In previous years, West End musicals have been a recurring subject of satire and ridicule at Melbourne’s comedy festival. John Forman, Aurora Keith and Richard Vette, from the show All of Me: the Me’nage Dubois Story, are keen to continue that tradition by giving minimal homage to an otherwise grandiose medium.

The sparsely directed show traces the rise and fall of Menage Dubois, a bashful young girl from Dubbo in NSW, who wows the theatre establishment with her jazz rendition of ‘All of Me’ and with her impersonation of a regurgitating seagull.

Inevitably, her rise to international stardom is fleeting. After surviving an assassination attempt and the death of her billionaire husband Onassis, Dubois drunkenly performs to an empty RSL club. But all is not lost.

John Forman, also of The Four Noels, shines as the aged Dubois, and as her Michael Caine-inspired agent. He spends much of the show mocking members of the audience: yet another reminder to never sit in the front row. Richard Vette is outstanding as the poised choreographer with an indeterminable accent, and Aurora Keith’s understated physical comedy seems almost inexhaustible.

The highly energetic show is superbly directed and faultlessly performed, and proves yet again that costume design can win a surprising quantity of laughter: especially with Vette’s obscenely tight overalls. All of Me shows that English singer from the 1960s, Dusty Springfield, got off lightly.