Cabaret - Playhouse Theatre

He was great in Henry viii, I Joan and R&J at the Globe

I saw this last year with Mason Alexander Park and Emily Benjamin and it was the highlight of the things I’d seen all year. I went to see it again a year later. This time with Layton Williams and Nic Myers. The second time around probably can’t live up but this was a big step down for me. Williams in particular was very disappointing. His voice isn’t great. But it wasn’t just that. He just didn’t imbue the emcee with….well anything. He stood in all the right spots, made all the right movements, said all the words, and sang, but it was like he was just going through the motions. And because I had already seen it a scene would start that I would remember and it would just fall flat, whereas before it had been striking.

No complaints about anyone else though.

Absolutely, Mason was amazing. None of the other emcees have blown me away like he did.

Completely agree. I’ve seen different productions of Cabaret over the years and I think I just got unlucky with some forgettable Sallys that were always overshadowed by the Emcee. But with the above combination they were both powerhouses. I hadn’t heard of either actor before seeing the show and they were both electric.

Emily Benjamins final number took the roof off. And during the bows I noticed that when it got to the last bow neither of them ran on. And she was kind of looking over to see what was going on. It turned out that Mason was standing back, allowing her to go on alone to get a solo bow. Which I thought was incredibly gracious. 

I had considered travelling back to London to see them both again but it just didn’t work out. I’m sorry now that I didn’t. Because it was like lightening in a bottle.

Five years?
I dread to think who they’ll be casting next year, let alone beyond that.

Yeah but it opened almost 3 years ago, so that's only 2 years left. Extending by another 5 seems optimistic

Indeed. Remember one of the producers is Underbelly, who makes lost of circus/cabaret/spiegeltent stuff so if Cabaret stops selling they can easily pivot. 

I always thought the venue could work well for Great Comet. I'm sure the Donmar production will be great, but a non-traditional venue is just a better fit.

You’d probably get a better overall view from the dress circle seats, as with those table seats you’ll be behind other rows of tables all at floor level (although they are staggered to an extent). However for the atmosphere and immersiveness, I’d probably go for the table seats. Enjoy!

Having seen the show from basically all areas, I would say go with the tables, especially since they're the same price. Both areas have their pros and cons and you'll have a great time in either, but the immersive element adds to it from the tables in my opinion. And I can imagine that the new cast can only be better than the current one so I'm sure you'll have a good time!

long time reader but first time poster I went to go see Cabaret a couple of weeks ago and thought I should post my review today as the cast is changing tomorrow

In short I thought it was pretty phenomenal it was my first time at the Kit Kat Club and was not quite sure what to expect but I was very drawn into the world on stage and enjoyed the performances greatly it also made me come out of the theatre and start thinking about all the ways in which humans haven't really changed and relating stuff I had seen play out to modern even current event which seems like a success.

The staging of it works so well I loved how at so many points throughout the show the stage would lift and lower and rotate it's the bare bones really but it never feels like anything is missing to tell the story well.

I had Nic Myers on as Sally and I thought her performance was good but I did not feel especially moved by Sallys story she was playing opposite Michael Ahomka who gave a strong and grounded performance as Cliff but I found that I was much more moved and emotionally invested in the love story between the landlady and fruit seller, they were played wonderfully and warmly by Fenton Grey and Sally Ann Triplett, Sally Anns final song especially was incredibly powerful and beautifully sung.

In terms of the Emcee part I thought Layton was very strong while I thought he would be good at the more flirty and mischievous parts of the role (and those were great) where I feel he excelled was towards the end the latter two songs especially were haunting and brilliantly performed using parts of his vocal range that I'm not sure he's had much chance to use before as Everybody's Talking about Jamie was so much higher. I also thought that the ensemble and the Emcee were seamless with choreo/ movement and in creating the vital shifts in atmosphere that happen in this production.

A quick note on accessibility as someone who struggles to stand for long periods I found that waiting and watching the pre show before everyone found their seats a little tricky as it was in a crowded bar with no where to sit down I think that if I go back I will arrive a bit later than the recommended time to avoid this.

Overall I am really glad I managed to catch this cast and hope as most of them seem to be moving on this week that they all find great success.