For every Audra McDonald or Kristin Chenoweth, there are tens of thousands of young Broadway Babies who have dreamed of stardom, never made it, and retired to other careers or domestic life – and then there is Barbara Dixon!

Proudly boasting that she is the record holder for most audition rejections and warning that “I’m not here to fuck spiders”, Dixon unapologetically marches forward like Elaine Stritch on heat.

Broadway Barbara. Photo © Claudio Raschella

Of course, Barbara Dixon is an invention, a caricature of all the never say die hard failed ingenues with a complete lack of self-awareness. She is a brilliant and funny character in this delightfully vulgar and hilarious horror show of relentless ambition and ruthlessness.

Barbara was also making her Australian debut and it was a memorable one – if not necessarily for the right reasons. Everything’s Coming Up Roses was everything you would expect, and it was all downhill from there.

Let Me Entertain You became draped in irony when a rather aggressive attempt to replicate Gwen Verdon dance moves ended in Barbara prostrate on the floor, barely able to get up.

That...