Review – The Moulin Beige

The Moulin Beige is all about crossing the line. Couched in cabaret tradition of the Moulin Rouge this regular Variety evening delivers a mix of cabaret, comedy, burlesque and vaudeville, housed in the opulent venue of the Burlesque Bar in the heart of Fitzroy.

Liz, your bubbly and sprightly MC is a shower of tassels, ringlets and satin, delivers bawdy innuendo and flirtatious advances on audience members, each joke augmented with the aid of her squeeze box. On this particular night comedian Matt Burton amused a packed house with impressions and the trials and tribulations of the neurotic single white male comedian. Fiona McGary grounded the evening in some solid observational comedy and Clara Cupcakes – a cheeky china doll – bookended the evening with glamorous and energetic burlesque.

The Moulin Beige stays true to its genre; juxtaposing show tunes with smut and decadence with depravity. They’ve found their target audience; the room a sea of beaming faces met lewdness with laughter and genuinely seemed to enjoy the high rate of audience participation called for during the night.

This night is not for the easily offended or the easily irritated; when the MC asked whether the same accordion riff she’d been playing all night long ‘was getting annoying yet’ I confess it was, particularly when played during other people’s performances. Hard hitting political satire the evening was not. But if you’re up for a night of fun and frivolity The Moulin Beige is for you.