Cabaret revival how do we feel? - Page 2

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 2:39pm

I saw the show several times-and each time she went with Schultz. (Personally, I think the character should have. Fraulein Kost represents the people bending to Nazism more than Schneider could hope to. She seemed inspired by the young couple (this is all before they break up).)

Also-if she didn't go with him, how come she goes to the 'chamber'????

[shrekster224]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 2:52pm

With Sutton as Sally and Eric Sciotto (who was much better than Will Swenson in Priscilla) as the Emcee.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 2:54pm

Cabaret gets changed about every which way but how do you get that Fraulein Schneider marries Schultz? You have the scene where the brick comes through the window, then she goes to Cliff & Sally to tell them the engagement is off and then you see Schulz tell Cliff he's moving out... that's the last we see of them- right?

Updated On: 9/12/12 at 02:54 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 3:04pm

That's right; I have no idea what dreaming is referring to by saying Schneider goes to any chamber.

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 3:45pm

DEClark, it sounds like the Seattle production did the 1987 Cabaret.

And regarding Schneider's fate, the recent revival implied that almost all the characters, save Cliff and MAYBE Sally, ended up being sent to the chambers (it's too late even if she did leave him- as a "Jew-lover" she would be a political enemy already). However, the more traditional ending still implies that she is beaten down by the Holocaust, whether executed or simply as traumatized as all "good Germans," but it implies that she is alone at the end.

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 3:46pm

What I was referring to is that in the final scene of the revival they reveal a 'gas chamber' where the characters who presumably die are led (the various persons from Kit Kat Club, Schultz, and so far as I recall, Fraulein Schneider). The creepy part was that the last person to go was the Emcee and you didn't 'get' what was happening until he ripped off his jacket and showed his Star of David and another badge depicting him as gay.

The only ones left on that stage at that point are Cliff and Sally.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 3:56pm

I saw the show on tour and there was nothing like that- the MC (Norbert Leo Butz in a SPECTACULAR performance) comes out sings, a rather menacing version on Welkommen and reveals his pink triangle.

Updated On: 9/12/12 at 03:56 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 4:33pm

I believe that moment was entirely symbolic; it didn't mean that everyone in the show literally went to concentration camps.

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 4:39pm

My mistake. It seemed literal every time I saw it.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 4:42pm

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the revival when the Emcee comes out at the very end, the entire cast is onstage, I thought. Not just Cliff and Sally.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 4:47pm

DE, aside from cutting I Don't Care Much, that sounds essentially like the 1987 revival script (I know the production got a mixed reaction--but the video I've seen of it is really great--part of the excitement being just to see so much of the original Prince/Field/Aronson original production recreated--I love the Mendes/Marshall revival, but many fans seem to discount how brilliant the Prince original still comes off). Do you remember if Cliff sang Why Should I Wake Up, or Don't Go?

I saw the tour of Cabaret too (with Kate Shindle in the lead--she was great, and I wasn't expecting much as all I knew about her was that she was a Miss America)--and I remember the ending as Joe describes, nothing so literal. It was a great and powerful coup de theatre, but more and more I find the original ending makes more sense--Mendes' seems a bit too forced, especially when regional productions rip it off.

[michellek45]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 7:28pm

Jordan- I believe you're right, but I think most of the other cast members are sort of in the background, behind the Emcee, and more obscured than Sally and Cliff.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 7:35pm

I think that is right--but certainly I didn't get the impression it meant that they ALL were about to be gassed (as someone earlier said)...

[gabrieljwickedone]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 9:53pm

What about Kara Lindsay? She played the role here in Kansas City and got good reviews.
Kara Lindsay as Sally Bowles

[westcoast_wannabe]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 10:40pm

I think it's too soon for a Cabaret revival the Mendes version is still too imprinted on people's minds especially considering how often it's reproduced by amature groups. It's been off Broadway almost 10 years but hasn't really left the public consciousness. I'd love to see a new Cabaret but I think it's too soon for it to be sucessful.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 11:15pm

There was one in London a few years back that went even further with the crazy darkness. And it was yet another variation on the script.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 11:36pm

I enjoyed the recent West End Cabaret revival (2007?), which is actually coming back around in a new mounting in the West End next month. But I agree, the last Broadway revival was far too definitive and left too much a lasting impact to come back here for a long while.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 11:40pm

That's the one I'm thinking of, I think. Was that the one with Anna Maxwell Martin?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 11:43pm

Was it darker? I know it had more (male) nudity, I believe with the sailors who visit Fraulein Kost. I've heard very mixed reactions to it from friends who had seen it, but none of them had seen the Mendes/Marshall version (just the Mendes/Donmar televised version which doesn't come off great in its filming IMHO). I believe that UK version though is still touring the UK actually--or it was recently.

I do kinda agree though that it seems too soon to do a new production on Broadway. As I've said, I find the Mendes/Marshall slightly overated--not because I don't think it's really great, I do, but I know many fans of it who seem to think that all previous versions of Cabaret were always hopelessly dated and somehow not authentic, and they finally did it right--a sentiment I don't share. But, regardless, I think the only way someone could have success on Broadway with a new production would be to revive that staging--and it probably would only be a minor success unless cast particularly brilliantly.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 11:48pm

The London was recorded--and yes with Anna Maxwell-Martin and James Dreyfuss as the Emcee. The song list for *that* production was:


1. Willkommen
2. So What?
3. Don't Tell Mama
4. Mein Herr
5. Perfectly Marvellous
6. Two Ladies
7. It Couldn't Please Me More
8. Transition
9. Maybe This Time
10. Tomorrow
11. Entr'acte
12. Married
13. Tomorrow Belongs To Me (Reprise)/The Money Song
14. Married (Reprise)
15. If You Could See Her
16. What Would You Do?
17. I Don't Care Much
18. Cabaret
19. Finale

It's not a bad recording. I did find it strange that the Mendes/Marshall revision never came to London--even its genesis was there in the tiny Mendes/Donmar production.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 9/13/12 at 3:18am

I'm not sure why, but of they ever do a film remake, I want to see Mila Kunis as Sally and Jake Gyllenhaal as the Emcee.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/13/12 at 1:10pm

That seems very odd to move "Money" to Act II, since it comes out and comments on the scene where Ernst recruits Cliff to help him do some smuggling, highlighting how everyone needs money. I'm curious how they reworked it to make it fit into Act II. The Entr'acte seems to be in an odd spot as well, almost looks like they moved the engagement party to the top of Act II as opposed to closing Act I.

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/13/12 at 1:16pm

I'm trying to remember- I THINK the Money Song was moved up to when Sally admitted she wanted to hock some of her stuff in case she got an abortion.

It's been years since I dug that one out, though, so I may be wrong.