Cabaret - Playhouse Theatre

I was thrilled with all the Olivier wins as, despite the high prices (which I managed to avoid with the priority sale), I really thought this production and the performances in it were breathtaking. I hope this show runs a good couple years as would love to go back.

The original Emcee, Joel Grey, turns 90 today -- cannot believe it!

Just asking here. I’ve just checked the prices for the replacement cast and it looks like some of the prices for seats have reduced. Is that true or have seats in the Upper Circle always been £50?

They actually increased lol. All the upper circle seats were either £30 or £50 in the first run and they are still either £30 or £50 with this cast too, but they've reduced the number of £30 seats. Seats that I paid £30 for to see Eddie and Jessie are now £50 (e.g. C11).

It's the strangest thing, but the only thing I can remember from the Rufus Norris version is that I liked it very much. Everything else is gone from my mind. Well, I still remember the choreography, which I thought was very good. And I also remember that Anna Maxwell Martin was out the night I saw it. This new one, which I decided to wait for the general verdict before paying the higher-than-usual ticket price, was a very different experience that I don't think I will ever really forget. Apart from a very good production, there was the most intensive feeling of immersion. It was a very unusual and rich experience as you breathed the play's atmosphere before, during and after the show. Even the interval was somehow participatory. I thought Eddie Redmayne was extremely good. It's funny how a non-character (we never learn much about who the MC really is - his feelings, motivations etc.) can leave such a mark. Actually, I thought the whole cast was brilliant and I was very impressed also with Omari Douglas, which made me completely rethink the role of Cliff. There was an extra layer of vulnerability to a character that usually is not much more than an outsider, observing an unusual world. I had seen the Broadway version, with Alan Cumming, at the Studio 54, which was also a bit immersive, but somehow, it didn't affect me that much. I think, however, that probably the best Cabaret I ever saw was on Youtube, the original Sam Mendes Donmar Warehouse production, with Jane Horrocks, Sara Kestelman and Adam Godley. If only I could go back in time to see that.

It was only in recent years that I found out Joel's daughter was Jennifer Grey. Ironically the first song I heard on the radio this morning was the lovelorn middle aged women's favourite song from that film.

What about the Upper Circle? A seat I sat in is now £50 less and other seats in that section seem to cost less. Have I imagined all this lol.

Now they are multi award winning I wonder if they will try and make the show and the concept the star and focus less on big names to draw people in.

Yes I did think that, but also wondered if they were a holding cast before the bigger names were brought in for summer. Guess we will know when the next cast is announced

There are a few actors who do a lot of stage work even though they don't need to like Ralph Fiennes who has done plenty of theatre in the last decade whereas some of his contemporaries like Liam Neeson haven't done any theatre in decades.

Depends on the play, on who they know attached/interested, and their current prospects. I welcome stars to the stage. I don't welcome the ridiculous prices producers charge off the back of it, knowing how relatively modest their pay is. It's pure greed.

It's called Show Business for a reason. Making a profit shouldn't be seen as greedy IMO.