Sam Mendes' Cabaret - If you witnessed the production, please help- Page 2

[tazber]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 11:19am

Oh wow, I totally remember the dancers mingling with the audience pre-show now that you mentioned it.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 11:22am

"All subsequent Sallys did it as a stock gesture of defiance (some just did it because it was the blocking)"

I'll disagree with you on that one as far as Jennifer Jason Leigh goes. She was (to me) the best Sally I ever saw. She was also 100% different than anyone else who did the role before or after her. I remember her as being an extremely manic depressive Sally who was filled with this rage inside of her that I can't even describe. THAT is a performance that deserved to be preserved.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 12:46pm

I saw Norbert Leo Butz as the Emcee on tour. Not only was he quit brilliant, but when he mooned the audience I saw more of him than I imagine his doctor has.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 1:01pm

I always love talking about this show. I was lucky enough to be at the opening night, and I'll never, ever forget it.

When you think of how simple the set and staging were, and how effective minimalism could be, it just thrills. The entire cast was sensational (I liked Hickey). Michelle Pawk and O'Hare were truly terrifying at the end of act one. Who knew an accordion could be so menacing. Cumming freed the role from Grey's (brilliant) grasp, and opened up a world of different possibilities for The Emcee.

And then there was Richardson. The single greatest performance I've ever witnessed in my quarter century of seeing Broadway shows. It was unlike anything I've ever seen...and probably ever will see. I cherish that performance like no other.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 1:43pm

I was fortunate to catch Sam Mendes' re-invention (the term used back then as many didn't think it could be called a 'revival') of CABARET countless times during its run on Broadway -- at both its first home: the Henry Miller Theatre (named The Kit Kat Klub for this production) and later when it transferred to the legendary Studio 54.

Now, I've also seen the BBC broadcast of the Donhmar Warehouse incarnation of this production with Alan Cumming and Jane Horrocks and it looks almost NOTHING like the Broadway production. Rob Marshall was brought on for the Broadway incarnation and added one element missing from the pre-Broadway London production: CHOREOGRAPHY. Its almost none-existant in the London staging. The Broadway incarnation was sensational in every possible way -- the London was simplistic and interesting.

I suggest you watch that BBC broadcast and take it for what it is, keeping in mind that on Broadway, the show's staging and choreography was completely different. Same director and intention; completely different productions.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 4:02pm

I saw it once at the Henry Miller and once at Studio 54 and I've seen that video. While Mendes was responsible for the grittiness, Rob Marshall (and I'm not a fan of his work since) made the whole think move in a slinky sexy way that worked with the grittiness to make the production a revelation.

As Robbie said, Alan Cummings broke the Joel Grey mold--and many people thought that mold was unbreakable, that every Emcee would always look (and sound) like a version of Joel Grey's. Not only had Grey won the Tony for playing the role, he had also won the Oscar for it--in a movie that many remember as perfect. He was the Emcee.

But there had been a dull, lifeless Broadway revival of the show with an older Joel Grey, and many had given up hope that the stage version would ever be good again. So Cummings's fresh approach--nastier and dirtier but still likable and funny--scored in a delightful and surprising way. (And, in many ways, created a NEW unbreakable mold!)

And then, as Robbie also said, there was Natasha Richardson.

Liza's Sally in the movie had been iconic, even if her Sally was nothing like Christopher Isherwood's. It was the one moment in her career when she truly and completely equaled (surpassed, even, just for that moment?) her mother's. Her singing of those songs was burned into the consciousness--and Fosse's staging of "Mein Herr" and "Maybe This Time" and the flashing lights around her arms at the end of the title song--that was all as good as film musicals get.

So what could Natasha Richardson do that Liza hadn't done?

Well, she did. Her vulnerability and humanity and aching fear she communicated were jaw-droppingly heartbreaking.

Watch the video. But you won't see the NY staging. And you won't see her.

Watch Natasha's "Maybe This Time" here:

http://videos.natasha-richardson.org/view/93/maybe-this-time-cabaret/

Watch her "Cabaret" here:

http://videos.natasha-richardson.org/view/94/cabaret-cabaret/

Updated On: 9/27/11 at 04:02 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 4:33pm

Well, is that enough research? Can you watch the damn thing now?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 4:39pm

This production was one of the great loves of my life. It is, to this day, the best thing I have ever seen on stage. I didn't see it until very late in the game, and I always wish I could have had more time with it because I loved it so much. But I got to see it three times, and I'm grateful for that.

I had seen commercials on t.v. for the show over the years, and was always really intrigued by them, but my parents had a very tight stronghold on what kinds of things I was allowed to see and watch as a kid. The t.v. and radio commercials were out in full force in the couple of months following the announcement that it was closing, and I would ask my mom every time we saw or heard one if we could go see it. I didn't know what it was, I didn't know the story or the music or anything, but I was so taken with the image of Alan Cumming as the Emcee that I wanted to go see for myself what it was all about.

My mom finally agreed to take me to see it. I was 17, I think, but a very sheltered 17 and had never seen anything like it. I remember my mom was nervous about taking me, and I could tell she was uncomfortable about watching it with me whole time. But from the first moments, I was in heaven. I'll never forget how I instantly fell in love with the inside of that theater, and how mesmerizing it was to walk into a room where, truly, you felt like you had stepped through a door and back in time.

I was in awe through the whole thing. We saw Jon Secada as the Emcee, who was certainly not great and creepy in all of the wrong ways, but I still fell (see username) so much for the character, whose impishness and mysteriousness and ambiguous beauty were just so fascinating to me. We saw Susan Egan as Sally, too, who I have always thought was just lovely in the role, excepting that perhaps she sang too well.

I think the thing I remember most clearly from that night, though, is that at the end, after the lights went down, there was just dead silence. And when they came back up for the curtain call, I just looked at my mom as if to say, "That's it?" I was stunned -- that it was over, that the ending was what it was. I was silent for hours after that. I just didn't know what to say. For those that know me, you know my silence is perhaps the most accurate measure of how deeply I've been moved.

I went back to see Adam Pascal, who surprised me with his mischief and his gusto, a few weeks later, and then saw it again on closing day, the second to last show. If I could pick one thing to bring back to Broadway, I'm pretty sure this production would be it. I miss it every season.

It was years before I understood (let alone in a way I could put into words) the specifics of what makes the kind of theater that I love. But this production shaped a lot of what I came to gravitate toward, and now aspire to in my own work. I loved it so much. It was daring and sexy and dirty and dark and disturbing -- everything I never knew before that night that musical theater could be, and everything, years later, I know Cabaret should be.

... none of that turned out as well or as evocative as I wanted it to be. For some reason, I always find this one hard to write about. I can never quite capture it in words; it's better just in the snapshot memories I still have.

Updated On: 9/28/11 at 04:39 PM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 4:40pm

I wish I had gotten to see Natasha Richardson. She must have been amazing.

I saw Jennifer Jason Leigh and remember being pretty mixed about her performance. I also saw her in Proof and in both proudctions I felt that what she as doing might have worked better on film than on a Broadway stage. But she was okay.

Alan Cummming was incredible, needless to say. I later saw the non-Equity tour of the production as well and the twenty-something guy doing it just seemed to be imitating him...poorly. Cumming gave us a contemporary version of the role and showed that it can be played many ways.

The supporting cast was fine. Hickey was somewhat miscast but not bad per se. Blair Brown was wonderful. Ron Rifkin was good although I really don't get why he won a Tony for it. Denis O'Hare turned the rather stock character of Ernst into something really memorable. And Michelle Pawk looked pretty good in that see-through shirt.

I know the original version of the show and I think that the rewrites turned a musical that was already brilliant into something well, even more brilliant. I wish to God they would make the Roundabout version available to perform--people are already using it illegally anyway.

It was one of the best theatergoing experiences I had as a kid and I will always cherish my memories of it.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 4:46pm

PJ...you actually said 'Miranda Richardson' in your first remark about Sally. Which I find funny, because I assumed it was Miranda and not Natasha when I went to see the show. When I realized it was Natasha, I was like 'Beg pardon?'

And then, of course, it was revelatory. Her Maybe This Time was shocking in its desperate simplicity. Her 'performance' numbers were playful and sexual and awkward in the most delightful way. And then...the title song. I'll never forget being with the opening night crowd and having there be nothing but stunned silence at the end of the number. It's like we'd all been beaten with clubs. Tommy Tune looked like he needed to be treated for PTSD. During the final scene (I'm sure I told this story here before), my date turned to me and said, 'She cannot keep this up for the whole scene.' She was so shattered and damaged that he couldn't imagine her staying in that mindset till the end. But stay in it she did. And her final line, 'Dedicate you book to me' is perhaps the most perfectly delivered line I've ever seen on a stage.

I know we were unclear why the original poster posted what he/she did. But, I'm grateful to talk about this production again.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 5:05pm

Funny--I thought I had corrected that, but now I see I mentioned her name twice. Fixed it now. Thanks.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 5:18pm

Is there a general consensus of Emcee replacement ranking? Norbert, Michael C. Hall, Raul are all generally considered good, but where do Vance Avery or Robert Sella fall? Were people like John Stamos or Neil Patrick Harris give good performances despite the odd casting?

It seems like everyone I know either saw Alan, or didn't see it until the stunt casts started. It ran for a long time and had a lot of replacement Emcees, but it seems like only the same few actors are mentioned.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 5:20pm

Robert Sella was superb.

[newintown]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 5:26pm

After Cumming, I saw Stamos, Hall, Esparza, and Sella. Only Sella seemed to be doing more than trying to imitate Cumming. Esparza did the most successful imitation, I suppose, although it was very heavy and hammy. Stamos and Hall were pretty boys out of their depth.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 5:46pm

Now is the Television version shortened. It seems awfully cut up.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 5:53pm

and honestly, people obviously have enough time on their hands to spend all day on here, so perhaps we shouldn't act put out at every single thread that is posted. Jesus. If a thread is going to inconvenience your boring lives then don't read them!

Updated On: 9/27/11 at 05:53 PM

[nealb1]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 7:07pm

My friend and I saw "Cabaret" the day before it swept The Tonys in 1998. To say that it was extraordinary, is a vast understatement. Natasha and Alan were brilliant...brilliant! Those performances are so etched into my mind.

[canmark]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 8:08pm

I saw Cabaret at Studio 54 well into its run. It was one of the best theatrical productions I have ever seen in the theatre.

I still have my ticket stub: I paid $95 (in 2002) for one of those table seats in front of the stage.

I saw it with John Stamos and I thought he was surprisingly good. Hal Linden and Polly Bergen were Schultz and Schneider. Heather Laws was Sally and Rick Holmes was Cliff. I'm sure that was not the best cast of that production, but it was such a stunningly powerful performance of theatre where the drama, the music, the songs, the staging--everything worked together flawlessly.

Some years later I was in London and saw a different revival of Cabaret. The audience seemed to like it, but it was such a let down for me.

[I'm New]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 8:15pm

I witnessed the sam mendes production of cabaret and I am telling you to watch that dvd!

Watch Natasha's "Maybe This Time" here:

http://videos.natasha-richardson.org/view/93/maybe-this-time-cabaret/

Watch her "Cabaret" here:

http://videos.natasha-richardson.org/view/94/cabaret-cabaret/

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 8:38pm

Anyone else smell a melt-down in the making?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 9:02pm

It smells like rotten raspberries.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 11:31pm

Can someone tell me, was "Maybe this time" not in the Donmar warehouse production?

[Kad]

Posted: 9/28/11 at 12:04am

For whatever reason, the recorded version of the Donmar production is slightly abridged. It doesn't reflect entirely what was performed.

[Starcarolina]

Posted: 9/28/11 at 12:58am

I wish I hadn't gotten stoned before I saw CABARET in Atlanta as produced by Theatre of the Stars (formerly Theatre Under the Stars), because I only remember meeting Joel Grey backstage. A friend of mine with whom I had worked in summer stock was a member of the ensemble. I remember her in an outfit that looked like a Hun and when she blew a trumpet, her pigtails went up in the air. I think she was called Brunhilda in that segment. I wish I could recall who played Sally Bowles. I think I'll try to reference that information. I was cast as Cliff in a community theatre production when I was in graduate school. You know that song, "Why Should I Wake Up?", is not easy to sing. Should have smoked dope to forget how bad I messed that one up!

[ChiChi]

Posted: 9/28/11 at 1:07am

I've done that before several shows and always wonder later why I did. The biggest problem was Mary Poppins where I sat between my sister and 5 year old nephew and fell asleep through part of the second act and through my favorite song.