"Mother Play" is a Work of True Compassion
5 days ago
Sunday, August 3
Life is a Cabaret, Old Chum!
So, yesterday I bought Cabaret: The Illustrated Book and Lyrics. It's fascinating. Not because of the libretto (which is wonderful), or the pictures (which are numerous and in great quality), but because of the glimpses into the making of the show. It's got review clippings, quotes from Sam Mendes on his concept, and, perhaps most fascinatingly, excerpts from Alan Cumming's pre-show diary. The man's got a great sense of humour. Some of his anecdotes are incredibly amusing. "However, the fact that the choreography of my role consists of lots of touching the genitals of my fellow cast members (and a few twirls) I am getting to know people very quickly."
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2 comments:
I love Alan Cumming! He did a great interview for the American Theatre Wing's Downstage Center series (which you can get as a podcast from iTunes). He talked a little bit about doing Cabaret.
And he was at the Euan Morton concert at the Algonquin that I saw in the spring. He was at the next table, across from Euan, so I had the pleasure of looking across at him for about an hour. I really wanted to tell him how much I enjoyed him in the X-Men movie! He also made a movie called The Anniversary Party, which is good, too.
He was great in X-Men. I intend to seek out more of his film work. I'll also try and find that podcast.
Natasha Richardson, unfortunately, was not interviewed for the book, but there were some wonderful pictures of her in costume as Sally. As far as I'm concerned, she owns the role (though Liza and Jill Haworth, the original, were wonderful. And I haven't seen/heard Judi Dench, or Julie Harris in I Am A Camera, though I'd like to).
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