Is Billy Porter ok? (West End Cabaret)

[binau]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 5:21am

He appears to be missing many performances and the word of mouth is difficult (reddit & that other west end board). However, I must admit what I witnessed was an incredibly entertaining, haunting and devastating performance. If it isn't obvious, I love an aging diva (e.g. Bernadette Peters). Billy Porter's unique stage presence and incredibly expressive vocals very much put him in a diva category for me (which is perhaps the biggest compliment I could give him). This is after all the same person that sings "And I am telling you" and was even asked by Sondheim to try "The Last Midnight" for a potential gender-bending Witch in Into the Woods (which didn't eventuate of course). 

Billy Porter in Cabaret is very much BILLY PORTER in Cabaret (American accent and all) - he flaunts around the stage in his various costumes, ad libbing both spoken dialogue (AMERICA FIRSTTT.....THANK YOU BITCHESSSSSS) AND 'improvising' around the vocals as he wails, croons, introduces his own new harmonies, soul, creates his own new vocal solo ad lib moments, sometimes screams. Give an attention-seeking Diva a role and stage and they will find every trick in the book they can to seek that attention. Billy Porter is giving 200% to this role and not phoning it in at all. 

As an aging diva, like Bernadette Billy's voice is simply not the voice it was in 'Kinky Boots' anymore. He frequently cracked and one song in particular (Money) did not fit well within his current range. However, his vocal flourishes tended to work for me and "tomorrow belongs to me" and "I don't care much" in particular were beautifully expressive and soulful.  There is a video of him singing I don't care much here on YouTube. It doesn't quite capture the moment as it is done on stage including the effective costume change to straight clothing that has a dramatic effect of feeling that Billy's/Emcee's wings have been clipped. However, it DOES a good job to reflect the kind of emotion we see in Billy's vocals on stage. 

But Billy also seems to take the role to such dark places - he became so fractured, so broken during the the introduction of Sally's "Cabaret" that for a brief moment I wondered if he was actually having a breakdown on stage. I'm not sure if there is something going on in Billy's personal life RE: this devastation on stage in combination with the missed performances or if he is simply executing what he wants to do with the role but has a bit of trouble keeping up with the vocals. But the whole thing felt a little bit like it could have been a Ryan Murphy show and soon we were going to cut scene to Billy's character offstage doing something wild. 

Another highlight of the production right now for me are Marisha Wallace, whose stunning vocals bring new life to the songs although I think after seeing 3 Sallys in this production now it seems that the director insists they scream at the top of their lungs during "Cabaret" which I don't think Marisha really needs to do because her voice is so powerful. 



The other unexpected highlight is Daniel Bowerbank as Cliff. I'm not sure what it is (they appear to have gone to an elite classical drama school - think Anthony Hopkins, Alan Rickman, Imelda Staunton-type alumni). But for the first time in this production I actually think the Director's vision of having a somewhat camp black man character play Cliff really worked - somehow Daniel convinces that he is genuinely bisexual and has chemistry with Sally without compromising the Director's vision at all that the character has mannerisms that might suggest otherwise (I'm aware that these stereotypes do not reflect the individual experience of everyone - but I have talked to many people who have seen the show and one of the constant problems people mention to me is that the Cliff/Sally chemistry is not believable). It was the most complex and fully realised version of 'Cliff' in this production I have seen. He also has some ferocious line readings in Act Two that reminded me this is the same director that got Paul Mescal's chilling performance in "Streetcar". 



Both Billy and Marisha Wallace manage to bring a bit of Broadwayyyyy pizazzzzz into the production that can otherwise come across as a little gloomy. With Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley the director found two academy award-nominated actors who could pretend they are show people, but Billy and Marisha are natural show people who don't need to pretend at all. 

I hope Billy, Marisha and Daniel will find their way to the Broadway production soon. 

The other thing about the show right now that is chilling is the political landscape that is happening around Europe. The UK far right party just won local government elections, the German far right and alleged neo nazi party the AfD now is the most popular party in Germany with 20% of the vote. In the UK there has been a rise of open antisemitism as people struggle to disassociate the state of Israel with jewishness (see also: John Lithgow's Olivier-award winning performance in the Olivier-award best play "Giant". I don't think the subtext of any of this was lost on the audience based on their reactions. 

Updated On: 5/4/25 at 05:21 AM

[SteveSanders]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 5:30am

I agree with those who say we get way too much Billy Porter and not enough of the emcee character.  His voice was horribly ragged the performance I attended and he seemed weary throughout.  I do not think the Broadway production would be very well-served by bringing him in as a replacement.

Wallace, however, was outstanding.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 7:07am

When i saw Billy as The Emcee he was drifting in and out of a few different accents, all as Billy Porter. Even still, I thought he was fine in the role, nothing remarkable. I just passed an ad on the tube today for a play that he’s directing here in London so it looks like he’s decided to stay for a while. 

And yes, Marisha was sublime as Sally. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 7:51am

While I have not seen her in this production, Marisha is one of those talents that got done dirty by Broadway and ended up finding better career prospects in the West End, where she is heralded. (Her Adelaide in G&D was SUBLIME).

Billy Porter is an odd case over the last decade. He’s had his career renaissance kick off with Kinky Boots, and then greater stardom with Pose, but even amongst some of my friends in the theatre community, the consensus is that he’s become a different person, and not in a good way - almost like a meme of himself. Even when he was announced, I thought it was certainly a choice…and it sounds exactly like what I expected/feared.

If he came to the Broadway production, there’s no way he would be able to get away with this kind of crash-out

[binau]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 8:35am

I was thinking Marisha is getting so much momentum in the west end I wonder if she could be the one to play Rose in London one day. She has quickly become one of the biggest west end stars. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 8:40am

If we’re talking west end ladies who need to play Rose, I’m gonna say Rachel Tucker is someone who would be fantastic. 

[tacotheatrelover]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 8:58am

Jordan Catalano said: "If we’re talking west end ladies who need to play Rose, I’m gonna say Rachel Tucker is someone who would be fantastic."

cast Rachel Tucker in everything. 

All hail Rachel Tucker

and all hail Shadow The Hedgehog

[Kad]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 9:30am

Porter strikes me as someone who became very high on his own supply as he reached broader fame post-Kinky Boots.

[Ke3]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 9:42am

It's clear when you read Billy Porter interviews that there's some bitterness about how long it took him to have his moment and his feelings about deserving everything and more. I understand on some level. I mean he literally left acting after being denied an audition to be a replacement Emcee in the early aughts. But there seems to be just soooooo much vitriol inside him. When he covered Essence they asked him about being the only Pose cast member to receive a widespread embrace from the industry and you could tell he was insulted to be asked. He actually said the rest of the cast needed to "wait their turn" which was just so disappointing.

I saw Patina Miller last year and she talked about how much of a mentor he was to her and other Black students at Carnegie Mellon and it was honestly pretty shocking because I can't imagine the Billy we see today caring about the generation under him.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 10:45am

Everyone handles these things differently.

It has to be difficult to get your Broadway debut at 21, have a decade of steady-ish work, and then not work again on Broadway until you're 43. Which is different than someone like Jen Simard working off-Broadway from a young age but not making it to Broadway until 37, and then steadily building up from there.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 10:57am

So it sounds like Billy Porter is maybe a diva, well-liked by many of his peers, very talented, and in any event giving a perfectly acceptable performance in Cabaret with a spotty attendance record.

In other words he is definitely OK, to answer the question posed here. Why frame a review of Cabaret, even with critiques of Porter, in such obnoxious, gossipy fashion? 

Is Bernadette Peters OK?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 11:12am

PipingHotPiccolo said: "Is Bernadette Peters OK?"

NO. She was ROBBED.

 

[SteveSanders]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 12:15pm

PipingHotPiccolo said: "So it sounds like Billy Porter is maybe a diva, well-liked by many of his peers, very talented, and in any event giving a perfectly acceptable performance in Cabaret with a spotty attendance record.

In other words he is definitely OK, to answer the question posed here. Why frame a review of Cabaret, even with critiques of Porter, in such obnoxious, gossipy fashion?

Is Bernadette Peters OK?"

Oh FFS. Not even close to being the same scenario. And I think many comments about Porter's performance, including my own, would suggest it is BARELY acceptable, not perfectly so.

Updated On: 5/4/25 at 12:15 PM

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 12:33pm

Porter has burned too many bridges in the business for me to enjoy this performance. 

He took a great instrument, oversang on it and then turned into a very difficult performer who didn't have the enduring talent cachet to act the way he acts.

Wallace is the real deal.  I saw her years ago when she was doing regional work in the States and knew she'd be the theatre star she's turned into.  Huge voice.  Good actress.  Personable and charming.  Brits love her.

[NormasTurban]

Posted: 5/4/25 at 1:01pm

Rachel Tucker would be sublime as Rose.

Marisha is astounding in this role by the way. Billy is bloody awful.