What made Natasha Richardson so brilliant as Sally?

[jvoom]

I've been on a Cabaret buzz lately and am especially fond of the 1998 revival cast recording. I'm curious, for anyone who saw her live, what made Natasha Richardson such a brilliant Sally? I've come across posts all over the web, people recalling her "breathtaking" performance and am curious to hear the boards thoughts!

[Bettyboy72]

She was one of a few actresses who brilliantly communicated the heartbreaking pathos of Sally. Many actresses miss the darkness and go for party girl. It’s so easy to miss the mark with Sally. I found Natasha to be hiding a broken heart behind the soiled glamour. You couldn’t take your eyes off of her. It was a zeitgeist moment. Even Michelle Williams who is an impeccable actress missed the mark in my opinion.

[Sauja]

Agree with Bettyboy. She was the life of the party, but there wasn’t a moment that her performance wasn’t shot through with something like desperation. She played the show on a knife’s edge between passion and pain, and when she cracked, it was somehow devastating and inevitable. She was always going to fall apart. She was never going to let herself be happy. She knew that she had a core of misery that she tried to out-dance but never believed she would. She was just so human. So electrifying but flawed. It remains one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen.

[SisterGeorge]

Sauja said: "Agree with Bettyboy. She was the life of the party, but there wasn’t a moment that her performance wasn’t shot through with something like desperation. She played the show on a knife’s edge between passion and pain, and when she cracked, it was somehow devastating and inevitable. She was always going to fall apart. She was never going to let herself be happy. She knew that she had a core of misery that she tried to out-dance but never believed she would. She was just so human. So electrifying but flawed. It remains one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen."

As I recall, her emotional and physical breakdown while singing the title song was one of those "for the ages" theatrical experiences. A climax her entire performance had been building up to. And my admiration for her performance in the theater only increased when later I heard her in the recording and realized, for the first time, that she really wasn't much of a singer.

[Call_me_jorge]

This thread is depressing knowing she’s no longer with us. Imagine the kind of work she could be doing right now. Ugh. Maybe in another lifetime.

[QueenAlice]

I saw Natasha Richardson do a number of things (including Cabaret) over her career. She was one of those actresses who are simply incandescent.  It's hard to explain what her magic was. She could stand on stage simply smoking a cigarette seemingly doing nothing else and yet you would see the entire life of a character come through.  She was extraordinary. In Cabaret she projected a combination of faux bravado and inevitable tragedy. Nobody else has ever come close to her in the role - at least as far as the Sam Mendes / Rob Marshall production goes.

[Skip23]

I was completely underwhelmed by Richardson’s performance. She was wrongly cast. She was a big woman and came across as a boozy cheerleader. Not much pathos there. Same as her Blanche DuBois.

[Georgeanddot2]

Her acting was absolutely amazing. She felt truly human and opened up a lot of layers that hadn't been found before. Emma Stone got very close. I was extremely impressed with her and surprised by her stage acting abilities. She also sang it wonderfully which I wasn't expecting after seeing La La Land.

[bowtie7]

It is difficult to put in words, but she just was. Everything about the original cast and production was just so perfect, even down to the creepy "Kit Kat Club"/Henry Miller theatre. From where I was sitting just next to the stage, you really were a part of that world. Part of what was so special about Natasha's performance was how perfectly she balanced Alan Cummings--who could have easily overwhelmed a lesser actress. Still so thankful I got a day of single ticket, I will remember the show forever.

[east side story]

Georgeanddot2 said: "Her acting was absolutely amazing. She felt truly human and opened up a lot of layers that hadn't been found before. Emma Stone got very close. I was extremely impressed with her and surprised by her stage acting abilities. She also sang it wonderfully which I wasn't expecting after seeing La La Land."

LLL was after her stint at the Kit Kat Klub. It was during her time as Sally that she started taking meetings with the director about the role that would eventually win her an Oscar. At the time, she was swept up in awards season for Birdman.

 

In any event, every person that has ever mentioned the ‘98 revival, and saw Richardson during her six month or so run, always says it was one of, if not the best performance they had ever seen. Allegedly the kweens in town all dogged her during previews, with few loving or appreciating her portrayal. Then the reviews came out and everyone changed their tunes immediately. 

[Jordan Catalano]

As much as I loved Natasha (and I really did), to me Jennifer Jason Leigh was the best Sally I ever saw.

[Glittergrrl]

I was lucky enough to see her performance. I just loved her. It’s difficult to say exactly what made it so affective, but she seemed so broken. She just made me ache.  Her voice wasn’t the strongest, which I felt worked better for the character. She was so endearing to me.  I thought that whole production was fantastic. I saw it at the Kit Kat Club. We sat at a table off to the side.  At one point, Alan Cumming sat at our table and started chatting. It was a special show.
 

I saw the revival years later with Michelle Williams (Is that right? I think it was her.) still enjoyed the show, but I didn’t feel the same connection to Sally at all. 

[Owen22]

Natasha had a riveting stillness to her Sally. A calm that was forcibly hiding the storm underneath. Oddly enough the only other musical theater performance that matches that measured stillness was Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple.

Sorry, Jordan. HATED Jennifer's Sally.

Didn't get to see Stone's (how did I let that happen?) But Michelle was also an on-the-edge performance. It wasn't completely successful but it was a really interesting take. That Sally's desperation was not hidden. That Sally was coked up to the gills and terrified all the time..

[Jordan Catalano]

Jennifer's Sally was such a different beast than anyone's ever done it (and I've seen all the Sally's, starting with Natasha). It was such a DARK take on the role - it never surprises me when someone says they didn't like it. But for me, it was so different and daring that I was just mesmerized. 

[SisterGeorge]

QueenAlice said: "I saw Natasha Richardson do a number of things (including Cabaret) over her career. She was one of those actresses who are simply incandescent. It's hard to explain what her magic was. She could stand on stage simply smoking a cigarette seemingly doing nothing else and yet you would see the entire life of a character come through. She was extraordinary. "

Hope you got to see her Anna Christie with her soon-to-be husband Liam Neeson. They were beyond hot together. Interesting side note: We sat right in front of Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, who, after the final curtain, were trying to figure out how to get backstage. This was just before Schindler's List came out.

 

[jagman1062]

Many of the earlier posters have written very well of Richardson’s performance and I wholeheartedly agree with them.  I found Richardson's portrayal of Sally to be profoundly human displaying vulnerability and quiet desperation that becomes increasingly more poignant throughout the story.  She balanced self-destruction and victimization by life's circumstances that elicited a range of emotions from the audience towards her character (e.g., pity, empathy, hopefulness). Although it was inevitable that Sally would face an early demise, I felt compelled to want her to find happiness.  There were nuances to her performance that drew people to her, likened to how a light draws moths. She was riveting and I could not take my eyes off of her despite the overall brilliance of that production.  I went back and saw the show numerous times with a different actress playing Sally each time, and I didn't quite feel the same range of emotions nor was I completely drawn to them as I felt or was with Richardson.  Richardson's singing wasn't very polished, although it was serviceable, but it fit with her flawed character adding to the overall experience.  I have often told people that I found Richardson’s performance to be devastatingly beautiful.

[Blue_Lotus]

Such melancholy to revisit her performance because she is no longer here. I would say this. I went to see a little film, "The Parent Trap" where she played the mother of precocious twins and two days later I was sitting in the theater watching her as "Sally Bowles"...and she was brilliant in both because she was immensely gifted and I wish she was still here to share with each and every one of us her blessed talent. 

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Richardson was fine, but she was no Jane Horrocks

[n2nbaby]

I was too young to see Natasha in the role but from clips I’ve seen, I wish I was able to. She seems incredible and at this point, her performance is one of the few that when someone says they saw her, people get instantly jealous.

I will however say, I did see Emma Stone and she gave by far one of the best performances I’ve ever seen on stage. Just heartbreaking. There was a moment during “Cabaret” that will always stay with me: when she is singing about Elsie, she gets so lost in thought that when the band starts playing loudly behind her again, she is visibly shaken. It may not sound like much but that moment.. I don’t even know how to describe it.

[grumpyoptimist]

I saw the '98 and '14 Broadway revivals as well as any number of other productions, but my favorite Sally is Barrett Weed from the DC Signature Theater production (with Wes Taylor as the emcee).  Her pained, multi-faceted (bordering on manic) portrayal was simply incredible...she won a regional Helen Hayes award for that role

[ukpuppetboy]

BenjaminNicholas2 said: "Richardson was fine, but she was no Jane Horrocks"

I assume she didn’t scream/shout the title song either though, which I’d have been more than fine with.

 

[The Other One]

Hard to reply to this, as the Prince and Mendes Cabarets are such different animals, but my favorite Sally, at least on record, is Judi Dench.  She captured everything Prince was going for with Sally: the panache she reveled in to cover up how limited her talent was.  

That said, I am very sorry that I missed Natasha's performance.  I loved her on stage the two times I did see her (Closer and Streetcar) and surviving video of her performing the title song is indeed powerful.

[markypoo]

I saw the original Broadway cast in August 1967, and Sally to me will forever be Jill Haworth.

[BenjaminNicholas2]

ukpuppetboy said: "

I assume she didn’t scream/shout the title song either though, which I’d have been more than fine with.

"

It was a character choice and a damned brave one.

Jane is a great natural singer so to purposely project in that way- with that tone- must have been incredibly difficult to do healthily... And she did. 

And it worked for her Sally.  She did things that no other Sally did before (or after).  She made it her own.