Perfectly Marvelous

23/20/06

What good is sitting alone in your room? Come to the Cabaret!

In a season of over-the-top high-budget shows, the understated gem Cabaret should be at the top of your must-see list.

Cabaret successfully entertains, titillates, devastates, and questions its audience; an exceptionally rare recipe in today’s West End.

Cabaret opens in 1930s Berlin, a breeding ground of creative and sexual experimentation, just before the Nazi takeover.

The sinister Emcee, played by James Dreyfuss, narrates the journey of an American writer Clifford Bradshaw, played by a charmingly naïve Michael Hayden, who arrives at the Kit Kat Klub only to be quickly lured into its hypnotic world of decadence and debauchery.

Headlining the entertainment is the intentionally second-rate Sally Bowles, played by the well-cast – young Anna Maxwell Martin.

British director Rufus Norris’ interestingly departs from previous versions of the musical, dismissing any genuine attraction between Cliff and Sally, and instead brings them together as a desperate means for Cliff to hide his homosexuality, and for Sally to find shelter and escape the downward spiral as a cabaret singer, playing to an audience eager for her mediocrity.

But the real romance of Cabaret takes place entirely outside of the Kit Kat Klub with innkeeper Fraulein Shneider, played by the luminous Sheila Hancock, and Jewish fruit shop owner Herr Schultz, played by Geoffrey Hutchings.

Their delicate romance, framed by what is essentially a whore house, makes it that much more real.

Much of the music to this emotional core of the piece was cut from the 1972 film and hearing it restored, particularly the delightful Married, provides an earnest contrast to the Weil-esque songs of the Kit Kat Club. Indeed, Sheila Hancock’s performance reigns as the most memorable and heartfelt.

Kander and Ebbs’ score is utterly flawless; there isn’t a weak or misplaced song in the show.

The way the songs are integrated into the story, commenting on the action, is never contrived. This production highlights why Cabaret is regarded as one of the best musicals of all time.

Cabaret’s greatness also comes from its ability to appeal to different generations. Originally written and performed in the 60s, followed by the Oscar-winning 1972 film, and the widely successful 1994 Sam Mendez revival, Cabaret has successfully re-invented itself for a number of audiences and has a timeless quality.

Katrina Lindsay’s swift sliding door design collaborates seamlessly with Jean Kalman’s lurid lighting design, resulting in what is sometimes shocking, voyeuristic experience in a seedy backroom.

Javier De Frutos’ choreography brilliantly exemplifies the power of contemporary dance in its overtly sexual re-imagining of Fosse’s signature choreography.

In the same way that the lyrics of the title song Cabaret take on a totally different slant when sung by Sally upon her decision to have an abortion, De Frutos re-appropriates dance that at first suggests something erotic and later appears morbid and distorted. Cabaret is constantly surprising.

Anna Maxwell Martin, as Sally Bowles, is brilliant as the falsely confident, alcoholic lounge singer. It is her acting, rather than her singing voice, that will win you over.

Instead of impressing through a fantastic sounding Sally Bowles, instead we see a vulnerable young woman, who washes away self –doubt with whiskey and cocaine, which of course fuels her self doubt even more.

Even though at time we hope that she will break through, or masterfully reach a high note and belt it – she never quite gets there, nor is it in her character to get to that point. When she sings, “Maybe this time I’ll win”, we sadly know she won’t.

The most amazing aspect of this production is the collaboration of the creative forces; the direction, the design, the dance, the music, the acting they all combine fluidly in complete and satisfying piece of provocative art.

The subtlety is essentially what makes it work. As with so many musicals which try and force emotions onto its audience, Norris’s Cabaret leaves quite a bit to the imagination making the end result even that more unsettling and haunting.

Cabaret
Lyric Theatre
Shaftesbury Ave, London W1
Performances begin 10 October 2006

Click here to buy tickets.