Darker CABARET is must-see at FOX
– By Cate Marquis –
CABARET is one of the gems of musical theater, a musical that is not only filled with great music but with a story that has something to say beyond boy meets girl. Set in Berlin shortly before the Nazis take power, it is a sassy, saucy, and sinister-edged kind of musical. The production by the Roundabout Theater Company runs March 7 – 19 at the Fox Theater.
This a spectacular show, one the the best in the Fox’s already strong season. It is also a darker, more chilling CABARET, with the Nazi threat looming closer. People who only know CABARET from the movie starring Liza Minnelli will likely be surprised by the stage version. This version is darker, the characters edgier. The Kit Kat Klub is tawdrier. The Emcee is still charismatic and creepy but a bit more sexually changeable. More significantly, the Nazis loom larger in this story.
Both the stage musical and the famous film are based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, tales of life in the free-wheeling Weimar Republic Germany of the 1920s and early 1930s before the Nazis gained power. Since opening on Broadway in 1966, the stage version has been re The St. Louis are as seen two other recent versions, at the Repertory Theater of St. Louis in 2013 and Stray Dog Theater in 2014. But this production at the Fox is a real standout. Directed by BT McNicholl, this version was originally directed by Sam Mendes and choreographed by Rob Marshall. This version is longer, allowing it to pack in more layers and nuance about the time period.
The musical still revolves around two love stories, a main couple and a second one, and a Berlin cabaret called the Kit Kat Klub. In this production, Sally Bowles (Leigh Ann Larkin) is the British one and the newly-arrived writer, named Clifford Bradshaw (Benjamin Eakeley), is the American. On the train into Berlin, Clifford meets and is befriended by a German, Ernst Ludwig (Patrick Vaill). Gratefully for Clifford’s help in avoiding a customs inspection of his suitcase and eager find a tutor to improve his English, Ernst introduces Clifford to the landlady of an inexpensive boarding house, Fraulein Schneider (Mary Gordon Murray, who also played this role in the Rep’s 2013 production), and then invites him out for New Year’s Eve fun at the Kit Kat Klub, where Sally is the lead singer.
As in the film, the plot is tied together by musical numbers at the Kit Kat Klub. In some ways, the show’s star is the Emcee, played winningly by Jon Peterson. Peterson’s Emcee is more aggressive, more rude and sexually explicit than some versions, but still funny and charmingly sinister.
Larkin and Eakeley are both wonderful as Sally and Cliff, with a nice chemistry between the bisexual Cliff and often-amoral Sally. In this version, Sally is bolder, more sure of her seductive powers but a less-talented singer. Here, Clifford is the more unsure character, easy prey for Sally’s charms when she turns up after the club’s owner and her lover, Max (Tommy McDowell) kicks her out.
The second love story is between their middle-aged landlady Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz (Scott Robertson), an older Jewish fruit stand owner, who woos her with exotic produce. Robertson and Murray are marvelous, and this more real-world tragic romance is the more moving one.
This is a particularly dark CABARET. This version has more references to the Nazis, often through Peterson’s character, and builds a chilling, frightening tone by the end, with a reference to the concentration camps to come.
While some consider musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein to be the pinnacle, others (including this reviewer) prefer Ebb and Kander. John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote not only the fabulous music and lyrics for CABARET but the music for musicals CHICAGO, FOSSE, the movies FUNNY LADY, and NEW YORK, NEW YORK, including the classic hit “New York, New York.” Kander’s tunes are not just musically catchy but Ebb’s lyrics are very sly and clever, just right for the edgy, dark musicals they inhabit.
This show has all those wonderful, familiar CABARET tunes – “Wilkommen,” “Mein Herr,” “Money,” and of course “Cabaret”- but a few more are added. The comic love duet “It Couldn’t Please Me More” features a plethora of pineapples and is a pure delight, sung charmingly by Mary Gordon Murray and Scott Roberson as the older romantic couple in this story. The pair get another, more romantic song with “Married,” another winner. Leigh Ann Larkin and Benjamin Eakeley as Sally and Cliff get a love duet with “Perfectly Marvelous.” The Emcee, Jon Peterson, sings the chilling “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” which is repeated later in the show.
The staging is worthy of note as well. The band, whose members are the players on stage, often plays on a second level about the main stage floor. The production numbers are wonderfully gaudy and tattered at the same time. This costumes are sexy and spangled but also have a wonderful run-down and well-used look. The players camp it up with the kind of sexy but soul-weary manner one expects but many numbers now add an overtly gay references as well, and the cabaret players now include men as well as women. An example of the update is the Two Ladies number, where one of the “ladies” is now a man in drag.
The Master of Ceremonies steps off stage for a little audience participation, teasing and playfully taunting “victims” he picks out from front rows, giving the audience a sense of being in the Kit Kat Klub. As the nameless Emcee, Jon Peterson is superb, handling comic, sexy and scary elements well. The cabaret performers are excellent as well, whether sings, dancing or playing instruments.
The Nazis loom large as this show unfolds, with several references to them, often through Peterson’s character. It builds a chilling, frightening tone, ending with a visual reference to the concentration camps to come.
It is a darker, edgier CABARET but an outstanding production that warrants to trip the Fox for this excellent show.
© Cate Marquis
