An energetic slice of France

By BERNADETTE RAE

Paris Can Can, a two-hour spectacular with 30 ravishing dancers and scores of extravagant costumes, is doing for the traditional knees-up of latter-day Montmartre prostitutes what Riverdance did for old Irish dancing, says its creator Patrice Marques.

"We bring Paris to the whole world," he says. And while that means just one small area of Paris, the music halls of old Paris are, in Marques' view, as much a significant part of the city and its history, as the Eiffel Tower.

The idea for the show came in part from the success of Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge, the film starring Nicole Kidman.

The show reflects the cabaret lifestyle of the place and time.

"You cannot do cancan for two hours, non-stop," says the charming Monsieur Marques. "So we have also a singer, in the Piaf style, plus an aerial act."

But there are three separate cancan routines, each about eight minutes long, which get the show rocking.

Paris Can Can has been touring for two years, since its inception. It has found a ready audience in America, which adopted continental burlesque as its own in the latter half of the 19th century, frequently referred to as "burleycue" or "leg show", characterised by vulgar dialogue and broad comedy as well as uninhibited behaviour by performers and audience alike.

The original dance was first performed in 1822, beginning as a hybrid of the polka and quadrille. Originally the French word "cancan" meant "scandal" or "edge", since it was usually danced on the edge of the stage, and afforded scandalous views of bare thighs above stocking tops, and perhaps a pair of frilled knickers.

It was outlawed as immoral and indecent for some years, and was prohibited by the Paris police, eventually finding its place as a dance finale in revues and musical comedies.

Marques was particularly amazed by the reception his showtime revival had in Asia, where it received the first standing ovation in his long career in show business.

Paris Can Can has also toured Europe, with performances in France, Portugal, Belgium and Norway before the trip downunder. After the Auckland season it will play in Sydney and Melbourne.

Marques' career as a producer of spectacular entertainments on both sides of the Atlantic began when he was 18 years old. His first job was working the lights at the Lido. At 24 he went to the United States to further his knowledge and ended up touring with Phantom of the Opera, Anything Goes, Camelot, The King and I, several shows with the magician David Copperfield, and a number of large ice spectaculars.

In 1995 he was invited back to the Lido to direct a show called C'est Magique which premiered the following year. He then created and produced the first touring production of the Lido, Lido La Tournee, which debuted in 1998 and has been touring internationally ever since.

He held auditions in both London and Paris to create the cast we will see of Paris Can Can. The English women tend to come more from a ballet background, he notes, while the French women are more acrobatically oriented. And 12 of the 30 dancers are men. The average age is 24 and they all dance hard for their suppers.

Eight minutes in each of the cancan routines leaves them totally breathless and unable to speak for several minutes, says Marques. The whole show is demanding and extremely physical.

"But they love every minute of it because the audience is always so responsive. That is what dancers work for really - not the money, the applause."

Performance

* What: Paris Can Can

* Where and when: The Civic, June 22-26