#11 / 2019
AUTHOR:
MARIA
Z H E L I K H OV S KAYA
MOULIN
ROUGE
PARIS
I t i s n o exa g g e r a t i o n
t o s ay t h a t
M o u l i n Ro u g e
is a quintessential
Alma Mater to all
c a b a re t s o f t h e w o r l d .
The age of cabaret actually be-
gan before Moulin Rouge hit the
stages: the fi rst Parisian cabaret
was called Le Chat Noir, which
was immortalized by Theoph-
ile-Alexander Steinlen on his
famous art nouveau advertis-
ing poster. However, there have
been no performances of Le
Chat Noir for a long time, and
Moulin Rouge, which celebrated
its 130th anniversary this year,
continues to be not only one of
the most popular Parisian at-
tractions, but also an icon of
global cabaret.
It all began on October 6,
when on the occasion of the Ex-
position Universelle in Paris
(for which the Eiffel Tower was
built), the Spanish entrepre-
neur Jose Oller and his partner
Charles Zidler opened a cabaret
in Blanche Square next to Bou-
levard de Clichy. The name of
the cabaret was given by the red
wooden mill created by the dec-
orator Leon-Adolf Villett, and for
good reason – the Red Light Dis-
trict was situated close by.
Over the century and a half
of its existence, the cabaret,
like much in our world,
has been subject to the forces
of globalization. In the middle
of the last century the dancers
had exclusively French names,
and if you wanted to see a show
with a can-can dance and other
liberties you had to make the
journey to Paris. Nowadays
things are very different —
shows are held all around the
world, and performance groups
have long been international.
In this Top Flight review, we take
a look at five of the world’s
top cabarets.
TF