Cabaret - Playhouse Theatre

It's the rumour I heard a few weeks back from a very reliable source if that helps 🤷🏻‍♂️

Just imagine the ticket prices if that happened

First off, last time I saw Cabaret, we had the Cliff understudy on and they were a white actor. So there's no strict rule about Cliff's race in the Frecknall production. And (though it has taken a while), it seems it's not the case that the two leads have to be cast as white either, with London now having had one lead Emcee and the new alternate Sally being actors of colour. There's also a lot of diversity in the actors playing the KKC boys and girls and these actors are often swings and emergency covers for leads too. I imagine part of reason Cliff is most often cast as a black actor may be because the role was originated by Omari Douglas, so when casting for takeovers it may be that more black actors turned out to audition for the Cliff role, knowing that their race wasn't going to be any kind of obstacle. 

Nor should it be. I don't really know why people claim it makes no sense in the historical context. There were black/mixed race people living in (and visiting) 1930s Germany. Some of them (such as this man) were black Germans who became Nazi collaborators in the hopes of avoiding persectution. They still would have been descriminated against and barred from a lot of regular jobs. But could they have been cabaret performers or penniless writers? Yes, definitely. The wiki page I linked describes a mixed race German man who could only make money as a circus performer. So the diversity in the KKC performers totally makes sense.   

Cliff hasn't worked in any iteration I've seen in this production - the direction they've decided to go in doesn't work (it didn't work with Omari, it didn't work with Michael, it hasn't worked with any of the other covers I've seen either) - it's the one element in this production that (whatever Frecknalls vision for it was) has consistently not worked on stage.

I was impressed enough! The only other Sally I've seen is Emily Benjamin who I thought was the better of the two but I really enjoyed both performances

I thought she was awful. I’ve seen every London Sally in this production except for Sally Frith, and Rebecca was by far the weakest and made me uncomfortable to watch with how bad she was. Plenty of people seemed to love her though, you’re right it’s so polarised!

I wish I'd seen RLT now as reviews are at one extreme or the other. Wasn't too impressed by that recording she did of a few of the numbers, she sounded flat and stilted, not that you can conclude anything much from that.

The only Sally I've seen is Cara D, but twice, she was excellent. There was something very Ken Russell-esque about her performance and she'd definitely be a stage draw for me in the future.

And the dynamic pricing is hitting, I have my eye on a seat but waiting to see if it drops to what I want to pay!

The leads don’t seem to be what they were (not saying that’s a bad thing) but that’s got to have an effect

The two names mean absolutely nothing to the general public.

I'm sure they're great but neither of the names have ANY public recognition.

I don't think its odd tbh. Her name alone doesn't mean much, she hasn't had a break out career where she would be recognised on name alone.

13 reasons why was a long time ago now, especially since it was at its peak. Cursed was a flop and movie wise her name is never really mentioned when Knives Out is mentioned and her Love Simon role was very much supporting.