Understanding the origin of the instabilities of LBVs is important for shedding light on the late evolutionary stages of massive stars and on the chemical evolution of galaxies. To investigate the physical nature of variable stars in the upper H-R diagram, we performed a spectrophotometric study of the Romano's star GR 290 and the Hubble-Sandage variables A, B, and C in the close galaxy M 33. New spectroscopic and photometric data were employed in conjunction with already published data of these stars in order to derive spectral types, energy distribution and bolometric luminosities.