Cabaret previews - Page 12

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 2:54pm

It's reasonable to be conflicted by what is happening onstage, as long as you don't bring all this unnecessary BWW baggage with you.

I tend to stay out of threads for shows I didn't see yet, unless I'm on the fence about going. If I already have a ticket sorted, I'll check in later and see where I line up with others.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 3:15pm

No comment on the production, but I will say this: I would die laughing if the critics decided to re-print their 1998 reviews in protest.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 3:21pm

In protest of what? Reviving a show 16 years later?

[macnyc]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 4:14pm

I saw the second preview Saturday night and enjoyed the show very much from the mid mezzanine. I was my first exposure to Cabaret except for having seen the movie many moons ago. I loved Cumming's performance and thought he was all in. I especially appreciated when he wasn't front and center, and he was merely observing the goings-on from the upper level, half in shadows. I could feel something from him in those moments, I swear. I liked Michelle Williams too. The staging, lighting, and orchestra added up to a transporting show. After seeing it, I realized that the closer you are to the stage, the better (in my opinion). So if you're on the fence about where you want to sit, I encourage you to dip into your 401(k) for front mezzanine seats (if you can even get them). I think that's the perfect spot for this show.

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 4:25pm

"I would die laughing if the critics decided to re-print their 1998 reviews in protest."

That would be some heady protest... were you part of Occupy Wall Street, by chance?

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 5:22pm

So, Williams will probably be nominated and will sing 'Cabaret' at the Tony? I guess, at least.

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 5:29pm

Hard to imagine they wouldn't want Cumming to also appear. He is the bigger draw, no? I love Michelle Williams, but I don't think of her as a huge star... I've been known to be off on this front, though.

[smallvillefan16]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 5:35pm

Do we know if there will be a cast recording of this production? I know it's limited so I wasn't sure...I hope so.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 5:45pm

The more I think about it, the more I think I have to see it. I don't think I could miss seeing Michelle Williams and Danny Burstein.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 6:19pm

Whether they get a full number on the Tonys is fairly contingent on whether the production can get nominated.

[theaternut]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 6:30pm

If you always like Danny Burstein then I think you will probably like him in this. I find him always to be the same.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 7:57pm

Williams reads very young. She can't play it as worldly as Richardson, who looked more mature. I liked her more girlish take. She seemed somewhat tentative and vulnerable at times-testing her sexuality. She didn't have as many miles as Richardson's Sally.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 9:22pm

I know it's never mentioned in the show, but Sally's age is only 19.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 10:10pm

I think Sally Bowles is rather like Hamlet- she can be played in a million different ways by a very diverse range and age of actresses and they can all be good- I think that's one of the reasons the last revival was able to successfully star cast the role as long as it did.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 10:29pm

[Theatrefan2]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 11:21pm

Can anyone who has seen it tell me if the ending is the same as the London production?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 11:28pm

You mean the original Donmar production that was televised? The ending isn't exactly the same but more or less... Yes.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 11:36pm

I think he/she means

*SPOILERS*

The recent ending when everyone is nude since they are about to die at the gas chambers

*END OF SPOILERS*

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 11:45pm

Oh well then no- not the same ending.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 11:47pm

Did they even strip people naked for the gas chambers? Is that actually documented or did they do that in the London production just to try and shock people?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/24/14 at 11:54pm

I think there is some documentation that prisoners were stripped before being gassed because they were told they were being sent into the showers. But yeah that sounds like a shock value tactic. I saw a production of CABARET a couple years ago where at the end of the show they stripped the MC naked and put him in a coffin and nailed it shut -some of that attempts to shock at this musical have gotten really over-the-top. I'm waiting for the ending where they rape the gorilla suit.

[macnyc]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 12:07am

If Cabaret is set in 1931, isn't that a bit early for gas chambers?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 12:26am

Think of it as foreshadowing the horrors that are going to befall all these characters who don't leave Berlin.

[NYC4Life]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 12:38am

"Did they even strip people naked for the gas chambers? Is that actually documented or did they do that in the London production just to try and shock people?"

The peak of gas chamber killings was reached at Treblinka, where 10 gas chambers were in simultaneous use. Here 2,500 people could be gassed within one hour. The victims were forced to enter the gas chambers naked and with raised arms so that the room could contain a maximum number of bodies. Babies were thrown on top of the crowd. This method was well-conceived, because the poison gas produced a quicker, deadlier effect if as little air as possible was in a chamber. Therefore the "ultimate" gas chambers were constructed to be as low as possible (about 2 m from floor to ceiling).
To avoid panic, a lot of Nazi gas chambers were camouflaged as bath rooms. Signs were installed, with inscriptions directing the victims toward their final place. In the gas chambers themselves, fake plumbing was added and fake showers installed in the ceilings. Even pieces of soap were handed out sometimes (at Auschwitz and Chelmno), before the victims entered the gas chambers.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/25/14 at 12:39am

I don't recall the 1998 production showing anyone naked during the final tableau. I remember the cast appearing on the stairs and at the back of the stage as the incinerator noise increased in volume. The Emcee took off his robe, revealing the concentration camp costume. He then walked back and joined the rest of the cast as a cymbal crashed.

Is that what they're using now? What production used nudity in that scene?