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</div><div style="text-align:center" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3083" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3084">Hier ist das Dunkele Leben </b></div>
<div style="text-align:center" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3085" align="center">By Tom Wachunas</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3086"> </div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3087"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3088"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3089"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3090">'Lady
Peaceful, ' 'Lady Happy, ' /That's what I long to be /</b></i></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3091"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3092"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3093">All the odds are in my favor /Something's bound to begin,/</i></b></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3094"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3095"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3096">It's got to happen, happen sometime /Maybe this time I'll win… </i></b></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3097"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3098"> </span>- from “Maybe This
Time”, lyrics for the musical, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3099">Cabaret,</i>
by Fred Ebb</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3100"> </div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3101"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3102"> </span>Willkommen. Welcome,
to 1933 Berlin. The Weimar Republic is in shambles, the Nazis are on the rise. Should
you be wondering how the stage production of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3103">Cabaret </i>(the 1998 Broadway revival version) at Players Guild
Theatre 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.” <br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3153"><br></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3104"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3105"> </span>In the black-box
surrounds of the Guild’s arena theater, some audience members have been seated
at tables on the set as patrons of the seedy Kit Kat Klub cabaret, schmoozing
with the dancers. The floor is painted with the faded words, “Hier is das Leben
Schön” – Here is the beautiful life – an irony if ever there was one. For the
life that unfolds in and out of this murky setting might better be called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3106">dunkele – </i>dark. Here is an indelicate,
ambiguous place and time, where definitions and boundaries of sexuality and
cultural identity - and the expectations and judgements we bring to these
realms - mingle and indeed collide.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3154"><br></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3107"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3108"> </span>Director Jonathan
Tisevich has once again demonstrated his uncanny aptitude for identifying and
drawing out those ineffable differences between merely acting a part and being
wholly invested in it. His entire cast here is an electrifying entity, a vessel
of authentic humanity – humans making us feel…human. We’re not just
entertained. We’re immersed. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3109"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3110"> <br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3155"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3110"><br></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3111"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3112"> </span>An American
would-be novelist, Cliff Bradshaw (Matthew Heppe), arrives in Berlin and finds
a room in a dowdy boarding house run by Fraulein Schneider (Wendy Shantz). At
the Kit Kat Klub, where all the lewd entertainment is introduced by the
devilish Emcee (Olivia Wimberly), he meets the flirtatious English showgirl,
Sally Bowles (Sarah Marie Young), and soon enough a rocky romance ensues.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3156"><br></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3113"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3114"> </span>As Cliff, Matthew
Heppe is a remarkably agile and emotionally magnetic presence. With disarming
ease he navigates between giddy infatuation with, then ardent desire for Sally,
and ultimately his horror at the looming evil of the Nazis, forcing a bitter
retreat from not-so-magical Berlin.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3166"><br></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3115"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3116"> </span>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, throaty
pronouncements replete with double entendre, when she stomps and struts about
the stage, even dancing on stage with audience members, <span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3117"> </span>it’s just that – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3118">HER </i>stage (or would <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3119">HIS</i>
be more accurate?). Haughty, naughty, taunting, and flaunting, she’s equal
parts fresh air and the lingering odor of biting sarcasm. <br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3167"><br></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3120"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3121"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3122"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3123"> </span>Sally
Bowles is arguably the most complex of all the characters here. At once damaged
and defiant, fragile and fierce, confused and confident, she is swept up in a
practically epic struggle to reconcile her sordid past and promiscuous present <span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3124"> </span>with the possibility of understanding and
finding real love. To this role, the alluring Sarah Marie Young brings
startling depth, delivering an altogether gripping portrait. Her singing
doesn’t display much in the way of a soaring falsetto or breathtaking tremolo. But
this apparent lack of flashy bravura in no way diminishes the emotive power of
her singing. In fact, it seems intentional, and as such it’s a distinct
enhancement. When she sings “Maybe This Time,” with its heartrending reach for
hope, or “Cabaret,” a gritted-teeth anthem spewed from the deepest recesses of
bitter resentment and frustration, we’re hearing something really compelling,
beyond mere technique. This is pure, albeit tortured soul in the truest sense.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3168"><br></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3125"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3126"> </span>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 and
Cooley - who is particularly memorable for his unreasonable optimism amidst all
this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3127">stϋrm und drang</i> - are thoroughly
endearing in their tenderness. It’s made all the more heartbreaking as their
romance is doomed by the murderous dictates of Nazi persecution, embodied by
the increasingly menacing stance of Ernst Ludwig, played by Jacob Sustersic</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3169">.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3128"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3129"> </span>The ensemble
dancing, choreographed by Michael Lawrence Akers, exudes a tribal intensity
that oozes, at times, an almost comical sensuality if not outright lascivious
glee. And the superb live orchestra conducted by Steve Parsons is equally
invigorating.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3170"><br> </div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3130"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3131"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3132"> </span>At the end of his painful and cathartic
odyssey, Cliff, on his journey back to America, pens the first words of his
elusive novel: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3133">"There was a cabaret,
and there was a master of ceremonies ... and there was a city called Berlin, in
a country called Germany ... and it was the end of the world.”</i> <span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3134"> </span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3135"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3136"> </span>With a Kit Kat
paddy 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.</div>
<div style="text-align:center" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3137" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3138"> </b></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3139"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3140"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3141"> </span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3142">CABARET,
</i>(for mature audiences only) at Canton Players Guild Theatre, 1001 Market
Avenue N., Canton, Ohio / THROUGH APRIL 15, 2017 / Shows Friday and Saturday at
8 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 at
330-453-7617, or<span style="mso-spacerun:yes" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3143"> </span><a href="http://www.playersguildtheatre.com/" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491225292460_3144">www.playersguildtheatre.com</a> </div>
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