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

[phantomvegas2]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 12:23am

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 Catalano]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 12:26am

You should just watch it. Although that production is different than what ended up on Broadway. The first time I saw it at Studio 54 was right before Natasha Richardson left and I sat at a table right up front. I don't know if I blinked for the last few minutes of the show and I can still remember my heart stopping and the chills that immediately ran throughout my body when the "player-less orchestra" started playing. The final moments of that production will forever be seared into my brain.

[phantomvegas2]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 12:30am

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.

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 12:32am

I didn't see it -- but I know Rob Marshall (who went on to win an Oscar for the movie of Chicago) was co-director and choreographer for Broadway but had no involved with London, and I imagine teh show just improved overall.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 12:44am

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.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 12:50am

Why don't you just watch it? This is the weirdest thread ever.

[phantomvegas2]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 12:56am

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

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 1:07am

Oh, honey, you need a thicker skin than that. Ask all the questions you want. I just think you should watch the video.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 1:08am

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.

Posted: 9/27/11 at 1:17am

Why do you feel like you need prepping before you watch it?

[mallardo]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 1:42am

"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.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 2:01am

Well, the Two Ladies were played by two ladies in London. That was different.

[phantomvegas2]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 2:17am

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.

[phantomvegas2]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 2:17am

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.

[phantomvegas2]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 2:18am

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

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 2:33am

You're welcome, baby.

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 4:09am

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.

Posted: 9/27/11 at 4:35am

Whether it was Marshall or Mendes himseel,f but the Broadway version has a lot of differences from the Donmar one (at least as it looks from the televised version). Simply put it's just much more of a spectacle, partly due to the fact the Donmar is such a tiny venue.

I saw a tourign production of the Mendes/Marshall production in '99 or '98 in Vancouver with Kate Shindle as Sally. I was blown away.

[tazber]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 8:03am

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.

[once a month]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 8:09am

I also saw it at the Henry Miller-The Kit Kat Club. This was before that huge beam came crashing into the theatre and they moved uptown to Studio 54. It seemed so gritty, slightly dirty. The playbills were not available until the end of the show because the director didn't want to 'spoil' the atmosphere. It was a breathtaking production, and I cared for each of the characters and sub plots. Absolutely fell in love with Natasha and was lucky to 'cop' her glass and the flea market/auction that year. At the time I thought Cummings was outlandish and breaking new territory. The Kit Kat girls also blew me away with their track marks, tattoos and black and blue marks. It was a breath taking production where Cummings popped up as different characters throughout, and the end was absolutley chilling. Seeing it was definitely a highlight (of 337 productions I've witnessed).

[NYC4Life]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 8:12am

"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.

[Dawn Davenport]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 8:54am

I wish I could say I saw this live, I'm still kicking myself for not seeing it when it was here in NY. Alas, I've only seen a bootleg, with Debbie Gibson as Sally and Neil Patrick Harris as the Emcee. If that cast sounds laughable it's not, they were both terrific.

NPH had great interaction with the audience during the intermission (from what I could see from a dark, murky bootleg) and I especially loved his harsh rendition of "I don't care much." His final moment before the curtain shocked me so much that I burst into tears. It took me a little while to be able to watch that again.

It must've been thrilling to see this production in person, with ANY cast.

Watch the DVD! What are you waiting for?

[PattiLover]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 10:57am

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.

[egnarotsew]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 11:14am

I saw it with Raul Esparza and Molly Ringwald. It was only my second Broadway experience but still one of my favorites. My mom and I sat at a table up front and I remember that some of the Kit Kat Klub performers were on stage before the show started. One of the men came over to my mom and told her to spank him which she did and then he told her to do it again but harder. I loved every moment of the show and really loved Raul. I'm so glad his I Don't Care Much is on youtube.

[newintown]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 11:17am

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.