Curve, Leicester
15th
October, 2019
“What good is sitting alone in your room?”
Liza Minnelli on stage in a slinky black playsuit, bowler hat
and stockings, sporting a staccato bohemian hairdo, slouched posture and
splayed limbs. It’s an image synonymous with the music of Kander and Ebb, the
sensual minimalism of Fosse and the genre of musical performance itself. It’s
no wonder then that all subsequent productions of Cabaret live in the shadow of the iconic 1972 film. On tour once
again, Rufus Norris’ 2006 production, which itself has had several renderings,
attempts to blend the seediness of the film and hyper-sexuality of the following
Mendes/Marshall productions in the 90’s with the original Brechtian Epic format.
While this makes for some dynamic individual moments, for me the show doesn’t
quite hang together as a whole, nor does it fully accomplish the gut-punch
impact that Norris and co. seem desperate to instil.
John Partridge’s excitable Emcee welcomes the audience into
the underbelly of early 1930’s Berlin, alongside young American
writer-cum-teacher Cliff (Charles Hagerty). The Kit Kat Klub presents a revue
of satirical musical skits, striptease and broad humour, while backstage is a
breeding ground for social debauchery and political unrest amid the rise to
power of the Nazi party. After striking up a relationship with Cliff,
down-and-out headline act, Sally Bowles (Kara Lily Hayworth), a naïve yet
ruthless doll, does anything she can to survive in a changing world.
The premise of juxtaposing the socio-historical realism of
Joe Masteroff’s book scenes (boarding house ennui, struggling debts, illicit
trysts) with the ultra-staged synthesis of the Klub scenes is a theatre lover’s
dream. We can indulge our empathetic senses in getting to know a host of
characters that are flawed but likable, while also engaging our intellect via
the Brechtian prism of dramatic irony and epic satire. Norris creates some
memorable numbers which fulfil the Brechtian dogma – ‘If You Could See Her’
hits the right notes of uncomfortable self-consciousness, and ‘Two Ladies’ and
‘The Money Song’ are well staged so to arouse equal levels of kitsch burlesque
titillation and ironic nausea induced by the intransigent doctrines at play.
Yet, the more traditional musical theatre style songs that
feature in the ‘real’ (aka. Non-Kit Kat Klub) world muddy the waters and blunt
the edges of a piece that has the potential to be razor-sharp. Forgettable
ballads, such as the unnecessary and oddly twee duet between Sally and Cliff, ‘Perfectly
Marvellous’, do little to progress the story or offer thematic insight. And
although the subplot featuring landlady, Fraulein Schneider (Anita Harris) and
her relationship with a Jewish Shopkeeper is a sweet antidote to the cynicism
displayed elsewhere, it feels like an offcut from an entirely different play.
The adjacent worlds occupied on stage refuse to cohere, and where the contrasts
should enhance one another’s meaning they merely detract from the hard-hitting
topics so intelligently addressed in numbers such as the titular ‘Cabaret’. It
is plain to see why Fosse insisted on cutting so much for the film.
I also found some of the direction a little overstated. Cabaret will never be a show lauded for
its subtlety, but, for instance, the puppet master staging of ‘Tomorrow Belongs
to Me’ seems a lazy consequence of moralising hindsight with its knowing
mockery and obvious punchline. In comparison with Fosse’s unforgettable version
of the number that is bone-chilling in its earnestness, Norris’ interpretation
seems somewhat of a cheap shot. Furthermore, while my partner thought the
ending was effective -
*spoiler alert*
The Emcee, alongside his troupe of cabaret performers, strips
fully naked and the curtain comes down on the ensemble being prepared for execution
in a Nazi Concentration Camp.
*end of spoiler*
- I was unsure about the way it humanised the Emcee, removing
some of the emblematic gloss from a nefariously ambivalent character. It also
smacks of a director that lacks confidence in his audience. Give us a little
credit, we are able to use our imaginative faculties without needing the dots
joined up for us.
Of the performances, John Partridge is quite visibly having a
blast, and while I found his Emcee a little too aggressive at times, he avoids
the potential trappings of being a simple Joel Grey or Alan Cumming
impersonation. Kara Lily Hayworth lacks some of the charm that Minnelli brought
to Sally, but she can belt out the songs with great musicality. Hagerty is a
likeable Cliff, and Anita Harris and James Paterson shine as doomed couple,
Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz bringing an element of sympathetic
fragility to proceedings. It’s just a shame that their subplot seems so removed
from the rest of the show.
I’m glad to have finally seen Cabaret on stage, but for me Norris’ production is less than the
sum of its parts. Funnily enough, as a revue its successful – it entertains,
and individual numbers make you think and hit pertinent themes of morality –
but strung together as a dramatic narrative it simply failed to click with me,
which is a shame as I adore the film. Bold, but not quite gutsy enough to be
truly shocking. Theatrical, but too dramatically imbalanced to be Epic. The
songs, however, remain a treat.
Cabaret plays at Curve, Leicester until 19th
October 2019.
For further tour details please visit: https://www.kenwright.com/portfolio/cabaret/
The cast of Cabaret. Credit: The Other Richard |
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