Cabaret Volksoper Vienna
Sept 14th 2019
Marvelous to see this exceptional show again – but there will always be one major problem and that is the impact of the iconic film and of the two central performances by Liza Minelli and Joel Grey. If you have seen the film then those performances are, as they are for me, indelibly engraved on the consciousness and it can be very tricky not to either explicitly or implicitly compare with what you are seeing on the stage. But I am going to do my very best not to do that – and to start with will talk about the look and style of the production as thain t is key to the works success in the theatre.
The one set was a versatile one, on a revolve so that one saw either the Kit Kat Club (with Berlin in illuminated letters above it) while on the other side was a four-part set that showed four rooms in Frau Schneider’s apartment. This was very effective as one could see actions and reactions of people who were not in the scene being played, as with the aftermath of Herr Schultz’s rejection of Frau S where during the subsequent scene in another room with Sally, we could see Frau S sitting in devastated stillness on her couch, this providing a nice contrast towards their different views of relationships and increasing sympathy for Frau S as well.
On the side of the Kit Kat Club of the set was a plus-sized keyboard that was occasionally used by the Master (or Mistress in this case) of ceremonies but to me this was something of a distraction and did not seem to add anything to the proceedings. Being in the Volksoper, the band was (a) in the pit) and (b) much larger than one would normally see – which I found something of a dramatic disadvantage. There was almost too much richness and lushness in the sound that went oddly with the indication in the score that the club was a small and frankly rather seedy one – although here, unlike some performances I have seen, it was a little too glossy.
The choreography was effective. Again this is another adverse effect of the film where the unique Fosse choreography was so ‘right’ that alternatives can either seem pale imitations or just ‘not right’. There was a slightly scrappy feel to the movements which was very effective in the context of the setting – and very appropriate too.
As indicated the Master of Ceremonies was the Mistress – Ruth Brauer-Kvam. There was a degree of sexual ambiguity about her, in voice, movement and costume, but it was not emphasized (enough?) and I did not really see the point, if any, being made. It added nothing to the drama which a gender change such as this must do if it is to be anything more than a gimmick. Additionally, in the first part in particular, she seemed to be playing around with her voice in a rather crazy manner – first high strained soprano, the semi-spoken, then male gruffness. If meant to suggest the gender ambiguity, then it was not very effective – and frankly irritating. The initial appearance was promising, rising from in front of the prompter’s box with bony white extended arms with outsize hands on the end – very Jack Skelinton/Tim Burton and the facial make-up was a cadaverous death-mask recalling Nosferatu. But not much was done with this – and the extended arms and hands were used somewhat randomly and, again to little apparent effective dramatic effect; if it was meant to suggest a puppet-master-like role it did not do it effectively.
By the interval I was not yet fully involved in the drama although the scene that ended that part with the Nazis infesting the scene was good and appropriately chilling. It was quite something to be in Vienna in 2019 and suddenly see a stage draped in Nazi swastikas and with clear visual reference to the torchlight night parades – [chilling – and was it me or was the applause at this point a little muted… And the first musical appearance in this first half, of Tomorrow Belongs to Me was quite subtle and subdued – musically and dramatically.
Part 2 however was very different. It quite suddenly seemed to take fire, performance-wise and dramatically. It became really powerful and the spreading of the Nazi ideology through the country and state was made very well by performances and staging and, finally, the club became, effectively, a microcosm for Germany at that time which had not really happened in the first part.
In Part 1 though, the character with whom I was most involved was Frau Schneider and her story. Sally Bowles and Clifford – not so much although the role of Clifford – as a ‘camera detachedly observing’ as per the book title) is perhaps the cause of this. The detached narrator concept and technique works well on the page but can be very tricky to bring off in the theater. It’s like writing about a boring character – tricky not to BE boring –and same with Clifford as the protagonist – difficult for a detached character not to come across as merely uninvolving to an audience member.
But, in spite of all these remarks I did thoroughly enjoy this – and the Sally, Bettina Monch was effective and I was not constantly harking back to Liza. In Part 2 she really rose to the dramatic and musical challenges and her performance of Maybe This Time was the powerful and emotional show-stopper it should be.
Will be interested to see other musicals here.
https://www.volksoper.at/produktion/cabaret-2019.de.html#event-images