Dakota

Matt and I just saw Cabaret with Meghan at her high school, Queen of Peace in North Arlington. Thoroughly depressed, so at least that means it was effective.

The actor who played the Emcee was - of course - gorgeous. Clearly playing as Alan Cumming, but adorable all the same. Their Sally Bowles was quite amazing. The Kit Kat Girls were racy, but clearly they wanted to be doing more than they were. They were just barely stepping out of the choreography to thrust just that bit more. "I want to grind," they were crying out, "Why won't you let me grind?!"

Very good choreography, particularly in "Mein Herr," and "Money." Also, "Maybe This Time" was extremely powerful. The title song was disappointing, only because the actress didn't seem appropriately complicated til the very end, but she was otherwise great throughout. "So What," "Don't Tell Mama," and "Married" were quite good. They used a real child for "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," which was disturbing (the point), and they heavily edited "Willkomen" and "If You Could See Her." The editing in "Willkomen" was primarily to cut the sexual innuendo down... Which is pretty much the entire song.

Homosexuality was treated surprisingly in the production; yeah, some cut stuff, and some non-revival alterations, but still... impressive, all the same. They cheated us on the Victor/Cliff kiss, though. They blacked out immediately, and the lines before it were incredibly ambiguous. Kept the wonderful "Are you in any way a homosexual?" line, though.

They blew a fuse at the very end, which was disappointing to see the obvious poignancy somewhat lessened by their sudden reliance on a spotlight and a few random blue and red gel'd ones.

Liked Schneider, and loved Kost; hated Cliff and Schultz. I've never liked Schultz; saw Tony Roberts do it in New York and was baffled why they give the role to men who cannot sing.

Mostly good, though. Didn't get to see Meghan [who played one of the faux-band members] after the show, which was disappointing, but Matt had to run to New York to help Larry with something about the New York Rocky cast.

Random side note: While I no longer remember the house her mother lives in, I saw the Blimpie near Willow's mom house in Kearney, which means we passed it. Some time ago (when Willow was still dating Sean), the three of us, as well as Danielle were there between some likely practicing and hanging out.