Cabarisque

Alcester’s Greig Hall only reopened recently, but its history dates back over 50 years, to 1958.  I’m going to stick my neck out and suggest that in all that time the Hall has never seen a show quite like the one that Studley Operatic Society presented with Cabarisque!  Showcasing the raunchier side of musical theatre, the Society pulled no punches, really going for it with a full-on, burlesque style extravaganza, full of bump and grind, to accompany a series of risqué songs and dance routines. 

The tone was set from the start, with ‘Welcome to the Moulin Rouge’, which saw the female cast decked out in basques and stockings, whilst the men largely went shirtless, wearing a variety of waistcoats, of various sizes!  There was flexing and gyrating a-plenty in this and subsequent numbers, as the Moulin Rouge/Chicago styling carried us through well-known songs like ‘All that Jazz’ and Abba’s ‘Does Your Mother Know That You’re Out’, alongside more obscure (to me at least) offerings like ‘Let’s Be Bad’, ‘To Excess’ and ‘Dance with the Devil’. 

Later on, more variety was introduced to the song choices, as we heard some of the ruder musical theatre numbers that – for obvious reasons – don’t often get an outing, such as ‘If You Were Gay’ and ‘The Internet is for Porn’ from Avenue Q and ‘It’s a Privilege to Pee’ from Urinetown.  Not for nothing did this show have a ‘15’ certificate!  ‘Please Don’t Touch Me’, from the Society’s recent production of Young Frankenstein received a welcome revival, and there were some raucous full cast numbers such as ‘La Vie Boheme’, which closed the first half and ‘Master of the House’, in which we were all invited to sing along. 

Mention must also be made of ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On’, in which the male members of the cast went, if not the Full Monty, then certainly far enough for a Saturday afternoon in Alcester!  Not to be outdone, the women gyrated their way through a steamy ‘Cell Block Tango’ and ‘When You’re Good to Mama’ from Chicago.  

The show was performed by an impressively committed ensemble cast of twenty-eight.  They all contributed fully to the performance, whether that be singing lead vocals, or backing, or stretching and stroking in the background.  It would be wrong to single anyone out, as this was a real team effort, so I’ll say well done to them all, and kudos for challenging themselves and committing to a style of performance that must have taken some getting used to!  Mention must also go to our steampunk-style MC, who led us through the evening in suitably lascivious style.

Congratulations, then, to Director Paul Mitchell, Musical Director Sophie Hill and Producer Steve Lengden for pulling together a truly unique and ambitious show.  There was some very good choreography, by Debbie Mitchell, throughout, with good sharp timing, particularly at the ends of songs.  However, at times the sheer amount of hot and steamy background gyration going on risked upstaging the singers!  I was also not sure about some of the audience interactions, which sometimes left me feeling awkward – maybe that’s just my natural reserve, but I’m not sure any audience member wants to spend their time at a show feeling on edge! 

Good use was made of the large open stage at the Greig Hall, with effective use of lighting (an awful lot of red, as you might expect!) to accentuate the style of the songs.  The lighting was also nicely timed to the choreography – no mean feat and very effective.  Well done also to the costume department, who rose admirably to the challenge of providing everything from lacy basques to budgie smugglers.  Hair and make-up, also vital in providing just the right feel to the show, were also on-point. 

Hearty congratulations to all at Studley Operatic Society for pulling off this daring, unusual show.  I think it’ll be a while before I see anything else quite like it!  I look forward to seeing you again in 2025, for a show that could hardly be further removed from Cabarisque’s stylish excess, Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

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