The Hour

Burlesque beauty Ali McGregor is dazzling Edinburgh with her new Fringe show. Backed by a trio of the finest jazz musicians, Ali McGregor’s Jazz Cigarette features classic jazz ballads and sassy blues made famous by Bille Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Britney Spears.

Australian Ali studied music at university and has tried her hand at acting, burlesque dancing and cabaret. She said: “I think I have a really short attention span. I’ve never really thought I could do just one type of thing. I was in Opera Australia and I got taken on by La Clique.

“I sang opera in that show and I also sang another couple of little songs. I got lured into the world of cabaret during that show so I started exploring the more comic side of things.”

Ali created the show The Opera Burlesque in 2005 to introduce more people to opera. The show was first performed in The Famous Spiegeltent in Melbourne and later at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. She then took the show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2006.

The blonde bombshell was inspired by the pop genius of Britney Spears, which convinced her to go back to her musical roots. She said: “I decided to make my first album, so I went back to the type of songs I wanted to sing.”

Her latest show is being performed at the Fringe for one week only. Ali said: “I did the opening weekend and when I booked this I hadn’t had my baby yet, and I didn’t know if she’d be a good baby or not, so I thought I would just do a half season.”

The talented lady has her own variety show, Ali McGregor's Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night, which is a fixture at The Melbourne International Comedy Festival. In 2009 she hosted the show at The Assembly Rooms for an entire, sold-out season to rave reviews. Her guests included comedians Jimmy Carr and Simon Amstell.

Ali's very first radio show a pilot called Curiosity Killed the Cabaret,  will be on BBC Radio 4 on August 24 at 11pm.

 Ali McGregor's Jazz Cigarette will be showing at the Assembly Rooms from August 23-30 at 8pm.

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

• Watch Ally perform a jazz-style version of a Britney Spears pop classic
• View STV's Edinburgh Festival pages