a different Cabaret -- Gosford Musical Society
Sat, 23 Oct 2004, 06:05 pmWalter Plinge52 posts in thread
a different Cabaret -- Gosford Musical Society
Sat, 23 Oct 2004, 06:05 pmIf you like the musical "Cabaret" you will probably enjoy the current production from Gosford Musical Society, running from late October to early November.
There is much to like: Leigh Collins' sturdy stage setting has 2 staircases, 1 spiral staircase and a fireman's pole, and it consists of 5 discrete areas of the Kit Kat Club, on 2 levels. Once this set was built, it was not going to be moved, so other scenes have to be partially flown in from above ; this leaves a central problem that the club is still visible, as are its many patrons, and this is distracting ; in fact, even in the club scenes, there is so much activity, that it can be hard to pick out the major characters in their scenes.
There is also the usually high standard of lighting from Damian Rice ; always effective but never obtrusive. There is even a strobe segment where the effect is continued for a decent time (as a child of the 60s I love strobe and am always disappointed if timorous directors cut strobes off after a few seconds).
Suzanne Ohrt's characterization of Fraulein Schneider is a revelation, as is her soft-shoe dancing, and her meticulous German pronunciation.
The onstage appearance of Leo Del Oleo onstage with accordion and Tyrolean hat.
Sally Bowles, played by Toni Williams, has breathless dialogue delivered at rapidfire pace, but her speech is always intelligible.
Even the gentle lilting of a slide guitar in "The Pineapple Song".
Chris King has directed the production and it is a formidable tour de force. Chris is a well-known TV actor, and runs a talent school on the Coast. In this production we have characters moving into the audience, moving out from the audience, a ventriloquist (regrettably not speaking!), flashing telephones, even a descending filmscreen which features a great black and white sequence made for the occasion. It simulates a German train trip and for me was the highlight (some trainspotters may quibble over the NSW PTC logo on the upholstery!).
Yet the show was missing something ; was it me, or was it the script itself? Times have changed, and as s & m has moved into the mainstream, the sight of leather and lace doesn't really convey decadence, and certainly not sultriness ; the emcee was menacing, but I couldn't fathom to what purpose ; the overly-familiar risqué jokes and the groping of genitalia and other body parts was less shocking than clumsy, and not titillating at all . I came away impressed by the effects, but not the story ; insead there was a sequence of good performances that were seemingly unrelated, with noone grabbing the vacant position of "Star of the show" ; at no point did the hair rise on the back of the neck.
Don't let my feelings put you off, though ; go and judge for yourself, as there is still much to appreciate, and many in the audience seemed to like it. I can only say that I still don't know how the story ends -- I left at interval.
There is much to like: Leigh Collins' sturdy stage setting has 2 staircases, 1 spiral staircase and a fireman's pole, and it consists of 5 discrete areas of the Kit Kat Club, on 2 levels. Once this set was built, it was not going to be moved, so other scenes have to be partially flown in from above ; this leaves a central problem that the club is still visible, as are its many patrons, and this is distracting ; in fact, even in the club scenes, there is so much activity, that it can be hard to pick out the major characters in their scenes.
There is also the usually high standard of lighting from Damian Rice ; always effective but never obtrusive. There is even a strobe segment where the effect is continued for a decent time (as a child of the 60s I love strobe and am always disappointed if timorous directors cut strobes off after a few seconds).
Suzanne Ohrt's characterization of Fraulein Schneider is a revelation, as is her soft-shoe dancing, and her meticulous German pronunciation.
The onstage appearance of Leo Del Oleo onstage with accordion and Tyrolean hat.
Sally Bowles, played by Toni Williams, has breathless dialogue delivered at rapidfire pace, but her speech is always intelligible.
Even the gentle lilting of a slide guitar in "The Pineapple Song".
Chris King has directed the production and it is a formidable tour de force. Chris is a well-known TV actor, and runs a talent school on the Coast. In this production we have characters moving into the audience, moving out from the audience, a ventriloquist (regrettably not speaking!), flashing telephones, even a descending filmscreen which features a great black and white sequence made for the occasion. It simulates a German train trip and for me was the highlight (some trainspotters may quibble over the NSW PTC logo on the upholstery!).
Yet the show was missing something ; was it me, or was it the script itself? Times have changed, and as s & m has moved into the mainstream, the sight of leather and lace doesn't really convey decadence, and certainly not sultriness ; the emcee was menacing, but I couldn't fathom to what purpose ; the overly-familiar risqué jokes and the groping of genitalia and other body parts was less shocking than clumsy, and not titillating at all . I came away impressed by the effects, but not the story ; insead there was a sequence of good performances that were seemingly unrelated, with noone grabbing the vacant position of "Star of the show" ; at no point did the hair rise on the back of the neck.
Don't let my feelings put you off, though ; go and judge for yourself, as there is still much to appreciate, and many in the audience seemed to like it. I can only say that I still don't know how the story ends -- I left at interval.
Re: a different Cabaret - Maybe this time
Wed, 24 Nov 2004, 04:24 pmRoss Stagg wrote:
>
> No No Craig - you missed the point - the TV show analogy
> doesn't hold water. Cabaret is a show with an unfolding plot
> line that needs to be appreciated as a WHOLE piece. One whole
> piece, properly concluded piece. I think the work is
> brilliant personally BUT the show has a first half and a
> concluding half for good reason. It is a total thing.
Hi Ross.
I probably expressed myself better the first time, a few posts previously: ('Half Cut' http://www.theatre.asn.au/read.php?f=24&i=2539&t=2493 ).
I still maintain that regardless of it being a theatre piece, a novel, a film, an episodic TV series, or whatever; you CAN have an opinion of an excerpt, and that opinion is worth sharing.
When I was asked to judge the semi-finals of Storm The Stage recently, the other judges and I were shown a lot of three-to-four-minute excerpts from a random selection of plays, all taken out of context, most of which I was completely unfamiliar with, and not all the excerpts necessarily explained the plotline or were 'properly concluded'....yet it was understood and expected that we would have valid and critical opinions based purely on the small extracts we were shown. Are you guys trying to argue that we could not express proper judgment merely because we did not see the whole piece? I'm sorry, but I don't think THAT argument holds water.
After all, that's what an audition is. There's no point saying "yeah, but you would've enjoyed it better if I'd shown you the whole play". Those moments we see are all you've got. In a full length play, I reckon you still need to take the same attitude...every beat you deliver needs to be engaging, and if you're deferring the payoff until the audience has seen the whole package, I reckon you're taking too big a liberty with the audience's patience....and risking them reaching for the car keys at interval.
Now this is NOT to say that this was the case with Gosford's Cabaret. I can't say whether it was good bad or otherwise; that's not the point.
The fact that Richard left at interval is a separate issue, which some people may find harsh and some practical...that's also a whole separate argument I don't want to enter into.
But I do still believe that you can't dismiss an opinion merely because that person is only (and openly) reviewing just the part they saw.
There have been plenty of other people who have offered their own contrasting opinion in full support of this show. You guys ought to be happy and leave it at that. The more you try to use 'only seeing an excerpt' as an excuse to dismiss the valid criticism it contains, the more insecure about it you sound.
Regardless of how popular, how eloquent, or how well justified the opinion was or wasn't, it's still just one opinion. So you can put that in perspective against all the others who have said otherwise.
But you can't dismiss it as not valid.
Cheers,
Craig
>
> No No Craig - you missed the point - the TV show analogy
> doesn't hold water. Cabaret is a show with an unfolding plot
> line that needs to be appreciated as a WHOLE piece. One whole
> piece, properly concluded piece. I think the work is
> brilliant personally BUT the show has a first half and a
> concluding half for good reason. It is a total thing.
Hi Ross.
I probably expressed myself better the first time, a few posts previously: ('Half Cut' http://www.theatre.asn.au/read.php?f=24&i=2539&t=2493 ).
I still maintain that regardless of it being a theatre piece, a novel, a film, an episodic TV series, or whatever; you CAN have an opinion of an excerpt, and that opinion is worth sharing.
When I was asked to judge the semi-finals of Storm The Stage recently, the other judges and I were shown a lot of three-to-four-minute excerpts from a random selection of plays, all taken out of context, most of which I was completely unfamiliar with, and not all the excerpts necessarily explained the plotline or were 'properly concluded'....yet it was understood and expected that we would have valid and critical opinions based purely on the small extracts we were shown. Are you guys trying to argue that we could not express proper judgment merely because we did not see the whole piece? I'm sorry, but I don't think THAT argument holds water.
After all, that's what an audition is. There's no point saying "yeah, but you would've enjoyed it better if I'd shown you the whole play". Those moments we see are all you've got. In a full length play, I reckon you still need to take the same attitude...every beat you deliver needs to be engaging, and if you're deferring the payoff until the audience has seen the whole package, I reckon you're taking too big a liberty with the audience's patience....and risking them reaching for the car keys at interval.
Now this is NOT to say that this was the case with Gosford's Cabaret. I can't say whether it was good bad or otherwise; that's not the point.
The fact that Richard left at interval is a separate issue, which some people may find harsh and some practical...that's also a whole separate argument I don't want to enter into.
But I do still believe that you can't dismiss an opinion merely because that person is only (and openly) reviewing just the part they saw.
There have been plenty of other people who have offered their own contrasting opinion in full support of this show. You guys ought to be happy and leave it at that. The more you try to use 'only seeing an excerpt' as an excuse to dismiss the valid criticism it contains, the more insecure about it you sound.
Regardless of how popular, how eloquent, or how well justified the opinion was or wasn't, it's still just one opinion. So you can put that in perspective against all the others who have said otherwise.
But you can't dismiss it as not valid.
Cheers,
Craig
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