Reviews 2003
Reviews 2003
✭✭✩✩✩
music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, book by Joe Masteroff, directed by Jordan Allison
Lloyd Allison Entertainment, New Yorker Theatre, Toronto
November 14-December 6, 2003
20-year-old director/producer Jordan Allison states in the programme that his production of Cabaret is "inspired by the 1998 production ... directed by Sam Mendes." This homage goes so far as showing the Emcee in concentration camp uniform at the end. Honestly is admirable but it confirms that innovative direction does not characterize Allison's production.
There are other problems. Stephen Sheffer, who looks the part of the Emcee and sings well, is curiously devoid of irony and charisma. Only in his solo "I Don't Care Much" does he seem fully engaged with the part. Brian Wigg gives Cliff, the American would-be novelist visiting Berlin, about as much personality as a doorstop. This means that the strong-voiced Barbara-Lynn Redpath, who has real stage presence, has to act Sally Bowles in a vacuum. It's no wonder then that unlike the 1972 film or Mendes' production, her Sally comes off not as a confused lost soul but a confident career woman. All the other performances are strong especially from Julia De Sotto as Frau Schmidt and Michael Coady as Ernst. The dancers, however, need greater precision.
The handsome set places all of the action in the Kit Kat Klub with a 12-piece band above. Conductor Gretchen Helbig consistently chooses tempi that are rushed so that the mood or even the words of some songs have little time to sink in. Exacerbating the situation, the sound technicians have made the band so loud it frequently threatens to drown out the singers already struggling with ongoing microphone glitches.
Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2003-11-20.
Photo: Michael Coady as Ernst. ©2003.
2003-11-20
Cabaret