Cabaret

The Kit Kat Club, Cabaret at Playhouse Theatre

It is no secret that the revival of Cabaret, directed by Rebecca Frecknall, has been a riotous success. Receiving seven Olivier Awards and travelling from the West End to Broadway 2024. My expectations were high before arriving, but despite the hype, it did not disappoint.

Cabaret is based on the 1939 novel by Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin. It follows the story of the vivacious socialite and cabaret performer Sally Bowels, Katherine Langford and the struggling American writer Clifford Bradshaw, Daniel Bowerbank. We are presented with the kitsch lustre of 1930s Berlin as it teeters on the rise of Nazism. The Kit Kat Club offers a raunchy escape to the turning tides outside its walls.

The lure and seduction of the Kit Kat Club happens before the musical begins. On entering the venue, dancers and musicians are waiting around corners to entertain and delight. The venue is a cavernous maze with scintillating performances beckoning you deeper inside.

We are presented with an image of a Willkommen-ing Berlin where, no matter who you are or where you are from, you will not be judged. This, of course, by the end of the musical, could not be further from the truth. This is not a musical about liberation and acceptance; it is about survival and self-preservation. There is an understanding that in the depravity, there is no judgement, everyone is doing what they must do to survive; as the song goes- 'Money Makes the World Go Around.' And it is true that money is one of the hinges around which the characters' morals bend.

Emcee, Adam Gillen, has a performance that is reminiscent of Ariel from The Tempest or Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream. He playful flits in and out, always on the edge of danger and mischief. Contorting his face in ghoulish forms, then flicking into an unerring joviality. The lighting, Isabella Byrd, masterfully highlights the grotesque figures pulled by the Emcee.

Fraulein Schnider, Sally Ann Trippet, alongside Herr Scholtz, Fenton Grey, fill this production with soul. It is them we are drawn to rather than Sally and Clifford. Their performances masterly morph from farce to tender and innocent romance to abandonment. They weave through the musical with precision and gravity.

The stage is the epicentre, with seats circling it and musicians held aloft on either side.  The set design, Tom Scutt, is sparse and leans heavily on props, which enhances the depraved and poor state of Clifford's life. The costume design, also by Scutt, begins with pique bohemian provocation, which is starkly contrasted by the militaristic uniforms in which the musical ends.

The choreography, Julia Cheng, and dancers are the stars of this musical, without them the night would be an empty shell of rattling actors. They lace the performance together and cinch it tight, from the very moment we walk into the Kit Kat Club.  

The choice to have this musical now seems all too pressing as the rise of the right sweeps across the globe, we are reminded that almost a century ago people were dismissing the actions then as a passing phase. What starts off as a fun and seedy frolic abruptly tumbles into the separatist fears and self-preservation of those left. If you have not seen Cabaret, it is worth leaving your room to see the music play.

Notable Names:

Daniel Bowerbank (Clifford Bradshaw)

Rebecca Frecknall (Director)

Adam Gillen (Emcee)

Fenton Gray (Herr Schultz)

Katherine Langford (Sally Bowles)

Tom Scutt (Set and Costume Design)

Julia Cheng (Choreography)

Sally Ann Triplett (Fraulein Schneider)

Cabaret Venue:

Kit Kat Club

Playhouse Theatre

Northumberland Avenue

London

WC2N 5 DE

Dates: 

Currently booking until 4th October, 2025

Cabaret Running Time:

2 hour and 45 minutes including a 20 minute interval