Review: Cabaret at the KitKat Club

Total Theatre with a message for our times

The KitKat Club at The Playhouse

⭑⭑⭑⭑

Hannah Dodd, Rob Madge & the company of Cabaret at the KitKat Club. Photo: Marc Brenner

It’s taken me four years to get round to seeing Cabaret at the KitKat Club, the venue formerly known as The Playhouse. The original stars of Rebecca Frecknall‘s production, Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley, have long gone, and indeed many other pairs have played The Emcee and Sally Bowles in the intervening years. Even Rob Madge and Hannah Dodd, whom I saw, have now moved on. But Cabaret at the KitKat Club remains the best show in London’s West End, and should be seen by anyone who loves musical theatre. Having said that, in my opinion, it’s not the best production of Cabaret ever.

Rebecca Frecknall isn’t the first director to come up with the idea of turning the whole theatre into the KitKat Club, that being the name of the venue where the cabaret part of the musical takes place. I saw a production in Berlin back in 2018 that did just that. And most famously, and possibly the first to do it, was Sam Mendes‘ production at the Donmar Warehouse back in 1993. But I doubt anyone has done it with such complete dedication and thoroughness as Ms Frecknall.

You, the audience, are invited to get to the theatre an hour or more before the show begins. Even the outside of the old Playhouse has been rebranded the KitKat Club. You enter through the Stage Door, and go straight into the basement. Normally the secret home of dressing rooms, the main corridor has been changed into a bar area with subdued lighting and performers playing music and generally standing around looking degenerate. significantly, the signage is in English and German. Oh, and you’re offered a free shot of Schnapps. So, from the start, you are immersed in the decadence of Berlin’s hedonistic nightlife.

Then, it’s up the stairs to another bar where sexily clad dancers and musicians of indeterminate genders entertain in the sultry style of the Jazz Age. And so into the main house. The first shock is that the seating and layout of the old Playhouse has been completely ripped out. Instead of a proscenium arch stage and straight rows of seats, the circular stage area is in the middle of the auditorium with the audience on two sides, traverse style. Tables and chairs are in the immediate areas on either side of the stage. These are very expensive by the way, and have given the show its reputation for being high priced. Beyond them are much more reasonably priced rows of seats, which are curved thus adding to the feeling of intimacy.

My row, which was G about six from the front, had a great rake, fantastic legroom and even a shelf for drinks. There are similarities with the Mendes production- it too utilised a small bare stage with some of the audience sitting at tables in front of it but in this production, we are all in the KitKat Club circa 1929. This is total theatre that couldn’t be anything but a live show. Special credit here to Tom Scutt‘s set and costume design.

The dance and music continues as we wait for the show to begin. Our Emcee tonight is Rob Madge, who is fabulous as a threatening clown. It’s a part that can be played more sympathetically but Rebecca Frecknall chooses to go with the ‘leave your troubles outside’ cue and makes him lascivious, waspish, amoral and apolitical. So when he sings I Don’t Care Much in the second act, a song you won’t recognise if you only know the movie, there is no bravado, no irony, he really doesn’t seem to care.

Interestingly when Hal Prince first put together the musical in 1966, the Emcee was there to hold the show together but was not considered a major character. Joel Grey- and the audiences- changed all that. Now he is the conduit between us and the stories. And because he is our guide, and this is theatre, where the relationship between each other and with those on stage is uniquely intense, we are carried along by the fun of the cabaret, and become onlookers at the world outside the club.

That’s where we meet the gay, or maybe bi-sexual, American journalist Cliff – a sensitive performance from Daniel Bowerbank when I saw it- who becomes friendly with a Nazi called Ernst and a nightclub singer called Sally Bowles with whom he falls in love. More of her in moment, but first the other love story. Cliff’s landlady Fraulein Schneider falls in love with a Jewish fruiterer called Herr Schultz. It is a delicate romance between two lonely people in their autumn years, touchingly conveyed by Vivien Parry and Fenton Gray. Their songs It Couldn’t Please Me More and What Would You Do tighten the chest. As Act One ends, their relationship is broken up by the Nazis.

All this is taking place on the same bare stage that is the focal point of the KitKat Club. So we can quickly switch to cabaret songs which are a commentary on the stories: The Emcee sings and performs Two Ladies, parodying Cliff’s bisexuality. We hear the strirringTomorrow Belongs To Me quite early on, showing the apparently innocent but faintly sinister appeal of patriotism, that will drive the Nazi campaign. And If You Could See Her (the gorilla song) exposing the way the Nazis portray the Jews as sub-human.

The score is one of the best of all musicals with its evocation of the period, its exposition of character and plot, and its commentary on the action. There are so many great songs but two of the best are sung by Sally Bowles. I wasn’t sure about the jolly hockey sticks voice adopted by Hannah Dodd. Possibly Sally is meant to be putting on an act of speaking like the high society of the period, or perhaps she is simply a product of a 1920s finishing school. Anyway, Ms Dodd came into her own with the songs. Maybe This Time, first performed in the 1972 movie but now an integral part of the stage show, shows how on the edge Sally is. Desperate for love but also desperate to be something this naive English girl really isn’t- a hedonistic showbiz star. Her life is an vitreous act that could shatter at any moment, as it eventually does.

By the time, we reach the climactic singing of Cabaret, she has fallen apart, and hardly believes the sentiment of her late debauched friend Elsie that life is or should be a cabaret. She sees the mess of her own life and the way her idealised Berlin is succumbing to a sinister political group that won’t ‘live and let live’. The song is sung with anger and despair, not at all like the defiant Lisa Minelli version.

The second act sees the greatest divergence from the Sam Mendes production. In the earlier version, the KitKat Club carries on in its own blinkered way to the end, ignoring or mocking the Nazis until it is destroyed by them, in a shattering finale. In Rebecca Frecknall’s interpretation, the Nazi style gradually infiltrates the club. The costumes become bland, sandy coloured suits reflecting the Nazi uniform of brown shirts. We continue to be entertained but now, looked at objectively, we’re applauding or at least being complicit in the rise of the Nazis.

Either way works, and although I prefer the shock of Sam Mendes’ approach, the result is the same- a stark warning by the writer of the musical’s book Joe Masteroff and its composers John Kander and Fred Ebb against standing by and ignoring the rise of racist, authoritarian politicians under a banner of patriotism.

You leave having witnessed an evening of theatrical entertainment unequalled in the West End today, while this regime was being constructed round you. Point made.

If you would like a flavour of the Sam Mendes production, there is a slightly blurry film of it, made for television, and available on YouTube.

Paul paid for his ticket.

Click here to watch this review on the YouTube channel Theatre Reviews With Paul Seven

July 30, 2025July 30, 2025

Review: Ruth Wilson & Michael Shannon in A Moon For The Misbegotten

A long evening lit up by Ruth Wilson

Almeida Theatre

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Ruth Wilson & Michael Shannon in A Moon For The Misbegotten. Photo: Marc Brenner

I admit there were moments when I thought Eugene O’Neill’s A Moon For The Misbegotten could hurry I up a bit but I came to appreciate this is a play where every word- and the unspoken words- count, and I appreciated the way that director Rebecca Frecknall deliberately made space to let this time bomb of a play achieve its impact.

It’s a kind of sequel , or perhaps an epilogue, to A Long Day’s Journey Into Night. It features Jamie Tyrone, one of the sons from that play, now known as Jim, and refers to his late mother and father. He is landlord to Josie Hogan and her father Phil. He seems benign but Phil fears he will sell their farm, so hatches a plot by which Josie will seduce Jim and he will be forced to marry her. Which is ironic because they do actually desire one another.

At first Josie comes across as a confident, independent woman, able to handle herself and the men around her, including her cynical, mean father. Playing the part is Ruth Wilson, at first swaggering and fearless, striding confidently and literally wielding a big stick. But from the beginning we sense a brittleness behind the bravado. We also see she is selfless, and, as the play progresses, this aspect of her character manifests itself in her approach to Jim and Phil. The gradual cracking of the shell she has built around herself is shown by Ms Wilson in multiple small ways. She becomes increasingly tender, as she admits the truth about herself and sees the reality of others It could be the acting performance of the year.

Michael Shannon’s Jim, an alcoholic, is clearly a broken man but a gentle one who seems to be drowning his sorrows not only in booze but in casual encounters with women. His falsetto laugh and sad face hint there is more to him than a drunken womaniser, and his deliberate movements are not only those of a bourbon-soaked body but also of a man who hates his own being. As he moves from destructive self hate to a kind of temporary redemption, a calm takes over his body.

Ruth Wilson & David Threlfall in A Moon For The Misbegotten. Photo: Marc Brenner

What emerges over the length of the play is a gradual peeling off of the images Josie and Jim project to cover their insecurity and the discovery of the reasons they feel vulnerable, which are very much tied up with their parents- hence the ‘misbegotten’ of the title.

There are wrong assumptions and misunderstandings, especially over what they actually desire, and many moments in which there are two steps forward and one step backward, before a finale when their true feelings are laid bare. I called it a bomb earlier but I don’t want to imply the end is explosive- it’s softer and more moving than that, but there are some dramatic incidents on the way.

Rebecca Frecknall’s slow unwinding of the play would not be so mesmerising without actors of the calibre of Ruth Wilson and Michael Shannon, not to mention the inimitable David Threlfall, who totally convinces as a wily old farmer whose twinkling eyes betray his love for his daughter.

Tom Scutt’s circular set, made of battered wood conveys the poverty of the farm business. Jack Knowles’ lighting design centres on a moving spot high up at the back of the stage which moves its beam across the scene and the characters. It powerfully represents a moon which witnesses and encourages their revelations.

Maybe O’Neill could have written a shorter play, but I wouldn’t want to mess in any way with this perfect production.

A Moon For The Misbegotten can be seen at the Almeida Theatre until 16 August 2025. Buy tickets direct from the theatre.

Paul paid for his ticket.

Watch this review on YouTube

Read a roundup of other critics’ reviews here

September 24, 2024June 5, 2025

Fiddler On The Roof – Open Air Theatre – Review

Revival brings fresh life to classic musical

★★★★★

Actor Adam Dannheisser walks through wheat field in a scene from Fiddler on The Roof at the Open Aitr Theatre — Adam Dannheisser in Fiddler On The Roof. Photo: Marc Brenner

Fiddler On The Roof opened on Broadway in 1964, and became the first Broadway musical to pass 3000 performances. Since then there have been tens of thousands of productions: there are said to be 500 amateur productions a year in the USA alone. Proof, if needed, that this story of a small Jewish Community in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century is an audience favourite, all over the world and across all races and faiths. But why does it touch so many hearts? And what is so special about this latest iteration at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre?

Fiddler On The Roof is built around the story of a milkman called Tevye and his conflicts with his daughters over who they should marry. If you haven’t seen Fiddler, or maybe even if you have, you might have the impression that this is all it’s about- a comedy in which Tevye talks to the audience, talks to God and even talks to the violin player about his dilemmas. The idea that it is a light-hearted musical has been reinforced by the cheeriness of the most famous Tevye, Chaim Topol, and the way all the best tunes are loaded in the first half.

We move through Tradition, Matchmaker and If I Were A Rich Man, almost while people are still taking their seats; Sunrise, Sunset follows rapidly, then The Dream which is performed hilariously in this production by all the cast dressed in white acting out Tevye’s apparent nightmare, and, at the climax of act one, the great Bottle Dance, based on Jerome Robbins’ original idea but in this production excitingly choreographed by Julia Cheng, best known until now for her work on the current hit production of Cabaret. All these most familiar moments are gone by the time you claim your interval drink. Which is not to say there aren’t some good numbers in the second act.

I don’t want to talk too much about the second half, in case you haven’t seen Fiddler, but it becomes much clearer that what the first act was setting us up for is the need to compromise our traditions as the world changes, wherever we live, whatever the time, and whatever our own age. And that this will help us face adversity, and not give in to despair. And while this is a positive message in this sometimes depressing world, it comes against a dark backdrop of a small impoverished Russian Jewish Community in 1905, living in relative poverty and threatened by antisemitism. That it still packs a punch today is a credit to the writer of the book Joseph Stein, the lyricist Sheldon Harnick and of course composer Jerry Bock who combined a traditional east European sound with modern music to make unforgettable show tunes.

I was a bit worried when I realised the director was Jordan Fein who was responsible for the downbeat version of Oklahoma! at the Young Vic. I do realise there is a dark undercurrent in Oklahoma! but I felt his gloomy treatment sucked all the joy out of the musical. But here, his ability to see the dark side of a musical is tempered by a lightness of touch, and the heavier theme is handled with sobriety rather than despair. He doesn’t labour the destruction of the community nor the modern parallels, any more than the musical itself does, but he doesn’t skate over them either, as previous productions have tended to do. You could say he has succeeded in balancing the traditional view of Fiddler with a modern sensibility.

The set of Fiddler On The Roof at the Open Air Theatre — Fiddler On The Roof at the Open Air Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner

Tom Scutt’s design is extraordinary. The costumes feel authentic, all loose simple clothes, that look handmade. The irony is not lost that The Open Air Theatre is the only major London theatre without a roof, but he has created a roof across the stage that looks like a wheat field, symbolising the way the community live off the land. It acts as the village’s protection, yet seems ready to crush them like a Venus Flytrap. The roof dominates but never distracts and it’s high up on that roof that the fiddler is first seen and heard. Raphael Papo is the talented violinist.

Adam Dannheisser banishes all thoughts of Topol

The choice of Adam Dannheisser to play Tevye is inspired. He has a great ability to convey his attempts to reconcile the previous way of matchmaking and the new way of marrying for love. His commanding physical stature helps him seem like an authoritative father figure, but this is accompanied by a world weariness, an uncertainty and a benign quality, expressed through his gentle eyes and gestures. Strong on the outside, soft on the inside, he articulates the inner conflict he feels in trying to reconcile tradition and the modern world. It’s an eternal conflict that audiences identify with.

It seems invidious to pick out other members of the universally excellent cast but I have to bring attention to Lara Pulver as Golde, who provides a strong willed wife for Tevye and has an superb singing voice, best illustrated in the bittersweet duet Do You Love Me?

All the daughters sing and act beautifully. The oldest daughter Tzeitel is played by Liv Andrusier with chutzpah. Dan Wolff is a suitably shy and awkward as her choice of husband Motel. Daniel Krikler is the passionate radical Perchik who wants to marry another strong-minded daughter Hodel, played by Georgia Bruce. Hannah Bristow is the bookish daughter Chava who falls in love with Fyedka, played by George Milne. Comedy is provided by Beverley Klein as the matchmaker Yente, and Michael S Siegel as the miserable butcher Lazar Wolf.

It’s a production that perfectly balances the humorous and the serious.

Fiddler On The Roof was at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until 28 September 2024. It transferred to the Barbican 24 May —Sat 19 Jul 2025 prior to a UK tour

Paul paid for his own ticket

Here is the link to Paul’s roundup of other critics’ reviews of both the Open Air and Barbican versions

Click here to watch this review on the YouTube channel Theatre Reviews With Paul Seven