Cabaret review: Brazil! Brazil! presents Latin live

With the Assembly Rooms making a welcome return to the Fringe, the new venue-runners wanted a late-night show to get people up and dancing. Well, they got exactly what they asked for. Failure to get swept up in this lively night of Latin music and song is not an option.

Rating: * * * *

If we’re sitting politely at first, enjoying the five-star musicianship of Cuban band Sonora la Calle, then the arrival of Brazilian singer Paloma Gomes changes all that. Within seconds, she’s got us all joining in on the chorus of popular song Mas que Nada (you’ll know it when you hear it).

Fellow vocalist Leo Almaguer also wakes up the crowd, with his smooth voice, sharp white suit and snaking hips. “Brazil and Cuba are like sisters,” he tells us – and he should know, having a parent from each country. Joined on stage by three female dancers, Almaguer and Gomes work their way through a set list of songs old and new, almost every one a party starter.

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Briefly, but beautifully, the pace is taken down a notch with a rendition of Chan Chan, one of the most famous songs to emerge from the Buena Vista Social Club. Equally, when Jose Padilla and Adrian el Milagro step forward from the band to sing Veinte Anos, there’s a precious moment of pure Cuban tradition.

Then it’s back to the kind of music and dance that defies you to stay in your seat, and with dancer Osvady Gainza taking control of the mic, we don’t stand a chance. Before the interval, he’s got the whole crowd on its feet – and it’s an audience that spans the generations – performing a few simple dance moves.

The line-up of this show will change as the Fringe progresses, especially when the capoeira dancers arrive after taking part in the Olympics closing ceremony, but the vibe will remain the same: hot.

Latin Live, we’re told during the introduction, has never happened before and will never happen again – so catch it while you can.

Kelly Apter

Until 26 August. Today 10:45pm.

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