Cabaret, part 4, posts starting 10/19/24

Babs12 and I decided on a whirlwind trip to see Adam in Caberet at the Kit Kat Club. The first leg of my trip from ”you really can’t go anywhere easily from here” Idaho was to Louisville, where Babs12 once again offered her outstanding hospitality. Then we flew into LaGuardia (which is no longer the dungeon it once was) to stay at 45 Times Square, a more European style boutique hotel . (It’s going to cost around $75 each way for transportation, unless you are more comfortable with buses and subways and schlepping luggage, than we are.)

I got it in my head that we should “dress” for the occasion in circa 1930’s attire in keeping with the era of the play and Halloween. A thorough search of eBay and Etsy ensued for vintage hats and other appropriate accessories. (In my next life, I’m coming back as a milliner, as my love of hats combined with a low budget caused hours of delightful searching.) Babs12 wore a black unstructured jacket with lots of gold stitching and a black crocheted cloche hat with gold trim and rhinestone clip—plus one of her mother’s vintage gold hat pins. My ensemble consisted of a vintage Pendleton black/green//blue houndstooth plaid blazer with padded shoulders—which I already owned, a silver Bob wig, and and a dark green circular woven hat with short veil and a tiny bird, and a blue ribbon necktie. I bring up the look of our “fits” because we got a call from backstage observers on a phone from the table in front of us that we looked “fabulous” in our themed outfits. Nice to be noticed, but most people did not dress for the occasion—a few dressed as characters from the play. Also because of our looks or decrepitude, we were brought in through a different stage door, not the normal one. One sits in a lower level bar area entertained by dancers and period music pre-show. There are a few benches around the room for those who had hiked from their hotels.

A 3oz pour of wine cost $17, an 8 oz cost $27 purchased during the pre-show. We did not opt for the Moët and Chandon half bottle of champagne and charcuterie snack plate at $95.

Having been to Broadway plays with regular seating in steep orchestra and balcony seats, the theatre in the round staging provided a more intimate atmosphere. For those of us accustomed to arena seating for Queen plus Adam, it was startling to see how close the stage was-we were in row D orchestra West behind the mini-tables in the “center,” if you can call it that. The D row is designated for wheelchair seating on the seat geek models, but it was 4th row orchestra. The cast seemed to play to our side of the stage, or they are just great at playing to all sides, but we felt we had great Adam-centric seats. There is a special excitement whenever Adam is on stage especially for his entrances and songs. The stage has a center lift portion which can be raised or lowered. Adam’s emcee is fascinating with both broad and nuanced details. His voice is sublime with great breath support so it doesn’t seem like overly projecting, and his enunciation makes the softer parts clear. I’m going to try to describe the overall impression—his voice is so assured and natural and seemingly effortless that his acting seems to flow with it. Sometimes in early days on Glee his acting seemed to be more forced, but here his entire performance is self-assured. Well, that was a miserable attempt at description, but I hope you can catch my drift,

Bebe Neuwirth provides the central, essential depth of character when Adam is not on stage. She and Herr Schultz are veteran actors who embody their parts perfectly. We got the understudy Sally who was very, very good, but seemed to lack chemistry with her love interest. I’m too lazy to get my program to identify these folks because Babs12 and I are so Adam transfixed, we could not absorb everyone else much of the time. Adam’s costumes help with the transformation from spritely to heavily intense as the play progresses. I was surprised by the power of the emotional auras of his portayals throughout. He embodies the essence of his transformations.

As you can tell we loved it. As usual with an Adam experience, you always want more. It was well worth the whirlwind trip.

no, we did not join the crowd waiting to see Adam at the stage door.  Babs12 was game, but I feel as if he has already given so much through his performance I hesitate to “take anymore.  Ymmv, of course.  I didn’t think he needed to hear one more amazing or awesome from me, and I wanted to bask in the theatre afterglow.  I’m weird about things like that, I know.  So, no post-show observations from me,  it was an enthusiastic full house on Tuesday, Oct 29.