CABARET at the Kit Kat Club (2024) Opening Night Critics' Reviews

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/20/24 at 4:41pm

London’s hottest ticket has arrived on Broadway with Academy® and Tony Award® winner Eddie Redmayne reprising his Olivier Award-winning performance as the Emcee, and introducing Gayle Rankin as the Toast of Mayfair, Sally Bowles.

CABARET has music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Joe Masteroff – based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood.

The show is celebrating its opening this evening at the specially-revamped August Wilson Theatre, with an official opening and reviews being published tomorrow, Sunday, April 21.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 5:39pm

Embargo lifts at 9:30 p.m.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 8:43pm

TaffyDavenport said: "Embargo lifts at 9:30 p.m."

question how do you know this and been posting for openings?

 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 8:57pm

Adam Feldman usually posts on Twitter what time each of his reviews will be released.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:07pm

TaffyDavenport said: "Adam Feldman usually posts on Twitter what time each of his reviews will be released."

TY thought so I don't follow him

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:11pm

AMNY

Review | Come for the preshow, stay for the ‘Cabaret’

https://www.amny.com/news/review-cabaret-revival-2024/

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:26pm

Recency bias will likely push this production past Merrily in most of their eligible categories. 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:28pm

NY Stage Review

Cabaret: Come for the Pre-Show, and Oh, There’s Also the Musical

By Frank Scheck

★★★★☆ Eddie Redmayne plays the Emcee in this Broadway transfer of the heralded, immersive London production.

https://nystagereview.com/2024/04/21/cabaret-come-for-the-pre-show-and-oh-theres-also-the-musical/

 

Cabaret: Immersive, Ambitious, All Too Timely

By Melissa Rose Bernardo

★★★★☆ The August Wilson Theatre has been transformed into the Kit Kat Club. Would you like to buy a girl a drink?

https://nystagereview.com/2024/04/21/cabaret-immersive-ambitious-all-too-timely/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:31pm

Jesse Green in NYT is mixed.

‘Cabaret’ Review: What Good Is Screaming Alone in Your Room?

Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin star in a buzzy Broadway revival that rips the skin off the 1966 musical.

Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/21/theater/cabaret-review-eddie-redmayne.html?unlocked_article_code=1.mU0.0_jF.0o2OLJGYMSzg&smid=url-share

Updated On: 4/21/24 at 09:31 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:32pm

NY Daily News/Chicago Tribune is negative

BROADWAY REVIEW: Interactive ‘Cabaret’ revival is a money-grabbing misfire

https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/04/21/broadway-review-interactive-cabaret-revival-is-a-money-grabbing-misfire/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:35pm

Theatermania is negative:

Review: Cabaret Returns to Broadway in an Incoherent Revival

Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin star in a semi-immersive production of the great Kander and Ebb musical.

https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-cabaret-returns-to-broadway-in-an-incoherent-revival_1737827/

"The result is a superficial fairytale of a Berlin overrun with hooker clowns and cartoon Nazis, something that bears little resemblance to the insidious creep of authoritarianism in our own world. It can’t happen here, this production seems to reassure its well-heeled audience. And it really feels as though we are all fast asleep."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:36pm

A from Entertainment Weekly

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club review: Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin dazzle in jaw-dropping Broadway revival

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome to the hottest new show on Broadway.

https://ew.com/cabaret-kit-kat-club-review-broadway-8636569

[DAME]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:39pm

Timeout basically pans it.

Updated On: 4/21/24 at 09:39 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:39pm

Holdren in Vulture is mixed or negative, and correct as usual.

Dancing on the Surface in Cabaret and Orlando

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-cabaret-orlando-eddie-redmayne-bebe-neuwirth-taylor-mac.html

"Atmosphere is all in the loose hustle and bustle of a pre-show, but in a play proper, it can only carry you so far. While Frecknall has put a lot of energy into giving Cabaret a glow-up—Sleep No More mood board, Eddie Redmayne in a party hat—she hasn’t provided the show underneath the makeover with sufficient focus or muscle. Choreographer Julia Cheng and production designer Tom Scutt help give scenes striking shapes and looks, but Frecknall’s lead performers exude the feeling that they’ve either been left to their own devices or that the main note they’ve received has been some version of “Just make it weird and different.” It’s a banal problem to mention, but John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote some wildly good songs, and all too often, I couldn’t really hear them. If this Cabaret were a cake, Paul Hollywood would shake his head and sigh, northern-ly: Style over soobstance."

Updated On: 4/21/24 at 09:39 PM

[sppunk]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:40pm

The fact Hell’s Kitchen is a Critic’s Pick and this is a dour mixed (sounds negative to me) review makes my head spin off my shoulders. 

[MezzA101]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:40pm

NYTimes: ‘Cabaret’ Review: What Good Is Screaming Alone in Your Room? ‘Cabaret’ Review: What Good Is Screaming Alone in Your Room? https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/21/theater/cabaret-review-eddie-redmayne.html?unlocked_article_code=1.mU0.0N2x.sP3nglBP1i5_

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:40pm

I thought Jesse's "person next to you" line in Notebook would be my favorite quip of his this season, but there's some stiff competition in this review:

"The problem for me is that “Cabaret” has a distinctive profile already. The extreme one offered here frequently defaces it."

"But too often a misguided attempt to resuscitate the show breaks its ribs."

"The point of Sally, and of “Cabaret” more generally, is to dramatize the danger of disengagement from reality, not to fetishize it."

Plus calling the pre-show "throat-clearing."

[Musigamist]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:43pm

Is this another "raves in London, so we have to hate it in NY?" Or is it really as bad as these reviews make it seem. Either way, that $26 million's gotta be a weight on somebody's shoulders right about now. And hey, the name recognition will probably pull it through, but the path seems a little tougher than maybe was previously thought?

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:44pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "Recency bias will likely push this production past Merrilyin most of their eligiblecategories."

Might want to re-think that with these decidedly mixed reviews.

I still think Cabaret will do well with Tony noms but these reviews are more mixed than I thought they'd be. Probably won't impact their astronomical ticket sales. It feels a little bit like this season's version of The Music Man

Updated On: 4/21/24 at 09:44 PM

[Randy1]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:44pm

Adam Feldman in Time Out is more than basically a pan. It's a pan.

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/cabaret-at-the-kit-kat-club-broadway-review-revival-eddie-redmayne

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:45pm

It’s quite a bit more than 26 million, I’m told. 
 

 

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:45pm

And this from Holdren:

"As the Emcee, Eddie Redmayne is on his own look-at-me planet. His singing voice never leaves a plugged-up, somewhat Muppet-y place somewhere behind his nose, and his physical palette is all coyly twirling fingers and hunched-up, leering Gollum poses. He’s clearly loving doing a voice, but his diction is a mess. Far too many of the razor-edged lyrics that come out of his mouth are nearly indecipherable."

With this mixed reception, Merrily may have just won the revival Tony

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:45pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "Recency bias will likely push this production past Merrilyin most of their eligiblecategories."


Boy, were you premature with this, lol 

Updated On: 4/21/24 at 09:45 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:46pm

2 1/2 stars from NY Post

‘Cabaret’ Broadway review: Revival with Eddie Redmayne is luxe — and bleak

https://nypost.com/2024/04/21/entertainment/cabaret-broadway-review-revival-with-eddie-redmayne-is-luxe-and-bleak/amp/

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/21/24 at 9:46pm

There’s no way Feldman can be seen as mixed with lines like “I made an active effort to lower my expectations before seeing the latest version of Cabaret. But my lowered expectations failed. They weren’t low enough.”