Thursday, September 28, 2006

Cabaret - were we too kind?

Please note that West End Whingers have moved to http://westendwhingers.wordpress.com. You are currently reading an old version of the site. Just came across this post from Paul of London who thinks even less of Cabaret than we did!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Cabaret - what's wrong with sitting alone in your room?

Please note that West End Whingers have moved to http://westendwhingers.wordpress.com. You are currently reading an old version of the site. Oh dear. Well, it's probably sufficient to report that the highlight of this production of Cabaret - currently previewing at the Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue - is the pineapple song ("It Couldn't Please Me More"). Andrew and Phil can't recall exactly when it became acceptable to cast non-singers in West End musicals but this really is beyond the pale. Neither Anna Maxwell Martin (Sally Bowles) nor James Dreyfus (the emcee) are strong enough to do justice to Kander and Ebb's songs. Sheila Hancock (Frau Schneider) gets away with it but that's probably because (a) it seems appropriate to her geriatric character and (b) we love her. Enough of this excuse that Sally Bowles couldn't really sing; it's a feeble excuse to get the role out of the shadow of Liza Minelli. Well, it backfired, because it just made us long for Liza even more. James Dreyfus was amusing enough, but presumably the current interpretation is that the emcee "couldn't really sing either" and "wasn't really sinister" although in a press conference Dreyfus said "We're going quite dark with [Emcee], like the Pied Piper of Hamlin. Very strange, very weird. We're trying to make it incredibly different [to the film], much darker, more unpredictable; so he's not just the showman." Did you ever see the film, James? And frankly, the idea of chorus boys beating people up never really works in musical theatre, but here they have changed out of their basques and stockings and into Nazi uniforms to do so, so it's Springtime for Hitler that runs through your mind more than anything. And there's an awful lot of gratuitous nudity in it. Now Andrew and Phil are no prudes, but we've seen naked people before thank you very much and although the first nude scene is in context and funny, after that it gets rather wearing. Enough about the cast. What about the rest of it? Well, a rather lackluster set with Chicago-style ladders rolling in and out of the wings failed to impress, although the giant letters standing on the stage during the finale spelling K-A-B-A-R-E-T (in case you suddenly woke up and wondered were you were) provided a particularly amusing diversion when the principals tried to squeeze their way between the letters to get off the stage. Hysterical. Andrew was particularly irritated by the dingy atmospheric lighting which denied us any sight of the actors' expressions - even from row J of the stalls. The choreography by Javier De Frutos veered between uninspired and chaotic; the orchestra rarely appeared on stage. "The Money Song" was pretty terrible, as was "Cabaret", "Maybe This Time" and... well practically everything apart from the pineapple song. Still, to be fair, it was a preview, so maybe some of this will get sorted out. But until it does, rent the DVD of the film and sit alone in your room. We'll guarantee you have a great time. The damage:
  • Ticket: £40 (£10 cheaper than normal because it was a preview)
  • Glass of wine: £3.60
  • Programme: £3.50
The alternative:
  • Buy the Cabaret - 30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD from Amazon: £5.97