Life is a you-know-what, old chum
When it comes to musicals, we have a very definite top 5. In no particular order they are: Oliver!, Sweeney Todd, Chicago, Evita and, of course, Cabaret.
Based on Christopher Isherwood’s autobiographical writings of his time living amidst the divine decadence of Berlin before the war, the songs are sublime – Mein Herr, Maybe This Time, Money – the characters bizarre and delicious while the main challenge is how do you make your mark on parts made famous and flawless in the movie version by Liza Minnelli and Joel Gray? Many have tried, few have succeeded, though Gina Gershon from Showgirls playing Sally Bowles as English opposite Alan Cummings in Studio 54 in New York, where they actually came and sat on your table to do the numbers, was hard to knock.
And it’s back with the tantalizing Eddie Redmayne as The Emcee and Jessie Buckley, who showed she has what it takes in the West End production of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, as Sally Bowles. It’s coming to The Kit Kat Club, the name of the location in Berlin, which still operates as a sex club to this day, re-imagined in London’s glittering Shaftesbury Avenue and we suggest you start sleeping out (or sleeping about) for tickets as they will make sales of hot cakes look decidedly sluggish.
From November 15, The Playhouse Theatre, London W1, theplayhousetheatre.co.uk. Head to kitkat.club to register. Tickets on general release this Friday, July 22.
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