I started this thing, and I'm glad it's provoked nostalgia. It was a different NYC then, no? No, I wasn't calling the filmmakers on the lack of a "real" club named Cat Scratch. I meant, as many have backed me up, Margo in particular, the Scores-esque ambiance simply didn't exist.
Actually, if Columbus had simply listened closely to all the lyrics about where Mimi worked, he would've come up with something approximating what many posters have suggested. "Tie me up" and "I didn't recognize you without the handcuffs..." This was decidedly alternative entertainment, far removed from FLASHDANCE.
I'm the last person to defend Columbus, but I suspect he felt the material needed balance, i.e. there was so much inherent grit (needle shots, authentic-enough AIDS death scenes, strung out feverish folk near death) ... he wanted the prettier stuff to be ... well, prettier. Even Larson wasn't adverse to rose colored glasses, as many have pointed out.
That said ...since "Tango Maureen" showed a really creative take on that song... Maybe, as someone opined, we could've seen Mimi's real working gig, and then her fantasy version? It would've also told us that Mimi'd had her own dream. But wait--that's SWEET CHARITY, isn't it? Whatever.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling