I finally traveled down to see Cabaret in London, a show I've wanted to see for a long time! I feel a bit of a bad musical theatre fan admitting that I'd never seen Cabaret before, but it hasn't been on anywhere I've been able to see it and I really don't get much enjoyment out of watching filmed performances so I have very little interest in watching bootlegs or even pro-shots. I don't exactly know how to describe why I don't like it, it just doesn't have the same vibe for me. I don't much like movie musicals either! But I do like listening to cast recordings so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyway, because of this it was my first time ever seeing Cabaret. And it was okay! I wish I could say more, and it's actually intrigued me enough to maybe seek out recordings of other productions after all, but I'm not really sold on this current production if I'm being completely honest. And I'm really over interactive theatre in general, can we just go back to normal yet? I enjoyed the vibe of entering a seedy club as you went into the theatre - they've turned the actual theatre into the Kit Kat Club of the musical, and you go in through a side door, winding down narrow walkways and staircases to get to the actual theatre instead of having the usual front of house. And that was fun and really set the mood of the show, but personally I'd prefer if that element had ended there. The cast wandering around the audience during the show just makes it difficult to see and focus, the seating is not spectacular and there's barely any rake so I was craning to see for most of it despite being the first row behind the tabled seating in the stalls. And it's just really not neurodivergent friendly. I like to sit in the first few rows of a traditional theatre so I'm not distracted by the audience around me and can fully absorb the happenings on stage and get completely lost in it. To me that's more immersive than these 'immersive' shows where it's impossible to focus, so I inevitably miss half the plot because I was looking at the wrong thing because the entire environment is just way too overstimulating and chaotic. And I think I found the show just okay because I came out not understanding parts of it because of this. That probably sounds like a moan, but I did have a good time! And I can say that I do like Cabaret, just maybe not this production. I'd love to know if anyone else has these issues with interactive theatre too, or if it's just a me issue.
As it's approaching that time of year and I don't know if I'll be coming back to London in December I decided to see all of the Christmas lights. I'm always a bit underwhelmed by Regent Street and Oxford Street - these are the main shopping areas of London, switching the lights on used to be an *Event*, and it was different every year. Now it's always the same and I'm bored of it. My favourite place to see Christmas lights now is Bond Street as at least the designer shops go all out and make a spectacle of it.
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