'Moulin Rouge' in Mandaluyong
by Edgar O. Cruz, contributor

Like a big kiss, Club Mwah! resounds.

You hear it right amidst a line of characterless business establishments, a pair of larger-than-life look-alike statues of a Grecian woman raising a lamp with satellie globe stands. They look as if they are there to grab attention for The Venue Tower, the stone-and-glass structure owned by Pocholo Malillin and Cris Nicolas. The pair gives color to an otherwise drab avenue.

Sampling the cabaret act entitled Bedazzled at the third-floor Club Mwah revelas that the nightspot indeed has lavish interiors and an extravagant show. It is easy to make an association: the whole experience is straight out of the Moulin Rouge. This challenges the initial impression. The female figures by the building entrance are there to provide light to the otherwise drab entertainment scene of a booming city, making Club Mwah something akin to a Moulin Rouge in Mandaluyong City.

Bedazzled, an original and elaborate dance/musical sec comedy show, was Club Mwah's launch opener. Impersonators gave opulent production numbers, from naughty interpretation of the song "How Much is that Doggie in the Window" to an excerpt of a song-and dance number from the Chicago flick. My favorite is the mind-boggling mumber where Beyonce clones appear one by one from different parts of the Club, gathering in a firing-squad formation later to overwhelm the audience with the multiplication. Another favorite is Douglas Nierras male dancers' number, where they do a female striptease act in synch while clad black leather undies under ruffled robes.

By the time you read this, Bedazzled has folded up, replaced by another dazzling show. But Club Mwah has made its mark in the soul, the palimpsest intact.

Such world-class performances are possible because Club Mwah maintains creative consultants - the best in the entertainment industry. James Cooper, Cooper Cuts Salon president is overall beauty consultant, while Douglas Nierras, Power Dance founder, is entertainment consultant. With their combined passion for perfection together with Pocholo's and Cris' Moulin Rouge has never been so close!

As another take at multi-culturalism, director Baz Luhrmann made another created world in Moulin Rouge, after the name of the infamous nightclub in belle epoque France. There, a young writer named Christian (Ewan McGregor) lives the bohemian life, leaving behind his bourgeois upbringing. He meets Satine (Nicole Kidman), star of Moulin Rouge, the most beautiful courtesan in Paris, who is also the highest paid. They enter into a doomed love affair. With a gorgeous ambiance marked by spectacular interiors and sets, shows at Moulin Rouge are breathtaking, fast-paced, funny and visually arresting - just as they are at Club Mwah's.

But the comparison ends there, not that it is insufficient. In fact, there is an overload of the same, without the lovers' heart-tugging story. Club Mwah is the reverse in this aspect. Glamorous but not gaudy, people who have savored it pleasures are certified celebs, the likes of Gemma Cruz Araneta, Margie Moran Florendo, Korina Sanchez, Maricel Soriano, Vina Morales, Gary Valenciano, Wenn Deramas, german Moreno, Mylene Dizon and Paolo Paraiso.

Certainly, Club Mwah is more elegant than Moulin Rouge. It is a sophisticated place where the rich and famous can experience extraordinary entertainment. But just as Moulin Rouge celebrates beauty, freedom, truth and love, the key to Club Mwah's success is devotion.

Club Mwah is the labor of love between partners Cris and Pocholo, which they built and operate like it is the expression of their love for one another. Cris takes care of the creative side of the business, while Pocholo manages its day-to-day operations. Together, they built The Venue Tower to house their dream club, managing to pull off the multi-million project. This included dealing with a delinquent constructor, who used up all the construction money when he had delivered only the building's shell.

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