YEAR: 1986
CAST: Wayne Sleep, Oscar Masteroff, Peter Land, Rodney Cottam, Grazina Frame, Vivienne Martin, Kelly Hunter
I’ve personally had the misfortune of seeing La Sleep in Cabaret in the flesh. Starring alongside Samantha Barks, the 2008/2009 tour was an absolute disaster. Cheap, nasty and with Sleep clearly waaaaaaay past it, it was an excruciating couple of hours of theatre/my life that I’ll never get back.
So, it’s fair to say that hopes were not high when popping this one in the hi-fi here at Unoriginal Towers. But, astonishingly, it’s not half bad. Certainly not perfect, but actually a decent listen and – even more astoundingly – Wayne Sleep is actually pretty good!
This recording of the 1986 West End revival at the Strand Theatre (now the Novello) is a fairly straightforward take on the work, delivered as a, well, camp musical. I should say at this point that I LOVE the Liza Minnelli vehicle film adaptation – it is one of my favourite movie musicals – and she will always be my Sally Bowles. The character’s American makeover somehow just really works better for me, for one thing. The songs cut – particularly the irritating “Don’t Tell Mama” and the downright boring “Meeskite” – really aren’t missed and the missing song “Mein Herr”, complete with iconic Fosse choreography basically is Cabaret in my eyes.
So given all that, plus my less than happy experience previously (although decent follow up tour starring Will Young did make amends somewhat) I found this recording a very easy listen. The orchestrations are chirpy and on the ‘Money’ (geddit?) and the performances are strong throughout. Olivier nominee Kelly Hunter (original Mistress in Evita) makes a strong Sally, of that classic English poshy variety. Her “Maybe This Time” is one of the key songs on the recording and her performance is worth a listen. It is all pretty straightforward stuff; Sleep is your typical Joel Grey-esque Emcee. His singing is fine and I imagine he was interesting to watch (although he certainly wasn’t some 23 years later when I saw him in the role) but there is nothing original or different about his performance.
I found myself somewhat drifting off mentally in the many Herr Schultz/Fraulein Schneider numbers. Without getting to see their relationship in context of the growing political climate – and the missing dialogue reinforcing this – it all just comes off a bit dull.
Otherwise, the show feels like a musical. It IS a musical, of course. But it feels like one, if that makes sense? It’s all very bouncy and light, if I hadn’t seen the show I wouldn’t get an inkling of the dark underlying subject matter and context. Again, the movie avoids this, and it all feels a bit more sinister. Perhaps when I give more recordings a listen, I’ll encounter a less ‘showy’ take on Cabaret.
The sound quality is good throughout and the mixing/arrangements are all of a good professional standard. I shouldn’t even have to mention something like this, but even some modern cast recordings are dreadful.
Fun show, worth a listen as a fan. But if you’re a fan you’ll know that, seeing as it was released 31 years ago…
Unoriginal Cast Recordings 