Cabaret - Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue

SYNOPSIS

Cabaret the Musical

The 2006 West End revival of Cabaret the Musical is a dark and thrilling adaptation of the 1966 Broadway production by Joe Materoff, Fred Ebb and John Kander. Replete with the decadence and confrontational style associated with the original musical, director Rufus Norris has created an edgy theatrical drama that plunges the audience into the voyeuristic world of late 1920s Berlin. The story is one of change and contrasts and charts the relationships of two couples in a struggle to make sense of their lives in a tumultuous world that is falling headlong into the abyss of Nazism.

Written and directed strictly for an adult audience, Cabaret the Musical is now showing at the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue near Piccadilly. The current incarnation opened on 10 October, 2006 and is scheduled for performances through into 2008. The show contains both male and female full frontal nudity.

Cabaret's story

The story begins in the late 1920s. The German Empire is defeated, its mantle having passed to the Weimar Republic, who rule over the land in a state of ultra-liberalism. In Berlin anything goes, the Kit Kat Club with its seedy surround and raunchy cabaret performers embodying the essence of the time. It is presided over by the Emcee, a shady character whose true colours are revealed towards the end of the show. British singer Sally Bowles is the Emcee's star performer. She meets American writer Clifford Bradshaw when she stumbles upon him at his boarding house in bizarre circumstances. A surreal relationship of sorts develops -- a reflection of the debauched place and time in which both characters find themselves.

Meanwhile we are shown the grim reality of a parallel relationship that taps the undercurrent of Nazism in Berlin at the time. Elderly Jewish fruitseller Herr Shultz is in love with brothel queen Fraulein Schneider. Witnessing their relationship develop to the point of marriage is prostitute Frau Kost. Kost is reprimanded by Schneider for bringing sailors to her room. Kost seeks revenge on Schneider and informs Ernst Ludwig, a German of Nazi persuasion, that Schneider's husband-to-be is a Jew. Ludwig intervenes, eventually forcing Schneider to call the wedding off.

Schneider and Shultz's broken relationship is echoed in a continuation of Sally and Clifford's story. Clifford has become uneasy at the strength of unrest in Berlin and wants to take Sally to America to raise their unborn child in safety. Sally protests and extols the virtues of Berlin before informing Clifford that she has had an abortion. Their relationship deteriorates culminating in a heartbroken Clifford leaving for Paris without Sally, who returns to the Cabaret and the Emcee.

In a finale that underlines the separation of our characters and the polarisation of ideals, Fraulein Schneider is heard rationalising her break up with Herr Shultz, while Sally and the Emcee, now in full Nazi Regalia, appear on stage, Sally's cabaret act fading into a slowly sung recitation by the Emcee of "Auf Wiedersehen, à bientôt." It ends with the Emcee slowing to the spoken word and saying "goodnight" as the lights go out on stage -- a chilling end to what is two mesmerising stories.

Cabaret's West End History

Cabaret the Musical first appeared in the West End in 1968, some two years after opening on Broadway. Dame Judi Dench took a starring role as Sally at the Palace Theatre; Lila Kedrova played Fraulein Schneider. Revivals in London took place in 1986 and 1993. The run in '93 was directed by Sam Mendes and won critical acclaim.
 

"Rufus Norris' production is the most stunningly fresh and imaginative revival of a classic musical that I have ever seen. A musical masterpiece rediscovered in a masterpiece of a production" - The Independent

"Stunning. Nothing will prepare you for the raw overwhelming power. A fearless, frank production that magnificently renews a thrilling musical" - The Sunday Express

"Brilliant. Cabaret increasingly looks one of the defining musicals of the post-war era" - The Guardian

"One of the top dozen greatest musicals of all time" - Daily Express

This production of Cabaret is recommended as suitable for over 12s, subject to parental/teacher guidance, as the subject matter deals with adult themes and the staging includes some brief moments of nudity.

Running Time: 2hrs 30mins (including interval)