Sam Mendes' Cabaret - If you witnessed the production, please help

I was wondering if anyone could please take a few minutes of their time to share their story of their experience at the Sam Mendes production of Cabaret. I just obtained the London televised production recording with Alan Cumming, but I do not want to watch it until I do some further research, but I am dying to throw it in the dvd player. Thanks for any help

Jordan- Could you give me a few details as to why that recorded performance was so different to the Broadway production? Sorry to be a bother.

Marshall's contributions were minimal (IMO), it was the overall concept and imagery that were breathtaking. What Jordan said, another was the I DON'T CARE number.
The whole thing was mind blowing, Isaw it many times from front and backstage.

PRS-Sorry, wasn't aware I couldn't ask questions. I'll mind my manners and keep to myself.

I don't really understand the point of this thread. You have every right to have made it, but it just seems like you want to read what other people have to say about the production before you watch it yourself. To that, all I have to say is watch it and see for yourself how you enjoy it.

But since you asked for experiences, I will share mine. I was only 11 when I saw the show (my aunt and uncle took me), so my memory is a little hazy on big details. Gina Gershon was Sally, but I can't remember who my Emcee was. The only reason I think I remember Gina is because her performance sparked my lifelong obsession with her. I digress. The production was just this filthy, dark, scary entity that totally created an atmosphere unlike anything I have seen to this day. Every aspect of the show evoked a very specific feeling that was so necessary to the intention of the piece. And that ending... good God. Definitely too intense for an 11-year-old to have seen, but I also didn't fully grasp just HOW intense it was until years later while watching a bootleg. Still the best overall production of any show I've ever seen.

"Marshall's contributions were minimal (IMO)"

What is your source for that? As I understand it, the opposite is true. Marshall actually pulled the show together.

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I don't "need prepping" or Johnson & Johnson on my behind before watching it. I am just interested in people's experiences. That's all.

Thank you all for sharing, though. I do appreciate that

I'll pitch in!

I saw the original cast (or what I think was very nearly the original cast) in New York at Henry Miller's Theatre. The theater was very run down, and was a great setting for the production. (I was privileged to also see "Urinetown" there.)

I remember thinking that Alan Cumming was doing something new and different and wonderful with the MC, but that it seemed perfectly obvious and natural when coming from him.

Natasha Richardson scared me to death with her gesture at the end of the title song. For the first time, I understood what the song means in the context of the show.

The ending was remarkable. Again, it seemed so right and perfect, but completely new. Folks in the audience was crying and gasping. It was shocking and awful and beautiful, an amazing coup de theatre.

I find this thread a bit odd also, but I'm happy to share my impressions from the show.

Although the production flowed beautifully, what sticks out in my mind are individual moments of heart stopping theater.

(I saw Susan Egan and Micheal Hall)

Susan tearing into "Cabaret" with such intense passion, and giving the moment a whole new level of subtext that I had not seen before.

Michael Hall slinking sexily around the picture frame that encompassed the stage and watching the non-cabaret scenes from the top. Silent, slightly menacing, and commenting on the action wordlessly.

The brilliant use of 54 as an actual cabaret. This production felt nothing like a Broadway musical (despite the $16.00 martinis). It felt seedy and slightly deviant. Perfect.

And of course the now famous ending scene that remains the most powerful image I have ever seen in a live show.

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"but I know Rob Marshall (who went on to win an Oscar for the movie of Chicago)"

That is incorrect. Rob Marshall didn't win an Oscar for the movie Chicago.

Saw the show with Richardson, Leigh and Gershon. Gina Gershon was truly my favorite. She did something with Sally that I never imagined was possible. To me, she was the closest to the actual character. It was just natural to her.

Although I love Cabaret with all my heart and soul, the ending for me has always been a problem. It just kind of fades out with no true conclusion-in fact, the ending is really just the beginning. I've never been a fan of Harold Prince's montage ending (which was repeated in Follies and Evita). And Mendes ending, I finally realize, is slightly cheap and disingenuous. It just doesn't feel right. I don't like the allusion to the Holocaust stuff and the gas chamber ending. I realize I go against the grain by saying the ending rings false, but it's important to have a dissenting opinion for balance.

Having said that, if I were directing Cabaret, I have no idea how I'd end the show.

I will say this about the Mendes production-it has become the definitive version of the show. From the Broadway production to the film to the 80's revival to the Mendes production, Cabaret has always been a malleable piece of art and Mendes' has the most impact. I wish they would just release the rights to the most recent Broadway production since most community theatres wind up doing it illegally anyway.

I've never seen the tape of the Cumming/Horrocks version. I assume Jane Horrocks is wonderful.

Saw it first in previews at the Henry Miller (Kit Kat Klub) at a table by the stage. It was a thrill from start to finish. A Kit Kat girl chatted with us in character before the start; Cumming was a ball of fire; but the epiphany was Richardson. She acted that role in a way that no one that came after her could; when she knocked that mic over it came as an ineluctable result of being totally strung out. All subsequent Sallys did it as a stock gesture of defiance (some just did it because it was the blocking). Richardson was a force of nature in the role. Dennis O'Hare, Michele Pawk, Mary Louise Wilson, Ron Rifkin - all were great. The only weak link was John Benjamin Hickey, playing a lead role as though he were apologizing for being on stage.

Went back with out-of-towners several times, but Studio 54 was too big for the show to retain its grit and magic, and all subsequent replacements were merely pale imitations of the originals.