Cabaret
Fri, 16 May 2003, 12:14 amAHarwood23 posts in thread
Cabaret
Fri, 16 May 2003, 12:14 amHiya,
Now I hate giving negative reviews.. But I just saw one show and I just can not keep my mouth shut.
Cabaret.
My god. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Bored!!!
Ok first of all. Todd Surprised me. I expected Boy from oz and got a pretty decent Emcee. Vocally and Physically good. He performed well.
The real let down? The story of Cliff and Sally.
Oh MY GOD!!!
The guys from Pageant know what I'd say about their performances.. It was - (LET ME HEAR YA MICHAEL AND DREW) BULL%#$^
Talk about half assed and lacking any 1. Emotion. 2. Stage Presence. 3. Flair or anything remotely interesting.
Like that song from Buffy and like what I saw the young lad in Mamma Mia in Sydney doing - Going through the motions. Done it before and doin it again is how it felt.
He was so stereotypically American with annoying register to boot (prolly direction I dunno). He looked down or was covered face wise for half the show - the half he was in - And lacked any spunk or credibility. Just a whining git if ya ask me.(I should know cos I am one myself) Which would explain why Young Ms Beck's Sally Bowles would go for him. SHe lacked any Pezazz herself. Some nice moments but ultimately a let down and hard to watch without the eyes wandering onto my star of the show and Drew's gonna love me - TEXAS!!!!. She rocked. So much power and stage presence. I was in awe of her confidence and her verasity. SHe really got into it.
I honestly don't think Tina or Lisa could have done any better - but that comes from recycling good little Kathy Seldon types for the meaty roles such as Sally. You want someone to play a tough as nails slutty type who loves sleeping round and being promiscuous. Get a woman who can do it - like Liza. Though theres prolly no beating her.
You can't base a show like this on a goody two shoes type and a man who never shows his face.
The rest of the cast were great! Frau and Frauline were brilliant though Nadine Rocked the show especially with her Act One send off. The first Lead performer (besides Todd) who gave it an oomph. But too late for me and I think a lot of the audience. By the time Act Two came round, people were noticeably fidgeting and coughing. Never a good sign and my eyes were wandering to take in the ceiling of the Burswood theatre, wondering who would survive if the place caught on fire. - Sounds silly but it's true. I was that bored.
The sets were brilliant, the band rocked as did the dancers. But that was half the problem.. They were two good and outshone the stars on several occassions.
Like the supporting casts and the band - I;'d like to see more cycling through of actors for the leads, rather than seeing people who are talented, but not suited to the cast be sent back over to us time after time.
All up - I've seen better shows done around Perth with seamless dialogue that didn't drag, people held captivated by the production and a portion of the production values. And they've been "Amateurs".
I know I wasn't the only one to feel this way and I wish now I had seen David Gardette's Verison of the show (this was the first time I've seen Cabaret the whole way through but from the snippets I've seen I desired more).
It's not the worst show, but far from the best I have seen.
GO TEXAS!!!!!
[%sig%]
Now I hate giving negative reviews.. But I just saw one show and I just can not keep my mouth shut.
Cabaret.
My god. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Bored!!!
Ok first of all. Todd Surprised me. I expected Boy from oz and got a pretty decent Emcee. Vocally and Physically good. He performed well.
The real let down? The story of Cliff and Sally.
Oh MY GOD!!!
The guys from Pageant know what I'd say about their performances.. It was - (LET ME HEAR YA MICHAEL AND DREW) BULL%#$^
Talk about half assed and lacking any 1. Emotion. 2. Stage Presence. 3. Flair or anything remotely interesting.
Like that song from Buffy and like what I saw the young lad in Mamma Mia in Sydney doing - Going through the motions. Done it before and doin it again is how it felt.
He was so stereotypically American with annoying register to boot (prolly direction I dunno). He looked down or was covered face wise for half the show - the half he was in - And lacked any spunk or credibility. Just a whining git if ya ask me.(I should know cos I am one myself) Which would explain why Young Ms Beck's Sally Bowles would go for him. SHe lacked any Pezazz herself. Some nice moments but ultimately a let down and hard to watch without the eyes wandering onto my star of the show and Drew's gonna love me - TEXAS!!!!. She rocked. So much power and stage presence. I was in awe of her confidence and her verasity. SHe really got into it.
I honestly don't think Tina or Lisa could have done any better - but that comes from recycling good little Kathy Seldon types for the meaty roles such as Sally. You want someone to play a tough as nails slutty type who loves sleeping round and being promiscuous. Get a woman who can do it - like Liza. Though theres prolly no beating her.
You can't base a show like this on a goody two shoes type and a man who never shows his face.
The rest of the cast were great! Frau and Frauline were brilliant though Nadine Rocked the show especially with her Act One send off. The first Lead performer (besides Todd) who gave it an oomph. But too late for me and I think a lot of the audience. By the time Act Two came round, people were noticeably fidgeting and coughing. Never a good sign and my eyes were wandering to take in the ceiling of the Burswood theatre, wondering who would survive if the place caught on fire. - Sounds silly but it's true. I was that bored.
The sets were brilliant, the band rocked as did the dancers. But that was half the problem.. They were two good and outshone the stars on several occassions.
Like the supporting casts and the band - I;'d like to see more cycling through of actors for the leads, rather than seeing people who are talented, but not suited to the cast be sent back over to us time after time.
All up - I've seen better shows done around Perth with seamless dialogue that didn't drag, people held captivated by the production and a portion of the production values. And they've been "Amateurs".
I know I wasn't the only one to feel this way and I wish now I had seen David Gardette's Verison of the show (this was the first time I've seen Cabaret the whole way through but from the snippets I've seen I desired more).
It's not the worst show, but far from the best I have seen.
GO TEXAS!!!!!
[%sig%]
Re: Cabaret
Sat, 24 May 2003, 12:28 pmWalter Plinge
Have just located this page and read these reviews. Not sure of the age of the reviewers but my guess is 'young'. Just to put my two bobs worth in.
Firstly, I saw the original production in New York many moons ago - I saw this production last week and sat in C row. The closeness did not give me the feeling I had anticipated in respect of most of the cast -there was a remarkable lack of it!!
The Emcee, Todd McKenny produced the goods in most parts, big let down in "Money" where he was obviously hindered by the accent.
A couple of the girls in the Kit Kat Club gave terrific performances, typical of the tiredness and sadness of their situation. Nadine Garner's portrayal was excellent and I felt she could have handled the role of Sally Bowles far better than Rachel Beck.
Now to that point, I agree Simon, Sally is not the lead, however, she is the one that blends the story line together and is supposed to create some feelings in the audience,whether it's love, hate or both. Instead I found myself wondering just what impression she was trying to give.
She just didn't fit the bill!! Poor love should stick to the nice girl roles of Maria (sound of music) and Kathy (singin in the rain).
Her offsider Cliff was just as miscast and obviously had no idea of his character. He is not supposed to be whiny. Naive in a lot of ways yes, but actually quite an intelligent observer, after all, he is aware of the nazi situation long before the others.
The biggest let down for me was the 'in your face' sleaziness throughout. Pity with Theatre these days is it leaves little to the imagination and has to spell the lot out!! With good acting this is not necessary, so one has to wonder if the Producer/Director knew they had problems right at the beginning thus necessitating the crude choreography.
Finally, the movie is vastly different to the play and cannot be compared to it, but I think alot could be learned by watching it and seeing the expressions on Liza's face, the Kit Kat Club shows, Joel Gray's MC, and the way these create the right feeling for the audience with regard to the way of life in those days. One would also notice that the Kit Kat Club 'girls' are not all female - the reason Hitler did, after all close the Clubs down and execute so many homosexuals before starting on the Jews!!
Having seen many shows on Broadway, West End, Sydney and Perth, this one will not go down in my 'favourite memories' rather to the bottom of the pile.
I did however see 'Pageant' on it's penultimate performance and presume Anthony who wrote the first crit for this was one of the actors.
Brilliantly funny, extremely well acted and deserving of a better theatre.
One of the better shows I've seen in a long time.
Firstly, I saw the original production in New York many moons ago - I saw this production last week and sat in C row. The closeness did not give me the feeling I had anticipated in respect of most of the cast -there was a remarkable lack of it!!
The Emcee, Todd McKenny produced the goods in most parts, big let down in "Money" where he was obviously hindered by the accent.
A couple of the girls in the Kit Kat Club gave terrific performances, typical of the tiredness and sadness of their situation. Nadine Garner's portrayal was excellent and I felt she could have handled the role of Sally Bowles far better than Rachel Beck.
Now to that point, I agree Simon, Sally is not the lead, however, she is the one that blends the story line together and is supposed to create some feelings in the audience,whether it's love, hate or both. Instead I found myself wondering just what impression she was trying to give.
She just didn't fit the bill!! Poor love should stick to the nice girl roles of Maria (sound of music) and Kathy (singin in the rain).
Her offsider Cliff was just as miscast and obviously had no idea of his character. He is not supposed to be whiny. Naive in a lot of ways yes, but actually quite an intelligent observer, after all, he is aware of the nazi situation long before the others.
The biggest let down for me was the 'in your face' sleaziness throughout. Pity with Theatre these days is it leaves little to the imagination and has to spell the lot out!! With good acting this is not necessary, so one has to wonder if the Producer/Director knew they had problems right at the beginning thus necessitating the crude choreography.
Finally, the movie is vastly different to the play and cannot be compared to it, but I think alot could be learned by watching it and seeing the expressions on Liza's face, the Kit Kat Club shows, Joel Gray's MC, and the way these create the right feeling for the audience with regard to the way of life in those days. One would also notice that the Kit Kat Club 'girls' are not all female - the reason Hitler did, after all close the Clubs down and execute so many homosexuals before starting on the Jews!!
Having seen many shows on Broadway, West End, Sydney and Perth, this one will not go down in my 'favourite memories' rather to the bottom of the pile.
I did however see 'Pageant' on it's penultimate performance and presume Anthony who wrote the first crit for this was one of the actors.
Brilliantly funny, extremely well acted and deserving of a better theatre.
One of the better shows I've seen in a long time.
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