Photos - Bob SearyNew Theatre maintains an astonishingly high standard of performance and production. It has since 1932. Or at least as long as I've been going there. Cabaret is the latest in a long, long line and exceeds all expectations. Director, Louise Fischer, doesn't seem to know her own limitations. It seems she doesn't have any.
From the get-go, with seedy underground characters in lurid costumes populating the perimeters of the theatre, one knew as authentic an ambience as possible was the mark, substantively hit. The musical itself stands up as iconically as ever, and Fischer has assembled a terrific team, on and off stage, to ensure it.
Musically, the guiding light is the assuredly non-non-extraordinary Sarah Cameron, who seems to exude the score from every pore and who has assembled a more than capable bunch of young musos, on drums, upright bass, 'bone, flute, saxes and clarinets.
Tom Bannerman has probably done more, better, than I've ever seen with this dingy theatre's nonetheless capacious stage, and Tony Youlden has lit dimly, in bordello hues, evoking the seediness, subterfuge, moral bankruptcy, pernicious political abandon and hellbent corruption of the pre-war bomb that was Berlin. All this, as with Cass Pascoli's costumes, on a shoestring budget, no doubt. It's not Broadway. It's not even off-Broadway. But it's on the money.
Mesha Spicer hasn't tried to be Bob Fossey, but has accessibly choreographed, with wit and finesse. Vocal coach Heinz Schweers has ensured more than passable German accents; clipped and sibilant. Stage manager, Ruth Horsfall, has all but guaranteed noone puts a foot wrong; although there were one or two clumsy prop topples, almost certainly due to opening night nerves, and all the more excusable for it.
As for the cast, intentionally or not, there's one overarching star, for mine, with everyone else falling in behind; albeit not far behind. That's the MC, played by Stephen Anderson, until November 29, after which Ray Chong Nee takes the reins. Anderson has all the charisma, presence, intensity and sheer incandescence one could hope for. And he's a beautiful singer.
Sheridan Harbridge is Sally Bowles, and is very considerable as such. Hers is a thoughtful, courageous rendition of the role, which defies cliche, convention and the temptation to observe the soft, derivative option and try, futilely, to 'outMinelli' Liza. At times, she owes more to Hepburn's My Fair Lady, with her Cockney take-on. Hers sounds like a trained voice and she brings pathos, but lacks the rich, round, warm tones and effortless carriage of Anderson. But there's no mistaking she plays it very well and gives her all.
Matt Young, as the struggling novelist and American innocent abroad, Cliff Bradshaw, was made for the role. Both he and Anderson are Broadway-ready. Both his vocal timbre and exposition of character were exceeding.
Colleen Cook's Fraulein Schneider, proprietress of the boarding-house on which much of the action centres, is convincing, 'though her singing is more in the Eleanor Parker mould. Barry French's is a particularly fine, sympathetic take on Herr Schultz. His singing is, like Anderson's and Young's, especially attractive.
Crystal Hegedis' Fraulein Kost is suitably and entertainingly coquettish, while Nate Gilkes is believably and chillingly Teutonic, as nascent Nazi Ernst Ludwig. And the ensemble is every bit as naughty as one would want, not to mention a great chorus, bringing all those stirring numbers to life.
It remains one of the most ironic, tormenting, perplexing facts of modern history that the Weimar republic proved such a fertile cultural milieu, and such a poisonous sociopolitical one. Cabaret is an important document of the time and a must-see for anyone and everyone. This production does Joe Masteroff's book, Fred Ebb's lyrics and John Kander's music great justice. And we need more of that. In the arts. And human rights.
New Theatre's Cabaret is a wilkommen addition to the still evolving heritage of one of the greatest-ever musicals. Fischer has got it right: dark humour; six drops, essence of terror, five drops, sinister sauce; tincture of tenderness.
NB Just quietly, I'd particularly like to see what Fischer and co would make of John Van Druten's 1951 play, I Am A Camera (in turn, derived from Christopher Isherwood's novella, Goodbye To Berlin), on which it's based.
new theatre presents
Cabaret
Book Joe Masteroff | Music John Kandor | Lyrics Fred Ebb
Director Louise Fischer
Venue: new theatre | 542 King Street Newtown NSW 2042
Dates: 19 November - 19 December 2009
Times: Thurs - Sat @ 8pm, Sun @ 5pm
Tickets: Full $30, Concession $25
Website: newtheatre.org.au
