Review: NOIR at The Can Can

Dear Readers, I cannot imagine a time when anyone, let alone me, would have a bad time at The Can Can.  I honestly am not even certain what that show would look like.  They’d need to change up everything they are by having bad and out of shape singers and dancers, performing a lame story and songs, while keeping all their clothes on.  Luckily for us, the Can Can, including their current offering “Noir”, is the exact opposite of all that.

Although “Noir” is more of a revue, there is a slight throughline of a story.  Emcee Jonathan Betchtel is your typical noir kind of character.  He’s brooding, smokes and drinks a lot, and narrates his own life.  Enter the sultry dame (Jasmine Jean Sim) who offers him a special cocktail.  And thus, Betchtel takes a journey through a seductive fever dream.  Not much more to the story this time around but that’s OK, as all the other elements are still quite present in a hell of an evening conceived and directed by Chris Pink and choreographed by Fae Pink.

Betchtel is still the emcee to beat all emcees.  He’s funny, personable, and has the audience in the palm of his hand.  And he’s a hunky, killer dancer to boot who likes to take his clothes off.  Twenty-somethings would dream to be in as good shape as this 40-year-old stripper.  And beyond stripping down to a drum and a smile, he continues to thrill with his aerial routines including a dizzying one involving pullies.  And he and Shadou Mintrone continue to have their routines that make you want to have a cigarette after. 

Mintrone, along with her fellow dancers Sasha Voyt, Travis Guerin, and Rey Rodriguez keep the night alive with their scantily clad gyrations to delicious effect.  I loved the boys’ take on some very muscular demons only to turn around and thrill with the ladies showing some very sultry sirens.  They never fail to astound.

And then there’s Sim who not only joins in with the dance but then continues to step forward and amaze with her awe-inspiring vocal acrobatics.  Last night we ranged from The Kinks to Amy Winehouse, but it was her rendition of “Golden Slumbers” that brought down the house.  But then she always brings it down.

Of course, beyond the performances, Mintrone and Betchtel also are responsible for the incredible costumes and aerial apparatus respectively and the wow factor wouldn’t be half as much without them.  And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Vicente T Capala III who was responsible for some insanely gorgeous and eye-popping art and projections.  The shadow dance blew me away.

They continue to thrill, titillate, astonish, and make you laugh with their amazing shows.  There’s not much else to say about this one except that with my three-letter rating system, I give “Noir” at the Can Can a “never lets me down” YAY.  It’ll be a sad day if they ever do let me down.  But with this cast and crew, I doubt it will ever come to pass. 

“Noir” performs at the Can Can through May 26th.  For tickets or information visit them online at www.thecancan.com.

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