varo_kamry

"Harry" seemed to be the most, normal, kind and well-balance character in the whole show. I love how supportive he is of his husband. They need that character as sort of a counter-balance

♥ Gale's Fragile Beauty ♥

Mark: Do you keep bookmarks of Randy's most recent reviews and interviews?

varo_kamry

I have been trying to. The ones I have not bookmarked I can retrieve from emails I sent or received from friends. I might have time tonight to sort through what I have

In the meantime:

Giotto

You have enough time to make another gorgeous collage for us

Zebbers

Thank you

Star11

Yes, Mark, thanks for all the updates. I agree with Deborah, there was so much good stuff in this interview. I especially like all the details both of you put in bold. We knew Randy looked good... nice to hear him say he has been working out and losing weight. He looks REALLY good.

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soulmatejunkee - thanks for the picture!

SojournHeart11

Very, very proud of Randy. Thank you so much, Mark, for keeping us updated.

Giotto

I noticed that on the interview when I saw him. and I ould say its not just working out. Being on stage sure takes its toll on that Only thinking of the 4 weeks concert tour of JB, wnere you litterally can see him getting thinner from start to end

Zebbers

I know how you feel hun!

varo_kamry

New Chicago podcast interview with Randy. I have not even listened to all of it yet, but I wanted to post it right away (it is close to a half-hour in length).

FOF #2288 – Randy Harrison Wants You to Come to the Cabaret – 02.10.16 « Feast of Fun

UPDATE: I finally listened to all of it. The two gay guys who interviewed him seem to spend more time making campy jokes and getting off-subject than doing a serious interview. Randy held his own throughout, but I could imagine him cringing sometimes (It was a telephone interview done last week . They were in Chicago and he was still in Pittsburgh.)

ALSO..THIS JUST IN: Randy will be taking over the BroadwayinChicago Instagram, to take you behind the scenes at the Kit Kat Club, tomorrow 2/12.

Follow:
https://www.instagram.com/broadwayinchicago/

for updates:
https://twitter.com/RandyHarrison…/s...16014889840640

Zebbers

Mark, you're fabulous and I'm off to listen now ... thank you

varo_kamry

Review of last night's opening performance in Chicago

"a tour de force and flawless performance by Randy Harrison of Queer as Folk fame"

Randy Harrison Is Flawless in CABARET - ShowBizQ

Zebbers

Another great review, although I wish people would stop putting an s on the end of Alan Cumming .. there isn't one! Unless there's an apostrophe before it!

I listened to the interview

varo_kamry

From the Chicago Tribune, one of Chicago's two main newspapers

Review: A 'Cabaret' with fresh ways to make us squirm

by Kerry Reid
Chicago Tribune

The touring version of the Roundabout Theatre Company's 2014 revival of Sam Mendes' 1998 revival (got that?) of Fred Ebb and John Kander's portrait of Weimar-era weltschmerz and excess looks suitably tatty and sounds pretty good. Maybe a little too good at times — Andrea Goss' enchanting goth-pixie Sally, at least to my ears, hews closer to Liza Minnelli's Sally (she who really had too much talent to be stuck in a dive like the Kit Kat Klub) than to the late Natasha Richardson's cunningly off-key chanteuse from 1998. (It could partially be Goss' black bob, of course.)

That original Mendes revival, which also helped make Alan Cumming a star as the Emcee, added layers of grit and grunge to highlight Joe Masteroff's book (itself based on John Van Druten's play "I Am a Camera," which was inspired by Christopher Isherwood's 1939 portrait of Sally in "Goodbye to Berlin"). In place of original Emcee Joel Grey's formal tux, we got tattered fishnets, suggestively placed suspenders, grimy lingerie and nipple glitter, courtesy of William Ivey Long's costumes, which still look like what would happen if the denizens of Maxim Gorky's "The Lower Depths" put on a Victoria's Secret runway show.

With all that backstory, one could be forgiven for assuming that this current tour, which, like Sally, doesn't have plans to stick around long (it closes Feb. 21) is a copy of a copy of a copy, with all the pallor and fuzziness that implies. But the good news is that Mendes and co-director/choreographer Rob Marshall have kept the original vision of the revival (this does get difficult!) in their sights. Some of the elbow jabs may not land with the same heft as they did 18 years ago, but there isn't anything here that feels like a cheap knock-off, either.

It is also excellent news that Randy Harrison (one of the stars of the Showtime series "Queer as Folk") is on board as the Emcee. Harrison hits every queasy level of the oily and sardonic charm in a man who — as the still-shocking final moment makes clear — doesn't see that he's about to be steamrolled by the some of the darkest forces in European history. His belligerent shouting of "To me!" — punctuating the gramophone playing the faux-Nazi anthem "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" — rings out with defiance but also self-delusion. Harrison's Emcee seduces us, flatters us (including dancing with audience members), mocks our square ways — and then makes us squirm with wondering why we fell for him in the first place.


In a way, what this production does best is set up the lines between delusion and self-knowledge and let us see the human costs of confusing the two. Goss' Sally, whose oversize fur and brown paper shopping bag neatly capture the economic extremes of her life, believes that her "career" is in the club — even as Clifford Bradshaw (Lee Aaron Rosen), the square-jawed and wide-eyed would-be novelist from Harrisburg, Penn., tries to deny his own bisexuality and turn Sally into a hausfrau.

Most tragically, the older lovers in the story, landlady Fraulein Schneider (Shannon Cochran) and her Jewish fruit-store-owning suitor, Herr Schultz (Mark Nelson) have to face that the rise of the Nazis means their plans to marry are pipe dreams. Cochran's Schneider is an emotionally vivid blend of "Mother Courage"-style practicality and aching late-middle-age loss, while Nelson's Schultz retains a sense of wounded dignity and false optimism that we know will be his undoing as the Nazis take over. They are truly the emotional heart of what can be a pretty chilly show.

If you've seen Mendes' version, there won't be a lot of surprises here. But if you never have — or if you're a fan — it's probably worth the coin to take in this road company. (The band under the direction of Robert Cookman provides crisp and well-balanced accompaniment, as do the Kit Kat Girls and Boys themselves.) And as the election season heats up, it's always instructive to think about the consequences of dancing while fast asleep.

Kerry Reid is a freelance critic.

Star11

Debs!! You beat me to it! I came here to quote THAT EXACT QUOTE from Randy from that interview. And I probably wouldn't have thought to put it in a spoiler tag. I think it's just beyond cute that he said that.

Thanks, Mark, for the links to all the reviews. I love, love, love Randy getting so much coverage. He posted a pic on his Instagram today that "2 days in, and I'm already more than a little in love with Chicago." I wish I could tell Randy that he'd love Chicago so much more in the Spring or Summer or Fall. It must be so cold there this week and Chicago is SUCH a great city to walk around in. He's missing warm Chicago.

Here's the link:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBnqF7kLtox/

And here is a photo of Randy on stage, posted to Instagram: