Paris Underground Cabaret

Duck out of the build up heat and into the steamy streets of France at the Paris Underground Cabaret. 

By Tamara Howie

Co-creator and director Richard Vegas says the show ties together many elements of cabaret and burlesque performance.

“We’ve got a high proportion of magic in the show,” he says.

“There are illusions as well as classical and original stage magic, plus classic entertainment like tap dancing, burlesque and circus performances.

“The singers, dancers, aerial artists and illusionists will seduce and intoxicate the audience with a show that sits as a cross between Moulin Rouge, with a touch of Crazy Horse, high-art circus theatre, comedy and magic cabaret.” 

The show started out a long way from Paris in Melbourne at Red Bennies, where after an eight-week season in 2013, Vegas says he realised there was something special about the show.

“It was the way people reacted and let us know how much they loved the whole show – not just certain performances. That rang bells and I thought ‘hang on, we’ve got something really special here’,” Vegas says. 

“We’ve got this alchemy with this show, which is just the right mix of the type of performance and the performers themselves, so it’s gone from strength to strength.”

The show features Vegas as MC Monsieur Marveaux; one of Australia’s few female magicians, Julia Madotti; circus artist and dancer Hannah Trott; tap-dancer Eden Read; singer Aurora Kurth; and burlesque showgirl Mimi Le Noir. 

In the five years since its inception, the Paris Underground Cabaret has toured all over the country and is finally heading to the Top End.

“We’re very excited about coming to Darwin, more excited than anywhere else we’ve been this year, to be absolutely honest,” Vegas says.

Thu 25 – Sun 28 Oct | 8pm | Darwin Entertainment Centre | See the event listing