Karson St. John as Emcee in "Cabaret"
There are musicals, musical comedies, historical musicals, and then there’s Kander and Ebb’s 1966 stunner “Cabaret,” which fills all those bills and adds one or two. I’d like to add a category I’ll call cautionary tale, but this one is so skillfully done that you don’t notice until it’s almost too late.
Cygnet Theatre did a smashing and unforgettable production of “Cabaret” in 2011. Now it’s back, just as brilliantly done and deservedly selling out houses again. Cygnet's Artistic Director Sean Murray directs.
It’s 1931 and Germany welcomes American novelist Cliff Bradshaw (Will Bethmann) to Berlin. He’s looking for a little inspiration for his next book. Bradshaw runs into native Ernst Ludwig (Gerry Tonella), a local smuggler, and asks if he knows of a cheap boarding house.
Ludwig takes him to the one run by Fräulein Schneider (Linda Libby), and they start haggling about the price. Cliff thinks it’s too high and offers less; she convinces him to stay by taking less and singing “So What?” in which she reasons that “You learn how to settle for what you get.”
When Cliff visits the Kit Kat Klub, the Emcee (Karson St. John) introduces pretty young English dancer Sally Bowles (Megan Carmitchel), who even at her young age sniffs coke and sleeps around. But when she sings “Don’t Tell Mama,” you know he’ll fall for her.
Cliff also meets “neighbor” Fräulein Kost, a prostitute who rents a room from Fräulein Schneider for business reasons, though Fräulein Kost tries to deny what she’s doing in that room.
Romance must be in the air. Even Fräulein Schneider has a gentleman caller in Herr Schultz (Eddie Yaroch), a fruit seller who brings her a prized pineapple, inspiring the charming song “It Couldn’t Please Me More.”
Meanwhile, Sally also falls for Cliff, and even brought me to heavy sniffles when she sang her meditative “Maybe This Time,” hoping that Cliff will prove to be more than just another guy to sleep with.
But life isn’t all fun, booze, sex and laughs, and when politics rears its ugly head as Hitler gets closer to power, some of the group are in more danger than others.
Brilliant in its time, the costumes (by Zoë Trautman, scenic design (Sean Fanning) and lighting (Amanda Sieve) set the scene, and the actors make the plot seem all too plausible.
Don’t miss this show.
The details
“Cabaret” plays through May 22, 2022 at Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs Street in Old Town.
Shows Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets: boxoffice@cygnettheatre.com or (619) 337-1525
COVID protocol: Masks required indoors.
Megan Carmitchel & Wil Bethmann
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