Caliente! 

Mexico meets Moulin Rouge!. TZZ's new production features a cast rowdier than a pack of college kids on spring in Cancún. The Latin-themed dinner show sounds like a potential disaster, but Caliente! is an epic party well worth the steep cover charge. The storyline is, well, plausible: A pair of bigwigs want to tear down a dinner tent and transform it into mixed-use development with not one, but two Trader Joe's! But the determined kitchen staff refuses its pink slips and vows change the entrepreneurs' minds with, yes, a musical/cabaret extravaganza. Leading the three-and-a-half-hour spectacle are Tres (Christine Deaver) and Cinco (Robert Lopez, aka El Vez ), an overeager sister/brother act intent on becoming become “the Mexican Donny and Marie.” To that end, they sing, dance, and harass the audience. Appropriate to the Latin theme, the five-course meal features several spicy options. (I recommend the Guajillo New York Steak for an entree.) While you're at it, you might as well indulge in the tequila flight, too. It'll make your evening all the more festive and—if Mexican Marie tries to hit on you—the embarrassment that much easier to swallow. ERIKA HOBART [See Erika's full review.]

Price: $76 and up