I saw Cabaret Diosa’s last show (ever!) on Friday at the Boulder Theater. Titled “Willy Juanka and the Cha Cha Factory”, it must have been one of the most turbo fun and sexually charged shows I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy. Seriously, it was more fun than a janitor juggling chainsaws!
Cabaret Diosa is known more as a performance art group than an a straight-up band. Of it’s many musicians, (there must have been at 10+ members on stage at all times, not including the oompa loompas and various others characters running around) some are in bands in Chicago and Austin among other places. The percussionist, Manuel Rabinizmo, owns a film production company. The female lead singer, Montana del Fuego, is starting a Cirque du Soleil-style dance show at the St. Julien this winter. The band is full of talent both musically and otherwise making for a quality production.
The show was an unbelievable re-enactment of the entire “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Book” laid on top of a new mambo revival/tiki theme, all of which was given the self imposed rating of NC-17. The show started out with a custom made motion picture featuring the members of the band acting out the “golden ticket” scenes with all sorts of extra laughs and naughty, raucous behavior. A great way to introduce what band members would be playing what story characters.
The stage antics were astonishing. There was an actual pipe on the stage that sucked up Agustus Gloop. There was a version of the Candy Man that involved all kinds of sexual innuendo from sucking lollipops to smearing chocolate all over their faces. There was an phenomenal cover of Bow wow wow’s “I Want Candy”. Veruca Salt was eaten by a giant duck that kept yelling Aflac. The river boat scene, that had an actual boat, was done to a cover of Ozzy Osborne’s “Crazy Train”. There was a disco ball interlude and all kind of other lighting and special effects. There were oompa loompas who stripped down to nothing but panties and pasties. Violet Beauregarde was blown up to an enormous size. It was all so incredibly elaborate and downright fun. Everyone in the audience wore costumes. Golden tickets were handed out for free shows and free drinks. Congo lines danced through the audience. There was a weird cover of Dick Dales “Miserlou“. There were sweaty bodies dancing the night away till the show finally ended sometime around two in the morning. There was an oncore consisting of a cover of Queens “We Are The champions”. Caberat Diosa finished of the night with each member dawning a large drum and marching into the audience for a half hour jam “Rhythym Of The Saints” style. It was all pretty staggering. An undeniably wonderful night.
