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... Or, y'know, skip it, this time. Life is not a cabaret, my friends, and it is very sad.
I saw a not-good production of this tonight. Not just an okay production. A terrible production. A production that was lack lustre at best. It had nice bits, and lovely bits, and truly terrible bits, and bits that made no frickin' sense.
The worst bit was *not* the Pineapple Song, when three young kit kat girls came out to Hula in honeycomb pineapples during what is supposed to be a lovely interlude with our older couple - it was pretty terrible, but not the absolute worst (yeah, I don't know).
The ending said nothing. Was not moving or shocking or anything but sort of a collective "huh?"
The accents were as a whole hilariously badly done.
The *worst* bit should have been the best. If you know Cabaret the story at all, you know the title song is one of the last in the show. And usually brings down the house. It is the voice of frantic, desperate hope in the face of overwhelming odds. Do we know it is doomed? YES. Is *she* supposed to know it is doomed? That's a big fat NO.
The show unfolds like this:
Berlin before and during the rise of the Nazi party. All of Berlin is a party. The Kit Kat Klub is a seedy vaudeville/burlesque/song and dance hall. Presided over by the Emcee who molests all indiscriminately. One of the acts in this even-lower-than-c-rated entertainment halls (when everyone can have a good time, and anything/anyone can be bought), is Sally, an English girl of questionable virtue. She is a singer, and is also having an affair with the Klub owner. Who throws her out, and she foists herself on Cliff, an American novelist, also gay (or perhaps Bi, since he does take Sally into his rented room and possibly knocks her up). Yeah, Sally finds out she is pregnant, but wants to see the doctor to get rid of it. Cliff wants to take her home to America - even foregoing anyone or anything else. He eventually leaves her in a Berlin that is growing politically colder by the day, and (supposedly) more sinister by the hour. He leaves for Paris and she goes back to the Kit Kat Klub after she has an abortion.
"Cabaret" is supposed to be her triumphant return to the stage and her dreams of stardom - her "I've given up everything for this life I've chosen, so I better make sure it was worth it!" song. Unfortunately, this cast and this Sally and this directer decided to take this song in a melancholy, sad, pathetic direction. She is supposed to have her breakdown *after* the song - not during, after all she's given up her love for this.
They missed the motherfuckin' POINT of the show. If ever there was a director who totally missed the depth and nuances of a script it was this director and this show. And they played the end way too early. There is a chapter in a book I read in college about auditioning. The whole chapter is on Not Playing the End - the characters Don't Know They Are In A Tragedy, So You Can't Telegraph It Is A Tragedy.
Wow, from the intermission on, it was one big ol' TRAGEDY. Yes, WE know the Nazis come to power and start rounding up everyone they disapprove of and shove them into camps. WE know that in a few short months and years all those people playing in Berlin are likely dead. BUT *THEY* ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT!
Instead of being shocking and jarring and insidious, it was merely tragic in a BAD way.
So yeah, unfortunately, this production ftl. Ah, well. It just confirms my decision not to be involved with it, even though I was asked repeatedly.
I saw a production of Cabaret done several years ago by a college theatre company, directed by a good friend. It was everything the show should be - gritty, determined, hopeful, chilling, scary. It was amazing - every single nuance had been coaxed out of the show, and it was an evening of theatre I will never forget. Which makes this production just that much worse - because all the mis-steps were so glaringly obvious.
Ah, well. I shan't harp on this anymore.
I saw a not-good production of this tonight. Not just an okay production. A terrible production. A production that was lack lustre at best. It had nice bits, and lovely bits, and truly terrible bits, and bits that made no frickin' sense.
The worst bit was *not* the Pineapple Song, when three young kit kat girls came out to Hula in honeycomb pineapples during what is supposed to be a lovely interlude with our older couple - it was pretty terrible, but not the absolute worst (yeah, I don't know).
The ending said nothing. Was not moving or shocking or anything but sort of a collective "huh?"
The accents were as a whole hilariously badly done.
The *worst* bit should have been the best. If you know Cabaret the story at all, you know the title song is one of the last in the show. And usually brings down the house. It is the voice of frantic, desperate hope in the face of overwhelming odds. Do we know it is doomed? YES. Is *she* supposed to know it is doomed? That's a big fat NO.
The show unfolds like this:
Berlin before and during the rise of the Nazi party. All of Berlin is a party. The Kit Kat Klub is a seedy vaudeville/burlesque/song and dance hall. Presided over by the Emcee who molests all indiscriminately. One of the acts in this even-lower-than-c-rated entertainment halls (when everyone can have a good time, and anything/anyone can be bought), is Sally, an English girl of questionable virtue. She is a singer, and is also having an affair with the Klub owner. Who throws her out, and she foists herself on Cliff, an American novelist, also gay (or perhaps Bi, since he does take Sally into his rented room and possibly knocks her up). Yeah, Sally finds out she is pregnant, but wants to see the doctor to get rid of it. Cliff wants to take her home to America - even foregoing anyone or anything else. He eventually leaves her in a Berlin that is growing politically colder by the day, and (supposedly) more sinister by the hour. He leaves for Paris and she goes back to the Kit Kat Klub after she has an abortion.
"Cabaret" is supposed to be her triumphant return to the stage and her dreams of stardom - her "I've given up everything for this life I've chosen, so I better make sure it was worth it!" song. Unfortunately, this cast and this Sally and this directer decided to take this song in a melancholy, sad, pathetic direction. She is supposed to have her breakdown *after* the song - not during, after all she's given up her love for this.
They missed the motherfuckin' POINT of the show. If ever there was a director who totally missed the depth and nuances of a script it was this director and this show. And they played the end way too early. There is a chapter in a book I read in college about auditioning. The whole chapter is on Not Playing the End - the characters Don't Know They Are In A Tragedy, So You Can't Telegraph It Is A Tragedy.
Wow, from the intermission on, it was one big ol' TRAGEDY. Yes, WE know the Nazis come to power and start rounding up everyone they disapprove of and shove them into camps. WE know that in a few short months and years all those people playing in Berlin are likely dead. BUT *THEY* ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT!
Instead of being shocking and jarring and insidious, it was merely tragic in a BAD way.
So yeah, unfortunately, this production ftl. Ah, well. It just confirms my decision not to be involved with it, even though I was asked repeatedly.
I saw a production of Cabaret done several years ago by a college theatre company, directed by a good friend. It was everything the show should be - gritty, determined, hopeful, chilling, scary. It was amazing - every single nuance had been coaxed out of the show, and it was an evening of theatre I will never forget. Which makes this production just that much worse - because all the mis-steps were so glaringly obvious.
Ah, well. I shan't harp on this anymore.
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Somewhat the same reason I don't watch (and certainly don't pay to see at the movies) horror or even psychological dramas. And torture movies? Why the heck are those even made? Mainly, it's comedy/action/adventure... Why waste my money paying to see sad things? I can get that for free watching the news...
Better not to "harp" on in it. Probably better to wipe it from your memory. :-)