Cabaret (Kit Kat Club, London, Personal)

 🌟 Cabaret 🌟

30 December 2023 at 7:30pm at the Kit Kat Club / Playhouse Theatre, London

★★★★★

Following such an entrancingly masterful performance back in April, it was never a question of if we would return to the Kit Kat Club, but when! Kander & Ebb's illusive Cabaret continues to thrill London audiences, treating the experience not simply watching a musical, rather invited to a lustful club night, with expression at the heart of everything. Since our previous visit, the cast has significantly changed, and Cabaret really thrives on these cast changes. Every role brings an essence of melodrama, or rather such a potency with emotion. It becomes so fascinating to see a new actor step into these roles, and the breadth of their adaptation to make the character artistically their own. This really keeps the show fresh and alive,

The minute you walk into the side door, you are thrown into the roaring 1920s, the highlight of West End immersion. Unless you have taken a visit, it is impossible to describe the feeling of walking in, the rush of excitement where the entertainment begins before you reach the auditorium. Cabaret explores the sexual freedoms of the early 20th century, and the restless desire to be one's true self, where you feel the pressures of outside life melt away. The first time watching this show, it is easy to be swept away by the glamour, but this visit allowed me to focus on the impending threats the plot proposes, and the characters I originally discarded.

I cannot express my immense joy to see music icons Jake Shears and Self Esteem / Rebecca Lucy Taylor starring in Cabaret, legends of the industry and already huge fans of both!! Shears is wildly impressive as the Emcee, a firecracker of a force who explodes onto stage and igniting a whole new depth. He has the accent nailed tremendously, and his attention to detail with all of the Emcee's different personas are solid and refined. There are many ways of playing the Emcee, and Shears is delightfully unhinged, with Money a particular highlight, his facial work hauntingly intense. While Self Esteem is very much born to play Sally Bowles, excelling with the quirky yet vulnerable layers to Sally's character. She gives a perhaps more contained Sally, though her showstopping Cabaret unleashes these frustrations in an explosive scene, ultimately breaking with excellent work acting through the song. They compliment each other wonderfully as our leading pair.

Covering Clifford, Taite-Elliot Drew portrays quite an internally complex character, and it is a marvel to see his emotional progression as a displaced American in pre-war Germany. Particularly his relationship with Sally, which is measured and controlled. As Drew's antithesis in a directly frightening Ernst, Wilf Scolding is blood-curdling as his political position in the Weimar republic is discovered. He commands a role that wants to make you shrink into your seat, and gives us the same waves of goosebumps and gasps as the first time.

Beverley Klein and Teddy Kempner shine through their wacky coupling as Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz. They share some incredibly funny moments, including romancing over a pineapple, holding comedic breaks of silliness. At times, they become tested, and share an ultimatum of heartache, but it is endlessly easy to sympathise with them. Especially Klein's voice during What Would You Do is so powerful, with an incredible vocal line to hold such impassioned pain.

Tom Scutt's design is utterly inspiring, where such a rapidly paced musical is condensed within the round staging. However just because the 'stage' is considered the raised platform, the action isn't defined by this, a lot occurring away from the limelight, beside us in the audience and around these edges. Especially for anyone watching the show for the first time, the extent of entrances and exits are guaranteed to surprise you! Tickets to see Cabaret can be expensive, though I wholeheartedly believe this extra cost is worth the price, with pre-show and interval entertainment that drags everyone into the club, you are never simply the passive spectator. And the way you enter this theatre through backstage areas, this modern style manifested into a traditional space is mesmerising. Equally with Scutt's costume design, embracing Rebecca Frecknall's direction where they are outlandish, larger than life in the essence they are deflecting everything happening underneath.

This production of Cabaret is the most monumental and successful of it's kind. The drive away from the ordinary bowler hat vision keeps the musical more relevant and accessible. From Julia Cheng's expertly crafted choreography to wrap the stage and beyond, to such an endlessly talented and tireless cast, this adaptation will be cemented in theatre history.

... and a final mention, "even the orchestra is beautiful". Led by Jennifer Whyte, you can see the full list of creatives involved in Cabaret here: https://kitkat.club/cabaret-london/cast-creative/

You can follow me on X and Instagram @jackdavxy