The Puppini Sisters are what happens when you take three classically trained girls from the Trinity School of Music, squeeze them into cocktail dresses, and get them to sing contemporary(ish) songs such as Panic by the Smiths in close-harmonised 1940s style in the mould of the Andrews Sisters. The unusual idea has not quite taken the country by storm, but they are attracting old and young fogeys. Many are dressed so accurately for the occasion that you half expect an announcement of losses in the Blitz.

At their best, it really is like being blasted back and forth through time as their sublimely eerie vocals coo through the swing era (the Chordettes' Mr Sandman) to the Bronte era (Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights, actually a hit in 1977). However, their time machine full of glitter and risque jokes occasionally lands at less encouraging destinations, conjuring up the ghastly "light entertainment" that scarred 1970s daytime TV programmes like Pebble Mill at One.

Things perk up after an interval during which they go off to "powder their noses" - which, for once, means exactly what it says. Freshly made-up and with yet more dazzling cocktail outfits, the music takes new twists, not least a bizarre Heart of Glass, or when their backing band (blokes in trilbies on double bass and drums) beat out rhythms by stamping on the stage.

The Sisters (who are not really sisters, and only petite Marcella actually has the surname "Puppini") need more challenging material. Maybe they should tackle Antony & the Johnsons, or Anarchy in the UK.

· At the Purcell Room, London SE1, on November 13. Box office 0207-960 42