Cabaret
By Kander and Ebb

Old Fire Station, Tue 30th Jan - Sat 3rd Feb 2001

Putting on a musical in Oxford, particularly in a venue like the OFS, is an admirably ambitious project. The space is tight, and the large dance numbers must inevitably look slightly cramped. The lighting of this production, too, could be described as slightly harsh; it was difficult for the audience to achieve the necessary suspension of disbelief, and they took longer than usual to be drawn into the action. Libby Mansell's excellent choreography also suffered a little from first night jitters in the first few scenes. Having said this, Cabaret is an outstanding effort at breaking the norm. The patently huge effort made by cast, crew and orchestra so nearly pays off, and it is perhaps more refreshing to see an ambitous project slightly miss the mark than to sit through an interminably average Shakespeare.

Cabaret is in itself an unusual musical, with a darker edge than most. It centres upon the English nightclub singer Sally Bowles (Sarah Snelgrove), and the American 'starving author' Clifford Bradshaw (Benedict Protheroe). It is set in the decadence of Berlin on the cusp of the rise of the third reich, and the piece has a tension and an uneasiness that sets it apart from other musicals.

This production seems remarkably well cast. Snelgrove's husky voice is perfect for suggesting the jaded Sally's vulnerablity beneath her blasé exterior. When singing she is deeply emotive and expressive, qualities that tend, however, to be lost in her spoken lines. Abi Charters' portrayal of the aging landlady Fraulein Schneider was also superbly sensitive and subtle. The cast is generally very talented, but they tend to get swamped at times by the scale of what they are attempting.

The production does have moments of superb coherence, and these justify its faults. The first unaccompanied rendition of Tomorrow Belongs to Me is a moment of great poignancy, embodying all the disaffection and nostalgia for the greatness of Germany that made the Nazi movement so universally powerful. Two Ladies has the requisite combination of enthusiasm and irony; here Andy Mitchell comes into his own as the unsettling, ambiguous figure of the 'MC'. Snelgrove's Cabaret is also superlative; she manages to embody all the complexity of her character in the defiance of the song; it brought the audience to its feet on the first night, and will no doubt continue to do so over the next four. On a simple level, Cabaret is high entertainment value, an excellent, gripping work that is generally well acted and well executed.

Catriona Ward , 30 / 1 / 01