Margaret Bauer“Cabaret” is seedy and glamorous. “Cabaret” is a musical and a drama. “Cabaret” is an escape and a lifestyle. “Cabaret” entertains the eye and pleases the ear. “Cabaret” reflects the hardships of living in 1930s Berlin and still dazzles the viewer with the carefree song and dance of the Kit Kat Klub, in which all worries are brushed aside. The many facets and sounds of this world-renowned musical made an appearance on campus last week as All Student Theater put on its own rendition of the Kander and Ebb musical. The production ran for four nights in the quad, with the cast and crew enduring persistent rain and chilly weather. The location of the show even changed on Thursday and Saturday evenings due to unwelcome torrential downpours.
Nevertheless, the creative and organizational efforts of AST paid off as it managed to tightly pack numerous elements into one set. On one side of the stage, the Kit Kat Girls slinked about their dance poles, singing choruses to the musings of the Master of Ceremonies. On the opposite side, characters bustled in and out of the doors of Fraulein Schneider’s house. The orchestra of the Kit Kat Klub filled the middle of the stage, rivaling the Kit Kat Girls in provocative apparel. To top off the set design, deliberately placed spectators sat onstage at tables before the orchestra and tables rested in front of the audience, constructing a microcosm of the “Cabaret” viewing experience itself.
The central appeal of the show rested in the hands of the actors and dancers. The story followed two lovers, the English dancer and singer Sally Bowles and the American writer Clifford Bradshaw. The relationship develops amidst the economic struggle and rising political tension of 1930s Berlin. Throughout the burgeoning story are interspersed musical numbers, ranging in levels of affiliation to the story at hand. Some songs speak directly to the story, while those of the Master of Ceremonies and the Kit Kat Girls provide comedic asides to the audience that parallel the events and songs taking place n the ‘real world’ scenes of Cliff and Sally.
The casting of Sophomore Justin Huebener as Master of Ceremonies proved to be particularly entertaining. With a sly smirk and a whimsical prance, Huebener maintained a constant enthusiasm as he slapped, prodded and poked his fellow Kit Kat dancers. One of the highlights of the show included the Master of Ceremonies and two of his ladies, Sophomores Deirdre O’Rourke and Laura Vilines, in the humorous number “Two Ladies.”
For a show with so much action and dance, the pace of the spoken scenes seemed to drop from time to time, losing its momentum and finding difficulty in picking it back up. The chemistry between Cliff and Sally seemed to diminish almost completely sometimes. To reclaim the audience’s attention, the task was often left to the Master of Ceremonies and the Kit Kat Girls. Regardless of the slow acting, the Kit Kat Club kids took the audience’s eyes away from their watches and toward the stage. The show might have dwindled here and there, but it caught its breath by the end to make its final bow.