Last night I had the pleasure of attending the latest extravaganza staged at the Pearl. The Pearl is a nightclub, which occupies the space of a former Japanese Buddhist temple in the Hongkew (Hongkou) district of Shanghai. It is located on Zhapu Road, a narrow street filled with dive restaurants in this old district of town. The temple goes back to the pre-Liberation era, when this area of town used to be known as Little Tokyo, with a large Japanese population. The divey neighborhood and the noir-esque road, along with the chrysanthemums that decorate the exterior and interior of the old temple enhance the atmosphere of the club. The club features a large main hall with a staircase leading to halls with theater rooms with open balconies on two stories above, so that people can look down at the main hall and its performances from different vantage points. The lavish red interior, old Japanese décor, and open design create a theatrical environment that is unique in the city.

Moulin Dreams is an interactive theater event. It involves a combination of song-and-dance routines on the main stage and on the balconies above the main floor. Meanwhile, characters from 1890s Paris, 1920s Chicago, and 1930s Shanghai run around the club acting out mini-dramas, which guests can follow if they so desire. On the third floor is a casino with craps, blackjack and roulette tables. All of this is designed to immerse the guests in a dreamy environment combining stories and legends from these different cities and time periods. Guests can decide how much they want to interact with the players in the dramas. 

The musical acts are taken largely from the film Moulin Rouge by Baz Lurman, which came out 20 years ago in the theaters. The film got mixed reviews, and probably this re-staging will as well. The music scenes and some of the characters are directly taken from the film, so if you enjoyed the film, you will probably appreciate the reenactments. Main characters include a stunning Russian woman playing club singer Satine (she performed Madonna at the Pearl last month, spectacularly), a young man performing the starry-eyed writer who falls in love with her (originally that pair were played by Ewen Macgregor and Nicole Kidman) and an older gent portraying the Moulin Rouge impresario, Charles Zidler (originally played by Jim Broadbent). Woven in with the Moulin Rouge characters are several Chinese characters from 1930s Shanghai, including a gangster and a handsome pair of ill-fated lovers, whose story mirrors that of the writer and Satine. Meanwhile, there’s also a scene or two from the musical film Chicago, with a blond-wigged actress playing the part originally played by Renee Zellweger in the film. 

As the story progresses, after an initial set of song-and-dance pieces, guests are urged to go up to the second or third floor. On the second floor, you may find “true love.” The third floor, where the casino is located, may lead to “money and power.” It seems that most of the guests preferred to stay on the third floor, which really did feel like it could have been a casino back in 1930s Shanghai. The second floor has a set of private rooms, and it was awkward to venture into them where some of the dramas were unfolding. It was also challenging at first to separate the guests from the performers, since many guests dressed themselves up in 1920s-30s style outfits. But from the third floor you could capture some of the dramas below, and the spotlights shown on the singers who were performing at any given time. 

Among the highlights of the show are the women who perform on rings, nets, and red sashes suspended from the ceiling. We all watched mesmerized as they did their sinuous performances while suspended above the main hall.

All in all, I’d give this show an A+ for effort. The actors and actresses immersed themselves into their characters and gave excellent song-and-dance performances. The only caveat is that I felt the second-floor antics could be better managed, perhaps with some guides leading the guests into different rooms, since otherwise it can feel like an awkward invasion of someone’s privacy.

This is a very cool attempt to rekindle not only the fantasy environment of 1930s Shanghai, but also that of Montmartre at its decadent height, when the Moulin Rouge with its iconic windmill reigned supreme over the city’s nocturnal creatures and launched a new era of nightlife for Paris and the world. Perhaps a giant hollow elephant would complete the show. 

For more info about the Pearl, see this website: https://www.smartshanghai.com/venue/10489/the_pearl