You will not see g-strings, revealing leotards, or nudity at Claude Thomas?newly created cabaret revue in Marrakech. Instead, dancers? bodies are demurely hidden and kisses are only allowed on the cheek. ?Les Folies de Marrakech?, launched earlier this month, is an unusual blend of Western decadence and Islam.

?This is the first time I have so many beautiful bodies to show and I have to hide them. Here I am doing a cabaret in the Muslim style because the goal is to have an end result that is 100% Moroccan, but also 100% Folies,? said Thomas. For the producer, the change was a radical one. Throughout the past 15 years, he put on music-hall performances ? first in the northern French city of Lille, then in Japan, Canada, Reno and Las Vegas. Now it is time to create a new category of such shows for Muslim audiences, he said.

?This is not ?Moulin Rouge? because we are not in Paris, this is not the ?Cirque du Soleil? because we are not in Las Vegas, here I?m offering a dream while still respecting the country?s culture,? said 49-year old Thomas. After facing tough French social laws and unforeseen challenges, he sold his cabaret in France in May 2006, and came to spend a few days in Marrakech where he found a ?new Las Vegas?. Advised by the Moroccan consul in Lille to call the event a ?music hall? instead of a ?cabaret?, Thomas?production lasts an hour and a half and takes the audience on a world tour with magicians, acrobats, pirates, a falconer, magic fountains, dance, music and comedy.

While Thomas may be the creative force behind the show, it is Islam that really lays down the law here. As such, his performers also serve as in-house consultants who let him know during rehearsals what will fly with local mores and what will not. ?When she tells me the costume could shock I modify it while still keeping its magic,? said Thomas. He has also had to adapt his choreography to the rules of Islam.