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| A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? | |
| Posted by: RobertC (robertcollier930@gmail.com) 08:47 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
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| Judi Dench is beyond words on the recording. (You can download the tracks from Amazon Music.) | |
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| re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? | |
| Posted by: scoot1er 07:49 am EDT 08/31/18 | |
| In reply to: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? - RobertC 08:47 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
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| I saw it. It was terrific. My one caveat was Lila Kedrova who seemed to be doing her own thing in a different show. Judi Dench was fabulous as was the rest of the cast. Sadly, it was not a big hit there and closed after a short run to make way for, I believe Mr. and Mrs. which was a musical version of Brief Encounter. | |
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| re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 03:41 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? - scoot1er 07:49 am EDT 08/31/18 | |
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| I feel that Dench's Sally Bowles on the OLCR is one of the greatest performances on any cast recording, and I'm glad to hear you felt she was fabulous because, somewhat surprisingly, she received decidedly mixed reviews for her performance (and not because of her singing). The person who got the reviews, not surprisingly, was Barry Dennen. I love Kedrova on the recording, but it definitely sounds like she was sentimentalizing the character. I'm not bothered by it, and I find her "What Would You Do" very powerful, but she certainly is much more overtly vulnerable than Lenya. I wonder if Prince did not like her performance very much. The Foster Hirsch book reports him having asked Regina Resnik to be "crusty," and Kedrova is definitely not that, at least on the recording. So if that's the way he wanted the character, Kedrova's performance may not have made him too happy. Kedrova was replaced by Thelma Ruby about six months into the run, and Elizabeth Seal was set to replace Dench when the production closed. The London Cabaret was definitely a commercial disappointment and had a relatively short run, but 316 performances (sometimes misreported as 336) is not all that short. Just wanted to clarify that for folks who may have the impression that it closed much more quickly than that. Mr. and Mrs. was not exactly based on Brief Encounter. It was two one-act musicals based on two of the Tonight at 8:30 plays: Still Life (the basis for Brief Encounter) and Fumed Oak. I didn't see it, but as far as I can tell, it does seem to have stuck fairly closely to Still Life in that it seems to have stayed in the train station and, although there was a chorus, they seem to have been there mostly because someone thought they needed a chorus so they added stuff about the station being under demolition and they brought in workers and, I think, a wedding party, which I think is not in the movie. We didn’t meet Laura’s husband. So I think it avoided using stuff specifically from the movie, perhaps because of rights reasons. Maybe I’m wrong about this and someone will correct me. I don’t think the station in the movie is under demolition. |
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| re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? | |
| Last Edit: atlantico 09:13 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
| Posted by: atlantico 09:07 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
| In reply to: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? - RobertC 08:47 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
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| I did. More than once. It was thrilling. And Judi Dench was simultaneously sexy and playful and luminous and vulnerable. And then there's this: | |
| Link | Judi Dench: Don't Tell Mama (1968) |
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| re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? | |
| Posted by: bearcat 04:29 pm EDT 08/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? - atlantico 09:07 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
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| is this one continuous take: there is an abrupt launch into the refrain (I don't hear the "just leave well enough alone") and the ensemble leaves out the line re "school chums and some aging chaperone's" |
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| re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 07:49 pm EDT 08/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? - bearcat 04:29 pm EDT 08/31/18 | |
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| lol - except it's "and a lady chaperone" not "and some aging chaperones." ;-) (Unless of course the lady chaperone is "of a certain age"...) ;-) |
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| re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 12:14 am EDT 08/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? - atlantico 09:07 pm EDT 08/30/18 | |
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| How wonderful that that clip exists. I've seen it before, but thanks for sharing it again. Though, relatively small point, I do wonder at her costuming, which is quite different from the "lacy pants" specified in the lyric. | |
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| pants mean mens and womens underpants in UK nm | |
| Posted by: thtrgoer 09:18 am EDT 08/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: A longshot--but did anyone see the original London production of CABARET? - Michael_Portantiere 12:14 am EDT 08/31/18 | |
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