A couple of weeks ago, it was willkommen, bienvenue, welcome to unexpected intrigue at this normally sedate venue, memorably nicknamed "Schloss Tiggywinkle" by one critic.
Acclaimed director Lucy Bailey quit Cabaret mid-rehearsals after disagreements with Chichester's Artistic Director Andrew Welch. Welch, ever mindful of his largely grey-haired audience, had objected to some of the raunchier aspects of Bailey's proposed staging, especially the idea of three characters sharing a bath in the nude. For those with long-ish memories, this carried uncomfortable overtones of the protests that greeted Chichester's 1983 production of John Osborne's controversial A Patriot for Me.
One can only wonder quite what Welch expected from this most gloriously seedy of musicals, set in the decadent, anything-goes Berlin of the early 1930s. Replacement director Roger Redfarn has stayed resolutely on message, with the result that, despite the occasional energetic bout of bump and grind, the atmosphere in the Kit Kat Klub is strangely lacking in depravity. Julian Bleach's ill-judged Emcee looks uncomfortable rather than threatening, and even that celebration of the threesome, Two Ladies, is drained of its sexuality by the decision to clothe the three concerned in exercise wear. Coxed pairs, anyone?
Redfarn isn't helped by the sheer size of the stage, whose dimensions render impossible the club-like intimacy engendered by the current New York production set in the former Studio 54. Where the space works to his advantage, however, is in representing Fraulein Schneider's boarding house, and it is the relationship between this elderly woman and her courteous Jewish suitor, played superbly by Sarah Badel and Brian Greene, that provide the evening's emotional highlights.
If her director hadn't stolen the limelight in such a fashion, the focus would have been firmly on Alexandra Jay as Sally Bowles. Jay, who made a deserved name for herself as Martine McCutcheon's frequent replacement in My Fair Lady, is without doubt a fine musical actress, yet her excellent singing voice is at times over-polished for this role. It would be preferable, too, if she were to let the words and music speak for themselves in her big numbers, instead of frantically dashing all over the stage.
Come to this cabaret by all means, old chum, but just don't expect the thrill of your life.
Showing at the Chichester Festival until 5 October. Box office: 01243 781312.
Cabaret, Chichester Festival
