Is Cabaret the next Chicago?- Page 3

[GottaGetAGimmick420]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 2:17pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I guess next year when Lisa Vanderpump is Fraulein Schneider, we’ll see if they can still get $600 a ticket."

Wait don't joke now....

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 2:23pm

I hope this thread runs as long as Chicago does. It's a riot!

[JSquared2]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 2:37pm

Broadway Flash said: "It’s an opinion not fact. But I’m not the only one who thinks that. Everybody who saw her says it including Ben Bentley"

Thinking his name is "Bentley" rather than Brantley is NOT a typo...it's just your (usual) ignorance.  Putz.

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 2:55pm

Broadway Flash, does strike up an interesting idea. Would the Chicago revival have been as successful as it was had it opened in the present day instead of the mid/late 90’s? What would the finances of an equivalent production of Chicago look like in present day dollars and would it be met with the same enthusiasm and criticism as it did? Conversely, had this revival of Cabaret opened in the 90’s in place of the Mendes/Marshall production would it still find the negative reception?

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 3:03pm

I spelled it correctly a few posts above the typo. Pillock. 

[Kad]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 3:18pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Broadway Flash, does strike up an interesting idea. Would the Chicago revival have been as successful as it was had it opened in the present day instead of the mid/late 90’s? What would the finances of an equivalent production of Chicago look like in present day dollars and would it be met with the same enthusiasm and criticism as it did? Conversely, had this revival of Cabaret opened in the 90’s in place of the Mendes/Marshall production would it still find the negative reception?"

I think it's an almost impossible thing to consider. The Chicago revival had the benefit of being an immediate smash hit, which was able to propel it along, then the Weisslers basically used it to sort of invent the modern concept of stunt casting. And then the movie came out, which turned the musical itself into a deeply beloved and widely known cultural touchstone. I'm not sure this production would still be running if the movie hadn't come out when it did.

If this Cabaret opened in the late 90s, it would have had no comparison point in theater at that time. I could imagine it would be received as daring and innovative, much as the Mendes revival was. But it instead opened now, when we have a great many comparison points, including the Mendes revival.

[Huss417]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 5:03pm

Broadway Flash said: "I spelled it correctly a few posts above the typo. Pillock."

If you are using the meaning of "Pillock" as someone stupid you were the one with the incorrect spelling twice. If you are using the other meaning as in a mans body part then you are also being offensive.

[greensgreens]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 5:14pm

Broadway Flash said: "I know instinctually. She was perfect in the role"

This is absolutely not a FACT though. I saw her and thought it was one of the most bland, uninspired things I've seen on B'way and the show BELONGED ENTIRELY to Alan. Although he is fantastic, over the top and distracting, the Emcee shouldn't prevent Sally from at least registering as a lead character I think. And Sienna didn't. I'm hoping I just saw her on a VERY off performance.

Natasha and Jane Leeves were probably my favorites, although I really enjoyed Teri Hatcher in LA with Norbert, Emma Stone, and Susan Egan quite a bit. The Mendes/Marshall production really knew how to stunt cast for the most part.

[greensgreens]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 5:19pm

Sorry, in previous post I mean to quote when Flash said "Everyone who saw it including Ben Bentley agrees". THAT is absolutely not a fact. Hyper-hyperbole, I guess?

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 5:30pm

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 5:34pm

I was SO excited for Sienna Miller to do the show. Spent a ton of money for a great seat for what I was sure would be one of the best Sally’s I would ever see and I just remember being so bored with her. She was like Catherine Russell in “A Perfect Crime”, sleepwalking through the role. I was more disappointed in that than almost anything I’ve ever seen. 

[Huss417]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 5:40pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I was SO excited for Sienna Miller to do the show. Spent a ton of money for a great seat for what I was sure would be one of the best Sally’s I would ever see and I just remember being so bored with her. She was like Catherine Russell in “A Perfect Crime”, sleepwalking through the role. I was more disappointed in that than almost anything I’ve ever seen."

I think I saw every actress who played Sally in the Mendes production. The real surprise for me was Joely Fisher. Her performance touched me in a way that I wasn't expecting. 

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 5:50pm

JSquared2 said: "Broadway Flash said: "It’s an opinion not fact. But I’m not the only one who thinks that. Everybody who saw her says it including Ben Bentley"

Thinking his name is "Bentley" rather than Brantley is NOT a typo...it's just your (usual) ignorance. Putz.
"

We’re allowed to call our fellow members names now? Good to know. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 5:51pm

Did anyone here see Molly Ringwald?  I remember being pretty impressed with her!

[FosseTharp]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 9:06pm

The absolute best Sally Bowles I ever saw was Sandra Bernhard in the first Mendez production when it transferred to Studio 54. She was absolutely riveting and instinctually and factually the best to ever perform the role.  
 

…Except that never happened and I never saw her do the role and she never even played that role ever (as far as I know? Im dead if she did it in stock or regionally somewhere).  But forever ago I had the most vivid dream that I saw the Mendez production with her in the role and that dream was so believable that there was a time that I would have bet real money that it happened and I was there.  Natasha R in Cabaret was the first ever Broadway Show I ever saw when I was in Middle School.  But  Sandra Bernhart was far and away the best to ever play the role. Instinctually. 

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 9:06pm

I was sad I didn’t get a chance to see Emma Stone cause I was away at school but when I saw her clips, she just sounded like some slutty brat and annoying in the role. I was very happy with Sienna Miller.

Ben Brantley. “I hate to keep telling people to go back to the cabaret, old chum, but Ms. Miller is a revelation here, the most realistic Sally since Natasha Richardson won a Tony for the part 17 years ago.

Ms. Miller brings something more subtle and pathetic to Sally. She looks gorgeous, but in the tense, artificial way of someone trying too hard to be attractive. She’s more sexually predatory than most Sallys I’ve seen, and more easily deflated when the erotic charm doesn’t work. And in Ms. Miller’s body language, you can read an entire history of abuse, self-inflicted and otherwise. Watch how she reflexively cowers whenever a man raises a hand. She’s been hit before; she expects it.  There’s anger in her as well, which Ms. Miller channels most effectively in the man-stomping “Mein Herr.” And though you don’t doubt that she loves her American boyfriend as much as she is able to, she knows that men are not to be relied on. This Sally is a pragmatist, with a calloused core. When she sings the climactic title song, shortly after having an abortion, she makes it clear that while she may be shaken, she’s going to soldier on.”  

I also loved the video of Jane horrocks in the role as well
 

 

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 9:42pm

dramamama611 said: "Did anyone here see Molly Ringwald? I remember being pretty impressed with her!"

This thread is interesting (notwithstanding the asinine original post) because I would have said Cabaret cycled through lame celeb casting to stay afloat but reading all these responses--- they did a pretty fine job with the celeb casting, no? I thought Jane Leeves and Gina Gershon were fantastic, as were John Stamos and Raul Esparza. I also loved Michelle Williams in the role, an unpopular opinion. But seems like many of these were pleasant surprises back in the day.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 10:10pm

Broadway Flash said: "she just sounded like some slutty brat and annoying in the role"

just like u?

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 10:35pm

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 10:57pm

Yes, we’ve all seen OP’s Sally Bowls reference. Think about this, though… What if she had remembered the “E” and misplaced it? There’s a chance we could have all seen her referencing Sally BOWELS!

Not since Philly Pinto, or whatever his handle was…

Updated On: 5/14/24 at 10:57 PM

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 11:01pm

FYI, the OP's profile says that they're female.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/13/24 at 11:50pm

dramamama611 said: "Did anyone here see Molly Ringwald? I remember being pretty impressed with her!"

I saw her and really liked her. I wish she would do more theatre, but I seem to recall she got pretty dreadful reviews for the tour of Sweet Charity a few years later and have to wonder if that soured her from coming back to the stage.

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 5/14/24 at 12:07am

I would just like to say that the typos came from the annoying spell check.  Yes, I know it’s Brantley and Bowles. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/14/24 at 12:43am

The fact that even the cheapest (used loosely - $99-119) seats aren’t even selling for performances only a few weeks out tells me that they really gambled on a very high priced “experience” and are losing big time.

Hell, in booking my trip to London, I calculated that I could go twice, have a table both times, and be fully liquored up for the price of one Broadway ticket.

(And since Layton Williams will be the Emcee, I’m definitely inclined to return to get the taste of Redmayne out of my mouth and ears)

[FosseTharp]

Posted: 5/14/24 at 12:46am

AEA AGMA SM said: "dramamama611 said: "Did anyone here see Molly Ringwald? I remember being pretty impressed with her!"

I saw her and really liked her. I wish she would do more theatre, but I seem to recall she got pretty dreadful reviews for the tour ofSweet Charitya few years later and have to wonder if that soured her from coming back to the stage."

 

That whole tour was pretty dreadful, uninspired and cheap.   I don’t remember it feeling that way with Christina Applegate on Broadway which I saw when I was training with Doug Caldwell and he was good friends with Christina and her personal dance teacher and the choreographer for The Sweetest Thing…  but the one thing I remember about this tour was  a large portion of the audience laughing when Molly Ringwald as Charity mentioned being 115lbs…. But it was probably one of the cheapest and amateur Equity Tours I’ve ever seen. Quite Possibly the only worse tour I saw was the non-eq Movin’ Out tour…. Those 18-21 year olds could not dance Twyla Tharp Choreography and the tempos were so painfully slow.