CABARET at the Kit Kat Club (2024) Opening Night Critics' Reviews- Page 20

[Feidlimid]

Posted: 11/19/24 at 6:09am

The casts in London don't get reviewed again. There is perhaps one review of one cast, and that doesn't seem to have been an invited thing. There seem to have been equally passionate people in favor of the choices that the OG cast made (as well the praise from London) as there were people who were mad at them and well, that kind of support matters more than detractors who were probably never going to watch or the casually interested, who have no urgency, whichever cast it may be.

I wonder if Moana and its press cycle might generate interest in Auli'i?  

[binau]

Posted: 11/19/24 at 11:05am

Adam Lambert was off (unscheduled/last minute) on Sunday. Has he missed many performances? 

[binau]

Posted: 11/20/24 at 11:12pm

John kander was in the audience tonight and bebe neuwirth introduced him at the end. He then came on stage and gave a speech as well as raved about Adam Lambert and was given a special Olivier award. Love these little New York theatre moments. Very special to be there.

Updated On: 11/20/24 at 11:12 PM

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 11/21/24 at 11:14am

binau said: "John kander was in the audience tonight and bebe neuwirth introduced him at the end. He then came on stage and gave a speech as well as raved about Adam Lambert and was given a special Olivier award. Love these little New York theatre moments. Very special to be there."

Just saw the video of his speech. It blows my mind every time how he's still so sharp and so full of life at NINETY-SEVEN years old. We are so blessed to have John Kander.

[tacotheatrelover]

Posted: 11/25/24 at 10:40am

cabaret i need you to pull through and give us a good stuntcast. cancel out boy george in moulin rouge please please please.

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 11/25/24 at 10:43am

tacotheatrelover said: "cabaret i need you to pull through and give us a good stuntcast. cancel out boy george in moulin rouge please please please."

I hope they cast Fra Fee

[tacotheatrelover]

Posted: 11/25/24 at 10:45am

spicemonkey said: "tacotheatrelover said: "cabaret i need you to pull through and give us a good stuntcast. cancel out boy george in moulin rouge please please please."

I hope they castFra Fee"

I was thinking someone like gerard way but that might actually save the show (not really i'm just delusional) 

[broadway86]

Posted: 11/25/24 at 10:54am

After seeing Smile 2, all I can think of is how earth-shattering Naomi Scott would be as Sally. Fearless actor, dynamic presence, can sing, and she's English.

I am speaking it into existence... 

[gibsons2]

Posted: 11/25/24 at 11:40am

broadway86 said: "After seeing Smile 2, all I can think of is how earth-shattering Naomi Scott would be as Sally. Fearless actor, dynamic presence, can sing, and she's English.

I am speaking it into existence..."

Yes!! and hear me out, Joseph Quinn as Emcee....

[Ravanne_1]

Posted: 11/27/24 at 3:38pm

binau said: "Adam Lambert was off (unscheduled/last minute) on Sunday. Has he missed many performances?"

I hope not, because I've got tickets to see him in two weeks. I absolutely hate the aesthetic of this production, but I adore Adam and will see him in just about anything. 

[akhoya87]

Posted: 11/30/24 at 12:48pm

I went to see this last night - both Adam and Auli'i were in, although there were quite a few post-Thanksgiving outs (Bebe among them).   Some thoughts:

Adam as Emcee:  Adam is my fourth emcee -- I've also seen Eddie, Fra, and a cover in London whose name I unfortunately can't recall.  Adam was the most libertine of the emcees in Act One.  I find it fascinating that they've given him more license than other emcees to ad lib and go off book.  ("It's the earlobes" is gone, and there's a lot more audience banter.)  There are small touches that I liked about Adam's performance.  For example, to the extent that Adam is supposed to be stand-in for the Weimar everyman, I found the slow descent into complicity and conformance with the Third Reich fascinating.  

That said, Adam wasn't menacing like other Emcees.  In Act II, I feel like his "I Don't Care Much," and his introduction of Sally pre-Cabaret lacked the emotion that I've seen in other Emcees.  It's almost as if he descends into a quiet resignation, which doesn't work for me as a choice.  

Auli'i as Sally:  I'm going to cut her some slack, because I'm sure she's exhausted from the Moana 2 press tour.  She has incredibly powerful vocals, and was far more seductive, IMO, than Gayle was as Sally.  But her Cabaret didn't do it for me.  There was no break, no fall from fragility like I've seen in other Sallys like Amy Lennox, Emily Benjamin, or Gayle.  I felt nothing when she proclaimed, "When I go, I'll go like Elsie."  I also found her delivery of "I've always rather hated Paris" rather flat; Gayle, for example, delivered the line heartbreakingly.  Part of me wonders whether there's a directional issue -- the Sally that she should be playing (younger, more naive, inexperienced) is not the Sally of Amy or Gayle, yet I felt like Auli'i was trying to be like them, in some ways.  Again, maybe she just has to get back into the swing of things after having been on the press tour for so long.

* * *

In summary, Fra Fee and Amy Lennox are still my favorite Emcee/Sally duo.  Adam and Auli'i are definitely worth watching because they bring a fresh take in some aspects, but not the strongest version of this production I've seen so far.  I'll go again in January or February (hopefully it lasts that long) to see if Auli'i grows back into the role.

Updated On: 11/30/24 at 12:48 PM

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 12/1/24 at 1:38am

akhoya87 said: "I went to see this last night - both Adam and Auli'i were in, although there were quite a few post-Thanksgiving outs (Bebe among them).Some thoughts:

Adam as Emcee: Adam is my fourth emcee -- I've also seen Eddie, Fra, and a cover in London whose name I unfortunately can't recall. Adam was the most libertine of the emcees in Act One. I find it fascinating that they've given him more license than other emcees to ad lib and go off book. ("It's the earlobes" is gone, and there's a lot more audience banter.) There are small touches that I liked about Adam's performance. For example, to the extent that Adam is supposed to be stand-in for the Weimar everyman, I found the slow descent into complicity and conformance with the Third Reich fascinating.

That said, Adam wasn't menacing like other Emcees. In Act II, I feel like his "I Don't Care Much," and his introduction of Sally pre-Cabaret lacked the emotion that I've seen in other Emcees. It's almost as if he descends into a quiet resignation, which doesn't work for me as a choice.

Auli'i as Sally: I'm going to cut her some slack, because I'm sure she's exhausted from the Moana 2 press tour. She has incredibly powerful vocals, and was far more seductive, IMO, than Gayle was as Sally. But her Cabaret didn't do it for me. There was no break, no fall from fragility like I've seen in other Sallys like Amy Lennox, Emily Benjamin, or Gayle. I felt nothing when she proclaimed, "When I go, I'll go like Elsie." I also found her delivery of "I've always rather hated Paris" rather flat; Gayle, for example, delivered the line heartbreakingly. Part of me wonders whether there's a directional issue -- the Sally that she should be playing (younger, more naive, inexperienced) is not the Sally of Amy or Gayle, yet I felt like Auli'i was trying to be like them, in some ways. Again, maybe she just has to get back into the swing of things after having been on the press tour for so long.

* * *

In summary, Fra Fee and Amy Lennox are still my favorite Emcee/Sally duo. Adam and Auli'i are definitely worth watching because they bring a fresh take in some aspects, but not the strongest version of this production I've seen so far. I'll go again in January or February (hopefully it lasts that long) to see if Auli'i grows back into the role."

Really interesting reading your thoughts here!  I had also seen Adam and Auli'i this past Tuesday and thought they breathed new life into the role (before that I had seen Eddie/Gayle and also Fra/Amy, though the latter was my first time ever seeing Cabaret so I'm afraid I don't remember too much about their interpretations).  But I had a slightly different interpretation of how they played the characters (and I recognize that some of it might be projecting things that they didn't necessarily intend, but that's theater for you).

I saw Adam's Emcee as being a queer man who slowly realizes that he must assimilate and hide those parts of himself to survive the oncoming tide of fascism.  I think the first moment was in the end of Tomorrow Belongs to Me when he pulls out what I think is his final wig from a box at the end and looks at it with such a quiet state of devastation because he knows that that's what he has to do to fit in.  Fwiw, I don't actually remember Eddie OR Fra doing this, but it's been a while since I saw either of them.  What I do remember is thinking the circle of toy soldiers with Eddie's Emcee was a bit too on the nose in regards to the future militarization of the Nazi party and Germany overall, especially since Eddie's Emcee was kind of representing a general malevolent force that swept across the people of Germany, but with Adam's Emcee I saw the Emcee more as an actual person who's being surrounded by forces he cannot control and backed into a corner.

Adam's "conducting" of the Tomorrow Belongs with Me reprise felt almost like he was the one being puppeted rather than the one doing the puppeting and I thought the ending of I Don't Care Much was devastating--the entire song being him trying to convince himself it doesn't matter only to almost break at the end and needing Sally to comfort him.  And the monotone announcing of Sally's return to the Kit Kat Club, that was heartbreaking.  His final costume in the suit also felt so ill-fitting (on purpose) because it didn't represent who he truly wanted to be, whereas on Eddie he still had a bit of a sinister edge that it seemed that the malignant force he was projecting had just taken on a different form.

I thought it was really interesting seeing Auli'i as Sally since I mostly knew her as Moana and just couldn't really envision her as Sally, but I thought she did a fantastic job.  I found the idea of her being technically a person of color, but mostly white-passing, really fascinating in how the role came off to me.  I thought the lead-in to Maybe This Time held more weight because it seemed like for the first time she was being seen fully as a person and taken seriously rather than just an exotic plaything due to her mixed race, especially playing opposite a black Cliff (side bar: I don't know that I can fully buy a black Cliff still with regards to his interactions with Ernst, but I did like Calvin Leon Smith a lot more than Ato Blankson-Wood).  I think in the current cast Sally found a bit more kinship with Cliff which made their relationship easier to believe, and their breakup more impactful too--if Cliff sees Sally as another person of color, then he would think it fairly obvious that they should both flee Germany as soon as possible, whereas Sally, who is able to pass for white in a way that Cliff is not, would still be enticed to stay where she can still bask in the fame and attention she gets.

I think this is maybe why her performance of Cabaret comes off so differently.  She's not breaking down as much as making a decision that she's going to be resolute about.  She's discovered that Cliff is not all that similar to her after all and that despite how much she may love him, their relationship would never fully work and she believes she can still survive going about as she always has in the Kit Kat Club.  And it also makes her friendship with the Emcee more apparent too.  They're both people who don't quite fit into the "approved" social strata, but can choose to hide parts of themselves to fit in once the Nazi regime takes over--which is demonstrated all the more by the ending.

Anyways, all this to say that I definitely saw new and different layers in the current cast that hadn't occurred to me before, so I'd still recommend anyone who might be on the fence because of the original casting to take another look!  I think Adam's Emcee is a lot more of a human character rather than an abstract concept, and Auli'i's Sally brought out more of her internal struggles and calculated choices than I remember.  And Calvin Leon Smith's chemistry with Auli'i and in general the other characters was much more believable than before.

[akhoya87]

Posted: 12/1/24 at 10:24am

Thanks, chrishuyen!  I appreciate your insight, which I largely agree with.  I definitely agree with your assessment that Adam and Auli'i are worth a watch, even for those who've seen the original Broadway cast.

One thing that I find fascinating is how we, the audience, choose to view the characters -- but as you said, that's theatre for you.  I suspend disbelief and think that Sally is a white, English woman, regardless of who's playing her, and that Cliff is a white, American man -- so, in the case of the latter, the scenes with Ernst don't seem out of the ordinary.  (FWIW, I'm a POC -- I'm sure there's lots to unpack with my therapist re:  how I interpret theatre.)  The next time I see Auli'i, I may try to view the production with your frame in mind.

I agree that Calvin and Auli'i had much better chemistry as Cliff and Sally than in other combinations; it's just that last scene that fell flat for me.  

On Adam, I think we're largely getting at the same thing -- although maybe I focused less on the Emcee's queer identity and more on his libertine spirit (which are not mutually exclusive).  There was a moment in Tomorrow Belongs to Me that I don't ever recall seeing with Eddie/Fra/etc. -- where you can really see the Emcee struggling with what he's becoming.  The Emcee starts to do the Roman salute as he sings "arise, arise" -- and at the climax, recoils in terror from what he's about to become.  I found that moment particularly impactful, and it goes to that theme of assimilation you highlighted.

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/1/24 at 4:54pm

At intermission now and I don’t know what’s going on with this audience today, but they are dead and you could see Adam (in character) getting palpably pissed off and throwing in quite a few profane ad libs as a result.

Auli’i seemed to call out today - unscheduled - but I saw her already so that’s fine. Gabi Campo is a good understudy.

There are a total of NINE understudies/swings on today - including for Sally, Frau Schneider, Kost, 4 Kit Kat Girls, 1 Cabaret Boy, and one prologue dancer and everything is still moving so smoothly. (I think is a personal record for me)

[Peter Barker]

Posted: 12/1/24 at 9:03pm

Yes!! and hear me out, Joseph Quinn as Emcee...."

Can Joseph Quinn sing? I would pay just to watch him manspread throughout the entire show. 

[George in DC]

Posted: 12/1/24 at 9:19pm

quizking101 said: "At intermission now and I don’t know what’s going on with this audience today, but they are dead and you could see Adam (in character) getting palpably pissed off and throwing in quite a few profane ad libs as a result.

Auli’i seemed to call out today - unscheduled - but I saw her already so that’s fine. Gabi Campo is a good understudy.

There are a total of NINE understudies/swings on today - including for Sally, Frau Schneider, Kost, 4 Kit Kat Girls, 1 Cabaret Boy, and one prologue dancer and everything is still moving so smoothly. (I think is a personal record for me)"

Hopefully he is pissed at so many actors calling out.

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 12/1/24 at 11:11pm

apparently the next replacement cast starts rehearsal after New Years day...any casting insights

[tacotheatrelover]

Posted: 12/1/24 at 11:16pm

BoringBoredBoard40 said: "apparently the next replacement cast starts rehearsal after New Years day...any casting insights"

GERARD WAY EMCEE GIVE ME GERARD WAY

[Impeach2017]

Posted: 12/2/24 at 2:58am

It must be odd watching this now, knowing that it's happening in real time.

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 12/2/24 at 6:25am

Billy Porter and Marisha Wallace were announced for London. Surprised Billy didn’t want NY.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/2/24 at 7:09am

DramaTeach said: "Billy Porter and Marisha Wallace were announced for London. Surprised Billy didn’t want NY."

Porter is a very odd choice for Emcee.

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 12/2/24 at 7:33am

Billy has one long bio…

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/2/24 at 8:39am

I think this is such exciting replacement casting. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/2/24 at 9:29am

ACL2006 said: "DramaTeach said: "Billy Porter and Marisha Wallace were announced for London. Surprised Billy didn’t want NY."

Porter is a very odd choice for Emcee."

Marisha is a thrilling choice and I’m bummed that I will like miss her since my usual London trip (if I have it next year) is in July.

Porter is…a choice. Maybe he decided London would be more welcome to him as a replacement as opposed to Broadway. But also, while the Emcee can be pretty much anyone, this just seems like it won’t fit well at all. Billy Porter has become very good at playing Billy Porter and that’s not who I see the emcee in this production to be.

Updated On: 12/2/24 at 09:29 AM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/2/24 at 9:37am

Really? What seems off? I think his voice will suit the roll and I think he's got the charisma. And also, as a Tony winner, maybe West End is a little less pressure? Plus a new experience.