Luminous red lanterns hang above the stage of Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre while traffic and street sounds (vehicles, horns, shouting) spill through the speakers as the audience gathers in Shànghǎi MiMi, a fictional club inspired by the Paris of the East in the 1930s, overseen by an eponymous diva.

Shànghǎi MiMi at the Sydney Festival. Photo © Prudence Upton

The idea for Shànghǎi MiMi, receiving its world premiere performances at the Sydney Festival, was sparked by the discovery – in a Mumbai warehouse – of recordings from Shanghai showcasing shidaiqu music, a blend of Chinese folk music and jazz, performed in the cosmopolitan port city. Throw in the Qinghai Acrobatic Troupe, from the edge of the Gobi desert in Western China, dancers from China and Cameroon, a jazz band in glittering gold jackets and Melbourne-based Indie/pop star Sophie Koh as the club’s diva, and you have a heady evening of cosmopolitan cabaret sure to beguile and delight.

Australian burlesque performer Moira Finucane directs a smooth-flowing evening of music – with an enchanting visual aesthetic thanks to Eugyeene Teh’s set and costumes, bathed in Jenny Hector’s sultry lighting – that compliments a lively series of acrobatic and dance performances, from twirling...