Cabaret XXX‘s three femme fatales have perished in a plane crash. Their demise leaves the actresses playing loved ones and hangers-on gathered at a funeral to carry out last wishes as scribbled on crumpled red cocktail napkins that somehow survived the crash. Their primary request? “Make the bitches sing.”

With the help of funeral director Anderson Wells and their backup band The Exes, constants Karen Lange and Allyson Harkey, and a returning Toni Rae Salmi take turns choosing tunes from Memorial XXX Cabaret Song Book with the intent to mourn, rock, and otherwise “burn this fucking tent to the ground and salt the ashes.”

With the Baldacchino Gypsy Tent going out of service after this year’s festival, it’s fitting that the XXX ladies, rocking the space now for the fourth year running, should have one last hurrah there.

Last year’s show left me wishing for an online clip of Lange singing “Shake it Off” and Harkey doing “Creep” to play on repeat; I had to settle for the Florence and the Machine and Radiohead versions. This year didn’t make me want to trade in my Pink singles. Selections have their moments but can be uneven and not quite as powerful or memorable as years past. Last year a “mash-up to end all mash-ups” brought the tent down. According to the tried and true formula, there’s another one in what’s now version four of this series. But it’s less raucous in this attempt. This part of the show feels more like throwing as many intros to hits against the wall as can possibly be squeezed in. Less, thoughtfully woven and mixed together, would have been more.

With everyone fucking dead, is it the end of the road for this particular cabaret crew? It may or may not be. It could be time to move on to try something new.

Everybody F*cking Dies is playing at the Baldacchino Gypsy Tent. Remaining performances are at:

Tuesday, July 22 at 8 p.m.
Thursday, July 24 at 9:45 p.m.
Friday, July 25 at 9 p.m.
Sunday, July 27 at 3:30 p.m.