Running weekly on Friday nights at the subterranean Cafe De Paris just off Piccadilly Circus you’ll discover the Black Cat Cabaret.
This new cabaret review has been put together by the team behind the Boom Boom Club and La Reve, and features a whole host of different entertainments in this remarkable space, which would you believe is a copy of the RMS Titanic’s grand ballroom, but in miniature.
The Black Cat Cabaret is billed as ‘burlesque’ entertainment, although that’s probably over-gilding the lily as only one of the performances we saw was particularly revealing, where Missy Macabre discreetly flashes a bare boob or two during an elaborate dance involving huge plumes of yellow feathers. The show is compared by the terrifically metrosexual Dusty Limits, a rather fine tenor, and also features the singing duo Eastend Cabaret, who have a good line in extremely saucy songs – I’m sure that your mother wouldn’t mind but I’m not sure about your gran!
The visual entertainment at Black Cat Cabaret comes in several forms, including the rather sinister pig-faced fire-eating Chrisalys who does things with a candelabra you wouldn’t believe. The people sharing our downstairs booth were as convinced as we were that the huge, hot plumes of flame he produced were going to burn through the velour and velvet covering the walls and ceiling at any moment! Also on stage was one of those supremely fit gymnasts that exhibit almost superhuman strength – at certain points performer Sammy Dinneen was supporting his entire body at ninety degrees from the floor with just one arm! Also notable was the mime artist David Armand – I won’t spoil the secret, but this is not the French style of mime that you might expect. Let’s just say that you’ll never think about Queen’s hits in quite the same way again.
Bringing up the rear so to speak, were the ballet-trained can-can dancers Cabaret Rouge (you can’t really say that you’ve had a proper night of entertainment in a Parisian-inspired setting without those layers and layers of skirts flying about) and aerialist Katharine Arnold from the La Soiree troupe.
For those wanting to push the boat out, you can also dine while enjoying an evening at the Black Cat Cabaret. However, even if you’re not eating, the venue’s circular space and large balcony means that you can get a good view of the action on stage from almost every point in the venue.
I really enjoyed my evening at last week’s Black Cat Cabaret – I thought there was a great mix of performers and some real talent on show. One minor niggle is the drinks prices that tend to come with these basement venues in the West End – £6 for a 330ml bottle of ordinary beer is a little naughty, although I’m sure that’s down to the venue rather than the cabaret team.
You can find out more about their next outing online here, and follow them on Twitter if you want to discover what other people are saying.