Cabaret

Cabaret, Lyric Theatre, 2006

Cast: Anna Maxwell Martin, James Dreyfus, Sheila Hancock, Michael Hayden, Geoffrey Hutchings, Harriet Thorpe, Andrew Maud, Christopher Akrill, Rebecca Bainbridge, Alastair Brookshaw, Michael Camp, Josephine Carvill-Mills, Kaisa Hammarlund, Alexandra James, Jack Jefferson, Benny Maslov, Jason Rowe, Rebecca Sutherland, Clemmie Sveass, 

Book: Joe Masteroff

Composer & Lyricist: John Kander & Fred Ebb

Director: Rufus Norris

An absolute classic but the first time I was saw it was an amateur production in Cambridge in which someone I was trying to woo had a role. Actually I saw a bit of it before when the drama group in the village I grew up in included Money, Money from  the film (Elaine Haynes doing her best Liza Minelli). So this must have been the first time I saw a professional version of it. A lot of fuss was made about how it was a bit darker, and I think the fact that Anna Maxwell Martin hadn't sung on stage before played into that, but I expect every production since has got darker still. I prefer it to the film which, despite Liza being absolutely incredible, is a bit uneven, but I'm warming to the film too. Always a pleasure to see this.