There are two wonderful recordings of Cabaret already in the catalog: the original cast and the recent 1998 revival cast in its marvelous, dark production. Consequently, the Jay recording has stiffer competition than usual, yet the set comes across as highly desirable, if not indispensable. Jonathan Pryce plays the M.C. and brings gleeful malevolence to the task. Joel Grey is better in the rapid-fire numbers, where Pryce has some difficulty enunciating everything clearly; but in the opening and closing, I think Pryce injects more subtlety into his invitation to the audience to join in. As to Fraulein Schneiders, Judi Dench is magnificent, no less impressive than Lotte Lenya, or anyone else for that matter, and Maria Friedman strikes me as the best Sally Bowles of them all, three-dimensional in spite of herself. The real star of this production, though, is conductor John Owen Edwards, who leads with a sure hand, right on the mark as to tempo and pacing, never making a wrong or questionable move. And this Cabaret has the best sound of them all, with percussion so immediate it sounds as if it’s right in the listening room. The voices are entirely realistic too, and the stereo placement is nifty and natural. As usual in producing its Master Works editions, Jay includes all the music cues and underscores (which means quite a bit of dialogue, too); also on this disc are songs from the 1987 Broadway revival and new songs composed for the movie version. So, okay, I’ve convinced myself; I guess this two-CD set really is indispensable after all!
