BWW Reviews: Wilkommen to CABARET!

My theater companion knows a thing or two about "Cabaret," now at the Spotlighters Theater.

With nary a glance at the playbill, she informed me how the famed musical finds its roots in the writings of Christopher Isherwood who lived in pre-WWII Berlin. John Van Druten's 1951 play, "I Am a Camera" finds its roots in Isherwood's The Berlin Stories, in turn inspiring the musical, "Cabaret."

She noted that the Broadway productions of "Cabaret" have increasingly played upon the "raunchier" elements of the seminal works involved. Indeed, "Cabaret" is not for the prudish or Puritanical.

"Cabaret" is a celebration of celebration. It is also a play about deep denial, in this case, denial that the world was about to irrevocably change, particularly for the people of Germany in 1929-1930 when the work is set.

The plot line is fairly simple. A rather bored, staid American, Cliff Bradshaw (Aaron Dalton), entertaining dreams of becoming a famous novelist, arrives in the capital of the German Weimar Republic. There he meets the torch-singer and burlesque entertainer Sally Bowles (Lynn McCormick), falls in love, gets smacked in the face and punched in the gut-both metaphorically and literally-by harbingers of the Nazi storm that is to come, and hightails it back to America. The end.

In between we encounter Fraulein Schneider (Suzanne Young), an aging spinster who runs the flophouse where Cliff resides, saddened by the indignity that she must do her own scrubbing-yes, an old maid who's an old maid. She's also a woman with incredibly poor timing as she finally finds love with an aging bachelor and fruit seller, Herr Schultz (Jim Hart) who just happens to be Jewish. Kerry Brady plays Fraulein Kost, a harlot with the heart of something-less-than-gold who sells her body to randy sailors and her soul to something much, much worse.

Sprinkled throughout are the many memorable musical numbers anyone acquainted with the play (or in my case, the 1972 Liza Minnelli film)can recall-"Wilkommen," "Two Ladies," "Don't Tell Mama," etc., most performed during periodic visits with the iniquitous denizens of a little den of iniquity called the Kit Kat Club-a place where fishnet stockings, glitter lipstick and cellulite rule supreme.

Again, my theater companion chimed in to note that this "raunchiness," as portrayed in the Spotlighters production, was appropriate given the world Isherwood describes in his work. The Kit Kat Club is not supposed to be a Las Vegas show at its finest. It's much seedier, a far more low-budget version; the Kit Kat "boys and girls" (Doug Kotula, J. Hargrove, Jillian Bauersfeld, Caitlin Bouxsein, Cheryl Campo, Bridget Mullins, Matthew Feldman and Tom Marr IV as Max the Bartender) rightly portray the degenerative effects when hedonism is both lifestyle and profession-greasy, sweaty, guts slightly (and greatly) bulged, legs splayed, butts bent, and makeup applied with a putty knife.

Perfect.

The Kit Kat performers are led by the Emcee (Tim Elliott) who does a masterful job as a creature of pixie-ish charm, a 20^th century Puck--a Peter Pan as grownup, he'd lead the Lost Boys (and girls) of Neverland to a party at Hefner's Playboy mansion if it had existed in 1929. He mocks the storm that's coming, but unlike others, he is aware of it. He'll survive, while others, like Todd Krickler's Ernst Ludwig will thrive. Though approaching the issue from different angles, Krickler's Ludwig and McCormick's Bowles, perfectly make the point that there are times when one cannot separate politics from morals, character, and ultimately, humanity. And the rise of National Socialism was certainly one of those times.

The most powerful moment in the play comes near the end of the first act as Jeff Coleman (who also portrays the Customs Officer) stands at center stage in Hitler Youth brown shirt and swastika arm band and sings "Tomorrow Belongs to Me." A soft, almost tender ballad that builds in strength and intensity (not unlike a Hitler speech!), Coleman is joined by several of the Kit Kat Club boys who surround and seem to mock him, led by the EmceE. Coleman's Nazi looks at them with a smoldering anger that we the audience know will do much more than smolder by the time history plays out.

As has been my experience with Spotlighters productions, there are actors in this musical who would do better to stick with dramatic roles. Mr. Coleman and Ms. McCormick boast the best voices; others are merely mediocre in their voice talents and a few have almost no voice at all. Despite this, the entire company does a marvelous job in its overall performance if the many people standing and applauding at curtain's fall was any indication.  

Kudos to Spotlighters executive director Fuzz Roark, Erin Riley and the entire cast who took on the responsibility for costumes--from the Kit Kat girls' corsets to the spot-on brown "drab" of Cliff's sweater-vest attire, the right dichotomy between the sexual freedom of Berlin and the conservatism of 1930s America was quite clear.

Director Erin Riley does a fine job in transforming the Spotlighters into the Kit Kat Club, having the actors in character mull around stage and throughout the audience before the start of the play, improvising and playing off elements of their roles. It definitely puts the audience in the mood that they are going to be more than witnesses to a production, they are to be part of it--an electrifying and engaging effect.      

"Cabaret" continues its run at the Spotlighters, 817 St. Paul Street, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. For more information, call 410-752-1225 or visit www.spotlighters.org.

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