Just back from 4 days Thailand and visits to Simon Cabaret in Patong Beach, Phuket, and Tiffany and Alcazar in Pattaya. Unfortunately didn't have time for Aphrodite or Simon Star in Phuket Town. But did pop in Moulin Rouse cabaret, as usual, simply because the girls rock.
As background, each cabaret has 3 shows per night, where I visited the second show each time. Some random thoughts below.
SimonI'd been before. And I love the ladyboy scene in Phuket. I am biased. Lol. But it really is a great show with awesome performances, beautiful performers, great dress and stage, but just not the best I saw this trip, it kind of fell in between the other two. What it did have, out of all three cabaret Simon has by far the best "funny," whom is indeed not only hillariously funny but also a great entertainer. Also saw the best "One Man Woman," which all three cabarets seems to have as standard in their reportoire, you know this half-man half-woman thingymadoodle. Definately the best K-pop, well, besides loving anything Korea, there are these two girls n that performance, OMG! they just blew me away.
TiffanyDidn't really know what to think of this. Maybe it was because I went the day after Miss Tiffany Universe, but when the stage literally started falling apart I kinda lost interest. You can feel in everything and anything that Tiffany is much more than a cabaret, it's really an institution. The show itself I didn't think too much off, it was kind of old-fashioned, lacked energy, not very engaging and a lot of standard songs and performances. What was amazing to see was the perfect execution of the performers, really spotless.
AlcazarWhat can I say, I loved this show. Has a lot of energy and freshness to it. Seemed like a nice blend of seasoned veterans and young talent. It's really just a great balanced show with old and new performances mixed together seemlessly, perfectly executed in a engaging and highly entertaining way with great dress and stage. And the K-pop girl, WOW, she was just dope, really refreshing and super cute, awesome performance. What I also thought was really cool, you know how normally the bigger girls are hired as 'funnies,' well in this case too, but there was one bigger girl, who was also part of one of the main acts as one of the main performers, I'd say +1 Alcazar for trying to break that barier.
So...Best performance I saw during the 4 days? Besides Alcazar's super dope, amazingly awesome k-pop girly girl, sorry, has to be Jessie performing 'Crazy in Love' at Moulin Rouse, Soi Croc, Patong Beach, Phuket. I'd seen it before, I'll see it again. She just has the energy, the swagger, the talent, pure awesomeness. Oh wait, that isn't part of any of the shows above. Ooops.
Overall, I really enjoyed all the shows, Alcazar and Simon rocked it, and I am sure Tiffany was on a 'day-after' so you won't be disappointed going to all three. If you haven't been before I'd definately recommend experiencing something above and beyond the bar scene, if anything, just to get a broader perspective on the ladyboy scene in Thailand.
I just wish it all was a little bit less grand, more personal, more energy, less is more, the K-pop girl at Alcazar certainly proved that; a stage, a few back-up dancers, and she rocked the house with her mere presence and performance. But then this is about tourism, about promoting Thailand though one of it's unique sub-cultures, and hey, all three are doing a fantastic job at that.
Some ranting. I really disliked the mass, so many groups of tourists on package tours being shipped into these cabarets, bus after bus. Totally understandable of course as they bring in buckets of money. Surprised even during so-called low-season all shows where still 75%-ish booked.
Also, after the show the performers stand outside for picture taking opportunities with the tourists, since during the show it is not allowed, albeit often ignored. Again this aftershow intermezzo feels very mass touristy. Would have loved to have a chat with the girls, take the time to take a photo here and there, as I kinda like doing that, but the girls are on such a tight schedule for the next show and this is really their moment to make some additional money.
Wasn't able to take any photos of the K-pop girls at Simon nor Alacazar :-( as they were literally swamped with tourists, but hey good for their pockets, and something to look forward to for me. To be continued...
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