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Club
Mwah! relives the glory days of the disco era
Text by Gerard S. dela Pena
Party
Like It's 1979
"Mwah!"
may just be another familiar SMS expression among
the younger crowd. But soon, Mwah! may just be
the word for "a different place for entertainment."
While
some bars around the metro offer patrons the chance
to relax and unqind in cozy interiors, Club Mwah!
in Mandaluyong City has broken away from the flock
and took the road once traveled. If others plainly
have their cozy places and acoustic music to offer
for laid-back unqinding, Club Mwah! has its disco-theater.
The place
is unmistakably Las Vegas meets Studio 54. "We
envision this to be a counterpart of a place at
the elite district in New York where people dress
up when they go to the bars," said Pocholo
Malillin, the club's co-proprietor, referring
to the famed New York bar of the '70s and '80s
which attracted the A-list party crowd. Club Mwah!
is also envisioned to be a place for a different
kind of entertainment for the bar-going crowd
in Manila, as well for tourists who are on the
lookout for a different kind of entertainment.
The bar
evokes glamour and prestige. The reception area
welcomes guests with fluffy couches that give
the guest the option of engaging in small talk,
if they prefer not to be enmeshed with the loud
music inside the main hall. Black, well-polished
glass-mirror panels line the walls of the reception
area, a recurring decor theme that can also be
found in some portions of the bar.
The bar
itself stays true to the theme of fabulous partying.
It sports a wide colorfully lighted dance floor.
But while the disco lights of the '70s blinked
to a random pattern, this one moves to the beat
of the music. There are, however, nods to the
disco era with dance platform on either side of
the dance floor, near the entrance of the bar,
and two more on opposite walls where the bar's
resident dancers (as well as some guests) can
go and strut their stuff in front of a game audience.
Adding to the party are bubbles, smoke and fog
effects that couls descend on the partygoers anytime
on the dance floor.
What really
makes the party come alive at Club Mwah! are the
lights. Hanging from the ceiling are big chandeliers
and rows of mirror balls, amplifying the playful
lights that blink in time with the music. Rope
lights on the edges of the dance floor, laser
lights, and high-powered pars and cyberlights
complete the visual overload.
Up on
the mezzanine are tqo open VIP areas overlooking
the dance floor. Here, guests who want some privacy
away from the crowd - a Quiet Room - can do so
in a handsomely outfitted lounge. Yet while it
filters out the noise, the private rooms offer
a view of the party outside.
But to
get the truly over-the-top Club Mwah! experience,
you have to visit the bar when there's a show.
To complete the Las Vegas-Studio 54 experience,
Club Mwah! has a stage with curtains decorated
with fiber-light strands that give an illusion
of glowing stars whenever it is drawn closed,
and a hydraulic lift that allows for over-the-top
performances and dramatic entrances.
The shows
comprise 30-minute dance sequences of performers
in elaborate costumes, complete with sequin-and-feather
head dresses of a real Las Vegas chorus line.
The performers are trained by Dance Divas, the
center and talent management company that Malillin
and co-proprietor Chris Nicolas own together with
the club. Dance Divas has made quite a mark in
Japan and now brings to the Club Mwah! shows the
same spectacle enjoyed by their audiences overseas.
Club Mwah!
is open daily; Thursday and Friday nights are
show nights, while Sunday to Wednesday nights
are parties for the Japanese crowd. Consumable
entrance fee is P500 if guests want to see the
show, and P250 for partying after the show.
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