What: Cabaret
Where: Langham Court Theatre
When: To Feb. 1
Rating: 3 1/2 (out of five)
Part of the reason Cabaret is a difficult show to do is because of the formidably long shadow cast by what’s come before.
You may not have seen the stage musical, but many of us know the celebrated 1972 film adaptation. Cabaret the movie featured supercharged performances by Oscar winners Liza Minnelli (arguably her finest hour) and Joel Grey, who brilliantly played the androgynous Emcee as a hyperkinetic marionette.
Of course, it’s unfair to compare a community theatre production of Cabaret, such as Langham Court’s, with past performances by the titans of film and stage. That said, one cannot watch someone sing Money or Cabaret without recalling the musical’s rich performance history.
Langham Court — already basking in the glow of a sold-out run —has opened a credible production of Cabaret. Overseen by Roger Carr, a capable director who understands what works in theatre, it boasts solid choreography, good lights and costumes, as well as fluid scene changes. There’s a worthwhile Kit Kat Klub quartet, featuring a drummer in drag.
Admittedly, on opening night the acting was unsteady at times. Yet, overall, it’s an entertaining evening at the theatre.
The singing in this show is mostly fine, although there were few knockout performances. On Thursday, Cabaret’s main weakness was stilted acting from Chelsea Kutyn (Sally Bowles) and Griffin Lea (Cliff Bradshaw). Each looks the part, each had fine moments. But it was hard to believe a love affair has sprung up between the two.
Happily, Kyle Kushnir was a successful linchpin for the musical as the Emcee. Kushnir’s performance was much less stylized than Grey’s, and it’s a less over-the-top interpretation than that of Alan Cumming, who impishly played the role on Broadway.
What Kushnir brings to the Emcee, who oversees the decadent hijinks at the Kit Kat Club, is an easy warmth and theatricality that creates a firm bond with the audience. The boyish-looking actor, wearing makeup (but eschewing white-face), performs with a winking knowingness, inviting us in on the joke. Kushnir — wearing lederhosen — was impressive singing Two Ladies (about the joys of ménage à trois) and Money (notable for its beginning with a ballerina en pointe).
He has a natural comic ability and stage presence, yet clearly, Kushnir is able to evoke pathos. This was most clearly apparent in the denouement, when the Kit Kat Klub, throttled by the influence of burgeoning Nazism, finishes with the Emcee blankly gazing at the room in the striped garb of Jewish concentration camp prisoner.
Kutyn, who has classical vocal training, was at her best singing Cabaret — delivered with a faint air of detachment, as Bowles now realizes the party is ending. Overall, she captured the character’s self-conscious theatricality (it’s as if Bowles wears an assumed personality like a child playing dress-up). But Kutyn struggled to reveal Sally — the real person — with her guard down, which is integral to the role.
As Cliff Bradshaw, Lea, who also sings quite nicely, affected a glib, smooth manner reminiscent of male leads in 1940s movies. In places this works, but it becomes a one-trick pony. Lea, too, had trouble portraying Cliff as a three-dimensional character — his indignation upon discovering a friend’s Nazi armband was particularly unconvincing.
Interestingly, some secondary characters were the most affecting. Susie Mullen, a good actor, emerged as an unflashy standout as Fraulein Schneider. The German spinster breaks her engagement with Herr Schultz, a Jew, because of Nazi pressure. Nothing was as moving in Cabaret as her skilfully rendered What Would You Do? As Schultz, Alf Small was also strong.
