West End CABARET Revival (and B’way Transfer?) - News & Discussion Thread- Page 9

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 10/25/22 at 7:27am

Damn! I really wanted to see Madeline as Sally! I hope this is still running by next summer. I'm hoping to get an internship in London next summer and will make time to see this and other shows!

[east side story]

Posted: 12/9/22 at 9:39pm

New London Cast Recording with Buckley/Redmayne is being released on December 16!

Updated On: 12/9/22 at 09:39 PM

[binau]

Posted: 12/9/22 at 10:32pm

Do we know, was this recorded in a studio or live?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 2:24am

Why in the world did they wait so long to release it?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 8:33am

I’m wondering if it wasn’t part of their whole “this production is too secret and nothing leaves the building” thing they were going for. The whole thing is much more relaxed now than when it first started. I remember those first days when they put the sticker over your phone themselves and searched you like you were going through the airport befor you could enter. Now it’s much more relaxed and they “encourage you” to cover your phone with the sticker. Even the pre-show stuff is gone. When I went last week it just felt like a different show. Madeline Brewer (from “Handmaid’s Tale” is the new Sally and was the best in the role I’d seen yet. Loved her MUCH more than Buckley. 

[binau]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 8:47am

"Even the pre-show stuff is gone."

What???? As in the pop up bands and actors scattered around the place have disappeared or something else? 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 8:58am

Yeah there was NOTHING last week. The setup behind the curtains in the bar area is still there but there’s no actors performing or even walking around. That whole elaborate thing in the lobby before the doors opened is a thing of the past it seems, too.  

[east side story]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 9:29am

binau said: "Do we know, was this recorded in a studio or live?"

“Recorded During A Live Performance, With The Exceptional In-House Band At The KIT KAT CLUB, The Award-Winning Original Cast Stars Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Tony And Olivier Award Winner Eddie Redmayne As ‘The Emcee’ And British Independent Film Award Winner, BAFTA And 2022 Mercury Prize Nominee Jessie Buckley As ‘Sally Bowles’. Here, The Atmosphere And Energy Of The Show Is Captured Perfectly, For The Very First Time.”

[lopside]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 10:16am

I think it's just to mark that it's going to be a year since the show officially opened.

[east side story]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 10:24am

lopside said: "I think it's just to mark that it's going to be a year since the show officially opened."

That, and I honestly assumed Buckley’s recording contract got in the way for a more timely release. Either way, I’m happy this cast was recorded. Such an outstanding night at the theatre!

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 10:29am

I am so excited this is FINALLY being released! I hope to be in London next summer and will try to see if it's still running. Still keeping my fingers crossed for a potential bway transfer with Buckley and Redmayne!

[binau]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 10:36am

Can't wait to hear what people here think of Buckley's performance, especially those that didn't see it and want to see what the hype was about (and if it's warranted). Personally, I can't wait for 'Perfectly Marvellous' which I think was impressive how she weaved in/out of different characters/accents. I thought 'Maybe This Time' was great, powerful and vulnerable. But I still don't know if I'm on board with her 'Cabaret', and wonder a little bit if people were just impressed and moved by someone screaming rather than any musical artistry or anything. Can't wait to hear it again myself - maybe it actually comes across well on record. 

[east side story]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 1:00pm

I saw this production last winter, and honestly thought it was one of the best nights I'll ever have in a theatre.  From the moment I walked into the Kit Kat Club, I was transported and utterly hypnotized by the night to come.  

I absolutely adored Jessie Buckley's portrayal as Sally Bowles.  I've seen plenty of them over the years, most recently Michelle Williams in 2014.  Williams gave exactly the type of performance I expected from her, but she was never able to land, in my opinion.  Buckley's Sally was positively electric; an absolute rock star when performing her club numbers.  The moment she was introduced during the opening number, I knew I was experiencing something good, but it was during her two numbers at the Kit Kat Club that convinced me.  She was brilliant, and blew the roof off the place with Mein Herr, leaving the audience hungry for more.  The vocals are rough as expected, but they are powerful.  Buckley can certainly sing.

Also remarkable to me was the relationship between Sally and Cliff here, especially queer-coded in this production.  Normally this relationship rings totally false to me, but the codependent-bullying of Buckley's portrayal towards Cliff was fascinating.  And in their final scene together in Act II, Jessie Buckley played the scene much differently than I've ever witnessed.  Every Sally before was crushed in that moment; no male companion, no baby, no hope, no money.  Michelle Williams was as you can imagine, and I say this as someone who thought she deserved the Tony Award for Black Bird.  Jessie Buckley chose instead to be utterly nasty to Cliff.  It was the way that she delivered the line "To tell you the truth, Cliff, I've always rather hated Paris!" was ice cold, and the look on Cliff's face was heartbreaking.  The moment was chilling, and I'll never forget it.

Much has been said about Jessie's performance of the title number.  Honestly, I had read mixed word-of-mouth on multiple boards, but the consensus seemed to be see for yourself to decide.  When she started the number, Sally was finally beaten down after playing the previous scene with Cliff so strong.  She was able to collapse in this moment, and the opening bars are melancholy, delivered with a blind stare.  But she ramps up; boy does she ramp up.  Witnessing Jessie perform the number was absolute magic.  The sadness, the disappointment, the anger, the fury, it was all there.  In the song's final moments, Rebecca Frecknall makes a very, very brave directorial choice; luckily Buckley delivers, or the moment could be comical.  I felt the physical performance of those moments, harkening back to Redmayne's body language as the Emcee was thrilling.  When Sally is pulled below the stage during her final note, she is finally lost.  Some people stood, but I could not join -- my legs were shaking.

I truly look forward to see how the performance is received if/when this comes to New York.  

Updated On: 12/10/22 at 01:00 PM

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 1:06pm

Wonder if all the pre show is cut to make the show more viable producing wise. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 2:30pm

binau said: "Can't wait to hear what people here think of Buckley's performance, especially those that didn't see it and want to see what the hype was about (and if it's warranted). "

I’m concerned her live performance won’t translate to a cast album. People who didn’t see her or haven’t seen any of the promotional performances of the title song for context might just hear her screaming, unless she specifically toned it down for the album recording that night.

[DCS]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 2:36pm

Is there an actual link to a story showing that this recording is coming out on Dec 16th?  I haven't seen this anywhere online as of today.

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 3:41pm

DCS said: "Is there an actual link to a story showing that this recording is coming out on Dec 16th? I haven't seen this anywhere online as of today."

https://hmv.com/store/music/cd/2021-london-cast-of-cabaret

https://www.horizonsmusic.co.uk/products/2021-london-cast-of-cabaret-cabaret-cd

[CreatureKitchen]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 5:32pm

Apologies for the slight tangent, and also forgive my ignorance because I haven't seen this production.

However, what I have seen (ie. the Olivier performance) and what I've heard from friends makes this production feel...weirdly derivative. I don't know if this production uses the entire Sam Mendes libretto, but they definitely take a lot of elements from it (especially with the inclusion of "I Don't Care Much" and the placement of the song they've added from the movie). I know it's more immersive, but the Sam Mendes production was also semi-immersive...and that production also took place in a renovated theatre that was renamed the Kit Kat Klub. The version of "Cabaret" I heard on the Olivier Awards seems heavily indebted to Jane Horrocks' interpretation of the song. I don't know. What am I missing here?

I also dislike what I've heard about this production's interpretation of the Emcee, but that's a matter of personal preference so I won't get into that...

[lopside]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 6:42pm

I Don't Care Much was first included in the 1987 Broadway revival, and not the Mendes one, and has remained there for nearly all productions all over the world. 

[CreatureKitchen]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 6:59pm

Fair enough, got my timelines mixed up there. However, that doesn't really speak to my other points, or even to the inclusion of other dialogue and song placements that originate with the Mendes version. The 1987 version includes telephone song and sitting pretty, as well as excluding Mein Herr and Maybe This Time entirely. But also, I'm not specifically complaining about the use of material from the Mendes version--it is, after all, a version of the show available for licensing. I was using that as one example of my confusion as to why this production seems to be being treated as some revolutionary re-reinterpretation. If I remember, the 2008 West End version made substantially more changes to the material, rearranging numbers and adding more cut songs.

Again, I haven't seen the production, so I'm genuinely curious to know what changes have been made.

Honestly, my post here stemmed mostly from the fact that a friend and I watched the Olivier Awards performance the other day and were both baffled that it was hailed as such a new, daring version of the song when it follows the beats of Jane Horrocks' version so closely.

Updated On: 12/10/22 at 06:59 PM

[lopside]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 9:05pm

Having the same raw material does not mean that they interpretations they throw out are the same or that they can't be delivered better, and I can only write a little about what I loved about the show here. For me, just the fact that this production actually shows the artists and the community it is depicting with personality and life and not as a zombified, faceless ensemble where you can't tell one member apart from the other despite being introduced to them individually, already sets it far from, and also far ahead of Mendes'. The two leads, who were giving completely new interpretations, and with an audacity and sense of fun that was thrilling. Then there's the supporting characters, all of whom seemed to get more dimension (Kost being the only exception I guess). Some of that may just be on the faultless original casting for them as well, I haven't seen the most recent ones. I really disliked the kind of manipulative, shocking-to-be-shocking finale that Mendes did; this one brought out a similar message, but also another, different thread. Amy Lennox's Oliviers' Cabaret is a bit closer to Horrocks's than Buckley's (which had more of gallows humor), but they still read as pretty different interpretations to me, there's just a whole lotta more pain here and it just hits a lot more in context, whereas you just kind of stop caring about Sally with Horrocks after that. And just, the musical numbers are staged really ****ing beautifully, by turns very cinematic or painterly, and it's such a treat to watch all the way through. Absolute triumph of design, from costume, makeup, lighting, to the theatre itself. Finally, full disclosure, not a Mendes fan , who I find to be technically very gifted, but otherwise supremely heavy-handed or sometimes just insensitive, and his new film, Empire of Light, which I saw yesterday, has just sort of reinforced that for me.  

[CreatureKitchen]

Posted: 12/10/22 at 9:28pm

Thanks for your perspective, I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to share that! I'm a big fan of the Mendes production, and absolutely love the cast, so I think we fundamentally disagree about that, but to each their own!

And also, just to clarify: I know revivals happen all the time with the same exact libretto/music as the original, so of course there's nothing wrong with that and there's still enormous room for interpretation! It just seems like this was built up as some radical, top-secret reimagining instead of a more straightforward revival.

 

So, thanks for clarifying, and you did make me curious to see it! 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/11/22 at 2:29am

CreatureKitchen said: "If I remember, the 2008 West End version made substantially more changes to the material, rearranging numbers and adding more cut songs."

Since you brought it up, I kind of like some of the changes on that cast album. I’m not sure about moving up the intermission after the first “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” or the restructuring in general. I’d need to see it, but I like that they included “Why Should I Wake Up” in that transitional moment and reinstated the montage at the end.

[Plexsis]

Posted: 12/12/22 at 10:38am

imeldasturn said: "DCS said: "Is there an actual link to a story showing that this recording is coming out on Dec 16th? I haven't seen this anywhere online as of today."

https://hmv.com/store/music/cd/2021-london-cast-of-cabaret

https://www.horizonsmusic.co.uk/products/2021-london-cast-of-cabaret-cabaret-cd"

Sadly, both of these links are dead at the moment 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/12/22 at 10:45am

Plexsis said: "Sadly, both of these links are dead at the moment"

That doesn’t look good. I wonder what happened.