Remember when the star of “Cabaret” was whoever played the role of Kit Kat Klub chanteuse Sally Bowles? Well, it isn’t this time. It’s Alan Cumming’s Emcee who owns the show — because Sienna Miller’s Sally barely registers.
Miller has been enjoying a movie renaissance lately, with well-received turns in “Foxcatcher” and “American Sniper.” Yet her presence doesn’t transfer from screen to stage. Her beauty is striking — her cheekbones could cut diamonds — but she has little presence.
The let-down is even more glaring since she follows Emma Stone’s blistering performance as a coked-up, manipulative singer. Michelle Williams, the first to star in this re-revival of the Roundabout’s classic 1998 production, wasn’t perfect, but at least her Sally was thought through, a melancholy rose battered by the elements.
Fortunately, Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall’s brilliant production has such strong bones that it can survive a banal Sally. A banal Emcee is something else again, and the show’s scheduled to end when Cumming leaves — more than ever he’s the foundation on which everything hangs, a sardonic ringleader welcoming us to hell.
The excellent supporting cast is also mostly intact, which means that the wonderful Linda Emond (Fräulein Schneider) and Danny Burstein (Herr Schultz) are still around to carry the evening’s emotional weight.
Since the production’s soon to end, it would have been nice for the Roundabout to try out a new, unknown Sally — why not try to mint a new star? My suggestion: the electric Cush Jumbo, now lighting up Joe’s Pub in her solo show, “Josephine and I.”
Ah, well, maybe next time.