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Cabaret
Presented by: JYM Theatre co.
Venue: Phoenix Theatre, Elwood
Reviewer: Robbie Carmellotti
Date Reviewed: Thursday 14th May 2009
Pre war Germany, the rise of the Nazi party, a seedy emcee, the
sexually questionable writer, the oblivious and eccentric club
performer, grubby dancers, seedy men, and of course a club called
Kit Kat. I’m sure we all know the story of Cabaret, in my opinion it
is a brilliant and timeless show that is captivating in its
storyline, music and choreography. The show is based on an era in
which I have an addicted interest.
On a whole, I enjoyed the show, I thought the direction by Brendan
Cohen was well thought out, his actors really connected with his
vision & they portrayed the show with great diction and
believability. Brendan chose to emit ‘So What’, this sped up the
pace of Act 1 and I think it was a good decision. Sally Bowles sang
‘Maybe This Time’ in Intermission, she did the song full justice, in
fact this was the highlight moment of the show for Sally. It was a
shame that only a 3rd of the audience was in the
auditorium though. Mein Heir didn’t feature in the show, but this
may have been because of issues with stage rights.
The choreography by Danielle Savio was very creative and slick, not
real Fosse styling but still enjoyable. Musically in charge was
Loclan Mackenzie-Spencer and Robin Novy and together they had the
music element spot on, the band sounded great and all of the vocals
were excellent.
Where the show suffered was in its painfully long scene changes. Too
many sets and props needed to be put on and collected with each
change; most of the time there wasn’t enough underscoring and often
none at all. Possibly the most annoying thing for me was during ‘I
don’t Care Much’ which is a beautiful and chilling moment (also my
favourite song in the show), there was a big scene change that
really distracted and killed the meaning of the song. Also I’m
unsure why the emcee was dressed as a woman in this song, especially
because the next scene saw 2 Nazi guests beat up Cliff, and history
says Nazis were as anti homosexuals as they were Jews, so why would
these Nazi men, belt up a non Jew, then sit, smoke and laugh at a
man dressed as a woman? Also the Kit Kat girl costuming was a bit
off and didn’t seem to be of the era/style, I felt more like I was
watching the girls at a modern Moulin Rouge not the dingy 1930’s Kit
Kat Club. A good majority of the look was far too clean and
seemingly wealthy.
As the drum roll came in and the lights dimmed, the shows Emcee
Nathan Reynolds burst onto the stage with a ball of energy and
charisma perfect for the role. Nathan has an amazing sense of comic
timing and paced himself well, he completely stole the show for me.
The Emcee can be played a few different ways, and Nathan took the
cheeky/fun approach, and I think it really worked for this
production, his smile, charm and understanding of the character
really sucked you in to the story. I’ve seen a lot of Emcee’s and I
genuinely feel Nathan has embodied the role perfectly and gives a
performance 2nd to none. Go see the show for him if
nothing else.
Sally Bowles was portrayed by Courtney Krulis. What a task taking on
this role, possibly one of the most sought after and heavily judged
roles in theatre. Courtney sang the role perfectly with the
exception of some accent issues here and there, her voice really is
stunning, and I can’t wait to see more of her in the future. Dare I
say she didn’t quite show the full emotional journey of Sally with
enough depth? She was easy to fall in love with in the fun, comical
sense, but I didn’t really connect with her during the more
emotional scenes, especially toward the end of Act 2 where Sally’s
despair should be crushing. Her hair style was also distracting, it
was permanently slicked and manicured with curls on her face and a
tight bun, it made her resemble the other girls too much, and didn’t
give her enough individuality, she looked like a chorus girl. This
may have contributed to Sally being harder to relate to in the
deeper scenes as she looked too pretty and cutesy. Example- coming
home from a night at the doctors clinic after an abortion, with this
spectacular hairdo and pristine make up.
It would be hard to leave this show, and not be in love with Ruth
Yaffe who played Fraulein Schneider. This woman gave the role so
much character and warmth. She played it in a way I have never seen,
she took a less desperate approach in Act 1 and really worked on the
comedy of her role and played on the hidden one liner’s. In Act 2,
it was clear that she had taken an emotional change, and because you
had warmed to her in Act 1 you felt even sorrier for her. Ruth
turned a normally dull role into a highlight, and she made you want
more every time she was on stage.
Well done also to Steven Walker who played the role Cliff Bradshaw
with real heart and gave a young and loveable nerdish charm to the
role.
So over all, I left feeling entertained and satisfied with my
Cabaret fix, looking at the ‘Gerade Du’ posters while leaving
certainly got my mind racing and really made me think about how real
this show is and what an impact this era has taken on the world.
Congratulations to JYM and all involved.
Opening night was sold out and jam packed. So book your tickets now
and go visit 1930’s Berlin... In Elwood!
Robbie is a theatre addict with a passion for-Directing,
Choreographing and Performing. He has played roles such as Mike and
Greg- CHORUS LINE, Mungojerrie- CATS, Bernardo- WEST SIDE STORY, The
Cat- HONK & King Herod-JSC. He comes from a background in Latin
Dancesport where he works as a full time teacher, lecturer and
adjudicator. Career highlights include representing Australia at the
World Latin, winning the Thailand and Taipei Internationals. He has
worked with companies such as Whitehorse, Nova, Williamstown Little
Theatre, Windmill, DTC, and Fab Nobs. He is currently in pre
production to direct RENT with Fab Nob’s theatre. |