Cabaret

[Patti_LuPone_Fan]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 12:00am

I know Cabaret just closed 5 years ago (ahem didn't stop Gypsy) but if Cabaret came back with an (please don't kill me) all-black cast, I think (don't feed me to your dogs and laugh while doing so) Beyonce would be a fantastic Sally Bowles vocally. Think of her singing "Cabaret" and "Maybe This Time".

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 12:01am

wouldn't work due to the time era it is set in. Blacks, Jews, Gays, etc. were hunted DOWN by the Nazis. Have an all black cast wouldn't make sense. Although, I would love to hear a recording.

[Patti_LuPone_Fan]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 12:05am

exactly, I would love that with a few script changes (god how far-fetched will this get) It would run for about as long as SideShow

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 12:25am

I wouldn't mind hearing her sing the score....

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 12:26am

A few script changes to what, then, remove the show entirely from its setting, and thus the basis of its plot? You can't fix the conflict here with "a few script changes." You have to wipe out the entire thing. I guess I could see finding some high concept way to go about it that could get interesting, but as is, it's completely historically inaccurate, and Cabaret is a show so depended on the historical context that I almost don't see the point. It wouldn't be Cabaret anymore.

[binau]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 12:33am

"Just closed 5 years ago (ahem didn't stop Gypsy)"

And wasn't the recent Gypsy an overwhelming success :P.

Updated On: 8/1/09 at 12:33 AM

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 12:34am

People should really think things through before they share their revisionary ideas ..... c'mon, this is so far beyond sensible that it's scary.

[Soliantu]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 10:42am

Yea, that historically would make no sense.. but you're not far off in thinking of a Cabaret revival. Roundabout had said 1 or 2 years ago that they wanted to bring Cabaret back for a limited engagement revival with Alan Cumming, it ended up not happening.. but it shows the idea is out there. I forget where I had heard that, but it was on the web for a while.
Updated On: 8/1/09 at 10:42 AM

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 11:34am

Absolutely not. It isn't historically accurate at all. The entire libretto would have to be re-crafted in order for this concept to work, and that would basically murder a classic musical.

The reason why Gypsy was revived so soon was because there was a successful regional production that transfered. It wasn't because a producer said 'Hey, we should revive Gypsy!'. I don't understand why people always use 'Gypsy' as the reason why a recently revived show should be revived again.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 11:47am

Cabaret is my favorite musical of all-time. This sort of change would go beyond being a "visionary" and would involve practically re-writing the entire book.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 1:49pm

'Cabaret is my favorite musical of all-time'

My respect for you just went WAY up.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 3:19pm

Its right up there with having a black actress playing Tracy Turnblad or Edna Turnblad. The entire plot of HAIRSPRAY doesn't lend itself to that reality.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 3:26pm

Yeah,wasn't there a quote from roundabout saying that Cabaret was really the only show that 100% worked in the Studio 54 space?
Anyway, this idea is not "Colorblind Casting" it's just plain dumb.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 3:33pm

What if they set the entire show in a camp and had the prisoners reenact the story playing their own instruments?

[Patti_LuPone_Fan]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 5:56pm

That gives me another fantastic idea


Anne Frank's Attic: The Musical!

[binau]

Posted: 8/1/09 at 6:12pm

"The reason why Gypsy was revived so soon was because there was a successful regional production that transfered. It wasn't because a producer said 'Hey, we should revive Gypsy!'. I don't understand why people always use 'Gypsy' as the reason why a recently revived show should be revived again."

In Arthur Laurents' book, he goes on about how the point of this production was to 'rid the memory' of the Sam Mendes version - not that he is a producer or anything (at least as far as I know), but I get the impression the reason the production started is because Laurents did feel "Let's start something"..

Not to say it's still a good example, unless losing half your investment and closing early is considered successful these days :).

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/2/09 at 1:18am

Anne Frank's Attic: The Musical!

You joke, but I actually saw a horrendous musical adaptation of Anne Frank called Anne Frank: A Voice Heard. It was one of those education theater touring groups that would come to your school and put on a show in 60 minutes. I was as horrified as my students were sitting there watching it. There was even a musical "production number" about being quiet during an air raid.

This one had a cast of 5, so everyone but Otto played multiple roles. This resulted in hilarious bits of dialogue, wherein someone would ask where Miep was, and Margot would say, "I'll go get her." Moments later, Miep would appear, played by the same actress who played Margot. I get the giggles even thinking about it.
Updated On: 8/2/09 at 01:18 AM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/2/09 at 1:39am

Isn't Yours, Anne a musical about Anne Frank? I'm not getting why the idea of an Anne Frank musical is so funny. I'm sure there's a few.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/2/09 at 1:52am

I'd love to see a revival of Cabaret. That piece of crapola the Roundabout served up a few years ago stank to Uranus.

Beyonce is too lethargic of a performer to play the green nail painting, raw egg drinking, pixie Sally Bowles. Plus they'd have to have an intermission right before she sang "Cabaret" so that she didn't gasp through the song like Idina on a two show day.

There already is an Anne Frank musical called "Yours, Anne". It's not good musically, but it was attempted and a cast recording was released.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 8/2/09 at 2:00am

I'd love to see a revival of Cabaret. That piece of crapola the Roundabout served up a few years ago stank to Uranus.

...seriously?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/2/09 at 2:09am

"...seriously?"

Seriously!!

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 8/2/09 at 9:50am

That revival was a revolutionary take on a classic musical. It made an 'old' musical fresh and exciting. By no means am I say that the original Cabaret is outdated, but that Roundabout revival was a groundbreaking take on that piece.

[Jon]

Posted: 8/2/09 at 10:05am

"Yours, Anne" had a successful Off-Broadway run, nad has been done by numerous regional theatres.

An Anne Frank musical is about as ridiculous as, say, a musical about a mass murderer and his lady friend who bakes the victims into pies.

Or a musical about an Austrian family who escape the Nazis by hiking through the Alps.

Or a musical about people living with H.I.V.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 8/2/09 at 11:03am

That revival was a revolutionary take on a classic musical.

My thought exactly. I cannot, for the life of me, imagine how someone could think it was garbage. It was an exceptional production that was not just well-received by audiences (as evidenced by it's six year run) but by critics as well. It was everything a REVIVal (note the root word 'revive') should be, seeing that it breathed completely new life into a classic musical.

[JP2]

Posted: 8/2/09 at 11:32am

As long as Wesley Taylor is the Emcee, I'm all for it.