The Wharton puts on timely and terrific ‘Cabaret’
LANSING, Mich. – Who wants to think about politics when there is song, dance and more than a bit of naughtiness to enjoy?
Certainly Sally Bowles and Cliff Bradshaw have better things on their minds than politics. They were in Berlin in 1929-1930, and living a decadent life surrounded by decadent people. They had books to write, dances to dance and relationships to savor. Why should such things as politics interfere with their lives? Was there really any difference between the communists or the Nazis? Surely they would come and they would go with no need for anyone to be alarmed or take any action.
Thus is the story of Cabaret, a musical playing at the Wharton Center this week that feels eerily relevant and timely.
Even after 50 years, this Kander and Ebb musical is incredibly powerful and delivers all that a musical should deliver. It is unrelentingly upbeat until it pulls the carpet out from underneath you and makes you realize all is not well. It delivers its drama sparingly, and with subtlety. And then it just plain hits you hard and takes your breath away.
Directed by BT McNicholl, Cabaret keeps the performers and lovers center stage with the Nazis barely making an appearance. Instead, they threaten at the edges, appear in shadows and seem to convince you that they are nothing anyone should be concerned about. After all, as Fraulein Schneider points out, “they are our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues…why should a difference in politics separate us?”
Mary Gordon Murray, who plays Fraulein Schneider, puts in one of the strongest performances of the production. Her voice is clear and strong and when she sings such numbers as “So What” and “What Would You Do,” the audience is cast into immediate empathy with her. She represents the everyday German citizen, long suffering, hard-working and unwilling to take risks that would upset her way of life or put her survival at risk.
Benjamin Eakeley as Clifford Bradshaw and Leigh Ann Larkin as Sally Bowles have wonderful chemistry together even as they show opposite personalities. Larkin in particular has a bubbly, sexy personality that perfectly captured the show’s themes. She had high energy through most of the show, an energy that sizzled and then burned as her emotions peaked. Her performance of “Maybe This Time” and “Cabaret” were highlights of the show–the first for the optimism it infused into the show, the second for the crackling fragility she managed to communicate through the song.
The Emcee is always a challenging role and Jon Peterson just recently joined the cast. During the first half of the show, it was sometimes difficult to understand him which might have been a sound issue or might have been him showing a lack of power in his voice. His physicality was spot on as he cavorted across the stage and up and down the stairs. He was like an ever-present sinister clown at the circus, always watching, always throwing in commentary through song and dance.
He and the dancers of the Kit Kat Club were outstanding in their performance of Rob Marshall and Cynthia Onrubia’s choreography. They writhed with overt sexuality.
Another highlight of Cabaret was the rich orchestrations performed by the orchestra staged on the top level of the set. Many of the Kit Kat ensemble members played instruments and the full orchestrations included such rare instrumentations for a touring show as four clarinetists, four trumpet players, four alto sax players, two tenor sax players and even two accordion and two banjo players. The music was lush and full and under the direction of Robert Cookman, they colored in the rich moods of the musical.
Everything in this musical builds up to the ending. For a good portion of the musical, the audience might be convinced that it is merely a historical slice of life, the picture of decadence in a city given over to parties and nightclubs, drinks and drugs. But as Cabaret lays out the choices its characters make—including the choices to remain blind and indifferent to politics—it provides a stark and inescapable look at what the consequences of those choices are. The ending strips away all thoughts of escapism and gives a grim reminder of exactly how history played out in that time and place. Even the curtain call is taken in silence, all the peppy and memorable music gone, forever lost to the violence that erased those who once frolicked in this city of Berlin at the end of the world.