Review: CABARET at Scherr Forum

For half a century, "Cabaret," the 1966 musical about the bawdy, tawdry nightlife of pre-Nazi-era Germany has served as a warning against complacency in a country creeping towards totalitarianism. 5-Star Theatricals' current production of the show delivers all the messages but now that creeping totalitarianism is hitting the U. S. square between the eyes, it is no longer a "don't let this happen in Europe again" scenario, it's right in our front yard, making the show queasily unsettling.

All productions of "Cabaret" today use the second Broadway revival, as staged by the Roundabout Theatre Company, which was based on the 1993 London revival. The major difference between that version and the original is how the character of the Emcee is portrayed. Joel Grey's memorable Tony-winning characterization was that of an aloof, asexual character with rouged cheeks and clown makeup, garbed in a tuxedo. For the 1993 revival, Alan Cumming redefined the role in spectacular fashion, adopting a more sexualized manner and provocative, goth makeup, and naked from the waist up except for suspenders wrapped around his crotch and a black bow-tie. In 5-Star's production, the lean and muscular Sean Samuels wears a spotted vest and kerchief tied around his neck. With the hunky male Kit-Kat Klub "waiters," it looks more like an upscale Chippendale's nightclub as opposed to a sleazy Berlin dive. Samuels plays his part without makeup and with his more conventional costuming, his performance is substantially less menacing than it could be. The best thing he has going for him is his physicality, which works well on numbers like "Two Ladies."

Sean Samuels (center) as the Emcee, flanked by Terrick Walker and Christopher Ho.

A major change in the 1998 revival occurs in the shocking reveal right before the final curtain, when the Emcee rips off his outer garments to reveal a striped concentration camp outfit topped off by a yellow and red triangle, the stigmatizing symbol of Jewishness. Instead, Samuels wears a pink triangle, defining him as gay. Samuels sings and performs well, but there is nothing extraordinary about his performance, which really needs a more malevolent, omni-sexual presence to dominate the stage.

Connor Bullock (Cliff) and Jacob Wilson (Ernst Ludwig) Emily Goglia as Sally Bowles

Connor Bullock plays Cliff Bradshaw, the American novelist with writer's block who comes to Berlin (why there?) to try and get his mojo back. Cliff plays straight man to the flighty and manic Sally Bowles, a self-indulgent British expatriate looking for immediate satisfaction without regard to consequences. Sally is played by Emily Goglia, who takes advantage of vocal power as opposed to singing ability, much like Glynis Johns did during her career. Her rendition of the show's classic title song is yelled more than sung, making her sound angry instead of defiant in her carefree ignorance of what is happening in Germany. Her restless performance makes you like her initially, but eventually she gets on your nerves, as well as Cliff's and you begin to wonder who would hire her to headline a show in the first place.

Most disappointing of all is Jacob Wilson's Ernst, the one-man DHL service who cons Cliff into delivering secret Nazi documents. With a German accent that comes and goes, Wilson just isn't scary enough when he reveals himself, although he's fine as the amiable local who befriends Cliff on the train as he enters Berlin. Ron Orbach and Valerie Perri do well as the older couple, Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz, who find their budding romance threatened by Schultz's overt Jewishness. Whitney Kathleen Vigil is the slutty Fraulein Kost, who never met a sailor she didn't like.

Ron Orbach (Herr Schultz) with Valerie Perri (Fraulein Schneider)

The production uses stark, muted lighting to mask the lack of a representative set, much of the lighting coming from beneath the characters, which gives the show a sinister, film noirish glow.

The show's highlights are the elaborate production numbers featuring the Kit-Kat Klub Girls, especially on "I Don't Care Much," which sees the girls, all dressed in black, slithering across the stage on their backs, each with a cylindrical lit light on her stomach.

Although any production of "Cabaret" is worth seeing, there is nothing here that is singular or groundbreaking, but this is no longer a show where oppression happens to someone else. The demons of "Cabaret" are very much with us today, and a cabaret it is not, old chums.

"Cabaret" plays through March 30 at the Scherr Forum in the Bank of America Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks.