Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

"Cabaret" was bloody excellent, I have to say.

I seem to be one of the only gays not to have seen the film (I know, it's shocking isn't it. I mean, Liza's in it and everything!), so I had no idea of what it was about really. The Boyf once played Clifford in a production of it somewhere up north (which apparently used the old sets from the last West End production, some years ago now), so I relied on him to tell me what's new etc. What was quite interesting was that we both agreed on who played their characters well, or not so well, considering he knew how the characters should be whilst I was watching for the first time. Anyway, enough of all this, let me share with you some thoughts about it...

Firstly, there is nudity. We were quite shocked at the sudden arrival of a naked, and kinda cute, guy on stage, penis happily flopping around. Later on there was a lot of bottoms (not wobbly), a rather muscular young man dressed as a sailor (dribble), breasts (yikes), more willies (hurrah!), some lady gardens (ew!), a gay snog (phwoar), and some vaguely sado-masochistic sexual writhings on a bed (makes notes for later). All very tasteful of course, but it was quite amusing to hear some older members of the audience complaining about it in the interval.

Secondly, Anna Maxwell Martin is surprisingly good, James Dreyfus surprisingly isn't. The latter, playing the Master of Ceremonies (Emcee), just didn't seem bold enough as a character. The former, playing Sally Bowles, won me over. She managed to pull off being silly without being annoying, and although not the best singer (she's obviously been picked for her BAFTA winning acting credentials), I still found myself utterly mesmerised by her rendition of the title song.

Thirdly, the dance routine with the chair isn't in it. We all know that routine, right? Even those of us who haven't seen the film. Liza's look from the film is very iconic, and they appear to have deliberately avoided trying to emulate it. Good for them I reckon.

Fourthly, Sheila Hancock (playing the landlady, Fraulein Schneider) is a goddess. More pineapples for her!

Fifthly, they've crammed ALL the songs in, both those from the film and the original stage production, which means they've had to shoe-horn some of them in as snippets. But all the main songs are present and correct.

Sixthly, I stood next to Simon Shepherd at the bar during the interval. He was alone and looked rather bored. We think perhaps he really IS James Dreyfus' boyfriend.

And finally, the ending is rather shocking, and left the audience in a stunned silence, wondering whether to clap. I won't give it away, but it's dark. And bold for a West End show.

So, all in all, go and see it, I say! I really enjoyed it, as did The Boyf, and the friend we took along. It's funny, it's moving, it's thought provoking. The gays are gonna love it!