So You Saw That Creepy Eddie Redmayne Cabaret Performance

I think it's safe to say Rebecca Alter is never getting an interview with him for as long as she's alive.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln . . .

He got terrible reviews in NYC so maybe the performance is just really bad. But it’s a performance made for the stage, not for a camera 6” from his face. He made a mistake by not toning his facial expressions down and unfortunately, the video of that performance will haunt him forever.

[quote] A gay in my group chat just got literally removed for saying he liked Eddie Redmayne's Emcee

Dataloungers?

Eddie Redmayne is Ed Grimly in Cabaret!

I think it's been a mistake for all the revivals of "Cabaret" to lean so far into the "Weimar-era degeneracy" of the show. I've seen a couple of productions over the last decade or two, obviously not the original, and they don't compare to the film. It's not primarily about celebrating disease-ridden whores masquerading as chorus girls or the Emcee. I've felt the story of Sally, set against the backdrop of burgeoning Nazism and anti-Semitism, gets lost amid the attempted shock value. I get that it's all part of the same whole, but that emphasis seems childish to me.

What say you, DL Broadway babies?

Hilarious takedown of a thoroughly misconceived production.

The “Schitt’s Creek” version of CABARET was better than what’s on Broadway now.

Oh, wow, I could have just quoted this paragraph:

[quote]To those saying that American audiences simply don’t understand the dark and grotesque themes that Redmayne & Co. are getting at (this production is a London import): au contraire, mon cher. These themes are made very clear in the book and score of this musical; it’s just that other productions and performers trust audiences to figure it out for themselves, whereas this team thinks they need to spoon-feed and scream the “banality of evil” messaging at you. By holding audience members’ hands and guiding them through upsetting material encased in the enticing, friendly form of a musical, this production is far less radical than it thinks.

Though I don't agree that other (recent) productions have trusted the audience to figure this out for themselves.

R8 Muriel should subcontract out for some of their posters—good shit comments.

For R9^

Tracey Ullman did a brilliant takedown of Redmayne a few years ago in a bit where she played an acting coach teaching a bunch of posh kids.

I’m sure this production is not without its flaws, but I find people are quick to call almost anything “creepy” these days.

On a side note, why is it that audiences automatically applaud when the song goes down to half-time and the whole company sings and dances (usually with a kickline)? Is it really that impressive?

Kicklines always get applause, r14.

My point exactly.

I'm pretty familiar with the show, but not this version.

For which number is this costume?

Creeps me out every time I see it.

Eddie Redmayne has always creeped me out.

This is just terror-inducing icing slathered thickly onto the creepy cake.

He cannot be forgiven for that Newt Scamander trilogy.

I'm an Eddie Redmayne fan.

video is gone

Helpful hint, R17.

If you're going to ask a question about a particular costume, it would be helpful to post a link of JUST the costume in question, and not a link to the WHOLE FUCKING ARTICLE.

Thanks, hun!

When this production with Redmayne opened in London Sally was played by Jessie Buckley, recent Oscar nominee, who started her career on the Andrew Lloyd Webber show to find a Nancy for his production of Oliver. They both won Oliviers for it.

It's been recast repeatedly. At one point it had Callum Scott Howells from It's a Sin and Madeline Brewer from Handmaid's Tale.

You can watch the video here, R21.

R23 that was awful. Don’t Tell Mama reduced to gag fascinators?

I thought it was terrific. Bold. Unconventional. I wish there were more of it frankly. Hope you all enjoy your dinner theater productions of Cabaret and Neil Simon revivals.

I thought it was very entertaining. Good job, Eddie

R3 Same thing happened to CZJ on Send in the Clowns at the Tonys.

Overproduced and over choreographed in addition to Eddie's completely off performance. He only got a nomination because he's an Oscar winner.

Stop letting posh Brit nepothespians do whatever they want.

[quote] Tracey Ullman did a brilliant takedown of Redmayne a few years ago in a bit where she played an acting coach teaching a bunch of posh kids.

There’s no soul, no heart, there with Redmayne. Just technical force of effort.

[quote]He made a mistake by not toning his facial expressions down and unfortunately, the video of that performance will haunt him forever.

It'll be in good company with all the whisper-shouting from [italic]Jupiter Ascending[/italic].

Isn't the Emcee in [italic]Cabaret[/italic] *supposed* to be creepy and off-putting, though?

Not *that* creepy.

What’s all the hate for Eddie?

He’s creepy. Can’t you read?

The problem with Redmayne disassociating himself with The Danish Girl was that he effectively argued that he shouldn't have played Stephen Hawking.

If an actor shouldn't play a man who decides he is a woman because he isn't himself a man who decides he is a woman, how can an actor play a man who ends up in a wheelchair when he himself is not in a wheelchair?#

He's done memorable since those 2 films. The only prestige project since then was the Chicago 7 movie which I forgot he was in. Does anyone remember the Murder Nurse movie he did with Jessica Chastain where he had that awful "for your consideration" scene where he shouted his confession? He somehow got best supporting noms at BAFTA, GG and SAG.

R26 = Eddie Redmayne!

Nothing but jealous haters here.

You all can piss off.

Eddie is half way to EGOT, so you all can just go to hell!

R24 THANKS!

The performance is fine. It's for the stage and he shouldn't have been shot so closeup.

Redmayne's performance was an embarrassment from start to finish. It would need to be vastly improved in order to be called "amateurish." So, of course, he was nominated for a Tony.

I don't like his costume, however.

I will say this show is VERY played out. I don't consider it a classic.

[quote]I thought it was terrific. Bold. Unconventional. I wish there were more of it frankly. Hope you all enjoy your dinner theater productions of Cabaret and Neil Simon revivals.

You know nothing about theater, so your opinion is worth nothing.

Who doesn’t love a sleeveless Irish fisherman’s sweater paired with a kid glove skirt?

R43 I will say you have VERY little knowledge musical theatre if you think Cabaret is not a classic.

Has he come out as "queer" yet?

I know it's a classic but I personally don't consider it one. It's fucking played out. IN MY OPINION.

The Threepenny Opera should get more attention, and Cabaret less.

It must be very, very bad. Normally, any British import into the US generates rapturous reviews

Bob Fosse understood that Berlin 1920-30s was elegant. I love the combination of seediness and elegance he achieved.

The cabaret performances in the film are witty, sly, stylish, knowing. Watch Joel Grey in the film....he's repulsive AND sexy.

He’s actually…fine on stage.

The bigger issue is that Sally and Cliff are both really underwhelming. Like, I know that the point is that Sally isn’t supposed to be a great singer, but Gayle Rankin does so much sing-talking that it’s distracting.

I mean, Bebe Neuwirth’s Fraulein Schneider was the best part for me, although she even toned it down.

The set is really cool.

I love both "Cabaret" (not this version, however) and "Gypsy." But they're revived too often. We didn't need this "Cabaret" and it's too soon for another "Gypsy." And I say this as a fan of Audra's. There are other musicals that deserve revivals.

[quote]It's fucking played out.

I know, I know...same with Shakespeare, same with Puccini, same with....they're all fucking PLAYED OUT.

I really think people are sick and tired of it. Eddie Redmayne! Neil Patrick Harris! Alan Cumming! Callum Scott Howells! Bunch of hams. They do their best but there's only so much that can be done.

Some Puccini is timeless.

[quote]Like, I know that the point is that Sally isn’t supposed to be a great singer, but Gayle Rankin does so much sing-talking that it’s distracting.

DL-ers make far too much of this debatable point. News flash: Liza was a great singer, and the movie of "Cabaret" works beautifully.

Is he gay?

I can probably watch the movie once or twice more before I die. I am 60. That's because the performances are exceptional and also we aren't trapped in the show the whole time. There's all the breathing space of the film narrative, which contains some lovely and delicate moments.

These modern interpretations miss the (extremely important and all too relevant) message of the show. Summed up in these lines:

"There was a cabaret and there was a Master of Cerеmonies And there was a city callеd Berlin in a country called Germany It was the end of the world And I was dancing with Sally Bowles and we were both FAST ASLEEP..."

I saw the Don't Tell Mama number from the current production on YouTube. It was pedophillic. And there's NO REASON FOR THAT. It only takes away from the intentions of the original authors. Hal Prince would fucking hate it.

Transgressive theater has its place, but not in the show Cabaret. This current production really looks like garbage.

Recent stage productions of Cabaret everyone is hyper, adderalled, and shouting. That's not my Weimar.

Posted for comparison purposes

R56 = Autism Spectrum Disorder

It's funny- in a recent thread we were talking about Barbra Streisand's bad taste as evidenced by her terrible song choices. In her book, she talks about turning the movie version of Cabaret down. "I hated the play..." HUH? You "HATED" Cabaret? But you jumped at the chance to do On a Clear Day...? That dog don't hunt Barbra Joan. Like, at all.

and did he deserve that Oscar for his one-note performance in The Theory of Everything?

R64 she would have been awful in Cabaret. Ditto Klute and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? both of which she reportedly turned down.

I thought it was the height of THEE-ATAH!! Entire eating poop out of the sewer with the rest of the hoi polloi, scum!

I still can’t believe he has an Oscar.

[quote]DL-ers make far too much of this debatable point. News flash: Liza was a great singer, and the movie of "Cabaret" works beautifully.

I'm not saying that it's bad to cast someone with good pipes as Sally.

But Gayle Rankin just reminds me of a review of the late 90s touring company with Teri Hatcher as Sally: "Teri Hatcher gives it the old junior college try."

Why do they have Eddie Redmayne costumed to show off his peachy skin and a gym-body physique? It's just so wrong.

Contrast that with Joel Grey's white makeup and tuxedo. He looks like a person of the night.

Tod Browning's "Cabaret"

[quote]Why do they have Eddie Redmayne costumed to show off his peachy skin and a gym-body physique? It's just so wrong.

He gets more and more covered up as the show goes on. He's basically dressed as a Hitler Youth by the end.

They're very literal about the hedonism of the Weimar era being loud and colorful and in your face, and it gets increasingly toned down and beige as the show goes on.

I honestly don't think the production is "bad" per se. It's definitely not good either, but it is interesting. The atmospherics are really cool. And I saw it on a random Wednesday and the theater was packed. So it has an audience.

Sounds like something you’d see on a cruise ship…

I saw the 2006/2007 production in London with James Dreyfus as the MC. It was on its second Sally by then and well into its run and there was a coach party of women from Essex in front of me and one woman did not stop moaning and complaining about the nudity from the dancers. "Liza Minnelli never showed her front bottom" was one of the complaints.

At the end when the characters started stripping she started fidgeting and tutting and was told to "shut the fuck up" by the woman next to her before the setting turned in to a gas chamber. She didn't applaud.

He's like Pinocchio as played by Pee Wee Herman

So seriously.. when she's here wear that black getup?

[quote]So seriously.. when she's here wear that black getup?

During "Money."

Why is he hunched like he lives under a bridge? His outfit is ridiculous. This is supposed to be our host, someone in charge. Redmayne doesn't look in charge of his own limbs. All this twitching and shrieking by everyone isn't giving decadence its due, its a puppet show.

[quote] He gets more and more covered up as the show goes on. He's basically dressed as a Hitler Youth by the end.

Ugh. No reason for that.

Just found some reviews of the 2006 London production and on the BBC website (when they allowed comments) this was written. Clary took over from Dreyfus.

[quote]I thought after seeing Rosie O'Donnell in Fiddler on the Roof in NYC, that was the worst thing I ever saw - until I saw Julian Clary in Cabaret!!!!! He can't sing, act, nor move!!! What were they thinking?

I'm trying to imagine Riding The Horse And Cart With My Shvester and I can't visualise it.

Not true, R50. THE INHERITANCE is another play that got raves and did smash business in London but which got a ho-hum from critics here and a cold shoukder from audiences.

He is a "Posh well-connected British actor", I always wanted to fuck him, and have him take me hard in a Saville row suit in an alleyway!! Whispering filthy, horrible things in his POSH voice, making me do terrible things.

That FAT CHICK is a distraction and ruins the whole thing!!!

Teri Hatcher played Sally Bowles…???

Kinda...

Click. Click. Click, r31. Like clockworks. Or that Streep girl.

I am a little surprised this show was even revived so soon, it felt like it was just on Broadway and it's already back. I saw the Alan Cumming revival (both the one from '98 and when it returned with him a decade or so later). Did we really need a new one already?

I agree with what people are saying about each production going more and more for shock value. The production with Alan Cumming pushed enough boundaries and did justice to the material. By the sounds of it, this new production is just overkill.

Dylan Mulvaney will take over from Redmayne and become Cabaret’s first EmTee

R87 And for the first time the audience will cheer when the Nazis arrive.

I think all revivals and interpretation of this classic (yes) are fine, specially as i don’t personally don’t think the movie is flawless. l learned to love Cabaret by seeing it live onBrodway.

He looks fine for the part and his costume could work. But god, what horrible acting, all the wrong choices and an awful voice.

I used to think he was cute in his model days but was somehow put off by the constant oscar pandering roles. He is ultimately a lousy actor. He tries to hard and fails.

True, the close up doesn’t help, but the acting and the voice and the moves are an awful embarrassment.ugh

Redmayne's costume, at least in that scene, was horrendous. What's with that clown bonnet anyway?

We were doing our best to not sound like the couple of old men we are through much of Redmayne’s “performance” although we studiously avoided looking at each other so as not to burst into laughter. But when he started skittering around the stage floor like a crab we see scooting along the beach, the jig was up. We weren’t offended or outraged. We just thought it was fucking stupid.

Ed Grimley.

R91 the crab walk! Awful.

"Wilkommen I must say"

[quote][R87] And for the first time the audience will cheer when the Nazis arrive.

She's in the attic!

R58 This "transvestigation" rabbit hole... Aren't these the guys who claim Michele Obama is a man and who furiously edit Wikipedia?

[quote] R91 the crab walk! Awful.

Maybe he was channeling the lesbian gargoyle girl.

Fellini's Cabaret

R86 I am mixed on the Sam Mendes revival. There were some very interesting things going on and you can't deny Cumming's performance- he was excellent. .

And while killing the Emcee in a camp was different and surprising, I don't think it enhanced the vitally important message that all the original creators, from Christopher Isherwood to John Van Druren to Hal Prince were trying to convey.

Let me TELL you something. In 1988 as a freshman at Emerson, I was lucky enough to score tickets to see Hal Prince's 20th anniversary revival of Cabaret starring Joel Grey. And I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes remembering the most powerful moment I ever had in the theater. Shortly after Cliff's lines about being at the end of the world in a city called Berlin with Sally, and being fast asleep- the big mirror tilted so that we the audience could now see OURSELVES. If that doesn't get you emotional, particularly after the events of the past few years, I can't imagine what would.

While I appreciate Mendes and Fosse's visions, I think Hal Prince's 1966 vision is the most powerful.

[quote]I agree with what people are saying about each production going more and more for shock value. The production with Alan Cumming pushed enough boundaries and did justice to the material. By the sounds of it, this new production is just overkill.

What ever happened to "Less is more"?

R24 ok, I thought the review was insane, then I watched that video. He’s frankly nightmarish….and I don’t use that word lightly. It’s like watching a demonic possession..

[quote] Not true, [R50]. THE INHERITANCE is another play that got raves and did smash business in London but which got a ho-hum from critics here and a cold shoukder from audiences

Not to mention Coram Boy and Enron.

Buckley was smart to bail when she did.

She received the acclaim and the Olivier and didn't have to deal with the inevitable backlash from the NY critics.

I sat through the Barrington Stage production of Cabaret last summer. Christ... I don't think the director understood that the show is about the rise of Nazis. The all-pervasive anti-semitism that engulfed German society. Those changes were not sneaky or sly... it was happening out in the open and Cliff and Sally and Herr Schultze are blind (sleeping) to what is happening.

Last summer's production was all about the trans and queer and how impacted THEY would be as the Nazi's took control. And the emcee was played by an African-Amercian "they/them"... another bizarre stunt.

Having said that, there were some nice performances within the show...

I’m surprised people were that creeped out by him. I just thought it looked tiresome and the chorus were unattractive and overweight. I lost interest pretty quickly but wasn’t disturbed. It just looks stupid.

That’s interesting he gets more and more covered up as the show goes on. Is that why Sally is wearing a suit when she sings Cabaret at the end?

It is selling out in NY. I was also turned off that people show up to get drunk before the show starts so you’re sitting around with a bunch of potentially wasted audience members behaving even more poorly than usual.

[quote]That’s interesting he gets more and more covered up as the show goes on. Is that why Sally is wearing a suit when she sings Cabaret at the end?

Yes. By the curtain call, all of the Kit Kat Club performers are wearing identical plain suits.

[quote] I was also turned off that people show up to get drunk before the show starts so you’re sitting around with a bunch of potentially wasted audience members behaving even more poorly than usual.

Those are some wealthy drunks. The tickets were expensive, and while I did have one of their special themed cocktails, the damned thing was $30.

Plus you are crammed waiting in line for said overpriced drinks!

I loved the Mendes version, but it inspired many leas inspired copycats to try to push for more decadence and a more shocking ending. I also saw the Hal Prince production on tour with Joel Grey - it was surefooted, smart, and stale. In fact, until the Mendes version, most productions mimicked Prince.

This one was pretty terrible except for Bebe Neuhirth and the theater.

I saw the Mendes version with Jennifer Jason Leigh and it was the worst show I've ever seen, other than CATS.

I saw Cabaret on a Carnival cruise starring Charo and Desi Arnaz Jr.

[quote]She received the acclaim and the Olivier and didn't have to deal with the inevitable backlash from the NY critics.

I'll say this for Gayle Rankin: As much as I thought she was merely "okay," she did impress me with dealing with fans at the stage door. Most of the other cast just slinked off (it was a bit disappointing that Bebe Neuwirth kept her head down, got in her car, and left), but Rankin interacted with people and energetically goofed around.

[quote]Plus you are crammed waiting in line for said overpriced drinks!

I think I would have liked the interactive elements more if people hadn't been packed in like sardines. They have multiple lobby spaces, but the pre-show performances all seemed to be shoved into the lower level, which had everybody congregating there. It's a very cool-looking space, which of course, you can't show off because they give everyone a sticker to cover their phones' cameras with.

I was amused that there were two older women seated in front of my friend and me, and one of them DGAF about the rules about recording. She didn't take her phone out during the performance, but she took a bunch of pictures of the set before the show started. And she completely ignored the ushers when they tried to stop her.

[quote]I saw the Mendes version with Jennifer Jason Leigh and it was the worst show I've ever seen, other than CATS.

And so many of the messy gays I know are raving about the Jellicle Ball. That's where we are. We're liking Cats.

Finally, my Tony performance of an iconic song is no longer the worst.

[quote]What say you, DL Broadway babies?

The Mendes production always bothered me because it had nowhere to go. And unfortunately Cliff (Isherwood) becomes a minor character.

The original book starts out very sunny with the Emcee welcoming us and Cliff entering a strange new world. Fraulein Schneider prophecies what’s going to happen but we’re all so giddy we ignore the wisdom of age. By the end of Act 1, there should be a noticeable shift in tone from sunny to cloudy. The Mendez production completely discarded all of this. What’s the point of Schneider singing “So What” if we’re already seeing it acted out before us?

The Emcee was killed in a gas chamber in the Mendes version? I’ve never heard this. That sounds, erm, hyper literal.

Interestingly, Jennifer Jason Leigh was the best Sally I've seen onstage. And I've read that others agree and others strongly disagree, leading me to think that her performances were wildly uneven.

I saw the Prince revival with Joel Grey and Alyson Reed. It was very boring. Seemed like a tired old book musical.

I find the whole current pre-show thing really off-putting. They want their work to be taken oh so seriously but aren’t above profiting from fascism with $30 cocktails. Also, I don’t think the message of the play requires so much heavy-lifting these days - just put a red necktie on the Emcee and a bird’s nest on his head by play’s end. Have him select a member of the audience to be his next apprentice. It would cost a lot less than $25M to produce. All this artifice just makes our fascist future seem more distant than it really is.

R113, it was very abstract, but chilling. The emcee took off a trench coat to reveal a yellow star and a pink triangle on a striped uniform. The music got very ethereal and foreboding, and the dark back wall of the theater lifted up to show a white wall reminiscent of gas chambers. The Emcee actually got shot to the final drum roll.

There was a separate London revival that was explicitly lining up naked gays to be gassed. Which was not really something that happened unless they were also Jewish.

[quote]The Emcee was killed in a gas chamber in the Mendes version? I’ve never heard this. That sounds, erm, hyper literal.

Not quite. He shows up at the very last "good night" in a concentration camp uniform. (with gay & Jewish stars)

I wish they’d cut out “Perfectly Marvelous.” What a dumb song.

[quote]I saw Cabaret on a Carnival cruise starring Charo and Desi Arnaz Jr.

Lucy was supposed to play Sally in that, but Gary talked her out of it.

I think she's tremendous.

He is truly the ugliest lesbian ever. Cannot believe my hetero female friend thinks he's hot!

I think Cabaret is going to become like Show Boat in that every director will choose his songs.

The Telephone Song is out but Why Should I Wake Up is back in. I’ll keep Maybe This Time but I want to squeeze in Mein Herr.

When you look at Cabaret it’s a very unbalanced show. All the music is in Act 1 and hardly anything in Act 2.

R104 that sounds absolutely dreadful.

[quote]I love both "Cabaret" (not this version, however) and "Gypsy." But they're revived too often.

Eddie Redmayne is Madame Rose!

[quote][R104] that sounds absolutely dreadful.

Cabaret as a musical version of Bent. 🙄 Some directors really have zero ability to conceive a show.

[quote] He only got a nomination because he's an Oscar winner.

Something Jonathan Groff will never be.

I think this is a case where the big jestures needed for a theater just don’t translate well to tight televised clips. Yes, he could have toned it down but he had both a live and televised audience. The cameraman wasn’t helping anyone with those tight shots.

Jesus the diction and the projection are not there for the 2 present day links, compared to Joel's performance.

[quote] Jennifer Jason Leigh was the best Sally I've seen onstage. And I've read that others agree and others strongly disagree, leading me to think that her performances were wildly uneven.

That or she's a very divisive actor.

She usually makes strong and fearless choices, but some find her to be stilted and self-conscious in her delivery.

[quote]Cabaret as a musical version of Bent.

What?

[quote]Cabaret as a musical version of Bent. What?

Read r104’s description of a production he/she/they saw.

Is that picture really Eddie Redmayne? It looks more like Ewan McGregor.

Agree R129. She might win an Emmy for Fargo but I thought her performance was absolutely god-awful.

[quote] I think this is a case where the big jestures needed for a theater just don’t translate well to tight televised clips.

Oh, dear.

R117 there's a gunshot. The Emcee is killed.

At the Roundabout? Are you sure 🤷🏻‍♂️

I saw the Roundabout production twice with Alan Cumming in 1999 and Michael C.. Hall in 2000. There was no gunshot.

R117 is correct. The emcee just kind of fades into darkness after wishing us a goodnight.

Thank you. I knew that was b.s.

Eddie needs to go back to London and stay here for a long, long time.

It’s great that the costume designer thought to use the metal plate in Eddie’s head to hold the hat in place.

The Emcee is in fact shot. He contorts his body as the lights black out. The gunshot is the drums. I also saw the Roundabout, but four times.

R124, don’t give him any ideas, he’s clearly capable of anything.

Speaking of fat dancers, did that immersive Guys & Dolls ever cross the pond?

R141 share a video or an article on that. I withhold judgment for the moment.

I think the ending of the Mendes Cabaret is open to interpretation.

R138. WRONG! The Emcee tries to escape and is shot in the back.

The current Emcee in London is Layton Williams, a flexible homosexual and former Billy Elliot who is most famous for being a ringer on last year's Strictly Come Dancing.

Layton Williams was also in the tv show Beautiful People based on Simon Doonan’s book.

Nope —no shot. The drumroll is a drumroll, as established in the original play and the movie.

And don’t say I’m too literal. Your too illiterate.

The clip at R148 features both an Emmy winner and nominee, an award Redmayne is yet to be nominated for.

You’re *

Sheesh. The Carnival Cruise Cabaret featured a happy ending with Charo leading a conga line up and down the aisle while Desi sang a Cuban rumba version of Willkommen.

Carnival Cruises are the next Broadway. You haven't disruptors like that since Uber.

Do they do a gay cruise porn version?

Asking for a Voice…

The ending with the gunshot also happened in a Chicago production I saw. (Not a "Chicago" production!)

The Cabaret contorts into a gas chamber with naked dancers? All this and a rimshot/gunshot?

Look out, he’s got a nug!

There is no nug. Hal Prince’s drum shot did not suddenly become a gun shot.

Mendes’ *

Cabaret but it's set in a bathhouse in the 80s and instead of the Nazis it is AIDS threatening everyone.

Gina Gershon was my favorite Sally in the Roundabout revival. Susan Egan felt like she was playing Sally in a Kenley Players production. Brooke Shields was horrendous and Kate Shindle was very, very good. And, of course, Natasha was lovely.

R149 Totally disagree. Look at how it's staged. Not saying this was the original intent of the music, but it was something Mendes inserted as his interpretation.

Sometimes a rimshot is just a rimshot.

From what I can remember, Jane Leeves ("Frasier") was better than I was expecting her to be as Sally but I was really impressed with John Stamos as the Emcee. I didn't think he'd commit to it all the way but he did and the end result was quite good.

That must have been sexy.

I don't think I could put this into words before, but despite the ripped body, Redmayne is actually kind of sexless in the role. I was thinking about how the show is surprisingly hetero--not James Corden in The Prom bad, but we get Cliff and one of the chorus boys kissing and I think one of the chorus girls is a drag queen, and that's it--but I realized that at least with the Emcee it's more than that.

John Stamos is a Cliff not an Emcee.

[quote] despite the ripped body, Redmayne is actually kind of sexless in the role

Eddie Redmayne is sexless. Period.

Still, I find him very hot and I'd still love to get kinky with him.

I'll bet I could bring him out of his sexual "shell."

FASCINATED BY EDDIE REDMAYNE'S UPPER LIP

(an intricate study into the many ways eddie redmayne ruins lives)

I know he's supposed to be a mystery but I've always wished we could learn more about who the Emcee is -- what his name is, what his background is, etc. I'm sure it's better for the story that we don't have this information but I just get the impression we would find out he's a really fucked-up guy behind the garish makeup.

Really?!

Late to the table are ya?

YASSS, KWEEN!

The emcee winding between the dancers legs is god-awful. And the whole atmosphere reminds me of the freak show area of the old carnivals that used to come through town once a year, and not 1930’s Berlin.

Tod Browning Presents Cabaret!

I don't remember anything about a gas chamber or naked dancers, but it was quite a while ago, and the shock of the execution overrode all the other details.

I think it was a big mistake. The Emcee is not a character, he's a device. It would be like shooting the narrator at the end of "Our Town."

Hey Atticus, wouldn’t it be sorta like…shooting a Mockingbird?

Helen Lawson as Sally!

I did notice those cyclists were not riding defensively. They were hogging the lane. Not to say they deserved to be run over but they were taking no precautions about dangerous drivers.

Thanks for that update R177!

^ wrong thread

My only takeaway from this revival is that, its akin to reading the ending from the beginning. All that is grotesque is presented once the curtains up. It's a dry fuck to the senses…in three acts. Apparently, its an immersive audience experience starting before the curtain up.

Not apparently —actually. Expressly. Explicitly.

Saw John Stamos as The Emcee in NY and he was quite good. My friend who never watches TV leaned over at intermission and said, "who the hell is that?" and in a good way. Anyhoo, he showed his bare butt with a swastika on one cheek. Does Redmayne show his ass?

This version of Cabaret is like a Madonna concert.

Starts late and then insults the audience?

Jessie Buckley dodged a fucking bullet.

The performance was rather satanic and just gives credence to the notion that liberals and the entertainment industry (California & New York) have become one big, giant coven.

Oh fuck off, MAGA Frau Cow Cunt at R186.

What in the fuck are you even doing on Datalounge?

Shouldn't you be attending a Donald Dump rally in Topeka?

Dumb fucking cow.

And no coincidence Hillary Clinton was there on the night - in a caftan!

[quote]I know, I know...same with Shakespeare, same with Puccini, same with....they're all fucking PLAYED OUT.

I'm played out. Do you know what "played out" means?

[quote]I know he's supposed to be a mystery but I've always wished we could learn more about who the Emcee is -- what his name is, what his background is, etc. I'm sure it's better for the story that we don't have this information but I just get the impression we would find out he's a really fucked-up guy behind the garish makeup

The Emcee is a symbolic character. He doesn't have a "back story."

Cabaret is an only ok show which people seem to think holds the secrets to life by producing it with more and more focus on random qualities of the characters and script. It's the same with Gypsy, but Cabaret is not nearly as good a show.

The hyper-sexualization and perversions of the MC character are just something ham bone actors thrive on, but I find it all pretty cringeworthy. I mean, Cabaret again? Who gives a shit?

I wonder if Stamos still has the swastika on his butt waiting to be asked to join the cast of the revival?

[quote] It would be like shooting the narrator at the end of "Our Town."

I'd be all for that when Jim Parsons is in it. Hell, I'd shoot him in the middle of act one. Maybe the soda fountain scene?

I think in Cabaret, the Emcee is a Greek chorus, commenting on things but not actually within the plot. Both the Mendes production and this current production throw that idea away and force him to be a character he’s not really intended to be.

[quote] but I just get the impression we would find out he's a really fucked-up guy behind the garish makeup

What do you mean by "fucked up guy"?

If you look at the clip of Joel Grey in the original 1966 production (at R8), he's an entertainer. He's putting on a show. The style is of the Vaudeville entertainers of the 20s and 30s. Think a small-time but savvy Al Jolson type. I could imagine him as a one-man-band, directing, writing and performing the show, concerned with every detail. He's the STAR of the Kit Kat Klub.

The Eddie Redmayne version is just so wrong. The MC needs to be a charming, he needs to be a seasoned show-biz pro...even if it's in a seedy night club.

I think one of the problems with revivals is that Joel Grey really nailed the character. Actors (and the directors) are trying to bring something new and different to the role...but Joel Grey's performance is definitive.

When you’re on Broadway, you play to the back row. When you’re on camera, you do much less. When you’re doing both, you find a balance. He didn’t find that balance.

TikTok is hilarious right now. Gen Z theater kids are insisting that if you didn’t like this performance, you know nothing about Cabaret or theater. It’s priceless when you realize that almost none of them saw the show.

[quote]Cabaret is an only ok show which people seem to think holds the secrets to life

I think that's because Cabaret was the first dark and edgy musical, so people think it's more important and better than it actually is.

Perhaps Broadway should let Cabaret Rest in Peace.

[quote]so people think it's more important and better than it actually is.

It's a fine Broadway musical.

And it made a great film.

The MC and Sally are iconic musical theatre characters.

And the score:

"Maybe This Time" is as good as any of the American Songbook classics.

"Married" another classic.

"Don't Tell Mama", "Two Ladies", "Money" wonderful theatrical numbers.

""Cabaret"...another important memorable song.

It's good show.

^ a good

[quote]Gen Z theater kids are insisting that if you didn’t like this performance, you know nothing about Cabaret or theater.

Same thing on Twitter. I love being lectured by zoomers!

"Look they/thems, I was painting sets and explicating Shakespeare when your parents were in diapers. STFU!"

How many really believe that “Maybe This Time” was written for Kaye Ballard? It doesn’t seem like her type of song. Was this confirmed by anyone other than Ms. Ballard?

R204. I don’t know if it was written specifically FOR Ballard, but I always heard she was either the first to sing it or the first to record. In her prime, she had a strong, torchy belt, and they played her up as sultry—she was the original Helen of Troy in “The Golden Apple” and Rosalie in “Carnival,” and did lots of cabaret. It was only in middle-age when she became the clown-comic we saw in “The Mothers-In-Law.”

What’s all the fuss about? It wasn’t creepy. He did fine.

[quote]I think that's because Cabaret was the first dark and edgy musical...

You don't say?

Carousel is sunshine and daffodils compared to Cabaret..

I disagree. Carousel is twisted and sinister.

Swoosh…right over

Sondheim wanted his Cabaret, so he wrote Sweeney Todd.

And before Cabaret and Carousel, there was Show Boat, which had some dark scenes.

r206 = Eddie Redmayne

Even with the Muppets, this is a better version then Eddir Redmayne's petulant toddler's.

Here, even the Muppets are beautiful…

[quote]How many really believe that “Maybe This Time” was written for Kaye Ballard? It doesn’t seem like her type of song. Was this confirmed by anyone other than Ms. Ballard?

Regardless of whether it was written for Kaye Ballard, it wasn't written for "Cabaret." It was added to the show to give Liza a torch song.

And it fit right in

That's up for debate, R217. Some of the lyrics don't really suit the character of Sally Bowles. "Lady Peaceful, Lady Happy, that's what I long to be." Really? Sally Bowles longs to be Lady Peaceful?

Except for in the current version, Sally is singing Maybe this Time in the club, not as a sing about herself. And narcissists very often like to portray themselves as normal, calm people when they certainly are not.

Oy vey—it’s not at meant to be literal.

And Elsie in Chelsea was at peace wasn’t she?

In the movie of "Cabaret," all the songs, except for "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," are sung in the club, but they also comment on the action, the way songs are expected to do in all musicals.

And pulling off that trick from stage to musical is what makes the movie so good. One of a few real examples of a great Broadway show becoming an equally great movie—it’s never been easy to do.

*from stage musical to movie

It’s hard to remember that Julie Harris was the original Sally in “I Am a Camera” or that she’d even make a good Sally considering what we’ve had since- but Isherwood says she WAS his Sally.

In the closing song, Sally mentions her roommate Elsie, who was “the happiest corpse I’d ever seen.” Maybe she’s referring to Elsie when she sings about lady peaceful, lady happy. . .

Eddie and Jimmy

Thx R225. Jayzus

Remember how Liza, in concert would switch up whether she was or wasn't "going like Elsie" depending on her sobriety?

R228. Who did Liza think she was kidding?

I saw it three weeks ago. Eddie was awesome. Creepy and dark as the character should be because he is mirroring the psychotic dissolution taking place in Germany as it slides towards the abyss. I thought it was an excellent production except for one cast member who shall remain nameless.

[quote]I thought it was an excellent production except for one cast member who shall remain nameless.

I bet I can name him.

…”character should be because he is mirroring the psychotic dissolution taking place in Germany as it slides towards the abyss…”

Almost but not really.

I'm guessing Joel Gray was not a particular fan of the Mendes production. But, to honor Kander and Ebb he did this with Alan Cumming. Pretty cool.

I'm so curious to see what Fosse's vision with Ruth Gordon as the Emcee would've been. Could she even sing?

Gray is 2x more precise in his performance and far more musical than the other ones.

For those who weren’t around in 1998, what may be hard to understand is that the Cabaret revival was a huge hit. Brian Stokes Mitchell was a fait accompli for Best Actor in a musical. Roundabout was a minor player. Sam Mendes had done little of note beyond interesting Sondheim revivals at the Donmar. Cummings was known for minor roles in movies.

There was some buzz about the revival but only in a low key way - look what they’re doing with Cabaret with tired, drug addicted dancers and setting it all in the club. But it was a bigger hit than anything we have seen since recently.

Because of the construction accident that closed the Kit Kat Club in 1998/99, the run was extended and that’s how I got to see Alan Cumming in the role. I was sitting at a table with a bunch of dour German tourists which felt appropriate. At intermission, one of them said sarcastically, “I love seeing Germany portrayed this way.”

The audience member that Cumming plucked out to dance with him that night also ended being German.

Was there another "Kit Kat club" before the one installed at the former Studio 54? If so where was it?

[quote]I think in Cabaret, the Emcee is a Greek chorus

I think of him more as one Grecian urn.

Gimme a break- Vulture reviewers can clutch pearls too. But clearly it’s an opening for the DL tastemaker to disapprove! Silly.

R238, it opened at the Henry Miller Theater, which was delightfully seedy. There was a construction accident just before it transferred to Studio 54. Urinetown played at Henry Millet before it was demolished to make the Stephen Sondheim Theater.

Ah thanks. And you know what, Henry Miller's Theatre was Xenon disco for a few years.

Ye gods, r239!!!

What's a Grecian urn?

About thirty drachmas a week.

I think the MC is inspired by the German movie The Tin Drum. I see a lot of the gestures in the performance.

R205, THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW was 4 years after CARNIVAL, not 20.

Did Joel Grey go through a time portal to watch a 1978 film for inspiration?

Who’s banging Eddie’s backdoor while he’s in New York?

Well, he's never sucked my dick...

[quote]I think the MC is inspired by the German movie The Tin Drum. I see a lot of the gestures in the performance.

He was based an actual emcee that Hal Prince had seen in Berlin.

^ on an

R250, I think r245 is referring to Eddie Redmayne. The Tin Drum was made a decade after the original Broadway Cabaret production.

Ah, r252, thanks.

The post still makes no sense…R250

I saw Hal Prince's 1987 revival and thought "how quaint. They're warning us about something that will never happen."

Welp, if I look back at 2008-2015, it seems most of us were "fast asleep" while Fox News was building resentment nightly. All of the creative forces behind Cabaret were right. And Hal Prince lived to see it.

Such a fucking shame

Sadly, Natasha Richardson and Mary Louise Wilson had their runs abruptly cut short because of the accident. When it reopened at Studio 54, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Blair Brown (who were already in rehearsal) took over. There were rumors that Richardson would go back into the show at some point but it never happened.

That’s not true, at all. I saw them both at Studio 54. Why make up shit that’s so easily disproved?

R256, it actually reopened briefly at the Henry Miller in August and then moved to Studio 54.

R257, we’ll wait for you to provide evidence that Natasha Richardson or Mary Louise Wilson performed at Studio 54.

The Roundabout’s website for one…Wiki…Playbill…my own eyes and ears…we can go on and on here, but just stop.

Then link to one of them. You are 100% wrong, plus extremely rude about it. Richardson was contracted to August 2, 1998. The accident happened on July 21. They reopened at the Henry Miller on August 8, and Wilson stayed until replaced by Blair Brown on August 20. The production moved to Studio 54 in November, opening on the 12th.

You are flat out wrong - explore at the link.

🤷🏻‍♂️meh.

Next

I saw Randy Harrison play the emcee on a national tour not that long ago. He looked grown up.

Have you no pity for aged? None at all?

R263 if that was aimed at me let me rephrase. He looked like an adult not like some 15 yo being fucked by a much older man with money, an ad career, and a great apt.

Clearly it was not. If only R260 took kind pity as you did.

Someone on Twitter said:

"Honestly, at this point the most revolutionary Emcee in Cabaret would be a really clean-cut, game-show-host, smiley/charming guy in a business suit."

An interesting idea, r266, even though Redmayne actually ends the show in a business suit.

The habitually minimalist set design for Cabaret also misses a lot of opportunities. The Aronson designs were underwhelming and poorly executed in the 1987 revival, but they are stunning. Cabaret used to have a much fuller set design until the Mendes production redefined the show.

I’m not sure there will be another Broadway Cabaret for a long time. It’s frustrating that this over conceived and emotionally impotent production is what we get.

[quote]It’s frustrating that this over conceived and emotionally impotent production is what we get.

British import. They’ve never understood American musicals. And the Mendes production was a British import. I’d like to see an American director present it.

Actually, I’d like to see a stripped down version in an off-Broadway house.

But then again, the show suffers from all the songs being in Act 1. The first act is really long and then the second act is much shorter.

Carousel is much creepier than Cabaret. All that hiding in plain sight…

[quote] But it was a bigger hit than anything we have seen since recently.

R237, it’s almost like The Producers and Hamilton never happened!

I think we get that you were quite impressed but your memories are a bit misty-eyed.

^^ I mean, R236.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one grossed out & repulsed by the reptilian-like Redmayne in this role, but I would go see it Jessie Buckley was still the cast. She's really talented and doesn't wildly overact in the manner a lot of "theatre types" do

R270, if you consider Hamilton and The Producers “recent,” yikes!

Well you’re still going on about a fucking production of Cabaret from over 25 years ago like nothing has happened before or since, with your “gather around little children and let me tell you a story about…” tone. I mean, it was pre-9/11, ffs. Even Wicked has happened since then. Ka-ween!

Next you’ll be telling us all what a cause celebre the original 1977 production of Annie was. “Like nothing seen in RECENT times…”

R274 is this you? Or your frenemy up thread?

At least he has a big dick.

[quote]There was a construction accident just before it transferred to Studio 54.

It transferred to Studio 54 because of the accident. A crane working on the new Conde Nast building fell, crashed thru the building behind it killing a woman in her living room just living her life. The block was closed so too was the theater and producers were going to close permanently until they scrambled and procured Studio 54

It reopened at the Henry Miller, and then moved three months later.

I think they're trying to be intentionally creepy with the Emcee, as Joel's' Emcee was just inherently creepy because of the makeup-it's clown adjacent.

Long but good review of the broadway production. [quote]A vague sense of confusion is, alas, the general order of the day. Along with the mise-en-scène, it’s most palpable in the performances of the two leads, Eddie Redmayne as the Emcee and Gayle Rankin as Sally Bowles, a young British performer trying to make it in Berlin. Redmayne’s vocal skills are unquestioned, but his constant presence takes the character’s role as narrator from subtle device to overblown commentary. His Emcee is cartoonish and spastic, both in gestural vocabulary and in costume; the character isn’t meant to be the Joker. But the Joker energy matches the flat, angry Harley Quinn-esque delivery of the show’s Sally Bowles. The character is entirely the wrong kind of bratty, her vulnerability and anxious confidence replaced by a sneering Nancy Spungen edge.

R258 Wait. Mary Louise Wilson? Ginny from One Day at a Time was in Cabaret??

She smelled a Tony. And got it!

R281, she also played Act II Big Edie in Grey Gardens, Tessie Tura in the Lansbury Gypsy, and Letitia Primrose (the Imogene Coca role) in the Chenoweth revival of On the Twentieth Century .

She didn't get a Tony for CABARET.

Did you, Mein Herr?

¡Lo siento!

paywall

[quote] [R87] And for the first time the audience will cheer when the Nazis arrive.

I hope it's not apocryphal but I remember reading somewhere that in a third-rate, amateurish production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" the Gestapo arrives to interrogate the office workers and and an audience member shouted "They're in the attic!"

[quote]. Isn't the Emcee in Cabaret *supposed* to be creepy and off-putting, though?

Yes, but only as a portent of what we all know to be coming. As someone mentioned upthread, we don't need being clubbed over the head with Weimar degeneracy as being worn on the outside -- which these costumes make abundantly clear is their point. The idea of the Emcee is that the rot is emanating from within, making the (classic) tuxedoed costume a much higher contrast.

Could you be more tiresome, R288?

TikTok is abuzz with the “discovery” that Redmayne contorts into a swastika. It’s a phenomenally dumb choice, almost as dumb as the central idea of this production that the Nazis gained power through being avant garde performers who transform into brownshirts. Of course, the swastika body language is even dumber because half or more of the audience can’t see it. Because the show is in the round!

Mickey Jo shares his thoughts

Jesus he’s tiresome—does he pull this lame shit out for every show?

Mickey Jo’s videos are too long to care. So much filler. Just get to the point.

I’d still fuck. God, help me.

I’d still fuck him. God, help me.

R291 also believes in Pizzagate because TikTok told him so.

Dutch Nazis were the worst

[quote]Of course, the swastika body language is even dumber because half or more of the audience can’t see it. Because the show is in the round!

It's not really in the round though. They have seating on two sides of the round stage so there's an audience on the front half of the theater and on the back half, but there's nothing to the left or right. The orchestra sits in a box that's on the balcony Stage Right if you were facing the front of the theater, and I think the tech stuff is on the lower level Stage Left. The stage itself does have rotating sections, but views aren't exactly obscured. Most of the action is blocked so that each half of the audience can see something.

Voice of the Night, there is seating on the sides on the floor level. I walked around the theater and thought almost any seat gives a good view. However, a two dimensional symbol doesn’t really work in this kind of environment unless it is against the floor of elevated.

Anyway, I found it to be one of the least engaging productions of Cabaret I’ve seen. The disorienting pre-show environment really got my hopes up, but the show itself just dragged,