The Lido de Paris (巴黎麗都歌舞秀) is among the most popular musical troupes in Paris, ranking alongside the acclaimed Moulin Rouge. Its cabaret performances are a carnival of spectacular acts and costumes that encompass courtroom dancing, ballet, jazz, and the famous Can Can, in which the showgirls line up and life their legs in unison. There are also circustype performances and topless performers that descend from the sky.
Lido has performed outside France for 50 years and made a splash whereever it goes, and its first trip to Taiwan is likely to continue that tradition. Much fanfare surrounds the group's topless female performances, which have made it the first live show in Taiwan restricted to those over 18.
About 80 performers, led by production manager Patrice Marques, hauled 300 sets of costumes and 10 tonnes of equipment for their Taipei performances. The costumes, often decorated with sequins and feathers, were designed by such French designers as Edwin Piekny, Folco, and David Belugou and are a riot of color and shapes. Performers include the 1989 Miss France Laurence Jardin, who will be imitating Nicole Kidman in the movie Moulin Rouge as she descends from the ceiling, but, unlike the starlet in the film, she will be topless.
Cabarets were a sensation when they were first staged at the end of the 19th century in France, integrating the ballroom dancing and music performances typically reserved for the rich, with the vulgarity and humor of the common. Immortalized in the painting of Toulouse Lautrec and maintained until the current day by institutions like the Lido, the extravagant costumes and decadent culture of the cabaret persist as one of the most representative and quintessentially French art forms.
Lido de Paris will be staged until July 12 every night at 7:30pm, with afternoon shows on July 7 and July 8 at 2:30pm. Performances will be held at the Taipei International Convention Center (台北國際會議中心大禮堂) at 1 Hsinyi Rd., Sec. 5, Taipei. (北市信義路五段1號).
Tickets prices range between NT$600 and NT$3,000 and are available at Acer ticket outlets, or call the direct ticketing hotline at 2709-3788.
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