La Ronde (The Grand Electric) ★★★½

Conceived by Scott Maidment. The Grand Electric. From October 16.

My neck is sore and my throat is dry — all because I spent 90 minutes, mouth ajar, staring up at the roof of the Grand Electric watching beautiful people spin around in the air. This is La Ronde (you have to say that last bit like you’re French and doing a voice over for the film 300 — This. Is. La Ronde!!!)

Sydney loves a sexy circus/acrobatics show, and between Sydney Festival, Mardi Gras Festival, Sydney Fringe Festival and more, we’ve had quite a few over the last couple of years. We’ve seen sexy guys in togas and dusty denim, one based on The Great Gatsby, one set in L’Hôtel, and plenty of camp ones with drag queens. But La Ronde (not to be confused with the classic play of the same name) comes from Strut & Fret — the team behind Blanc de Blanc and LIMBO — so it has a well-established pedigree.

Staged in the round (the clue is in the title), La Ronde doesn’t have a storyline; instead, it boasts a decadent, sexy aesthetic that holds it all together. The mood is set by the frankly enormous disco ball dominating the stage — this is a party. Once all the wannabe influencers have taken their photos in front of it the show begins.

The international cast each bring their own specialty and charm, with a mix of acts that make you want to book a Pilates class immediately. Aussie Zoë Marshall kicks the night off with some crowd-energising hair-hanging aerial work (reader: at this point I lost an hour trying to create a portmanteau of “hair” and “aerial”, but it never looked right — “haerial”? “hairial”?). Melburnian Adam Malone combines muscles and make-up for two drag-infused acts — an energetic hoop number and an upside-down balancing “Washington Trapeze”. Proof that drag queens can do everything the others can — only backwards, upside down, and in heels.

Danik Abishev is a muscled master of balance. Just when I joked that they wouldn’t dare attempt a fire stunt… he sets his tools alight and continues to defy gravity. Ukrainian-born trapeze artist Diana Bondarenko, making her Australian debut with the show, works the pyramid trapeze, while fellow Ukrainian Sergiy Mishchurenko performs beautifully on the aerial pole.

Meanwhile, singer Geniris belts out big party hits throughout the night in outfits as gravity-defying as any of the acrobatic acts we see. Her rich vocals are gorgeous, but the acoustics of the Grand Electric get a little muddy at times (I swear I thought she was singing “I’m coming UP” instead of “I’m coming OUT”).

But in this sea of swirling sex appeal, one act stood out above all the others for giving the audience what they really wanted — British clown-about-town Sam Goodburn. Surrounded by the smouldering, hard bodies of his show-mates, Sam strips down to his pasty white skin with the confidence only a slightly delusional Brit could muster, while dispensing Jammy Dodgers like a rogue vending machine. His mix of balance, precision footwork, and expert comedic timing were the clear highlights of the night — proof, if ever needed, that at the end of the day we just want a man who can make us laugh.

La Ronde is good fun and doesn’t stray far from the format of Strut & Fret’s past hits. This will undoubtedly be a hit with corporate parties as we approach the silly season, and with those wanting something a little friskier for their night out.