Hang on to your hats, La Clique is back and ready to leave audiences gasping again. After raking in £3.5 million and an Olivier award at the Hippodrome during its first run, this eye-popping variety vehicle has returned and wowed the crowd in Chalk Farm last night.

The eclectic line-up has been significantly tweaked, but La Clique 2.0 still scored plenty of bullseyes, despite a royally misfiring start. Drag artiste Gerry Connolly welcomed everyone, in the guise of the Queen, with a speech full of over-ripe gags before transgressive trapeze twosome the Wau Wau Sisters started the party for real with their anarchic comic acrobatics, setting the tone of the evening, a delicate balancing act of sexiness and clowning.

Each new recruit has been chosen very cannily. Marawa was a kind of leopard-print Betty Boop, playfully spinning umpteen hula hoops on stage and even suspended in the air, which was a new one on me. Sultry singer Meow Meow was also a sublime mix of laughs and loucheness, combining knockabout comedy with a knockout vampish voice.

There really is something for everyone here. Sam Alvarez and his enviable six-pack spiralled on a chain up to the Roundhouse rafters and got a particularly vocal cheer from the women in the stalls. For me though, the real hit was Sweden’s Carl-Einar Hackner. This blond-locked buffoon is a brilliantly silly Ikea Tommy Cooper, pulling endless magic shop tricks out of his tatty bag. Clearly a perfect addition to the dysfunctional Clique family.

As for the returning cast, if there is a better juggling Freddie Mercury tribute act than Mario Queen of the Circus I have not seen it. And Ursula Martinez was also a hoot reprising her post-modern striptease and magic, hiding nothing up her sleeve or anywhere else. Veteran roller duo The Skating Willers, Jean Pierre Poissonnet and Wanda Azzario, offered a display of death-defying skating. The blood dripping from Wanda’s arm after one stunt was clearly real.

If there is a minor quibble it is the venue, which although the right shape for an in-the-round show, is a shade too cavernous. The Hippodrome had more intimacy. But by the end the temperature was soaring. A red hot thrill of a night.

Until 17 January. Information: 0844 482 8008. www.lacliquelondon.com