Cabaret

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King

Show – Cabaret

Playwright/s/Composer/s – Book by Joel Masteroff, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood.

Production Company/Theatre space – (community) Front Row Centre Players / Victor Mitchell Theatre, Pumphouse.

Length – 2 Acts (2 hours, 55 minutes one intermission.)

Genre– Tragedy, Musical

Premise – A gay American novelist in Berlin during the rise of the Reich, shares his bed with a nightclub singer (who becomes pregnant), and conflicted by the apparent lack of response to homophobic attacks and antisemitism, wants to escape with her to the refuge of the USA.

Why this play? Why now? – As Albertans and Americans deal (or don’t deal) with the alarming increase of authoritarian rule-breaking governments, theatre can respond with art. According to B'nai Brith, antisemitic incidents reached record highs across Canada with nearly 6,800 recorded cases. In the States, the FBI reports an exponential multi-year upswing in both public vandalism and violent attacks targeting Jewish Americans. There is also an increase in attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, particularly trans-women.

Curiosities – How keenly aware is the audience of the irony of an American escaping to the USA? Chai Life Productions, the theatre, and Front Row Centre Players have all had productions addressing rising fascism this past week - are these the canary plays?

Notable Moment – The ending – it’s always the ending.

Notable writing – With culturally entrenched musical theatre numbers and earworms, this Tony award winning script and score is continually produced around the world.

Notable performances – Tanis Laatsch does the iconic role of Sally Bowles proud, so too does Christian Morneau as the Emcee. Braedan Hark plays writer Clifford as melancholic (maybe he can see the future?). Gary Silberg breaks our hearts as the Jewish fruit vendor. Landlady Fräulein Schneider (Cherie Lee), who chooses personal safety over love, is equally poignant. The Kit Kat Klub performers enthusiastically perform the gyrating and teasing choreography (which thankfully wasn’t sanitized by the Intimacy Coordinator). Matthew McPhail, who has previously shown his comedy chops, demonstrates his acting range as he nails the Nazi (as it were).

Notable design/Production – Set Designer Janos Zeller made the smart choice to elevate the stage. His design choices are simple and effective. Liv Dunow’s costumes strike the right note. Alexander L Shawn leads the band beautifully, though the balance in sound mix was off so that we lost some of the singers’ voices to the music.

Notable direction –Director Kay Astop and MD Chelsea Wellman guided with loving hands.

One reason to see this show – Community theatre at its best – come hear the music play.