This Is Not Your Grandfather's Cabaret

 

Here we go.   Your now-infrequent movie reviewer gets to critique a show on Broadway.   And what a show.

You can't really tell from the Playbill cover just what the show is.   But I can tell you it's the latest revival of Kander and Ebb's 1967 musical "Cabaret."  

And what a revival.

Now my only previous exposure to this musical was in the movie version with Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli.  I had never seen the stage version.   But I can tell you that the 2024 stage rendition probably looks a lot different than it did in good old conventional 1967.

These days, Broadway is working overtime with gimmicks to try and lure people into the theater.  Various new voices are coming into this world and this "Cabaret" directed by somebody named Rebecca Frecknall (??) is as gimmicky as you can get.  First off, the August Wilson Theater has been completely gutted inside to be transformed into the 1930's Berlin Kit Kat Klub.   It is now theater in the round and there are really only 10 rows of orchestra seats and five or six rows of front mezzanine.   So, essentially, everybody gets to sit up close.

The show tells you to get there about a half-hour early for a pre-show of scantily attired dancers doing Cirque De Soleil-like gyrations.  They are getting you in the mood for what you are going to see.  And don't plan on taking the now-requisite photo of you holding up your Playbill cover before the show.  The ushers put a sticker over your phone camera lenses on the way in.  They are that proud of the journey you are about to take.

The show starts, of course, with the famed Emcee providing your "Wilkommen" and, under the leadership of former American Idol contestant Adam Lambert, you are sucked into this world big time.  Lambert is an extraordinary talent in a role made for him.  As a matter of fact, the entire cast was spot on, even including the now expected inclusion of a Black actor into a role that is not necessarily Black-oriented.   For me, the only disappointment was the fact that the wonderful Bebe Neuwirth was understudied in the role of Fraulein Schneider at my performance.   

This "Cabaret" always gives you something amazing to look at.   This is clearly not a traditional 1967 revival.  It is more stylish, more glitzy, more gay, and more creepy than ever before.   For someone like me who prefers newer generations not tamper with the old stuff, this "Cabaret" works magnificently.  And, indeed, Adam Lambert alone is worth the price of admission.  

If you are in NY, check it out.

Dinner last night:  Long travel day.