The Studio Theatre’s production of the iconic musical Cabaret begins its three-week run Wednesday with all the hurly burly madness of the original production.
Cabaret is set in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis are beginning their rise to power and the productive Weimar Republic is being torn apart by radical politics.
Inflation and joblessness are rising but inside the Kit Kat Klub, the world is alive with seedy glamour, raucous energy and a kind of freedom never known before — for now, reads the play synopsis.
The story revolves around the glamourous but damaged English entertainer Sally Bowles, played by Kathy MacDonald, and her relationship with the struggling young American writer, Cliff Bradshaw, played by Chris Hutton.
A sub-plot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider, played by Stacey Poirier, and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor, played by Carl Johnson.
The Kit Kat Klub serves as a metaphor for ominous political developments in late Weimar Germany, ultimately taking a dark and sinister turn leading to the Second World War.
The club’s master of ceremonies, played by Matthew Granlund, together with the cabaret girls and waiters, welcome their audience, beckoning them to leave behind their cares and the despair of the outside world.
Filling out the cast in this high stepping musical are Harry Jennings as Ernst Ludwig; William Wallace as Max; Mary-Jo Hilyer as Victor; Kirsten Sandberg as Fräulein Kost; and Brad McGuire as Bobby.
The singing and dancing Kit Kat Klub girls are played by Maria Gutierrez-Jackson as Rosie; Carolina Rieffolo as Fritzie; Haley Tazelaar as Frenchie; Rowena Resuello as Texas; and Tanis Daum as Lulu.
Sandi Alaric, well-known for her own beautiful singing voice, is taking a break from the stage this time around to direct Cabaret and is thrilled to be working with “a most incredible cast and crew.”
“We open on Wednesday,” Alaric says with excitement. “It’s down to the crunch. It’s marvellous. I’m having the time of my life.”
She says the production welcomes several newcomers to the theatre stage.
“That’s what community theatre is all about, attracting new people and seeing them have a good time.”
Cabaret will be staged with a live orchestra and for the last two performances as dinner theatre at the Elk’s Hall, where the back stage crew will recreate the set from the Studio Theatre in that community hall.
While the set is simple, she says “sometimes simple isn’t easy.”
In the chorus line alone Alaric says there are 46 costume changes.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to work with,” Alaric says.
Key leaders on this production include choreographer Jennifer McPhee; choral director Sharon Hoffman; musical and band director Murray Hoffman; producer Tony Savile; costume design and construction, Christa Obergfell; lighting Jeff Rankin; stage manager Becky Strickland; makeup design Tanis Daum; hair design Amy Emery; and set design Janet Lindsay.
Savile, who is doing a lot of the set construction, says Cabaret has been in production since early November with a cast of 15 and a nine member band.
“This is an incredibly talented cast of musicians, singers, dancers and actors,” Savile says.
Cabaret is on stage at the studio theatre for its regular run March 9-12 and 16-19.
The dinner theatre events will be held at the Elk’s Hall Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26. The Saturday dinner theatre is sold out but there are still some tickets available for the Friday event.
Tickets are available at The Open Book, Kit and Kaboodle and About Face Photography: $20 for adults and $18 for youth and seniors; $50 for dinner theatre; and $10 for opening night on March 9.
