Preview: Jesus Wept, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Confessions of a boozy battle-axe

The New York duo Kiki and Herb have been entertaining audiences with their melodramatic cabaret act for more than a decade. Kiki, the boozy chanteuse in a blond wig and Swinging Sixties dresses, is the stage persona of Justin Bond; Kenny Mellman's Herb mans the piano.

The pair intersperse renditions of pop songs - currently including Kate Bush's "Running up That Hill", The Cure's "Let's Go to Bed" - and indie-rock covers with tragic monologues. Now the pair bring Jesus Wept, A Christmas Concert to London, an updated version of Jesus Wept, their Obie-award-winning show.

The duo have travelled the world with their shows. They recently supported the Scissor Sisters and Rufus Wainwright, and once performed at Madonna's birthday party.

Bond has also sung with his friend Antony, of Antony and the Johnsons, in New York. He studied classical acting in London, but he became "allergic" to the idea of working with theatre directors. He moved to San Francisco in 1988 and he later assumed the persona of Kiki, described by Bond as "a 70-year-old alcoholic battle-axe with a throat full of razor blades", as an original birthday present for a friend.

Mellman studied composition at the University of California at Berkeley, "but got fed up with the music department". He switched to poetry, but then dropped out to become "a show hound" after meeting Bond in 1992.

The Christmas show combines tragic monologues about Kiki's life growing up with Herb in a children's home, with political and social commentary, interspersed with songs, including a few Christmas favourites, such as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

"I got a bit bored with performing Kiki, having been her for so many years," admits Bond, "and so we came up with some new material, and I'm loving it again."

13 and 14 December (0870 3800 400; www.rfh.org.uk)