Barrett Wilbert Weed and Wes Taylor in Cabaret in DC

[GetUp&LiveIt]

Posted: 3/17/15 at 12:49pm

Sounds awesome to me!

Playbill Article

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 3/17/15 at 1:09pm

I am SO sad now. When I saw this headline on Playbill.com I thought it was talking about the National Tour and got so excited to see Wesley Taylor play this role. Then I read the article and realized it was in D.C.? DEVESTATED!

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/17/15 at 1:36pm

Well, it looks like whatever tempest caused Ms. Barrett Wilbert Weed to depart Heathers is not holding her back.

[Jace2017]

Posted: 3/17/15 at 4:58pm

^ You don't even know if that's true. It was just a rumour. Weasley Taylor will be incredible! I wish I could see this.

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 3/17/15 at 5:00pm

Ah! Was gonna skip this one but now I have to see it since she's in it!

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/17/15 at 6:02pm

jace2017 - I know the rumours - don't know what's true and what's not. Except for one true thing - suddenly she was not performing in Heathers by her decision or the decision of the creatives/producers. Something happened. And it's good to see that whatever it was is not holding her back.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/17/15 at 6:10pm

Barrett Wilbert Weed sounds like a name out of Shel Silverstein.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 3/17/15 at 9:46pm

She did just recently finish the off-broadway hit FOUND, so I'd say she moved on awhile ago.

[trensalores]

Posted: 5/13/15 at 6:34pm

Signature posted this promo video yesterday... thoughts? 

link

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/13/15 at 7:05pm

Wes Taylor seems really talented but he's just too cute for the Emcee.  The Kit Kat Girls seemed to be upstaging him effortlessly.

[Jane2]

Posted: 5/13/15 at 7:24pm

haha, at first glance I thought it was Signature in NY and I asked a friend if they wanted to go (I love Wesley T), mentioning the tickets were only $42. oy vey

[VotePeron]

Posted: 5/13/15 at 8:25pm

The staging seems very Mendes-esque. However, after listening to some of it (whoops), it sounds completely different. They are not singing it the way it has been performed in the most recent revival(s). It's very "straight" and song-like, as opposed to acting dialogue through song.

[Alix]

Posted: 5/13/15 at 9:04pm

I was at the first performance last night. The set is very reminiscent of the Mendes/Marshall production, and there are similarities in some costumes and choreography, but other than that it's really quite different. I actually felt like it drew more from the film than any stage production I've seen--including a few lines that I've only ever heard in the film. Barrett was by far the most Liza-inspired Sally I've seen. I thought she was really wonderful, and quite funny, but I was not a fan of the way "Cabaret" (the song) and her last scene with Cliff were staged/directed. Wesley was mesmerizing, just super creepy and athletic and fun to watch. I'd love to see him play the Emcee in the national tour. The finale was rather shocking.

[harris007]

Posted: 5/13/15 at 9:09pm

NBC 4  in DC  did a interview  with Wes  last night i'm looking for a link to it. Wes  said there will be full frontal male nudity.

[Alix]

Posted: 5/13/15 at 9:14pm

There's not. Here's the link:

http://www.nbcwashington.com/video/#!/entertainment/the-scene/Star-Brings-His-Own-Style-to-Cabaret/303548331

[harris007]

Posted: 5/13/15 at 9:26pm

Ya beat me i just found the link.  hmmm maybe they changed mind about the nudity. or he just said it to sell tickets. 

[Alix]

Posted: 5/13/15 at 9:31pm

*SPOILERS, I guess*

 

Well, there is full-frontal female nudity (not Barrett). And rear male nudity (not Wes). :)

[GetUp&LiveIt]

Posted: 5/14/15 at 8:48am

I saw it last evening. It was sensational! Wes Taylor is sexy and scary at the same time. His Emcee is the most impish I've ever seen and by far the most athletic. Barrett is the best Sally I've ever seen on stage. I agree she comes closest to Liza in her performance. I saw Emma Stone and liked Barrett significantly better. The rest of the cast is great. With the exception of Wes' costume the staging felt wholly original to me. And even then the costume is different. (He is in leather lederhosen.)  The choreography probably is closer in tone to Fosse's then Marshall's, and I loved it. The ending is shocking and profoundly moving. Can't wait to see it again later in the run.

Updated On: 5/14/15 at 08:48 AM

[followspot]

Posted: 5/14/15 at 9:48am

>The finale was rather shocking.

>The ending is shocking and profoundly moving.

 

Well, now I'm curious.  Mendes ending?  Something else?  Spoilers please.  (here or PM — thx!)

[GetUp&LiveIt]

Posted: 5/14/15 at 10:08am

**SPOILER**

**SPOILER**

**SPOILER**

At the end of If You Could See Her Through My Eyes the gorillas mask is removed to reveal one of the girls dumbfounded as if she had somehow been tricked into the act. The Emcee danced off leaving the actress playing the gorilla with mask in hand breathless in a cold light. That alone was a startling new moment. At the end of the play as the principals repeated their lines referencing their blindness to the outside world the audience was flooded by several men in Nazi in uniform. The lights came up almost full in the audience. The upstage door then opened and the girl who played the gorilla entered in just the bottom half of the gorilla costume. The Nazis ordered her to remove it. She did. When ordered to remove the slip she had on underneath, she started to run into the audience. One of the Nazi stopped her and they proceeded to very graphically beat her, and rip off her slip until she was naked in the center of the stage as Sally sang the final bars of "Life is A Cabaret." The house lights came up fully as the Emcee said goodbye as the girl lay there beaten and trembling.It was startling and very effective. There were many people audibly sobbing in the audience.  

[Alix]

Posted: 5/14/15 at 10:27am

GetUp&LiveIt beat me to it, but I just wrote up my summary as well, so I'm posting it anyway. *MORE SPOILERS AHEAD*

 

At the end of “If You Could See Her” (I think just before “she wouldn’t look Jewish at all” ) the Emcee takes off the head part of the gorilla’s costume, revealing a Jewish-looking Kit Kat Girl. He walks offstage before the song ends and she’s left standing there in dim lighting, in the gorilla suit, looking scared. 

Then, the end of the show: Music-wise, they used the original version of the finale, with the main characters each reprising a bit of their songs. As they’re each doing this (on the second level of the stage, above the club), several Nazis storm the club below, charging in through the audience and smashing glasses, draping a Nazi flag over the bar, etc. One of the soldiers goes to the single door at the back of the stage and paints the word Juden and a Star of David on it. Then the door opens to reveal the Jewish girl in the gorilla suit again. The Nazis drag her out and take off her costume. She’s wearing a thin white slip underneath, which they then mostly tear off (this is the one moment of full-frontal nudity in the show). They beat her up as Sally sings her reprise lines from “Cabaret.” As she sings “life is a Cabaret, old chum . . .” and exits the top part of the stage, the mostly naked Jewish girl is balled up in the fetal position below, sobbing. Then the Emcee sings his final lines and exits through the door at the back of the stage, leaving just the Jewish girl on the stage for the final drumroll.

A very original, very effective way to end the show. I was shaking.

Updated On: 5/14/15 at 10:27 AM

[followspot]

Posted: 5/14/15 at 10:34am

Holy smokes — that sounds absolutely chilling.  

Thanks for the info, kids!

[Brick]

Posted: 5/14/15 at 10:45am

Glad to hear the production had some ideas non Mendes/Marshall-inspired, because I could barely watch the full clip, it seemed so derivative. It looked like one of those shows where you wonder why a director would spend so much time copying another production's concept.

And that would be a shame, since the cast looks truly great. And Wes as the Emcee in the nat'l tour is a great idea.

[GetUp&LiveIt]

Posted: 5/14/15 at 11:00am

Not sure why people keep saying that. With the exception of the lederhosen feel it looks nothing like the Mendes production. Wesley is certainly more in line with Alan then Joel but that's to be expected with him in the role. The world of this Cabaret is much more colorful in terms of the lighting. I actually was not sure about that choice at first until it became harshly real in Act 2. It was as if we had been duped into believing this world was a sexy thrilling place and then the lights came on in Act 2 and it was intensely ugly. And I also just watched the Marshall Willkommen from the Tony Awards. Minus the lift at the end (which has been in every production since Hal Prince's original), nothing about the choreography is the same. Gardiner's Mein Herr is electric and involves both the women and the men (something I've never seen), his Two Ladies was extraordinarily athletic, his kickline is far superior to any I've seen before... not sure what people see as a ripoff in the video but I can tell you having seen the production it's nothing like the Mendes.

Updated On: 5/14/15 at 11:00 AM

[Alix]

Posted: 5/14/15 at 11:11am

Agree it doesn't have much in common with the Mendes/Marshall production, but I do think it would appear very similar based on the clips they've released. Part of me wonders if that's intentional, actually.

There are a few bits of choreography that are the same as the Mendes/Marshall production, but there are bits taken from the film, too. The choreography felt original, overall. Barrett performs the beginning of "Don't Tell Mama" on a swing!

And yeah, the kickline is nuts. In the best way.