Show Reviews: Cabaret

For years my only knowledge of Cabaret came from the weird Lisa Minelli film which I didn't really like.   Then I saw half of it in the theatre volunteering for the Red Cross, and I really enjoyed what I saw.   It was happier and less weird and perverted than the film.   So when it came back to Edinburgh I was eager to go and see it properly.   I'm very glad I did.   It was great!   It's set in Berlin at the outbreak of World War II and features a host of colourful characters.   Most of the action centres around a Cabaret where Sally, the female protagonist, is a performer.   She was very ably played by Siobhan Dillon whose warm performance made me totally fall in love with her.   The real star of the show, though, is the narrator, with masses of stage presence, plenty of quirks and great songs, played by - wait for it - Will Young!   I remember him as a pretty wet singer off Pop Idol, not a creative and powerful performer.   The title song was very well done too.   I'd only ever heard it sung as a joyful, confident song, but in this production it was done more timidly, and a little manically.   A more fragile performance, which I think was much more appropriate, considering that Sally has just had an abortion when she sang it.   The real power of the show though, comes towards the end, with the rise of Nazism and the lives of the charactes being torn apart.   I cried my eyes out.   Well worth seeing!