Gender and sexual fluidity abound gloriously at the Kit Kat Club, and this is contrasted by the muted ambiguity which Douglas brings to Cliff's possible queerness. Omari Douglas is a delightful stage presence who gives a thoughtful portrayal of Cliff. It's the early 1930s, and all four characters are determinedly ignoring burgeoning Nazi fervour, until it forces its way to the forefront. The story going on outside the nightclub setting concerns two doomed romances: Sally's affair with Cliff Bradshaw, a writer based on Christopher Isherwood ( Cabaret is adapted from the play I Am A Camera, based on Isherwood's Berlin Stories), and the gentle romance between Cliff's landlady, Fraulein Schneider, and the Jewish shopkeeper, Herr Shultz. They all look like they're having a blast, especially when wandering into the audience.
In the scenes set onstage at the Club, Redmayne and Buckley are supported by a gaggle of Kit Kat boys and girls, who dance terrifically (particularly whoever was inside that gorilla costume). Redmayne brings plenty of humour and eeriness to the role, and he does a great job with the songs, particularly those in the lower register.Ĭabaret at the Kit Kat Club. I wasn't fully convinced by his Emcee's interactions with the Kat Kat Club girls, though his dance with a gorilla in If You Could See Her had a genuine tenderness to it. He's great fun when introducing Sally onstage (the word, "Booooooowles" stretching out for at least fifteen seconds each time), but doesn't embrace the Kit Kat Club's debauchery. At times, Redmayne's performance gets lost in all this regalia and the busyness of the production. The skeleton-made-of-pearls costume the Emcee appears in towards the end of the first act was especially creepy. He wears and removes a range of wigs, facepaint and costumes, designed by Tom Scutt. Between these first and last moments, Redmayne pops in and out of the onstage action, up and down the Club's balconies, and to and from the stage's central trapdoor. He ends it.well, there have been many different stagings of the final moments of Cabaret, and Frecknall's choice was one I hadn't seen done before. Finally starring in the role, Redmayne begins the show snaking and crawling around the stage in over-sized knickerbockers and a paper party hat. If she doesn't win the Best Actress Olivier, I'll sell my own fur coat.Īnimated, elfin and androgynous, for years Redmayne has seemed perfect casting for Cabaret's Emcee. The song's been sung a thousand times by a thousand actresses, yet Buckley's version strips it of any cliche and gave me a new understanding of what the character means by " I love a cabaret". Vocally, she's outstanding, and her version of the title number brings irony, mimicry and desperation to it. Buckley's performance is a fresh take on Sally Bowles, while also seeming to be everything the character was truly intended to be in Joe Masteroff's book. It's also the first time an actress has made me seriously consider what Sally's backstory is (not counting the Kit Kat-ified version she recounts in her earworm opening song, Don't Tell Mama). I've seen a few different Cabarets, and Buckley's Bowles is the first who is as convincing in her scenes set in the world outside the Club as she is belting out showstoppers inside it. It's an original and intriguing take on the character, and makes Bowles' perpetual gin-swigging more disturbing. Sally is often portrayed onstage a petulant and brittle "manic pixie dreamgirl", but in Buckley's hands she's deluded, manipulative, and often dislikeable. Photo by Marc Brenner.īuckley brings an brilliantly uncute bite to Sally Bowles. With all this secrecy and pre-amble, the re-brand of the theatre, the casting of Redmayne and Buckley, the price of tickets, the rave reviews and now the eleven Olivier nominations, Frecknall's Cabaret has a lot to live up to.Ĭast of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. It's all good fun and adds to the idea that you're not just watching Cabaret, you're At An Event. During the interval, a couple of lucky/unfortunate (delete as applicable) souls are picked out of the audience to dance onstage with the Kit Kat boys. When the show starts, those willing to part with £250 for front row seats have the opportunity to be sat on by Jessie Buckley or have Eddie Redmayne steal their cocktail. Descending from the street into the bar, you receive a complimentary drink and semi-immersive pre-show entertainment. That's probably because Rebecca Frecknall's production is part-musical, part-theatrical experience.
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