Review-Cabaret
January 27, 2009
Date Reviewed: 26th January, 2009
Venue: Sunderland Empire
Touring theatres around the country, as well as appearing in the West End, are would be Maria, Joseph and Nancy finalists. In the main they have turned out to be talented young people looking for that break and while not securing the winning role on the reality TV show they have gone on to better things since their TV appearances.
Samantha Barks is one of those hopefuls who failed to become Nancy but has taken the role of Sally Bowles in her stride as she leads this number one tour. This young performer certainly makes her mark as the Kit Kat Club singer so famously brought to life in the film version. Her version of Maybe This Time stops the show and her rendition of the title song Cabaret, is every bit as good, all be it different, to the movie version we all know so well.
Pulling the whole show together is the Emcee played by Wayne Sleep. At times he gets the opportunity to show he can still dance and is certainly suited to this role. In fact but by way of the Childcatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and now this role, he is carving a new path in musical theatre for which he is well suited.
The start of the show sees Sleep appear through the O in the Willkommen front cloth, but on close inspection that O is actually like a camera lens with the aperture opening to reveal the Emcee. I assume this is Designer Katrina Lindsay recognition to the original play, on which the musical is based, called I Am a Camera.
There are two relationship stories at the heart of the piece, one involving Fraulein Schneider and German Jew Herr Schultz, which falters under the weight of political differences. While the other between English Sally herself and American writer Cliff Bradshaw falls apart when he demands they move to America. But this relationship is does not ring true as there appears to be no spark between the characters. It is hard to say if its Barks inexperience that is at fault here or just the lack of chemistry between the actors, but whatever the reason you fail to care that their relationship is not working, unlike that of the older couple.
As the curtain falls on the final scene, of naked bodies waiting to enter the gas chamber, there is total silence in the auditorium which is held for sometime before the curtain calls start. Director Rufus Norris knows exactly how far to push this silence for the most dramatic effect possible.
The audience usually leave the theatre humming along to the show tunes, in this case it is a very thought provoking trip back home. But then again that is what makes theatre all the more special.
Birmingham Rep productions have pulled out all the stops on this show and are touring a first rate show. If Barks performance is anything to go by the reality TV shows certainly have a place by bringing such talent to the fore.
John Dixon
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