nypost.com: Two weeks ago, an Oscar nominee spat in my face.
That would be Jessie Buckley, who was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for “The Lost Daughter” — and the aforementioned spittle incident went down at the new West End production of “Cabaret” in London.
3 comments:
I love Cabaret. It is an extremely difficult, dark, and wonderful show that never fails to make me laugh and cry all at once. However, a fresh take on the classic show would be very interesting to see. I love the idea of the dark from the start take on this production of Cabaret. I love a lot of the work that Eddie Redmayne does and I think that this is outside of what I amused to seeing him in, but nevertheless something that I would love to see him act in. Although I don't think that this weird and different take on the show would survive long on broadway at an attempt at a mainstream show. The author is right that in order to achieve that they would likely have to lean into the usually sexy, high spirited atmosphere of the first act. However personally I would love to see this show as is, before the mainstream has a chance to get their hands on it.
It's tricky because I haven't seen the show myself, but on principle I do agree with the critic here. I saw Cabaret when it was done at CMU, and yes, a lot of the fun was had through the high-spirited and energetic first act leading straight into the utter breakdown of everything (even the set) in the second act. Without that fun and that high-spirited audience interaction, I don't think that the show would've had quite as much of an effect on me. As to the question of whether it should come to Broadway, I would lean towards no. I'm trying to think of the last time a truly avant-guarde musical came and really hit it off with audiences, and I'm drawing a bit of a blank. Granted, it could be that this musical is the black sheep we need, but I do think it would be a black sheep amongst all the upbeat musical comedies and musical-movies that have sprung up in the States.
Reimagining a show as iconic as Cabaret is a challenge. A key element of the story is the bawdy celebration of sexuality in the first half that abruptly collides with the sickening reality of Nazi occupation in the second. It is not just raucous behavior for the sake of raucous behavior. If the first half is “dreary”, the key message is missed, and the whole show may only be excruciatingly sad and unpleasant. Additionally, I would absolutely hate having an actor come up so close to me (in the balcony!) and spitting on me. In the days of a pandemic this seems a wildly inappropriate thing to do. For what purpose? To make the giant theater feel like a cabaret? Not worth it. In all the productions of Cabaret I have seen, the Emcee is a creepy figure. Eddie Redmaynes’ portrayal and his costuming puts it right out there. Those gloves do look like Edward Scissorhands. A creepy French clown indeed.
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