Fascinating Aïda is a British comedy singing group and satirical cabaret act which was founded in March 1983 by Dillie Keane, along with Marilyn Cutts and Lizzie Richardson. The members have varied frequently, but the central two have been Adele Anderson – who joined the group in 1984 – and Keane. The trio started performing in a West End wine bar, but they soon caught the attention of the media and performed on television for the first time in July 1983.
Over the years they gained a growing fanbase and national popularity, earning three Olivier Award nominations for Best Entertainment, in 1995, 2000 and 2004. They were voted ‘Most Popular Act 1985’ by City Limits magazine, and also earned a Perrier Comedy Award nomination. The group broke up in 1989 and subsequently reformed in 1994, performing for a further ten years, releasing a number of albums, before breaking up again in 2004. Their 20th anniversary show, One Last Flutter, in November 2003 at the Comedy Theatre in London, when original member Marilyn Cutts joined the group for one last time. The show earned the group their third Olivier Award nomination.
Liza Pulman joined in early 2004. That year, they performed their show Absolutely Fabulous twice in New York. First in June for the Brits Off-Broadway Festival, then from September to November at the Acorn Theatre, Manhattan. The show earned them a 2005 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Revue. In 2007, Keane stated on the welcome page on the Fascinating Aïda official website that “Next year will be our 25th anniversary so we really want to do a new show to celebrate”.
The group wrote songs for radio and television programmes such as Stop the Week, After Hours, People Like Us and the breakfast broadcaster TV-am. Some of their most famous songs include Shattered Illusions, Herpes Tango, Lieder and Taboo. They were the subject of several BBC documentaries. All the current members are also established actresses, mainly in musical theatre. Dillie Keane is also a writer, having written a column in The Stage magazine for ten years, and written two books, The Joy of Sequins in 1995 and Fascinating Who? in 1985. Keane says she now spends her time “juggling acting, cabaret and writing”.
After the death in 2007 of the group’s pianist and musical director Russell Churney, plans for a new show were shelved. It was announced in early March 2008 that they would get together again for a short spell of concerts and possibly a brief tour to celebrate their 25th anniversary, and the show would include new songs. In 2008 they performed at the Jermyn Street Theatre, followed by three nationwide tours. Recently, a Fascinating Aïda Official YouTube Channel was created, which shows various past performances and details event dates, and the new website was set up. They have in the past been described as “Absolutely Fabulous meets Noel Coward, as sung by the Andrew Sisters.”
In April 2009, Fascinating Aïda released a new album followed by a DVD called “Silver Jubilee” in July 2010, filmed at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. They brought the show to New York in their show which was entitled “Absolutely Miraculous”, and was nominated for two Drama Desk Awards in May 2010. They completed a tour of South Africa and then opened successfully in the Charing Cross Theatre in the autumn of 2011, before starting a UK tour.
