Cabaret

Cabaret- Hobart Repertory Theatre Society- Sat 21st April 2012 The Hobart Repertory Theatre Society’s performance of Cabaret played to a full house at the Playhouse Theatre in Hobart on Saturday night. My first show in Hobart since I moved from Western Australia six months ago, and HRC definitely give the WA theatre community a run for their money. The Playhouse Theatre circa 1836 is a delightful building situated in the centre of Hobart which sports a bar in the auditorium and very grandeur decor and curtain. The stage has generous depth and a fly tower which was able to fill a wonderful multi-level set for this superb production. Cabaret opens with the orchestra on the top level and the Emcee (Jeff Michel) lunging erotically from the beautifully lit trap door at the thrust of the stage. Jeff Michel up held a magnificent physical and emotional portrayal of the character throughout the entirety of the show. The opening number was sharply choreographed (Leiz Moore) and enthused energy and oomph, and looked fantastic with the black and white colour scheme marvelously costumed. The scene changes ran somewhat seamlessly with the exception of the first into the train scene. There was a bit of dead stage which was an anti-climax after such a great opening and could have been avoided by giving the orchestra a play out. Sally Bowles (Lizzie Moore) entered from the auditorium, and I felt the audience participation impaired the elusion which she was trying to create. Sally is the kind of character who needs to start with the power; and as an audience member I felt she was lost in the crowd. Lizzie’s portrayal of Bowles was brilliant; her enthusiasm and star quality is undeniable. Her character development was beautifully carried and very believable. Stand out numbers for me were Perfectly Marvelous and Maybe This Time, which was perfectly understated with a very powerful climax. The accents overall were bit hit and miss, particularly that of Sally Bowles and Clifford Bradshaw (Petr Divis) but the overall standard of acting made it less noticeable. The musical direction (Marian Bisset) of the orchestra was great and they sounded very tight and well rehearsed. Vocally the singing was well rehearsed with only a few missed notes and rhythms. The ensemble were very good and all of the numbers were brilliantly choreographed. The Money Song and Sitting Pretty were particularly strong. Standout performances for me were Herr Schultz (Paul Levett) and Rosie (Jakalyn Gatward). Paul gave a wonderful comedic and emotional performance, and Jakalyn had such beautiful stage presence and totally stood out from the crowd and will be one to watch for in the future. The connection between Fraulein Scneider (Di Richards) and Herr Schultz was quite comedic which I felt contributed to a less dramatic ending for the two characters. I would have loved to have been more emotionally connected to their relationship, as this is a very important part of the context. The overall direction (Allan Jeffrey) was fantastic, with some amazing ideas. The very sad demise and fall of Berlin was cleverly crafted through great direction, lighting, costuming and character development. I particularly enjoyed the finale. A beautiful, well thought out vision which was very moving. I was very impressed with the standard of community theatre in Hobart, and look forward to attending more in the future. Danni Ashton