(photo: author)
We took Alan Cumming’s advice and went to the Cabaret (opening number) last week. Possibly I saw the movie at some point, but I’d never seen the show on stage and was interested now because of Cumming. He was terrific, of course, and Michelle Williams was a much more suitable Sally Bowles than Liza Minelli in the movie, because the thing about Sally is, she’s not that talented. She’s never going to make it big. Or even medium. Especially then and there. The theater was designed to evoke the Kit Kat Klub, and instead of orchestra front, they’d installed tiny lamplit tables. The dancers stretched and warmed up on stage, interacting with the audience to further suggest the intimacy of a club. The band did more than play the music, the players were part of the drama, and some members doubled as dancers. An experience as well as a show.
We were not at the performance where Shia LaBeouf was escorted from the theatre in handcuffs—that was the next night. Apparently he took the night club setting too literally and lit up a smoke. Was disruptive. Said Entertainment Weekly, “Not everybody is wilkommen.”
Some video in this Today show interview with Cumming.
