Cabaret Mado

Disappointed in the show. The Queens were not very good at all. Their outfits were horrible… boring and conservative (mumus, nun costumes, full coverage). All they did was lipsync and most were not even good at that. The hostess, Mado, was pretty good, though, since she’s quick-​witted and her outfits were regal for the Madame Hostess part. However, you need to be fluent in French to really enjoy her schtick. Her sidekick, Nana, was not so good. Her post –intermission outfit was ridiculous, worthy perhaps for one number, but for the entire second half to see her dressed as an old lady in a see-​through négligé with sagging paper tits was boring and no longer funny. Also they spent too much time during their act on the floor rather than on the stage, so that takes away from enjoying if you don’t have front row seating. Nana led a couple of group numbers where the songs were lively but her lipsyncing to them was expressionless and dull. None of the Queens had great outfits and their makeup was terrible. Venue was OK but not enough seating. Reserve a table in advance or expect to stand a few hours. Sorry, Cabaret Mado, I had really looked forward to the show but it was a waste of a night in the great city of Montréal for our group.

From what I’ve come to understand «cabaret’ is what I’m most used to knowing as drag performers here. Lots of Queens just running around and occasional choreographed dances. Great music from the DJ and one of the rare bars that actually accepted cards to purchase drinks.

J’adoooore les soirées chez Mado!
Les étudiants de sexologie y organisent chaque année le Sexo-​Show. C’est donc lorsque j’étudiais à l’UQAM que j’ai fait ma première visite dans ce bar mythique du Village, après en avoir entendu parler pendant des années. Et OH! quelle expérience inoubliable!
Les shows de drag sont bien sûr les meilleurs en ville, l’alcool est à un prix abordable, l’ambiance est super sympathique (si vous êtes ouvert. e à la diversité et à l’humour souvent décadent, évidemment!). Plusieurs événements avec différentes drags, parfois de l’improvisation (ça aussi, c’est du bijou), parfois des événements invités, toujours plein de plaisir.
En soirée, apportez un peu d’argent pour le cover (à ma connaissance, toujours moins de 10 $). Sinon, pour une bière de fin d’après-midi, où c’est beaucoup moins achalandé, ça fait l’affaire aussi. Et amenez donc votre beau-​frère pour le décoincer un peu, le temps qu’il se fasse charmer par une drag queen deluxe!

Love Mado and Shirely 4-​ever!!! If your spirit is free and your mind open… you must make spectacular memories. I always leave smiling

Supposedly, this IS the hot spot in Montréal… not only for tourist, but mainly for kicks and giggles for the locals and bachelorette/​bachelor parties. This was my first drag show and I had a fantastic experience. It’s a 3 hours show with a 30 minutes intermission that allowed you to dance up on stage. I thought the show itself was classy and not trashy at all. It’s mainly for pure entertainment and a good laugh. I didn’t understand any of the jokes because they were in French, but Mado really knew how to spice up the crowd. He picked on people, like us New Yorkers, that weren’t laughing (due to the language barrier) and decided to translate some of the dirty jokes in English for us. Despite not knowing French, the show was awesome and some of these drags were actually very pretty and skillful in their dancing. Oh, and that Mary Poppin show was priceless! It left my jaw dropping to the ground because what they did was so unexpected. Your Montréal trip would not be complete if you didn’t stop here to watch the show. I’m glad both a friend of mine and my landlady recommended this place beforehand.
My friend and I loved the Gay Village in Montréal. The entertainment was fabulous, the bars were fun, and who doesn’t love free wifi on Saint Catherine Street and those hot pink ping pong ball decorations.

Ah quelle soirée j’ai pu y passer avec des amis! Sincèrement, je n’ai pas arrêté de rigoler devant les shows que les «amis» de Mado réalisaient sur scèné. Des spectacles joués sur différentes chansons. C’était génial à voir! Très bien joués! Bravo à ces mesdames, enfin, à ces messieurs, car ce sont tout de même des messieurs qui se cachent derrière tout ce fond de teint!
Après le show, place à la musique! Ce fut boîte de nuit ensuite. Rien de tel que d’être actif après avoir regardé ce fabuleux spectacle de manière passive, en quelque sorte! Les choix de tounes étaient superbes! J’avais parfois l’impression de revenir dans mon enfance. Spice Girl and co étaient de la partie («party»)…

Le cabaret Mado se situe en plein cœur du village gai. Ce fut ma première expérience dans ce genre d’endroit, et au début, j’étais un peu sceptique mais finalement je vais en garder un bon souvenir!
C’est Mado, justement, qui présentait le spectacle, elle est vraiment excellente et j’ aime beaucoup le fait qu’elle interagisse souvent avec le public, et les blagues sont vraiment très bonnes, on a beaucoup ri, évidemment il né faut pas être trop prude.
De plus, l’habillement ou le costume je dirais plutôt, les accessoires et le maquillage sont impressionnants, et jetez un ptit coup d’œil à ses talons, ils sont énormes!
Les représentations étaient cool aussi, les drags queens, elles savent bouger, on avait l’impression d’avoir Lady Gaga et Jennifer Lopez juste en face de nous, et les mimiques sont également bien faites!
La seule chose, je pensais qu’elles chantaient aussi mais finalement non, en tous cas pour le soir où j’ y suis allée.
L’entrée est de 7 $ en tant qu’étudiant (apportez votre carte), ce qui est tout à fait raisonnable étant donné le spectacle.
Si vous avez envie d’essayer: quelque chose de nouveau, et que vous n’avez pas l’ habitude de voir, alors rendez visite au Cabaret Mado!

This place and Mado herself are an institution, it’s joyful, kitchy, strobe lighty, and the performers and even the techs are amazingly cute. Mado herself is super funny, she was in full gleeful French mode since the PQ had just won, and making jokes about not needing to bother with English anymore, but when she chatted up a group of Japanese bridesmaids she switched into her excellent and firey witty English no problem, with a rapid fire string of Japanese to boot.
The place feels clean and loved and like it’s happy to embrace a timespace contiuuum somewhere between here and the nineties. Sometimes they’ll amp up the strobe lights for a couple songs for no apparent reason which could be seizure inducing to the sensitive and kinda random to all others… except the ubiquitous 45 year old man with the blond tips, muscle top, who is just ready to dance alone to anything, no matter what. I heart him.
It’s a diverse friendly crowd. Tuesdays Mado hosts and sometimes you can catch all stars from Drag Races if you’re lucky — the website won’t be much help, the Facebook page is a bit better — during Pride week come here any night for full on awesome.
Thanks to the glorious Bday lady Amy T for getting me back to this joyous dragventure, definitely tops my Tuesday todo’s.

Only a $ 10 cover but the talent was worth so much more than that! Went in a group of 11 girls on a Saturday night and had a blast! Was crowded but we managed to seat-​hop our way into the main seating area where the view was great and the airflow was kickin. Looked like the crowd was mostly women and bachelorette parties. I was adamantly against going to Club 281 and even though we didn’t go there, I imagine Cabaret Mado is infinitely better!

What a lousy place! There’s a $ 12 cover then you HAVE to check your coat even though you could put it on the back of your chair. Drinks are ridonkulously expensive as well. $ 8 for a small coke with no rum… Common!!! Then it’s a given that even though most of the dogs are in English absolutely NO English is spoken. Unless you’re French you’re out of luck.

An interesting night a Mado’s is always fun! The shows are fun and entertaining, and the people are actually nice. This was my first experience at Mado’s I never had the opportunity to go before. They drinks were good, and Mado loves telling jokes.
Shows usually don’t start before 11pm, but there is always someone outside to welcome you in or trying to draw you in.

Un incontournable du village gai de Montréal. C’est une copine qui m’a suggérée d’y aller à la dernière minute donc en moins de 24 heures, on s’est planifié une sortie de vendredi soir entre filles.
J’ai adoré le spectacle. Les costumes étaient super, les drag queens charmantes et beaucoup plus drôles que ce à quoi je m’attendais, puis la musique super! Je suis arrivée environ une heure avant la première représentation, donc j’ai eu la chance d’avoir de bons sièges. Assez bons pour interagir avec Mado à quelques reprises! J’ai bien aimé les références très québécoises et un spectacle qui semblait être fait beaucoup plus pour les gens de Montréal que les touristes.
Mon coup de cœur va à Célinda qui a fait une chanson de Tina Turner et une autre de Céline un peu plus tard en soirée (si je me souviens de la bonne). Même les expressions faciales étaient les mêmes que celles de ces fameuses chanteuses, jusqu’aux lèvres tremblantes de Tina. Bravo!
Attention — le spectacle est en français donc si vous emmenez des amis qui né parlent qu’anglais, ils risquent de né pas trouvé ça aussi drôle lorsque les animatrices discutent avec la foule et font des présentations. Du plaisir garanti pour tous quand même!

I’m a big fan of drag shows and try to catch one wherever I can so after reading about Mado, I was super excited to come on my recent trip to Montréal.
Although the show was fun, it wasn’t as good as I expected. I’m sure a lot of this had to do with the fact that the entire speaking part was in French and our group didn’t speak French. The performances weren’t out of this world either… except for one. One of the queens performed as Mary Poppins (among other performances) and she was FLAWLESS. From the bird and outfit to the facial expressions and the umbrella, this girl knew her thing. It was the biggest crowd pleaser of the night.
During the intermission and after the show, the cabaret becomes a nightclub and you can dance your heart away to everything from Britney and Pitbull to Sophie Ellis Bextor and French dance pop.
I can’t say it was a bad show, we all had a good time, I think I’m just spoiled when it comes to drag queens. Although it wasn’t drag perfection, it was still pretty fun. I don’t think a trip to Montréal’s Gay Village would be complete without at least one night here.

This is a fun, approachable gay-​oriented bar/​entertainment venue in Montréal.
I saw the most amazing Celine Dion/​Kylie Minogue cabaret/​grag performance here in the summer of 2008. SO GOOD!!!
A definite stop on any excursion to the Le Village in Montréal — gay or straight.

Mado is a gay celebrty in Montréal.
She is a fabulous drag QUEEN and has a huge following. (Take that Shena Hershey!!).
Mado opened her own drag bar in the gay village and has some wild and has some wild and outragous shows.
Open every day tea dance to late night.
It is all fun and campy. A good time.
One can not miss the huge Mado sign out front, of Mado’s face huge as a Macy’s balloon.