Mulan Rouge (Review)
TL:DR It’s almost like Mulan and Moulin Rouge shouldn’t go together, but my god they do in this drag-tastic cabaret show with a set that takes you to Paris
Yes you read that correctly, this is the Disney-Baz Luhrmann mash up that you never knew you wanted but are now super keen to see. Or is it understand how it would possibly work?
Brainchild of drag artist and founder of The Bitten Peach pan-Asian artist collective ShayShay, who has written and directed this gender-diverse, life-celebratory and frankly at points, filthy show. Throw in a dinner from Flavourology, the culinary team behind Gingerline, this had all the makings of a fantastic evening.
So as a first point of order. Immersive is a strong word for what this show was. While the audience were ‘taken to Paris’ (not a euphemism) to be punters of the cleewwwb (club) and occasionally called upon to give our shoddy shout-out advice as ‘ancestors’, there was no real ability to direct your own character, experience or story. In fact, it was confusing as to when we were supposed to take part and when we weren’t given that on different occasions in the evening you would get acidically read for not shouting out when you were supposed to but also if you shouted out of turn. Which made it feel on occasion a bit like school.
To put my stuffy academia hat on, it’s probably better described as a story-led panto-cabaret crossover, in a somewhat immersive setting in terms of the action happening around you. To throw that hat away with abandon, it was a riotously fun one of those.
So for those of you wondering how on earth Mulan and Moulin Rouge could be spliced together - it actually worked very well assuming you could get on board with the Huns invading Paris, which the audience seemed very disposed to do. The story was funny and ridiculous following the loves, lusts and lies of the various cartoonish characters and acted fabulously by the cast; from a terrifying Madamn with an Eartha Kitt purr by Ruby Wednesday to Hannah Maxwell’s bumbling and repressed but well meaning General Lee. We even got a right-on message about gender with on brand tongue-in-cheek delivery at the end.
The main story was interspersed with dinner, cocktails and cabaret acts including dancing (bravo Jacqui Bardelang), singing (bravo Grace Kelly Miller) and lip-syncs.
The dinner was served family style with four sharing from the same serving dishes, we were sharing with a lovely couple on date night (great choice). There was quite a long process to be seated (which involved name calling out and again felt a bit like being in school). I was a bit gutted to be seated with my back to the main action at one of the slightly cramped long tables down the side rather than the much more fun-looking and well-positioned cabaret tables in the middle, which unfortunately meant that I had to crane my neck around or turn with my back to the table altogether to watch the performance. I’m not sure what the logic was to be given a cabaret table but it looked like bigger groups (4s or so) seemed to be sat there.
The starter, baked camembert with a sweet chilli twist and the main dish, braised lamb and vegetables or ‘Le Mouton Rouge’, was delicious and pleasingly Christmassy feeling if not the super-highly imaginative concoction that I have come to know Gingerline for (I have once eaten some sort of sorbet grass lollipop on another planet with them, so forgive me if I have high standards). However with dessert the creativity seemed to come back with a vengeance - a Palestinian pastry (kataifi) bird’s nest topped with miso and chantilly cream and a pineapple slice. It was like nothing like I had ever eaten and pretty tasty to boot. My friend who was with me LOVED it.
Word of caution - watch out for the baijiu (Chinese spirit, if you haven’t come across it) cocktail. Delicious? Yes. Lethal? Also yes.
All in all this evening was great fun, the gorgeously bedecked crowd had a riotous time and walked out upbeat, hearts warmed. A great show for a group if you’re looking for something more than a little different this January.
