CABARET touring till 4 April 2009
CABARET; Book Joe Masteroff; Music John Kander; Lyrics Fred Ebb, based on the story and play by Christopher Isherwood.
Birmingham Rep till 13 September, touring till 4 April.
Information: www.kenwright.com.
Runs: 2h 35m, one interval.
Review: Rod Dungate, 2 September 2008.
Even greater than the sum of its marvellous parts.
Fresh cast, wash-and-brush-up for the production, and a fine, beautifully staged revival of CABARET sets off from Birmingham on its eight month tour. Standing room only at the press night – and the show deserves it.
Watching the show again after all these years (it opened on Broadway in 1966) it’s easy to see why the show has such staying power. There are the fantastic musical numbers, of course, but more than this the show takes us on a powerful emotional journey. The show’s lost much of it’s initial shock value – the raunchiness and the up-front sexuality and homosexuality; however, director, Rufus Norris, possibly recognising this, focuses on the political element of the story.
Set in German in the early 1930s, freedom, the desire to live only for the moment, is celebrated as the show opens. Though Norris and his team inject an edgy intensity into their abandon; it’s as if the characters are trying a bit too hard to be free. As their journey continues our unease grows as we see the rise of the Nazi movement. One of the things I love about good musicals is the way they tell big stories in equally big sweeps; the growing unease and danger is encapsulated in the love story between Fraulein Schneider and (Jewish) Herr Schultz. Jenny Logan and Matt Zimmerman bring this touchingly to life and their second half love scene is quite wonderful.
Norris completes the journey with a dark, dark ending – proof positive that Cabaret is even greater than the sum of its marvellous parts.
Samantha Barks shapes her performance excellently; a little under-powered to start with, for my taste, she steadily rises to a terrific finish to the first half, MAYBE THIS TIME; and CABARET, she makes totally her own.
Wayne Sleep creates a dark and disturbing Emcee without losing any of the humour – which is mighty uncomfortable. THE MONEY SONG is not to be missed, witty, performed with a near manic delight, and deeply unpleasant. Great stuff.
Henry Luxemburg brings a feeling or normality, even detachment, to Clifford Bradshaw, chronicler of all we see.
Rufus Norris directs with both sensitivity and swagger, and Katrina Lindsay’s sparse designs carry atmosphere and meaning with a minimum of fuss.
Emcee: Wayne Sleep.
Sally Bowles: Samantha Barks.
Fraulein Schneider: Jenny Logan.
Herr Schultz: Matt Zimmerman.
Clifford Bradshaw: Henry Luxemburg.
Ernst Ludwig: Karl Moffatt.
Fraulein Kost: Suanne Braun.
Fritzie: Danni Bowen.
Hans (Young Nazi) Theo Cook.
Frenchie: Jessica Ellen.
Rosie: Nouska Hanly.
Helga: Lucy James.
Bobby: Hendrick January.
Rudy: Alastair Postlethwaite.
Lulu: Rebecca Scarrott.
Victor: Benjamin Timothy.
Texas: Cydney Uffindell-Philips.
Hamburg Helmut: Tom Woods.
Director: Rufus Norris.
Designer: Katrina Lindsay.
Choreographer: Javier De Frutos.
Musical Supervisor: David Steadman.
Musical Director: Tom De Keyser.
Sound Designer: Ben Harrison.
Lighting Designer: Jean Kalman.
Associate Director: Tim Welton.
Associate Lighting Designer: Fiona Simpson.
Assistant to the Choreographer: Josephine Darvill-Mills.
Tour Visits: Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester, Woking, Cheltenham, Bath, Leeds, Truro, Northampton, Eastbourne, Malvern, Southampton, Hull, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow.
2008-09-03 12:26:29