[NEohioPAL] Berko review: CABARET @ Great Lakes Theater

[Roy Berko]

No standing ovation for CABARET at Great Lakes
Theatre
 
Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)
 
--Times Newspapers—
Lorain County Times, Westlaker Times, Lakewood News Times,
Olmsted-Fairview Times
-coolCleveland.com—
--ArtsAmerica.org—
 
CABARET.  It’s 1931 in Germany, a country of unrest.  We find ourselves at the Kit Kat Klub, a seedy cabaret, a place of
decadence and emotional abandonment.  Hanging over the entire scene is the growth of the Nazi party and the
impending reign of terror.
 
CABARET.  A musical loosely based on John Van Druten’s play I AM A CAMERA, which
was adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s GOODBYE TO BERLIN, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb.
 
CABARET.  A musical loosely based on John Van Druten’s play I AM A CAMERA, which
was adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s GOODBYE TO BERLIN, with music by John Kanderand lyrics by Fred Ebb.
CABARET.  A glimpse at Sally Bowles, a young English cabaret singer, her seedy
life as a performer, her doomed relationship with American writer Cliff
Bradshaw, and a strong subtext of another doomed relationship between German
boarding house owner Fraulein Schneider and her suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish
fruit vendor.  Not to be overlooked
is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub, who oversees the entire affair,
not aware that he is also on a doomed path. 
CABARET.  A version of which is now on stage at Great Lake Theatre.
The
musical opened on Broadway in 1966.  Immediately upon entering the theatre,
the audience was struck by the difference between this and other shows.  The curtain was up, a large convex
mirror reflected each person out of proportion as s/he walked down the aisle.  Lights and the theatre’s brick walls
were all exposed. Ironically, the staging was reflective of exiled German Jewish
playwright Bertolt Brecht’s theory of theatre:  alienation (awareness that you are watching a theatrical
production), epic (that which was presented is bigger than life), and
historification (a message from the past, which the viewer was to bring into
the present, and learn from the experience). 
The original cast included award winning
Clevelander Joel Greyas the Emcee.  Grey went on to also
star in the 1972 movie version which featured Liza Minnelli as Sally.
In the London revival of 1993, under the direction
of Sam Mendes, the show took on a new persona.  The emcee morphed from an asexual, malevolent character to a
highly sexualized homosexual (brilliantly portrayed by Allen Cummings) who, at
the ending of play, along with all the other “decadents”—Jews, Communists, the
physically disabled—are taken off to the concentration camps. Other changes added
references to Cliff's bisexuality, including a scene where he kisses one of the
Cabaret boys.  A 1998 Broadway revival,
which also starred Cummings, further refined the script, added wandering
musicians to bring out the alienation and identifying each character with a
musical sound.
The
Great Lakes Theatre production, under the direction of Victoria Bussert, works
on some levels, stumbles on others.  Basically using the Mendes rewrite, the general staging is acceptable,
creating many of the right highlighting to illustrate the impending
horror.  On the other hand, some
questionable casting, pedestrian choreography and a costume glitch, produce
problems.
Neil
Brookshire develops a believable character as American writer Cliff
Bradshaw.  Laura Perrotta, is
properly both hard and tender as Fraulein Schneider, whose purpose in life is
to survive at all costs.  John
Woodson is wonderful as Herr Schultz, the Jew who thinks he is a German and naively
assumes that the forces that are coming will assume the same.
Perrotta
and Woodson’s versions of It Couldn’t
Please Me More and Married, Perrotta’s So What and What Would You Do?, and the wrenching Tomorrow Belongs to Me were the production’s vocal highlights.
Danny
Henning (Bobby), with a snarl and a sneer, makes for a fine Kit Kat male dancer
and one of Cliff’s former lovers.  Jim
Lichtscheidl (Ernst) is properly despicable as a scheming Nazi.  Sara Bruner is spot on as Fraulein Kost,
Fraulein Schneider’s roomer, who offers sexual favors to numerous sailors.
On
the other hand, Eduardo Placer feigns at being the Master of Ceremonies.  The performance is all on the surface, filled
with vocal and physical gimmicks, never giving a clue that he understood the
power of his character.  The same can
be said for Jodi Dominick’s Sally.  Besides having difficulty singing the marvelous songs that the role is
given, she never gives a clear reading of her basis for desperateness, the
vulnerability that is covered by bravado.  The flailing hands, high pitched vocal adventures into trying to
dispilay desperateness, didn’t help create a believable character.  Don’t expect to hear an emotionally
moving version of the theme song Cabaret.
Gregory
Daniels’ choreography was efficient, but never developed the underlying
sensuality of the Kit Kat girls, nor the power needed to create the impending
issues, nor was there any clear distinctive style displayed.
Charlotte
Yerman’s costumes were era correct and worked well, but her yellow stars for
the Jews and pink triangles for the homosexuals, were so small that unless a
viewer knew what was going on, there was no way to catch the meaning in the
quick last scene.  In fact, while
exiting the theatre, a woman was overheard saying, “I didn’t know the MC was
Jewish,”  which obliterated part of
Mendes’ rewrite highlighting that more than Jews were taken to their deaths.
Capsule judgement:  CABARET
gets a serviceable, yet flawed production at Great Lakes.  The very fact that the production I saw
received light applause, not a Cleveland automatic standing ovation, gives a
clear message that director Victoria Bussert did not get the most out of the
script.
CABARET
continues until October 30 in repertoire with THE TAMING OF THE SHREW through
is on state until October 29.  For
tickets go on line to www.greatlakeshteater.org or call 216-241-6000.
Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from
2001 through 2011, as well as his consulting and publications information, can
be found at http://royberko.info. His
reviews and commentary can also be found on www.coolcleveland.com and
www.NeOHIOpal and ArtsAmerica.org.
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