The Pussycat Dolls review – Nicole Scherzinger’s star power dominates fraught reunion

First announced in 2019 and now launching with just three of the original lineup, the Dolls whip up a whirlwind of hair-flipping and put on a decent spectacle

The road to the Pussycat Dolls’ comeback tour has been fraught. Originally announced in 2019 with all but one of the group’s original members on board, the pandemic and then a legal dispute, led to its cancellation. After a few years of silence, three members – Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts and Kimberly Wyatt – shared plans for a 53-date world tour as a trio. Poor ticket sales nixed the US leg, though, while Maga-supporting former member Jessica Sutta alleged she was left out of the reunion because she was viewed as “a liability” (the group did not comment).

Does a girlband ostensibly created as a dance troupe work as a trio? While Scherzinger’s voice pushed them into pop stardom – they scored six UK Top 3 hits in their initial 2005-09 run – their appeal was largely the fierce group choreography. On stage in Birmingham, they give it their best go. The nearly two-hour show is a whirlwind of hair-flipping, booty-shaking and synchronised strutting. Throughout When I Grow Up, Beep and I Don’t Need a Man, Scherzinger is still on lead vocals, predictably so after her recent Tony award-winning run on Broadway in Sunset Blvd. Roberts and Wyatt are given some time to shine, though: their solos amid the clacking pots-and-pans percussion of Wait a Minute feel pointed, as if to say that, yes, their mics are on.

Each member also gets their own solo section to varying degrees of success. Wyatt’s, for some reason, involves a strange faux DJ set, while Roberts, showing off her dancing skills, is more restrained. Scherzinger gets the most airtime, beginning with a vocally impressive version of Sunset Blvd’s As If We Never Said Goodbye complete with X Factor-style cascading pyrotechnics, before her white gown is unwound like toilet paper for a breathless joyride through her solo material. Thundering Eurodance ballad Don’t Hold Your Breath and the cacophonous EDM of Wet are particular highlights.

It’s all very entertaining, but uneven, with Roberts and Wyatt struggling against Scherzinger’s imperious star power. With more members, this inequality may not have mattered, and in the final act – especially during honking 2020 single React and the slinky Buttons, which features a dance break by students from Wyatt’s dance academy – the scales seem to just about level out. Whether this imbalance is sustainable remains unknown, but it works for tonight’s spectacle, at least.

• The Pussycat Dolls play Leeds First Direct Bank Arena, 2 October; then touring UK until 13 October