Cabaret. An electrifying, sultry musical with a dark underlying meaning hidden underneath the seams of glitz and glamour. For context, Cabaret is set in the late 1930s with the rise of the national socialist party. In the story, the Kit Kat Club serves as a sort of “distraction” to the characters, while still reflecting the outside world to the audience.

Cabaret has had many revivals over the years, but with the show coming to a close, the infamous Billy Porter has taken on the role of the Emcee with a nothing short of disappointing performance. The Emcee allows the audience to see bits and pieces of the character without being too transparent. With Porter’s interpretation of the Emcee, he ruins the mysterious aspect of the character. He gives the Emcee a particular backstory and set of beliefs when in reality, the Emcee should be an overall blank slate when it comes to these things. The Emcee isn’t supposed to have a complex backstory; they’re supposed to distract the audience with charming mannerisms and, as the story progresses, fall apart and become more sinister. Of course, Porter and many actors who have played this role have made the character their own, but you can’t take away the most important aspect of the Emcee.

Not to mention, Porter keeps the same amount of energy throughout the whole show, which makes the character lose its depth. It also takes away from the story and makes the audience confused. Porter also adds imprudent vocal riffs in the songs, especially in the 5th number of Act Two, “ If You Could See Her (The Gorilla Song).” Porter belts these extensive riffs throughout the whole song, when the basis of the song is to encourage the audience to look past first impressions. Specifically, the gorilla represents a person of Jewish descent, making it entirely disrespectful for Porter to be making this about himself. Also, in recent showings of this number, Porter has been breaking the fourth wall due to the audience laughing during the song. The humorous aspect of the song is a part of the show. It’s supposed to show how unserious the world took the tragedy in Germany. So, when Porter breaks the fourth wall, it takes away from the whole aspect of the song and shows undebatable disrespect to the show’s morals when this show should be taken seriously, especially in times such as these.