What is going on with the Cabaret reviews?

When Rebecca Frecknall’s revival of Cabaret opened in the West End in the winter of 2021, it was met with critical adulation – five-star reviews across the board (including from this parish), a record number of Olivier Awards for a musical revival, ticket sales by the gallon – it was a dream moment for a strapped London theatrical eco-system still recovering from lockdown woes.

Flash forward to spring 2024 and the show has, over the weekend, opened in a reconfigured August Wilson Theatre with star and producer Eddie Redmayne, joined this time by Gayle Rankin as Sally Bowles. But, in something of a shock to UK critics, it’s had what can best be described as a tepid response.

While some critics have praised a variety of aspects of the show – including the pre-performance immersive experience, hailed as “weird and wonderful” by TheaterMania.

Jesse Green of the New York Times acknowledged that the show has “many fine and entertaining moments”, but adds, somewhat brutally: “a misguided attempt to resuscitate the show breaks its ribs.”

Variety states that Rankin is doing incredible work: “the actor’s eviscerating performance of the title song is destined to become the stuff of you-had-to-see-her lore”, but Redmayne is considered too “mannered” to fit the bill.

Green adds: “Greeters offer free shots of cherry schnapps that taste, I’m reliably told, like cough syrup cut with paint thinner… Too often I thought the same of the show itself.” This measured response is echoed by others, including the Wall Street Journal, Deadline, Vulture and Time Out, though all dish out praise to individuals or performers along the way.

But what has happened? Why do critics’ opinions vary so wildly on what is effectively the same material?

On a basic level, Cabaret has been seen on Broadway more recently than it has in the West End – its 2014 run, featuring cast members like Michelle Williams, Emma Stone, and Sienna Miller, was relatively well-liked. That version will invariably cast a longer shadow than Rufus Norris’ frequently revived 2006 UK adaptation.

There is also the question of timing: Cabaret lands on Broadway riding high from its UK response – the only way, really, is down. What’s more, many New York critics liken the show to Daniel Fish’s “sexy” Oklahoma!, which was first seen there before it came to the UK – a reverse journey to Cabaret, which many UK critics likened Oklahoma! to when it opened at London’s Young Vic.

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More broadly, of course, UK and US critics have a tendency to respond differently to material – the Broadway smash-hit Hadestown had a much more varied set of reactions when it landed back in the UK last autumn, while Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella, which was relatively well-liked by UK critics (also opening in the period just after lockdown), was mauled by the Big Apple reviewers.

But I think there’s something more artistically significant going on here. Frecknall’s vision, influenced more by continental theatrical trends, interprets the material quite clearly through a class lens – the rise of fascism is tied to the acquiescence of the middle classes (the company all don greige suits as the show comes to a close, desaturating the earlier extravagance).

Nazi Ernst Ludwig is only able to continue his hate-fuelled work because those like cash-strapped writer Cliff Bradshaw are willing to take on lucrative jobs without looking too closely at unpleasant realities. The interpretations of numbers like “I Don’t Care Much” and “Cabaret” act as central tenets to the overall vision. Class discourse, invariably, feels more pronounced in the UK than the US.

In America, where the rise of many fascist groups (storming political institutions, perhaps once more seeing their fave back in presidential office come November) is perhaps more tangibly felt than in the UK. The abstraction of Frecknall’s production doesn’t have the same sense of foreboding as it does here – if a right-wing mob stormed Parliament, the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse would probably feel a bit more outdated.