Paradise Under the Stars review: Forget your troubles and do the conga
Bringing famous Cuban nightclub El Tropicana to London, Paradise Under the Stars is fun-filled for those willing to get up and dance
You may know them from the success of their five-years sold out Christmas show, an immersive dinner set to the backdrop of A Christmas Carol, but The Lost Estate’s new offering is a whole different (and far glitzier) beast. Forget Victorian London, Paradise Under the Stars shrugs off the urchins and invites you to embrace the flamboyance of 1950s Cuba in a swirl of jewels and feathers.
After arriving down a rather unpromising back alley in West Kensington, audience members are whisked into the main hall, where neon lights, disco balls and fake palm trees await in rhinestone resplendour. From there it’s a three course dinner, as many daiquiris as you can afford (El Tropicana, drinks aren’t free) and two acts of singing and dancing.
Taking the form of a revue show, Paradise Under the Stars is designed to mimic El Tropicana, Havana’s most famous cabaret, which oozed with sex and glamour back in its 1950s heyday. Transported to a West Kensington concrete block, the effect is more Disneyland than steamy nightclub, but does pay homage to the real show with choreography from Luanda Pau, the daughter of a legendary choreographer from the real El Tropicana.
All in all, there’s a lot of fun to be had if you’re willing to commit – dress up is encouraged by the way – with performers waltzing through the crowd and music blasting even from the toilets. Part of The Lost Estate’s mission is to make theatre feel special again by taking out the stress (squeezing in dinner before, rushing for drinks in the interval) and you can feel this in the top notch service. You’re well looked after from start to finish, allowing you to actually settle into the venue.
You won’t remember a jot of what happens in the show though, which is made up of largely indistinguishable parts: a dance number followed by a love story followed by a dance number followed by a love story. I do recall one scene with a young lover forced to bargain with the gods, presumably in some heartwrenching plea, but any intended tension was lost amid the far more powerful force of dinner chatter. This is by the by with such shows – what can compete with the anticipation of dessert arriving? Well one thing actually: the opening bars of the Mambo No 5, which did unify the whole audience’s attention for a few fleeting joyful moments.
Forget my miserly nitpicking though, the finale had me forgive all this show’s sins. Sashaying around, trumpets blaring and neon lights flashing, my cheesecake complaints dissipated in a whirl of unapologetic chaos. That’s right, this show ends with a conga – and everyone was up. A shimmy through the exit later, I spotted more than one audience member salsa-ing on the tube platform as they made their way home. All in all, this is a fun-filled Caribbean celebration, but, at around £120 a ticket, could do with a little more wow factor earlier on. Another conga anyone?
Paradise Under the Stars is available to book here