[Reviewed at Kit Kat Klub space] Another example: Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz, embarking on a brief romance, sing that awful "Pineapple Song" that Bob Fosse wisely cut from the "Cabaret" movie. How to make that work? Director Mendes lets the Kit Kat Klub intrude, playing on the scene's silliness to show how these middle-aged lovers delude themselves with fantasy. Another example: the emcee doesn't just come out to sing a song or two -- he's our guide into the heart of the era's madness. To show that a brick has been tossed through the window of Schultz's shop, the emcee comes out and simply drops a cement block (with a crash sound effect) at his feet. Yet another example: Sally Bowles is loaded with bravado and moxie but blessed with only mediocre singing talent. Not only does it make more sense that she'd be stuck in a dive like the Kit Kat Klub (as opposed to dazzling but overqualified Liza), her final number is delivered with astonishing desperation, as if she were trying to blast her way out of shell shock. The revival is designed with breathtaking simplicity by Robert Brill and staged with unflagging invention by Mendes. A major event, likely to be studied by musical theater directors for years to come.
"Where are your troubles now? We have no troubles here." When Joel Grey said it in a warmed-over revival of Cabaret ten years ago, the charms of John Kander & Fred Ebb's tuneful classic made it easy to agree with his sly, leering bonhommie. We were in Weimar Germany long enough to hear such hummables as "Money" and "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" but out before experiencing anything more grim than the bust-up of two mildly interesting relationships. However, when the emcee of Sam Mendes' smashing new Cabaret revival sneers at the end, "We have no troubles here," he echoes the words of a Nazi train conductor in the previous scene, who has made clear that the Third Reich would tolerate no protests of any sort. It's a small touch but, like so many in this extraordinary rethinking, one that turns Cabaret from a period piece (the `50s, not the `30s) into the most wrenching, thrilling musical of the season.
