Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Playhouse Theatre

 Last summer,I  booked to see Cabaret, starring Eddie Redmayne as the Emmcee, Jessie Buckley as Sally Bowles,and Omari Douglas as Clifford Bradshaw.  That was a long time ago, when nothing seemed certain, and making any kind of booking felt light offering a hostage to fortune. It  crept up on me a little, and had I known ahead of time it was going to fall just as our government moved to an 'ignore it and  it will go away' policy on Covid, I might not have chosen this week, but such is life...  

The theatre has been completely reconfigured inside, there's now a central, circular stage, with seating behind as well as in front  of the stage, creating the feel of a club. In addition, the first few rows of the stalls have been replaced with cafe style tables. There are art-deco style, monocled masks on the walls (I can't remember from my previous visits, I think they are covering up the Roman style Ox skulls that used to be there) - it's very thorough.

The booking e-mail sending tickets also gives you an entry time, encouraging everyone to arrive early to allow time to visit the bars and pre-show entertainment. My entry point was the stage door (who knows how the actors get in!)  so one goes in to a rather utilitarian corridor, to the first of the bars,(and a complimentary shot of schnapps (or a bottle of lager or water) where a live pianist played,

On the main level, the second bar, in decadent white and gold, murals on the walls (destined, no doubt, were we truly in Wiemar Germany, to be condemned in the near future as degenerate art)  with dancers on a platform over the bar, live musicians, as well as a champagne bar.

And all this before you get to your seat!

Then - the show itself.

It's good. Very good. 

Eddie Redmayne is superb as The Emcee - almost clownish in the opening number, (sporting a fetching little party hat) and gradually becoming much darker, and colder, as the show continues, including an angel of war or death for 'Money Money Money', moving to a more conventional, if grimmer, appearance towards the end of the show.

Jessie Buckley didn't appear at the performance I saw, the Sally Bowles role was played by her understudy, Sally Firth (according to her mum, who I bumped into in the foyer during the interval, it was the first time she'd appeared in the role) 

The rest of the cast is very strong - Ellliot Levey and Lisa Sadovy, Her Shultz and Fraulein Schneider were particularly strong, and Omaro Douglas as Bradshaw was also excellent.

Booking information here, (the cast is changing from the end of March, Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley are leaving)  but I think that the production is good enough that it will be  well worth seeing even without them!

There are some photos of the show here, and of the redesign of the theatre here