varo_kamry

first review of San Diego

Broadway World:

BWW Review: Come to the CABARET

As the Emcee, Randy Harrison is a grinning joker that is happy to lure you in to the Kit Kat Club for some fun, dazzling debauchery, and to push the limits to see just how much misdirection people are willing to buy in order to avoid the reality of what's happening around them. He is a delightful, devil-may-care pied piper who plays a merry tune and the audience happily follows. Many of his songs have a strong spoken element; but Harrison has a strong voice, which he shows off to great effect in the second act with "I Don't Care Much."


The Emcee is a tricky character, having been already portrayed by Joel Gray and Alan Cumming in iconic performances, but Harrison makes it as much his own as he can within the parameters of the character. His character is a leering gargoyle that hangs over every scene, as he is the filter which the shows plot is seen through. An omniscient, gender bending, and freewheeling character, his messy transition throughout the arc of the show mirrors Berlins' transition from avant-garde cultural epicenter through the birth and rise of the Nazi regime.

Zebbers

Mark finally got to watch Randy's interview, after trying to get into it for an hour and he's looking as gorgeous as ever.

Read the BWW review and this is a bit puzzling ...

I think, from all the reviews that I've read here since the tour started .. that Randy's performance is already being hailed as iconic too.

varo_kamry

It is an oddly structured sentence, so I really don't get what he is trying to say, especially "as much his own as he can within the parameters of the character"

Here is another interview

Cabaret- The Musical - CW6 San Diego

and a collage:

Zebbers

Oddly structured indeed .. it almost sounds like a "damned by faint praise" comment .. and one of the most jarring that I've read since the beginning

I have yet to get into the interview but the collage is delicious .. you just have to love this beautiful man .. and even his tattoo is growing on me thank you hun

varo_kamry

Zebbers

OMB .... Randy overload! Absolutely love those pics Mark .. you are spoiling us

Giotto

OMG MArk!! that collage is brilliant .. my favourite is the one right on top

galesgirl645

I just love his smile

Giotto

I still wonder if he was casted as "sunshine" because of his smile, or if the nick "Sunshine" was brought in because of Randy

varo_kamry

The writers took the name "Sunshine" from the original UK QAF

Hazel (Debbie) called Nathan (Justin) "Sunshine once. BUT it was done sarcastically. He was staying with her and was acting up.

When Debbie first saw Justin, calling him "Sunshine" in a nice way made sense because he was young, blond and innocent looking. Randy's personality and smile may have had something to do with the continued use of the nickname , but I think the writers always planned to usei at least once.

Star11

That is very interesting to note. Thanks for sharing that history with us. And thanks for your collages, too!

Giotto

thanks MArk for giving that insight

Zebbers

Mark that anecdote is brilliant, I had no idea there was a connection to QaF UK .. I love that idea

varo_kamry

Super review from San Diego's leading newspaper

Review: Powerful touring version of “Cabaret” opens at Civic Theatre | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com


And presiding over it all in director BT McNicholl’s production (patterned after the Sam Mendes original) is the Emcee, played with ever-salacious charm by Randy Harrison, who brings a more rugged and muscular feel to the part than Alan Cumming did on Broadway.

Harrison has some moments of perfectly debauched comedy with the Kit Kat Girls (and Boys) on such numbers as the opener “Willkommen” and the saucy “Two Ladies,” with its beyond-suggestive shadow-play. But he also gets to the searing heart of the show (written by Joe Masteroff) in the stunning finale.

♥ Gale's Fragile Beauty ♥

Muscular and Rugged! Yum.

As pretty as Randy is, I've always thought of him as masculine.