CABARET at the Kit Kat Club Previews — Page 8

I did a 2 sho day today. Tommy at 2pm and Cabaret at 8pm. I was very disappointed with what I saw. I have never seen any other amateur or professional production of this show. Eddie Redmayne and Bebe Neuwirth are carrying this material and are phenomenal. Is it bad that I would rather see Water for Elephants again? I think the race is between Tommy and Merrily We Roll Along.

inception said: "Jordan Catalano said: "Whereas to me, she’s more tragic when played older. Again, this is why I just love the character so much. She can be almost anything and it works in completely different ways."

But SPOILERS

she gets pregnant, so she can't be too old. Makes more sense when she is under 30."

When exactly do you think menopause hits? 30 and a day??

Avg age for menopause is 51. So while it gets more difficult to conceive after 35, it's not terrible rare. (Think about all those Catholic families with ten plus children!)

I totally get Jordan's point. A 40 year old still chasing that lifestyle, giving up what could be her last chance to have a child (no, not all women WANT a child, I know) is more tragic than a young adult making those same choices.

Also to me, "Maybe This Time" doesn't have the same impact when performed by a young Sally. It's always read to me as a song sung by a woman who's been THROUGH IT and a lot.

Jordan Catalano said: "Also to me, "Maybe This Time" doesn't have the same impact whenperformedby a young Sally. It's always read to me as a song sung by a woman who's been THROUGH IT and a lot."

I completely agree and that's part of what I really like about casting Gayle as Sally. I know she's only 34 but I like that she is not in her 20's and doesn't look it - especially for the 1920's/30's she would have been considered an old maid.

Updated On: 4/4/24 at 09:25 AM

And Natasha Richardson was the same age as Rankin and gave the best performance I've ever experienced in the theater. I never once thought 'Oh that poor barren woman.' ;)

I haven't yet seen this on Broadway and I may not because I very much didn't care for it in London. I saw Madeline Brewer and Callum Scott Howells (both very good), I just really didn't care for Frecknall's vision for this piece. The Cliff in that cast gave the single worst performance I've ever seen on a West End or Broadway stage and now I'm wondering if it isn't the actual conception of the character by Frecknall rather than the actor.

1) I do understand menopause.

2)I don't mean that an actress over 30 can't play Sally Bowles, but that IMO it makes more sense that the character is under 30.

Sally is still rather inexperienced., despite all the worldliness she projects. The diaphragm was available by the 1930's. I think an older woman in that milieu would have been using some sort of birth control.

It is interesting that the inspiration for Sally in Isherwood's original novel was only 19 at the time he knew her in Berlin. Just reading the Wikipedia article about her - Jean Ross - on the train this morning, and I found this section about her singing interesting:

"Isherwood described Ross' singing talent as mediocre: "She had a surprisingly deep, husky voice. She sang badly, without any expression, her hands hanging down at her sides—yet her performance was, in its own way, effective because of her startling appearance and her air of not caring a curse of what people thought of her." Likewise, acquaintance Stephen Spender recalled that Ross' singing ability was underwhelming and forgettable: "In my mind's eye, I can see her now in some dingy bar standing on a platform and singing so inaudibly that I could not hear her from the back of the room where I was discreetly seated.""

More on Sally Bowles here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Bowles

I genuinely thought Omari Douglas gave a moving, sensitive, sweet performance, kind of a nerd. To me the direction seems to be that Cliff is truly an innocent whose mind kind of gets blown, drawn like a moth to Sally who also bullies him a little. It's just that people overshoot that bit, especially when it's people like Omari who thrives on flamboyance (anyone who saw It's A Sin can attest to that).

But honestly, the people acting like Ato is doing something very embarrassing, especially that one poster with a grudge against him, when all he is kind of bland and finding that sort of difficult to navigate with the bigger moments, is laughable.

While I do think that he sort of improved in Act Two to an extent, I just found him to be rather lifeless and lacking any kind of real character in Act One. It was truly an energy shift any time he had a major moment that would pull me out of a scene. I think the role has enough of a blank canvas quality that you can actually bring more life to it...but then again, it sounds like people had issues with the London Cliff so it could have to do with the director.

I still think the best Cliff was Adam Godley.

"

I recall reading a review of the London production that said something along the lines of "Eddie Redmayne would have made a great Cliff, but then again that would mean we'd be deprived of his performance as The Emcee".

Maybe it's an issue with the underlying material. You don't often get vivid characterization with an audience surrogate character.

I was VERY wrong about something and need to apologize. The stickers they give out here are nothing like the ones they have in London. Whenever I see it there, I always tend to just put the sticker on the back of my case and then after a couple days, I peel it off and they always just slide right off. No reason why, just something I did once and it became "tradition". ANYWAYS. I went to peel this one from the other night off and it was glue. It took me ten minutes of scrubbing to even begin to get it to come off.

When I go back, I'm just telling them I don't have a phone.

Just keep your phone in your pocket and when you get to the person handing them out just say you left it at home.

Jordan Catalano said: "Just keep your phone in your pocket and when you get to the person handing them out just say you left it at home."

Now, how does one do that when you enter through security show your ticket scanned from your phone is already out? So how does one keep your phone then in your pocket as all this goes by quickly when entering?

I haven’t seen this production, but I am in love with the Sam Mendes Cabaret. Roundabout should have just remounted it at Studio 54 and we all would be watching the DEFINITIVE production of CABARET. No reason for this one. The choreo in this new one looks ugly. And the costumes. You cant beat the WONDERFUL Rob Marshall choreo and William Ivey Long design!!

Updated On: 4/4/24 at 11:51 PM