Cabaret
A local university has an excellent arts center and they have a yearly schedule of performances. This is where I saw Liza a couple years ago and Chita Rivera just last week (who was simply stupendous though the show was way too short). Yesterday I saw Cabaret there.
It was very interesting to see the difference between the stage version and the movie. The show was more grim, less focused on Sally Bowles and the 'alternative sexuality' much more blatant than it was in the movie. It seemed like almost everyone barring a couple characters were bi. (This led me to quickly research homosexuality in the Weimar Republic and it seems Berlin was the gay capitol of Germany with one site stating 1920s Berlin had more gay publications and bars than 1980s New York.)
One thing I had a small problem with was the portrayal of Sally Bowles. I don't know if that was how she was written in the script, the director's vision, the actress' interpretation or some combination of the above but she was too over the top. The Master of Ceremonies (who did a fantastic job) is supposed to be outrageous. That's his job as the MC of the Kit Kat Klub. But I always considered Sally to be a tragic figure, so obsessed with fun and fame she ignores the chance for love and happiness while the Nazis are about to destroy everything. She's Nero fiddling while Rome burns. In this production though I felt like half the time I was watching Sally Bowles and the other half Nora Desmond.
All in all, very good and I'm very glad I went.
It was very interesting to see the difference between the stage version and the movie. The show was more grim, less focused on Sally Bowles and the 'alternative sexuality' much more blatant than it was in the movie. It seemed like almost everyone barring a couple characters were bi. (This led me to quickly research homosexuality in the Weimar Republic and it seems Berlin was the gay capitol of Germany with one site stating 1920s Berlin had more gay publications and bars than 1980s New York.)
One thing I had a small problem with was the portrayal of Sally Bowles. I don't know if that was how she was written in the script, the director's vision, the actress' interpretation or some combination of the above but she was too over the top. The Master of Ceremonies (who did a fantastic job) is supposed to be outrageous. That's his job as the MC of the Kit Kat Klub. But I always considered Sally to be a tragic figure, so obsessed with fun and fame she ignores the chance for love and happiness while the Nazis are about to destroy everything. She's Nero fiddling while Rome burns. In this production though I felt like half the time I was watching Sally Bowles and the other half Nora Desmond.
All in all, very good and I'm very glad I went.