Reader Reviews
Cabaret (Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | I was really looking forward to this after the success of `My one and Only last year. What a disappointmentit turned out to be. The direction was tepid with absolutley no sense of danger. The choreography a complete mess and I am afraid Alexandra Jay has a lot of learning still to do before she can deadline! If the sub plot between Shultz and Schneider becomes the main focus of the evening it shows how badly miscast the two leads actually were. On the positive side I thought Bleach was a wonderfully seedy MC and looked in a different class to the rest of them. Chichester should really have backed the original director, rarely have I seen so many hacked off blue rinse patrons. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 16 Sep 02 |
| After reading Michael Coveney's review in the Daily Mail I had low expectations of this production but I am very pleased to report that I really enjoyed the show on Friday evening, August 2nd. The star of the show is Julian Bleach who was both captivating and menacing. I could not take my eyes from him. I also thought that some of the critics had been unkind to Alexandra Jay, Yes her 'Sally Bowles' is frightfully posh, but at least she was trying to make the part her own and not a caricature of Liza Minnelli. All in all it was a good evening and the show was very well received by the Chichester audience and I have booked again for the last night! - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 06 Aug 02 |
| Went to the first preview of Cabaret last night. Overall impression was that it lacked direction (not surprising given the history of this production) and as a result lacked impact. It needed tightening up in many areas eg. long pauses for scene changes, and it wasn’t until about halfway through that it seemed to come together. The audience seemed bemused as to how they were meant to react to the seedier element in the production although it was all fairly tame (typical Chichester). The biggest audience reaction was to a single railway compartment ‘trucked on’ at the beginning – perhaps re-living memories of the train in My One & Only! The scenery looked distinctly wobbly at times and as mentioned earlier things seemed to take an age to get on and off the thrust stage. Overall there was little sense of the intimate nightclub which was such a feature of the Donmar production. Alex Jay as Sally was OK but a bit too much of a ‘Daisy Pulls It Off’/Home Counties girl for me, as if she is still doing the posh Eliza bit. Julian Bleach as Emcee seemed to lack presence. The Chichester crowd loved Sarah Badel as Fraulein Schneider – I thought she was so-so - but then she (& P. Routledge) are locals. Many of the accents were very hit and miss. The band were fine but way off up in the Gods – they would have been better nearer, or on, the stage to reinforce the nightclub aspect. All in all, a disappointment. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 26 Jul 02 |
