Lush & Immersive

Immerse yourself in the intoxicating world of Shànghǎi MiMi, a sumptuous Cabaret of Delights where East meets West in dazzling style. Inspired by 1930s Shanghai, Paris of the East, a city famous for its sumptuous nightclubs, Shànghǎi MiMi parts the curtains on an enchanted world. The show features an international melting pot of talent, including acrobats from China, the fabulous Shanghai Mimi Band, and a seductive backstory.

Shànghǎi MiMi, conceived and produced by Douglas Hunter, was commissioned by Sydney Festival. The première season in 2019 was directed by internationally acclaimed Moira Finucane and featured the Qinghai Acrobatic Troupe direct from Xining, China, in their first international collaboration. Other performers included award-winning Australian singer Sophie Koh, and Beijing-based international Cameroon hip hop artist and choreographer Simon Abbé. The Music Director and Shanghai Mimi Band leader is multi-award winning maestro John McAll.

Highjacked from the myth and legend of 1930s jazz-struck Shanghai, Shànghǎi MiMi is a club, a place, an extraordinary woman; a hot-bed of swinging times, an exquisite physical performance with intoxicating song and dance. Plunged into a bygone era, but wildly contemporary, Shànghǎi MiMi is a portal where past and present, truth and fiction, national boundaries and art-forms blend, shift, blur and dissolve, luring audiences into a night they will never forget.

1930s Shanghai was a cauldron of talent and opportunity. With its thriving international business scene and a creative culture that was bursting with energy and dynamism, Shanghai became a magnet for foreign musicians, many of whom found work in famous jazz venues on The Bund performing alongside Chinese singers and musicians. As the decade drew to an end, the foreign musicians gradually drifted away, leaving behind, and taking with them, the memory of a very special period in Shanghai’s cultural history. A Chinese gift to the world.

The performers of Shànghǎi MiMi reflect the international melting pot and multiple cultural influences, not only of Shanghai in the 1930s but of China now. With dancers, singer, musicians and cultural contributions from all over the globe, Shànghǎi MiMi is an alchemy, a kaleidoscope, a firecracker, and a multifaceted jewel. East West, North South, Old New, Wild and Mesmerising.