'Cabaret' at International City Theatre Begins Feb.5

This February, International City Theatre is transformed into Berlin's infamous Kit Kat Club, where anything goes and fantasies come to life.  Jules Aaron directs the classic musical, Cabaret, February 8 through March 9, opening ICT's 2008 season at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center.  Low-priced previews begin February 5.

"The place is Berlin circa 1930.  Fascism is on the rise, and a sense of impending doom brings on a forced and frantic gaiety.  Based on the true-life experiences and observations of Christopher Isherwood in Berlin between 1929 and 1932, Cabaret is the gritty story of a young English woman's romance with an American writer - set against the background of a crumbling Germany falling under the Third Reich," explain press notes.

Cabaret's divinely decadent musical score runs the gamut from fun and flirty to serious and sensual, featuring some of the best-known songs in musical theater:  "Willkommen," "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," "Money" and "Cabaret".

Returning to the ICT stage, where she previously appeared in The Real Thing and A Christmas Carol is Erin Bennett as Sally Bowles.  Christopher Carothers, recently seen at ICT in Five Course Love, plays aspiring writer Clifford Bradshaw. Known for his work in Michael John LaChiusa's Hotel C'est L'Amour at The Blank Theatre and Paradise Lost at Theatre@Boston Court, Jason Currie debuts at ICT as the Master of Ceremonies.  Also in the cast are Kimberly Irion as Fraulein Kost, Eileen T'Kaye as Fraulein Schneider, Paul E. Zegler as Herr Schultz, Joshua Ziel as Ernst Ludwig, and Aubrey Elson, Joseph Keane, Matthew Koehler, Tyler Milliron, Erika Odegard and Kelly Michelle Smith as the Kit Kat Club girls and waiters.

Cabaret is based on the play I Am A Camera by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood; Book is by Joe Masteroff; Lyrics are by Fred Ebb; Music is by John Kander; Director is Jules Aaron; Musical Director is Brian Murphy; Choreographer is Brian Paul Mendoza; Set Designer is Don Llewellyn; Lighting Designer is J. Kent Inasy; Costume Designer is Soojin Lee; Property Designers are Patty and Gordon Briles; Casting is by Michael Donovan Casting; Shashin Desai produces for International City Theatre.

Cabaret runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8PM and Sundays at 2PM, February 8 through March 9.  Tickets are $35 & $40 on Thursdays, and $40 & $45 on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays, except opening night which is $50 & $60 and includes a reception with the actors following the performance.  Preview performances take place on Tuesday, February 5; Wednesday, February 6; and Thursday, February 7 at 8PM.  Preview tickets are $32.

International City Theatre is located in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center at 300 E. Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach.  For reservations and information, call the ICT Box Office at (562) 436-4610 or go to www.ictlongbeach.org.  

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