The Funky Hot Mamas are Leigh Wilson and Lou Day, and yesterday evening at the Fortune Theatre they brightened up Dunedin’s sudden cold snap with their show Confessions of a Pop Tart.

Wilson and Day say that spontaneity is important in their work and that there are never two shows the same. Their detailed set looks like a suburban beauty salon equipped with a bar and microphones, and they start off as "two tarts in tight skirts" and later move on to muu-muus, Abba-style glitter, and the odd bit of cross-dressing.

They are funny. Cheerfully crass, they do a nice line in the kind of self-deprecating humour that many women performers are good at, contrasted nicely with aggressive confidence. And they don’t mind looking silly as they battle with too-tight clothes, badly-fitting wigs, and, just occasionally, each other.

They can sing. My own favourites were Day’s Elvis imitation and Wilson’s energetic rendition of Broadway Baby, but there’s a lot to like, mostly music from the sixties and seventies.

Their strong point, though, is the way they get the audience involved, sometimes going so far as to bribe people with free drinks. Last night they managed to get just about everyone on their feet, doing ridiculous dances in the tiny spaces between the Fortune’s rows of seats. And a very special mention must go to the charming young man who allowed himself to be enticed on to the stage, dosed with vodka, and dressed in a sparkly minidress, Carmen Miranda headpiece, and purple feather boa.

Confessions of a Pop Tart is insubstantial, loud, likeable, and lots of fun. The Fortune was almost full last night – women predominated, but the men present seemed to be enjoying themselves every bit as much. The season will run until Friday.

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