Cabaret - Rufus Norris Production / BK Tour

You know what, I didn't think Louise Redknapp was all that bad. I haven't seen it before so have no prior experience of it as a show or people who have played the part previously, but I was pleasantly surprised and thought she did a good job on Thursday.

I suppose it is a balancing act between names that can fill theatres up and down the country and performers that can deliver the goods. Some names will be better or more suited to roles than others.

I have seen many BK productions over the years - some very very good and others appalling - the quality varies enormously I find. His musical productions tend to be better than his plays generally. He sends some appalling plays out with ex TV soap stars (currently A Judgement in Stone).

But it is show BUSINESS and he employs hundreds of actors and crew who otherwise would be out of work.

I am sad to hear of Barry Dennen's death- a man dear to my heart as he was my first introduction to Pilate on the original recording of Superstar, my second hand copy played and played until the scratches were louder than the orchestra! He popped up again in the film (shown to us in school at our 'Foreign Film Club' (!) by an avant-garde English teacher) and then when I eventually got my hands on a Broadway recording (much, much harder to obtain in those days than now!) there he was again. I didn't see his MC at the Palace (just a bit too young) although the same theatre was to become my West End home for quite a few years a bit later...!

I couldn't agree with you more about younger audiences of today having access to this vast catalogue of shows up and down the country. But I don't envy them one bit. I'm happy I've seen some of these iconic productions before they became overblown or dumbed down (they seem to go both ways) for a wider audience. And as for the individual performances, it's hard to describe what was so special about Elaine Paige's Eva, Colm Wilkinson's Valjean, Roger Allam's Javert, Michael Crawford's Phantom, Sarah Brightman's Christine, Lea Salonga's Kim... live. And they were incredibly special.

Overall I enjoyed it. I saw this production at the Lyric, and a notice a few changes, but this is still a good production of a classic musical.

Loved de Frutos's choreography and the ensemble were generally quite good.

I didn't like the way the used Don't Tell Mama just sang in background while we hear some of the dialogue. I remember the number at the Lyric with Sally dressed as a nun, and I really liked it.

Will Young was fine as the MC, although I didn't like his If You Could See Her. He played it for laughs, and for me the number is quite sinister and ultimately evil. It could be the way it was directed but for me it didn't work.

Louise Redknapp wasn't as bad as some people have been suggesting. Her acting is not quite there yet and you don't care enough about her Sally, but I think she can get better as the tour progresses and she gets more comfortable with the part. Thought she sounded good in the songs and handled the musical numbers very well.

Can no professional actor in musical theatre manage 8 shows a week these days? The Emcee is hardly the most demanding of theatre roles - he just does the Kit Kat Club numbers and is off stage a huge amount.

It's doing incredible business.. Cardiff is sold out next week, as are most of the performances in Bromley, Leeds & Brighton

Looks to be busy but not yet sold out. Press night usually the first night.

Press night was at the New Wimbledon theatre and there have been reviews.

Oof well firstly there's not been a scrum to get in the New Theatre foyer like that since Tom Jones was a lad. Say what you will (and I will) about erm Will and Louise but they get bums on seats....

It's always a worry isn't it when you find yourself playing 'in your mind' another version of the show you're seeing? In a way I can't help it the Donmar version is SO ingrained in my head, as is Alan Cumming's voice that I have never fully let it go. That said I've seen plenty of productions I've enjoyed of Cabaret, so it is possible.

Overall I felt Act 2 hits the mark a bit better than Act 1. Maybe it was a first night thing. Anyhoo. I remember the production being 'alright' at the Lyric and it still is 'alright'. It feels a bit too glossy in places.

And I don't know what it is but I remember hating 'Money' 10 years ago and I still loathe it now. I have no real discernible reason for it but I don't like it. I do have discernible reasons for hating If You Could See Her. Someone else said I think it's really played for laughs, loses that sinister vibe and people actually laughed when the girl is revealed wearing the Star of David on her coat and that just really didn't sit right.

Overall as well the audience were doing a lot of laughing at things that shouldn't be funny- part of that was the production pitching it wrong combined with the giggling at Will Young factor but it made me feel uncomfortable throughout (side note Cardiff on a Tuesday evening can't handle a penis on stage it seems).

As for the leads, Louise was...meh I didn't hate her but she wasn't 'Sally Bowles' for me. Her voice is lovely there's no denying, unfortunately that's one of the few things not required for Sally. There was no real sense of her 'journey' or any real darkness or conflict to her character just coming on singing a song nicely and that's about it. Sally is one who needs to act through song, and well..it wasn't really there sadly.

Will was...fine. His Emcee is passable, and I can see what he's doing. I just prefer my Emcee with a bit of a darker edge. The weirdness he brings to it works, and he CAN act through song (I don't care much was very well done I thought) and I think perhaps with a stronger Sally as well he might have been better.

The ensemble were great, and there's some I think new choreography there that is really nice. I also hated 'Don't Tell Mama' being changed, but it's not a massive issue. The ending is still powerful, and certainly shocked the New audience into silence, there's a few ways you can get that over and I think this version is pretty effective.

Overall it's not terrible, but it doesn't do this great musical justice either.

Is it basically the RuNo production? I seem to recall the entire ensemble gets their various bits out, near the end of act one?

Ah no, they save the nudity for the very end for the dark 'and this is what happened next' moment. Not entierly sure that works in this version either as I'm sure a good 60% of the audience just got distracted by whether Mr Young was going to slip his robe off or not (not going to lie I did too)

Side note: did previous Sallys get naked at that point or not? I'm struggling to place whether that was different or not.