Cabaret

Spread throughout the foyer and theatre, the cabaret girls and boys welcomed the audience to Berlin’s sleazy underbelly. From the start it was evident that this production, directed by Louise Fischer, would not be a traditional take on this classic musical, with the girls dressed in a strange assortment of skimpy national dress and kinky occupational uniforms.

 
New Theatre
New Theatre, Sydney

Thursday, 19 November, 2009

Spread throughout the foyer and theatre, the cabaret girls and boys welcomed the audience to Berlin’s sleazy underbelly. From the start it was evident that this production, directed by Louise Fischer, would not be a traditional take on this classic musical, with the girls dressed in a strange assortment of skimpy national dress and kinky occupational uniforms.

Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret tells the story of Clifford Bradshaw, a struggling American writer who travels to Berlin for inspiration. Set against a late 20’s backdrop with the Nazis growing in power, a penniless Bradshaw gets drawn into the world of the Kit Kat Club with its enigmatic Emcee and star performer, the young British Sally Bowles.

Tom Bannerman’s set of tired greens and browns set the grungy mood for the piece and broke up the space, the only problem being the catwalk entrance down the centre which made for lengthy and occasionally clumsy entrances and exits.

The cast were uniformly strong. Stephen Anderson brought his own flavour to the piece with his humorous portrayal of the Master of Ceremonies, performing musical parallels to the story and overseeing the scenes. Sheridan Harbridge was sensationally convincing as the tragically gorgeous Sally Bowles and her affair with Clifford Bradshaw played by a geeky Matt Young developed nicely towards the climax of the show. Nate Gilkes gave a powerful performance as Nazi Ernst Ludwig, but Colleen Cook and Barry French stole the show as Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz. Their portrayals of an elderly widower and landlady who find joy in each others company captivated the audience and their songs were met with rapturous applause.

The ensemble were strong with some potent harmonies put together by Musical Director Sarah Cameron. As the performers did not use microphones, however, the soloists occasionally could not be heard over the dynamic band, especially when facing upstage. The young ensemble brought spirit and fun to the show but could have lended more truth and vulgarity to their characters.

The choreography by Mesha Spicer brought some new moves to the piece and provided a fabulous kick line, but was occasionally delivered with a feeling of confusion and lack of cohesion from the ensemble. The German accents were on the whole a little weak and lended more towards American, whilst several big moments would have benefitted from subtlety in such a small space. The costumes by Cassandra Pascoli were interesting, but in some cases a little too modern, as the Kit Kat girl’s attire struggled to evoke the time period or location.

Apart from some unfortunate amateur touches  (the stage crew coming out to clear the set before the band had finished the finale) New Theatre’s production of Cabaret was overall enjoyable.

Bookings: 1300 306 776 or www.mca-tix.com.au

Until 19 December, 2009