[NEohioPAL] REVIEW: CABARET at Players Guild Theatr

[Tom Wachunas via NEohioPAL]

Hier ist das Dunkele Leben By Tom Wachunas   'LadyPeaceful, ' 'Lady Happy, ' /That's what I long to be /All the odds are in my favor /Something's bound to begin,/It's got to happen, happen sometime /Maybe this time I'll win…    - from “Maybe ThisTime”, lyrics for the musical, Cabaret,by Fred Ebb    Willkommen. Welcome,to 1933 Berlin. The Weimar Republic is in shambles, the Nazis are on the rise. Shouldyou be wondering how the stage production of Cabaret (the 1998 Broadway revival version) at Players GuildTheatre stacks up against the 1972 film starring Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey,you might as well compare “Mack the Knife” to “A Spoonful of Sugar.” 

   In the black-boxsurrounds of the Guild’s arena theater, some audience members have been seatedat tables on the set as patrons of the seedy Kit Kat Klub cabaret, schmoozingwith the dancers. The floor is painted with the faded words, “Hier is das LebenSchön” – Here is the beautiful life – an irony if ever there was one. For thelife that unfolds in and out of this murky setting might better be called dunkele – dark. Here is an indelicate,ambiguous place and time, where definitions and boundaries of sexuality andcultural identity - and the expectations and judgements we bring to theserealms - mingle and indeed collide.
   Director JonathanTisevich has once again demonstrated his uncanny aptitude for identifying anddrawing out those ineffable differences between merely acting a part and beingwholly invested in it. His entire cast here is an electrifying entity, a vesselof authentic humanity – humans making us feel…human. We’re not justentertained. We’re immersed.   

   An Americanwould-be novelist, Cliff Bradshaw (Matthew Heppe), arrives in Berlin and findsa room in a dowdy boarding house run by Fraulein Schneider (Wendy Shantz). Atthe Kit Kat Klub, where all the lewd entertainment is introduced by thedevilish Emcee (Olivia Wimberly), he meets the flirtatious English showgirl,Sally Bowles (Sarah Marie Young), and soon enough a rocky romance ensues.
   As Cliff, MatthewHeppe is a remarkably agile and emotionally magnetic presence. With disarmingease he navigates between giddy infatuation with, then ardent desire for Sally,and ultimately his horror at the looming evil of the Nazis, forcing a bitterretreat from not-so-magical Berlin.
   Speaking of magic,I had to wonder… where in the known universe does Olivia Wimberly come from?Her portrayal of Emcee is downright otherworldly. Uttering hilarious, throatypronouncements replete with double entendre, when she stomps and struts aboutthe stage, even dancing on stage with audience members,  it’s just that – HER stage (or would HISbe more accurate?). Haughty, naughty, taunting, and flaunting, she’s equalparts fresh air and the lingering odor of biting sarcasm. 

     SallyBowles is arguably the most complex of all the characters here. At once damagedand defiant, fragile and fierce, confused and confident, she is swept up in apractically epic struggle to reconcile her sordid past and promiscuous present  with the possibility of understanding andfinding real love. To this role, the alluring Sarah Marie Young bringsstartling depth, delivering an altogether gripping portrait. Her singingdoesn’t display much in the way of a soaring falsetto or breathtaking tremolo. Butthis apparent lack of flashy bravura in no way diminishes the emotive power ofher singing. In fact, it seems intentional, and as such it’s a distinctenhancement. When she sings “Maybe This Time,” with its heartrending reach forhope, or “Cabaret,” a gritted-teeth anthem spewed from the deepest recesses ofbitter resentment and frustration, we’re hearing something really compelling,beyond mere technique. This is pure, albeit tortured soul in the truest sense.
   For a brief time,genuine love grows between Wendy Schanz, playing landlady Fraulein Schneider,and her Jewish tenant, Herr Schulz, played by Ralph Cooley. Both Schanz andCooley - who is particularly memorable for his unreasonable optimism amidst allthis stϋrm und drang - are thoroughlyendearing in their tenderness. It’s made all the more heartbreaking as theirromance is doomed by the murderous dictates of Nazi persecution, embodied bythe increasingly menacing stance of Ernst Ludwig, played by Jacob Sustersic.   The ensembledancing, choreographed by Michael Lawrence Akers, exudes a tribal intensitythat oozes, at times, an almost comical sensuality if not outright lasciviousglee. And the superb live orchestra conducted by Steve Parsons is equallyinvigorating.
    At the end of his painful and catharticodyssey, Cliff, on his journey back to America, pens the first words of hiselusive novel: "There was a cabaret,and there was a master of ceremonies ... and there was a city called Berlin, ina country called Germany ... and it was the end of the world.”     With a Kit Katpaddy whack, give the folks a bone, to chew the meat on their way home. Willkommen.Welcome to 1933 Berlin or, if you will, to here and now.     CABARET,(for mature audiences only) at Canton Players Guild Theatre, 1001 MarketAvenue N., Canton, Ohio / THROUGH APRIL 15, 2017 / Shows Friday and Saturday at8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. / Single Tickets: $27; 17 and younger, $19; Seniors$24 – additional performance on Saturday, April 15 at 2 p.m. / available at330-453-7617, or  www.playersguildtheatre.com 
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