’s perhaps best to seek them out in their own solo, or even double act, show.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Ticketmaster UK Tickets
• Have you heard any of these songs or seen any of these shows? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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