Toheeb Jimoh as Romeo and Isis Hainsworth as Juliet in the Almeida Theater’s new production of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Credit: Marc Brenner
...this production from Rebecca Frecknall — the buzzy British director whose shows tend to scoop up Olivier awards — treats the often overly familiar play as if it were entirely fresh, and the result is astonishing.
...Her “Romeo and Juliet,” performed without an intermission, begins with the cast clawing feverishly at a stage wall, onto which are projected crucial lines from the prologue. But as if in haste to get straight to the meat of the play, the wall soon collapses to reveal the citizenry of Verona mid-combat. Danger, you feel from the start, is the default mode of a contemporary-seeming milieu amid which Juliet is described by her father as “a stranger in the world.” That is perhaps because she hasn’t yet experienced life’s abrasions; such an awareness will come — and how — with time.
...It’s fascinating, too, to see the balcony scene reconfigured so that Romeo is perched atop a ladder addressing Juliet center-stage, flipping the play’s iconic imagery.
14 years have passed since that wonderful show (Red a play by John Logan, Michael Grandage director). Today Ken and Rothko meet at the Drama League Awards!!
The Shape Shifter is back, guided by his director’s vision
This stunning new image in the 3/27/24 New York Times is part of a well-deserved profile of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club director Rebecca Frecknall and how she has not only breathed new life into the Kander-Ebb musical but everything she’s touched. Eddie Redmayne made a brilliant choice in drawing her into the revival in London, opening Monday on Broadway. [Photo by Amir Hamja/NYT]
'Cabaret' Revival is an Expressionistic, Hypnotic, Smashing Must-See
Run to this revival and ignore the misguided critics who missed whole swaths of director Rebecca Frechnall's vision. It' spectacular.
Eddie Redmayne and the company of Cabaret (Marc Brenner)
Rebecca Frecknall’s darkly spirited and remarkable revival of the amazing John Kander and Fred Ebb musical Cabaret, haunts as it moves with frenzy toward increasingly frightening revelations filled with understated, metaphoric violence. With book by Joe Masteroff, Julia Cheng’s choreography, and Tom Scutt’s breathtaking scenic, theater and…
Broadway's Latest Revival of Cabaret Circles Berlin Triumphantly
#frontmezzjunkies reviews:
#Cabaretmusical
@kitkatclubnyc
#KanderAndEbb
#JoeMasteroff
d: #RebeccaFrecknall
w/ #EddieRedmayne
#GayleRankin
#AtoBlanksonWood
#HenryGottfried
#StevenSkybell
and the astonishing #BebeNeuwirth
#Cabaret at the #KitKatClubnyc
Eddie Redmayne (center) and the cast of CABARET at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre. Photo by Marc Brenner.
The Broadway Theatre Review: Broadway’s Cabaret
By Ross
“Welcome to Berlin,” we are told, and quite accurately in this deliciously baked wedding cake revival of this iconic musical. Expertly with invention, director Rebecca Frecknall (NYTW’s Sanctuary City) has crafted…
Weil man Cabaret ja gar nicht oft genug anschauen kann (hier ist eine schon recht alte Zusammenfassung, warum, in der wir propheziehen, daß gerade wieder jemand ein radikal neues Konzept entwickelt. Hat jetzt doch etwas länger gedauert) mussten wir natürlich als unbestrittenen Höhepunkt der Theaterwoche die vielgepriesene und großzügig mit Olivierawards überschüttete, verspielt-versponnene Inszenierung im mit Animiermädchen satt und akustischer 30er-/Technoband komplett zum Kit-Cat-Klub umdefinierten Playhouse anschauen. Selbst die Eintrittspreise tragen zum Gefühl bei, man begebe sich angesichts der herrschenden Weltuntergangsstimmung noch letztmals auf eine besondes dekadete Klubparty. Leave your troubles outside. Auf der schlicht wirkenden, aber doch recht komplexen zentralen Drehbühne, die sich auch zu einem schönen Podest für den Emcee in Gestalt des seine It’s a Sin-Schnuffeligkeit komplett abgelegt habenden, grandiosen Callum Scott Howells (oder auch die Ananas) verwandeln kann, um die das Publikum, wie es sich gehört, an Tischchen sitzt und Champagner schlürft, regiert dieser aufs schauerlichste einmal mehr über das Drama um den leidlich vernünftigen Clfford, die unvernünftige, ewig erfolglose Möchtegern-femme-fatale Sally Bowles, den optimistischen Herrn Schulz und Fräulein Schneider, die als einzige übrig bleiben wird, weil das immer so ist. Was würden Sie denn machen? Es ist vergnüglicher, als es schon war, fabelhaftes Gesamtkunstwerk und mit einem besonders schönen Gorilla.
Nach dem letzten grossen Revival des Kander/Ebb-Klassikers “Cabaret” von Sam Mendes 1993 im Westend und 2013 am Broadway ist nun seit 2021 das fulminante Revival “Cabaret at the KitKat-Club” im Londoner Playhouse Theatre zu sehen – grossartig!
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It's been a second since I've used this tag, huh? XD
Truth be told, it's been a second since I've even THOUGHT about C4TM because I'd had [insert word that's appropriate for this context]'s block-
But recently, and I don't know if you all have noticed (/silly), I've been getting into the musical Cabaret and especially the Rebecca Frecknall-directed productions which are staged in the round.
...and that's when it hit me.
In the round!!!
C4TM should be staged in the round, and not end-on/proscenium arch staging I was originally thinking of!!
Or in other words: C4TM should just be more like Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club! 🤣
Envisioning the show in the round has actually been super helpful in helping me imagine ideas in the musical, so more script thingies like I did for Haiku and Spring and a Storm may be coming soon! 💖💖💖
An insightful look at the Broadway-bound production of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club from Vogue, including interviews and photos with Eddie Redmayne + Gayle Rankin and behind-the-scenes glimpses from creatives Rebecca Frecknall (director) + Tom Scutt (theater/set/costume designer) on creating the production + on its London-to-NYC journey.
[Photos: Julien Martinez Leclerc Stylist: Harry Lambert]