CityLife

Riotous Cabaret is back in town

JAZZ HANDS: Henry Luxemberg as Cliff and Samantha Barks as Sally

IT’S hard to imagine that anyone these days who wanted to pen a top Broadway musical would opt for the improbable mix of delirious decadence, homosexuality, the rise of Nazism and some catchy tunes that is Cabaret.

Nonetheless, that’s what the writing partnership of John Kander and Fred Ebb produced for Hal Prince back in the mid-Sixties.

Improbable mix or not, it proved enormously successful and became even more popular after it was turned into an Oscar-winning film with Liza Minnelli, in 1972.

The touring version of the show that comes to The Lowry on Monday was originally produced by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and is now under the wing of Bill Kenwright.

He’s a canny operator is Bill and, quite rightly, he hasn’t allowed our lukewarm response to the show when it was last here – at the Palace in October last year – to deter him from continuing to welcome customers into this cleverly-designed new version of the Kit Kat Club.

Sally Bowles

Back then, I took exception with the production’s Sally Bowles, played by I’d Do Anything finalist Samantha Barks, arguing that, despite her obvious abilities, she seemed to ‘lack the experience to make Sally, with all her insecurities and selfishness but deluded belief in her own talent, come alive’.

Since those harsh words, Samantha will almost certainly have endured the sort of experiences on tour that might well give her performance a great deal more depth.

Even if not, there’s always the ever-popular effort to shock with onstage nudity as well as what even a hardened old critic like myself conceded were the show’s ‘commendably spirited stabs at debauchery’.

Cabaret is at The Lowry from Monday, June 23 until Saturday, June 27. 7.30pm (matinees on Wed/Sat). £20 - £32.50. Call 0870 787 5780.