Dan Pengelly as Pierre the Compere, (left), David Ladderman, Darlene Mohekey, Geoff Gilsen, and Lizzie Tollemache. Photo / Supplied
WHAT: Club Cabaret
WHERE: Blue Baths
WHEN: January 12-February 9. Check website for performance days and nights
"Life is a cabaret old chum … come to the cabaret."
That's as Liza Minnelli sang it in the movie Cabaret, set in Berlin.
But there's no need to go to Germany for a good slice of cabaret-style entertainment, just head for the Blue Baths.
Yet again this hub of Rotorua entertainment has turned it on with a summer show that has everything going for it.
Sultry night club music, a touch of opera, a three-way tango, very clever slight-of-hand tricks, a male pole dancer with the physique of a muscle-bound stallion, a female escapologist who all but out-Houdinis Houdini, Club Cabaret presents a programme that keeps on growing.
Bringing us this fine show of assorted all sorts is Blue Baths creative director Darlene Mohekey who had such a big hit on her hands a few months back with the tailored-for-children panto Buttercup.
With Club Cabaret this multi-talented multi-tasking woman's come full circle, this is predominantly a show for adults complete with double entendres and some suggestive moves, however, the matinees have been tweaked for younger audiences.
It won't just be the kids focused on working out how the heck David Ladderman managed to turn balls under cups and his magician's top hat into oranges and a pineapple. This man's not called Ladderman for nothing. His "look no hands" act with a wobbly ladder is 'scary as'.
Nor will it only be youngsters baffled by how Tollemache manages to swallow a white, inflated sausage-shaped balloon only to regurgitate it as an unbroken, multi-coloured ribbon-like chain.
Together, Tollemache and Ladderman are a twosome called Rollicking Entertainment – they - and the three they share the bill with - give the audience exactly that: A rollicking good time.
Rounding out the troupe is Dan Pengelly as Pierre the French compere and that amazingly supple pole dancer-cum-circus performer Geoff Gilsen.
Club Cabaret had its debut at Centrepoint Theatre in Palmerston North with Pengelly directing and Mohekey performing.
It was at her suggestion Blue Baths lessee Jo Romanes snapped it up for Rotorua - a great choice.
Minnelli won the best actress Oscar for her Cabaret performance, the Club Cabaret crew aren't far behind in the awards stakes. Mohekey's Marilyn Munro routine is worth one of its own.
This is another must-see show for those who love to be entertained by polished, professional entertainers.
BOOKINGS: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/6-3jCyoNQlS7Npp4HZi1F8?domain=bluebaths.co.nz; phone (07) 3502119 or at the baths' office 10am-6pm
A disregard for authority could be why those attending court are thumbing their noses.