| "Cabaret" this afternoon | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 08:08 pm EST 11/13/24 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 08:05 pm EST 11/13/24 | |
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| It took a wait for TDF tickets to finally see this iteration, and from very good seats, I was mostly impressed with Neuwirth and Skybell, the emotional core doing the heavy lifting with the storytelling, and a surprisingly disciplined and vocally exciting Adam Lambert. To me, this overwrought staging, built on more is more - hey, performance art in the lobby! - tends to smother what Masteroff, Kander and Ebb, and Prince originally wrought. It's not clear what the central conceit might be, perhaps until the final set of images (which could just as easily illustrate a stage treatment of 1984 or regional opera company's take on Mahagonny.) I cannot fully defend my detached distance from this heightened prism because I have no idea what the intention here is. From the costuming of Sally - forced to wear babydoll drag, and then a wig cap and hideous underwear for almost the entire first act - to the eros free forced sexual climate. All of the heaving and thrusting engenders neither titillation nor theatrical commentary on titillation, negating its value. I know many people adore this fetishized "immersive" take but again, it's lost on me. (What are we "immersed" in? The pre-show stuff is all sort of late 80s downtown, and reminded me of the nightlife in Scorsese's After Hours.) What all of this says about Berlin in the 30s eludes me. I had a strong reaction to the late 2024 cocktail-swilling audience - that now sees this show more like that musical about killer women named Roxie and Velma, i.e., a new investment in a brand - but my subjective response isn't appropriate here. | |
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