I have to admit, the Sam Mendes/Rob Marshall revival of Cabaret is one of those shows I just wasn't on the same page as others about. When I first saw it (well after Natasha Richardson and Alan Cumming, both Tony winners, had left), I found it too cynical and more than a little smutty. The glorious music created by John Kander and Fred Ebb seemed like a backdrop to a lot of inventively conceived but ultimately trivial business, and Bob Fosse's extraordinary 1972 film seemed like the final word in terms of its potent statements about WWII Berlin.
But the show has something now it didn't have before: Matt McGrath. A wonderful stage actor, McGrath has stepped into the role of Emcee and gives it a new life. Still, I'm pretty much in agreement with my former opinion, firmly believing the show is widely overrated (just as I think Mendes' Oscar-winning "American Beauty" is), and fails to capitalize on some of its better intentions.
But back to McGrath, who gives a generous, expertly-timed performance here. Unlike his predecessors, he seems less concerned with grotesquery than with subtly inviting you in. He sings and dances with ease (just as he did in his remarkable stint in Hedwig And The Angry Inch last year, and he was arguably even better than John Cameron Mitchell in it in many ways), but what puts his portrayal over is his cleverness. Most actors in this role tend to overstress certain aspects of it, especially in the second act, when Sally Bowles (Lea Thompson at my performance, Katie Finneran to step in this week), Cliff Bradshaw (a weak Michael Hayden), Herr Schultz and Fraulein Schneider (Dick Latessa and Carole Shelley, both touching) all fall prey to the Nazi regime. The denouement is far more impactful in McGrath's hands because he slowly guides you to its conclusion, rather than telegraphing it for cheap sentiment.
