‘Paris in a Jazz Age: The Memoirs of Eloise Defleur’ (Venue 43, until AUG 16th)

“As Eloise, Airlie Scott, sparkles like a coupe of champagne at one of Gatsby’s shindigs.”

There are moments in human history which excite the potential time-travelling tourist more than others. Shakespeare’s London and Edo-era Tokyo have to be pretty high on the list, but Paris in a Jazz Age might well top the itinerary. The Hot Jazz Vagabonds have hit upon a genius way to conjure the glitz and the glamour, the triumph and the tragedy of that sparkling moment of bold artistic achievement. They have created a spoken word memoir, a parade of memories recalled to us by a charming central character, Eloise DeFleur. Eloise is a British upper-crust vocalist who arrived on the scene to get down and flirty in the nightclubs and cafes of the French capital at its most intoxicating. On these pacy vignettes is hung a string of familiar jazz hits played as well as they have ever been played by anyone, anywhere, anywhen.

As Eloise, Airlie Scott, sparkles like a coupe of champagne at one of Gatsby’s shindigs. Best known for her Doris Day Show, Scott looks the part in a trés chic red sequin number that leaves plenty of room for fancy footwork. Eloise’s story is told with a passion so intense that it lifts us from our (really rather comfortable) Space Amphitheatre seats and onto rickety auld wooden numbers in a smokey backroom off the Rue Reine d’Écosse. Scott’s audience interactions are lively and elegant, her voice strong yet supple, owning each phrase and lyric like they were especially written for her. The band she’s leading are simply magnifique. Not a note not in place, not a beat missed, every swing a sensation.

This show was originally twice the length, and I would crawl over broken glass or maybe even use a French public toilet (if I really had to), to see the full version. As it is, distilled into its most essential, most vivacious, and most memorable triple-shot espresso form, it is a triumphal blend of music, theatre, comedy, and romance – the must-see late-night musical marvel of the moment. Come for the jazz. Stay for the sass. Get your cream double-breasted overcoats on and go see this!