Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's "Cabaret"
Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's "Cabaret"
Perfectly Marvelous
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/16/06
#1Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's "Cabaret"
Posted: 5/8/10 at 2:07pm
What do you guys think?
I am beyond excited, as Cabaret is one of my favorite shows, and I've always wanted to see Amanda involved in it.
Here's a link:
https://boston.broadwayworld.com/article/American_Repertory_Theater_Announces_its_201011_Season_20100507
The rest of the season looks pretty good, too! :)
"I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams." - Doctor Who
"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables
#2Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/8/10 at 2:23pmI don't know how I will see this, but I must see this. I love Amanda Palmer, and I can imagine she'd be incredible as the Emcee.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
Luv2goToShows
Broadway Star Joined: 9/13/09
#2Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/8/10 at 10:12pm
Did you get your tickets to Evelyn Evelyn at the Lucille Lortel Theater, there will be 5 shows, June 8th thru 12th.
Soho Rep. presents Evelyn Evelyn (with Amanda Palmer, Jason Webley, and Sxip Shirey), By Special Arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation.
http://www.evelynevelyn.com/news.html
PiraguaGuy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/10/08
#3Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/8/10 at 10:23pm
It's times like these I wish I was smart enough to be anywhere near Harvard.
Diane Paulus is knocking this s*** out of the park. I imagine she's going to take crap for doing a musical, but I'll bet money this production is going to be so out-there that it would make Sam Mendes look like Jerry Zaks.
Formerly SirNotAppearing - Joined 3/08
romgitsean
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/08
#4Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/8/10 at 10:31pm
YES, YES, YES and YES!
I'm a gigantic AFP fan, after seeing her in concert twice. She's so amazing, as is her music...
I just hope she's well-recieved. Her voice is very unconvientional and I think it's certainly going to be a change to have a female Emcee, which is pretty rare. I think a lot of more theatre-oriented people might not enjoy her voice, but she's really incredible. She just needs to be given a fair chance.
Recent Broadway and Off-Broadway:: Carrie, Merrily, Ionescopade
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
#5Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/8/10 at 11:32pmOH MY GOD I WANT TO SEE THIS. I won't be able to, and that's making me so sad.
#6Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/9/10 at 1:02amNO! Em!!! I wish you could see it...I know the director, and he's absolutely BRILLIANT.
www.kickfornick.com
#7Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/9/10 at 1:07amYeah, I'm REALLY bummed about missing this. I just know I would love it.
shesamarshmallow
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/06
#8Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/9/10 at 8:09amI can't believe how awesome this is.
broadwayunderstudies.com - most underrated performers on broadway
#9Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/9/10 at 6:03pmI've been waiting for this for years. Amanda has as well- anyone who has the semi-official Dresden Dolls live album/bootleg compilation "The Ghost In You: Covers and Cabaret" has heard her sing many Cabaret songs brilliantly.
Perfectly Marvelous
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/16/06
#10Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/9/10 at 7:48pmI know she covered "Don't Tell Mama" with the Boston Pops, as well as "I Don't Care Much" a while ago. I agree that her voice is unconvential, which is mostly the reason why I'm so excited to see her play this character. (Her cover of "I Don't Care Much" is brilliant). I'm also excited to see what she'll do with the Emcee, it's such a wonderful role.
"I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams." - Doctor Who
"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables
Parks
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/5/04
#11Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 5/9/10 at 10:11pmoh... my... god. YES! I am SO going to see this! Or going to try to!! AFP is BRILLIANT! I absolutely love Who Killed Amanda Palmer. THIS IS INCREDIBLE NEWS! Made my night!! :)
"If it walks like a Parks, if it wobbles like a Parks, then it's definitely fat and nobody loves it." --MA
Perfectly Marvelous
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/16/06
#12Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 8/12/10 at 2:36amI got my ticket for the last show on October 29th, at 10:30 pm. Be sure to check out A.R.T.'s site to reserve a ticket... it's something that you won't want to miss. Also, they have some pictures up from a cast talk back and the set that their designer has in mind looks fabulous. I'm super excited for this production.
"I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams." - Doctor Who
"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#13Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 8/12/10 at 9:32am
I'm going to second the comment on the director. Steve is wildly inventive....I can't wait to see what he does with this.
I'll be there!
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#14Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 8/12/10 at 11:33amI can see her being a really top notch Emcee. She has a perfect diabolical air to her with a really intriguing voice. She has also openly voiced her love of the piece. I love the idea of actually putting it in a club-like environment. I hope I get a chance to see this.
#15Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 9/2/10 at 7:09pm
I saw it last night. I didn't think I was going to be able to make it up to see this, but I had to find a way to make it happen, and I did.
I was going to post more, because I have a lot of thoughts (mostly positive!) but the creative team was there last night, very actively observing and taking notes, and out of respect to the hard (and great) work they're doing on a show that's very precious to me, I'm not going to go into detail. But I will make some general comments, if only to encourage people to go see it, and because I need to write about it in some way.
I shouldn't have to preface this by saying that Cabaret is my favorite show, but people are often surprised to learn that about me, so I will. It's my favorite favorite favorite musical. And I should have to say even less that (obviously, I hope), the Emcee is one of my favorite characters, theatrical or not. He really captured my imagination the first time I saw the show, when I was much younger and really didn't know what I was encountering, and I have always been able to anchor my love for the show in part on that role.
Amanda's fantastic, and I'm sure she'll only get even better as the run goes on. A female Emcee is something I have always wanted to see, and she is the perfect person to do it. There are certain moments where it doesn't work quite as well as others, but on the whole, I really, really liked her. She's magnetic, sexy, beautiful, mischievous, and when it's right, a little scary. She sang it, I believe, in the original key (if not close to it -- could someone more musically inclined verify?). The more I think about her performance, the more I love it, and I just can't get it out of my head.
They make great use of the space, and it's pretty interactive, especially if you're standing, but for the most part, not in an obtrusive way. Though not unexpectedly, I think it did make some unsuspecting audience members a little uncomfortable. The production as a whole is pretty well done. There are a handful of choices that I didn't love, but I admit that part of that is just me being really picky about how I like this show to be done. They weren't wrong, they were just different, and I have the Sam Mendes production so deeply ingrained in my head. But that this production made the impact that it did on me knowing that, I think speaks a lot for it. There were really only a few things that I outwardly disagreed with. I wish I could make it back to see it again, and watch it develop, or to be around for a talkback if they're going to have any, because there are a lot of things I would love to hear more about. I'll also be curious to find out if they make any changes to the ending, which I think they should. But especially in terms of the androgyny and the sexuality of the production, while I'm not sure how interesting what they're doing up there would be to people who are experiencing the show for the first time, I found it fascinating. It's, IMO, very much worth seeing, especially if you love this show.
My friend and I spent hours talking about the show afterwards, and either way, I can't stop thinking about it -- and that, at the end of the day, is what Cabaret should be. And I simply can't get over Amanda.
romgitsean
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/08
#16Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 9/5/10 at 1:37pmI can't wait to see her!! Ahh! Who wants to come with me? Haha
Recent Broadway and Off-Broadway:: Carrie, Merrily, Ionescopade
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#17Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 9/5/10 at 2:04pm
I really don't see the point of a female Emcee.
But then, I get annoyed when I see a female Puck in MIDSUMMER.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
#18Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 9/5/10 at 3:47pm
They basically have her playing the Emcee as a man. But the way she's playing it, along with a lot of the particulars of the production, really creates a keep-you-guessing kind of portrayal that is actually fascinating. If you didn't know, and had lived under a rock or not read the Playbill or whatever, you could completely buy her as a dude -- and then she'll do something, and you'll sort of look twice and go, "wait a minute, what am I actually seeing?" And then at the very end, the way they do it, it's sort of like, well, tricked you, audience! It's fantastic.
All I want to do is go up there and see it again, but I'm lucky to have been able to once when I initially didn't think I'd be able to at all. I wish I could see her grow into the part more, because I think as they gain their footing and solidify the choices, she's just going to be a f*cking revelation. I can't get that performance out of my head, and I think it might be my favorite performance this year. I wish I could see it again. And again and again. And that I could see the solo gigs she's doing at Oberon, but I digress. She's just stunning.
Also, I had been like, casually aware of the Dresden Dolls and had a few of their songs on my iPod, held a sort of distant fascination with their aesthetic, etc. But now I find myself head-over-heels for Amanda as a performer, and am sort of playing catch-up. I've found a lot of her Cabaret covers on YouTube, and am going to pick up the solo album, but could someone tell me where I might find said semi-official live album that darquegk mentioned?
#19Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 9/5/10 at 3:55pmAmanda has a deep, deep appreciation for the show and the spirit of the show, so it's good to know that passion comes through in her performance. Glad to hear it's a solid production! I may just have to take a journey to see it for myself.
#20Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 9/5/10 at 4:22pmYou can tell how much she loves the show, and gets and cares about this character, in watching her perform and listening to/reading what she says about it. I love that so much. As an audience member, it's one of the greatest pleasures to see the way you feel about something reflected in the person who's creating it. There are imperfections in the production, but I think how incredible Amanda is really transcended most of the problems I had.
#21Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 9/5/10 at 4:25pm
A female Emcee is hardly anything new (and judging from the one time I've seen it done myself, it really doesn't work), but based on what I've seen on YouTube of Amanda Palmer, she might be a very interesting, sound choice.
The bigger problem I have here is that a man is playing Fraulein Schneider. I mean, WHY? To draw parallels between the Gentile/Jewish marriage issue back then and the gay marriage issue now? Or just because the director wanted to be "gutsy"? How did that casting choice work when you saw it?
#22Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 9/5/10 at 4:30pm
Hmm. It actually didn't occur to me that it might be a Jew/Gentile --> gay/straight thing at all. I heard from a friend who had seen it before me that they were having a man play Fraulein Schneider, and I was like, "hmm, really?" because I thought it was going to be staged as a gay couple. It's not, it's a man playing a woman, so it doesn't really come off as a huge allegorical thing, but it's also not obvious WHY the director chose to do it that way. I think it just fits into the larger picture of his goal to create a production where gender doesn't really matter. There's a lot of gender crossover, it's not just Amanda.
I don't know how I would feel about a female Emcee who was outwardly playing it as a woman. I'm not sure that I would buy into it, but that's just my gut feeling. Amanda works because she captures the androgyny so perfectly; you're not constantly aware that you're watching a girl play a boy. So it's not truly a "female Emcee" so much that it is a female performer playing a gender-ambiguous character. That's how I see it, at least.
#23Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 9/5/10 at 4:41pmAh. See when I saw this regional production of it, the actress playing the Emcee played it very much as a woman (complete with pigtails and a cute little skirt and everything). It just didn't work. I don't know why. But if they're doing it as an androgenous thing, and with an actress like Amanda Palmer who can pull that off pretty easily, I could see it working. And maybe the across-the-board playing with gender casting does work in it's own way, even if it is kinda pointless.
#24Amanda Palmer as the Emcee in A.R.T's 'Cabaret'
Posted: 9/5/10 at 4:46pm
Yeah, see, that doesn't work for me, because there's an aggression that needs to be part of the character, along with the creepy-playful innocence and all of that. Staging it like you're saying takes that away. I honestly think it would have been fine if they just had Amanda playing the Emcee and kept everything else gendered as it was written, but this does create some extra very thought-provoking moments.
They've posted some production photos on the A.R.T's website, so you can see for yourself what she looks like in character. They're down beneath the video.
http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org/events/show/cabaret