* REVIEW Audience members who came to see CABARET at Sangamon Auditorium last evening expecting to see Joel Grey in top hat and tails received quite a shock.
He has been replaced by the ‘90's version of the Emcee, which is to say that the hat’s been replaced by whip marks and bruises and the tails have been replaced by nipple rouge.
Suffice it to say, this is not your father’s CABARET.
It is, however, a very solid and well-performed touring production which recreates the direction and design of the radically rethought 1998 Broadway production of the show.
It’s an aggressive, confrontational and very sexual take on the classic 1966 show. With its setting in decadent, pre-war Germany on the eve of the Nazi’s rise to power, CABARET has always been considered dark, but this version pushes that darkness, and at times, good taste, to the limits.
The setting is the seedy Kit-Kat Klub, where literally anything goes. American writer Clifford Bradshaw has just arrived in Berlin to find inspiration for a novel. He is almost immediately trounced upon by the club’s resident chanteuse, Sally Bowles, who in a matter of minutes talks her way into his apartment and his life.
Allison Spratt does a fine job with the difficult role of Sally Bowles, the not-very-talented headliner at the Kit-Kat club. Spratt sings very well and she brings the right amount of selfishness and flightiness to the character. She really stands out when singing "Maybe This Time," just one of the many great John Kander and Fred Ebb tunes in this show.
But the audience needs to care about her relationship with the bisexual writer Clifford (John Byron Holley, in a strong, likeable performance), and this is one area where the writers haven’t given the actors much to work with.
It’s never made clear why Cliff would want to stay with the flighty, undependable Sally. He’s amused by her, and he may or may not be the father of her child, but there really is no convincing reason why he would want to "straighten up" and marry her.
That said, the actors have a good rapport, and do well on their only duet in the show, "Perfectly Marvelous."
The secondary story, and quite frankly, the one with much more heart, is the doomed relationship between the German landlady Fraulein Schneider (Lucy Sorlucco) and Jewish fruit vendor Herr Shultz (P. Brendan Mulvey). Both actors bring great humanity and good singing voices to their roles. They have several lovely moments, including their two duets, "Married" and "It Couldn’t Please Me More," and Sorlucco, especially, is quite successful with her German accent. Unlike the relationship between Sally and Cliff, you care what happens between these two.
Christopher Sloan does very well as the ever-present Emcee, commenting on and participating in the action. His interpretation is replete with bumps, grinds and pelvic thrusts with anyone and everyone on stage.
He also has a beautiful tenor voice which is put to good use in "If You Could See Her Through My Eyes" and the haunting "I Don’t Care Much." But why was he stuck singing that lovely song in a cocktail dress? It added nothing to the moment, and made the audience giggle.
Enjoyable performances were also turned in by Gina Shmukler as the very Marlene Dietrich-like Fraulein Kost and Benjamin Eakeley as the nice-guy-turned Nazi, Ernst Ludwig.
One of the more interesting conceits of this production is to have the chorus and supporting characters make up most of the orchestra. They are on stage throughout the show, either playing in the band or singing and dancing. These young performers are not triple threats, they are quadruple threats: talented singers, dancers, actors and excellent musicians. Their Act 2 opener, a Dixieland version of the title song, received a strong ovation from the audience.
CABARET continues tonight at 8:00 p.m. at Sangamon Auditorium. Call 206-6160 or 1-800-207-6960 for tickets.
Gus Gordon is the chief meteorologist at NewsChannel 20 and a free lance arts reviewer. He can be reached at gusgordon00@lycos.com