Cabaret Review

I wish to preface this by saying that I knew nothing of the show going into this, besides that it was more in a special "black box" theatre setting which I was really excited for. I'd seen the movie for the first time finally last year, knew the music much longer, but wasn't as impressed as AFI and several movie lists give credit for. I felt the KitKatClub worked very separated from the storyline, acting in as "punches" or distractions to the plot, only sometimes with some overlap. I understand Joel Grey is a treasure and in many ways the pinnacle of the film, but now having seen the stage production, I feel the gravitas so much more. So, without further ado

First off, this show feels like it was made for a surrounding black box experience. The setting felt encroaching and ominous yet old just walking into the space. A mixture of wanting to peer into something you shouldn't, and yet also stepping in to play judge on what you'll see. The hanging fog made it feel more musty and almost dirty, but with an air of deep history dripping from the shadows. It felt like you were walking into something old and worn and barely holding together, yet intimate and meant to be secret. Which only adds when you think on how they blackout your phones and start your experience by a labyrinthine descent into a speakeasy/hidden basement. People perform in corners with shadows cast that tell you not to look too close. You get offered schnapps upon entering as you're invited to peer into this underworld, which will reoccur throughout the show and feel like you're being offered the same hands of friendship you see passed between characters. The stands seem to stand up vertically, tall against the small circus circle laid out in center. Dive? Circus? Parlour? Saloon? Speakeasy? It feels like it will fall into itself if you push in too close. The mix of fading memories, red macabre, golden glitz, and sickly greens, is all there to be immersing yet confusing your senses of what you are about to witness, unsure where to place you and if you have a choice.

And then the lights in the show begin and it feels haunting and delightful all at once. The lights single characters out as if to regularly place a magnifying glass on these individuals in the solidarity of their experiences, separate them from others in isolation, and make them feel alone. As if something foreboding is causing these ideas that these battles are theirs alone with no help.

With everything being on the same stage, KitKat and apartment life feel much more tied together. The acts of the Cabaret punch into the storyline, whether telling you how money shapes the choices our characters are making, or how buried into living carefree and indulgent our characters wish to remain. The Master of Ceremonies makes each moment indeed feel like a commentary yet ceremony of that moment, at times laudable and other times grotesque. It builds and builds to more poignant moments with each passing encounter.

In comparison to the movie, the placement of Maybe This Time feels more beautiful and heartaching. Sally comes off hopeful but forlorn, barely wanting to believe it can be different this time around. The inner dialogue of despair is more felt in this setting than conveyed in the film, and ends with more impact.

This similarly happens with both Tomorrow Belongs to Me and It Couldn't Please Me More, one also being in the film and the other not. They tell the ominous sadness of their circumstances and yet speak hope and sweetness in ways you would not expect. These moments you steal into between the carefree existence of debauchery that comes from the club life. But then Tomorrow Belongs to Me comes in hard to put you in your place, register to you that these lives aren't existing in parallel to the outside world. The encroaching feeling is coming into effect, and something our characters have to reckon with. It becomes powerful and a plea to recognize what is happening outside their own worlds.

I loved the songs in this show, and was shocked that they felt so different from the film, or weren't included at all. It makes the two feel like drastic different experiences, both proper for their renditions of medium. But the songs here propelled the story forward and enhanced it in ways only musicals do, yet also incorporated distraction and spectacle, similarly to what you know several of our characters are trying to do with their own lives.

This spectacle was indeed deadly yet beautiful. The side romance kept from the film is sweet and to be cherished. The idea of the plot mixed with vaudeville is perfectly integrated in a way the movie doesn't convey. I felt the movie was just trying to escape the politics of the outside world. But the show mixes budding love against odds with struggles of regular life with the politics threatening slowly but surely behind the scenes. It's enrapturing and gripping in a way the movie doesn't do.

I will say that the cast does lean towards performing more to one side than the other, but that is regularly helped by the dizzying mechanics of the rotating tiered stage in magnificent fashion. There's a heavy overhang onto the stalls from the encroaching upper views, but it helps further the experience of peering into something you shouldn't be viewing.

All the naughtiness was tasteful even if scandalous, the music encapsulated the idea of a parlour scene the whole time, with a spellbinding clarinetist to lead the way. An emotionless dancer inserted moments of humor in inflection that was otherwise delivered from all the other bits of humor against the building tensions of our characters. And the costumes. Just, wow. I feel the Master of Ceremonies truly is a master of disguise as well, as he goes from revelry to clownish to conformed.

All to end with a devastating scene that I think resonates more strongly than previous versions or the film. Maybe it's because I am a history buff and have been to several museums. But the way the lights worked to drain the color from them and turn them into a flash moment of their fates I think is poignant and powerful. Especially after hearing Sally sing garishly how she is refusing to accept the realities of what is happening around her. Denial in the face of extremism as entertainment anesthetizes danger.

I loved this and was moved on multiple accounts. I think the setting and atmosphere contributed as much to the experience as the storyline, costumes, and nightclub integration to the plot. I highly recommend seeing this even if you've seen it before. I know there are powerful sentiments that have been mentioned from previous renditions of this show, but don't let that nostalgia take away from how powerfully this production is done.

5/5 Stars ★★★★★