Cabaret review - Weddings & Honeymoons

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Theatre Reviews
by Jeniva Berger

| Cabaret review

CABARET'S SCENE CHANGES REFRESHING AND NOT MOTORIZED

Review by Frances Greenwood
From the moment the “Emcee” enters onto the stage of this atmospheric production of Cabaret (the air in the theatre seems smoky and heavy) you are drawn into the era and it is Berlin in 1929 when the country is morally floundering and suspect political undercurrents are slowly creeping upward into society. This is visual decadence, and for some in the audience maybe shocking and too provocative.

This is not the Cabaret of Liza Minnelli this is the socially consciencious Cabaret that grabs and pushes into your face the immoral anything goes characters that inhabit the Kit-Kat Klub spinning out of control backed against the seeming normality of Fräulein Schneider’s reality of survival.

Bruce Dow’s “Emcee” with his bizarre hairdo is the guide and narrator and he is superb along with the inhabitants and performers of the famous “Kit-Kat Klub”, each and everyone of them playing distinct characters that are flesh and blood ... and they certainly do have some fun with it.

As Sally Bowles, Trish Lindström, shown left with Omar Forrest as Victor, is all brashness with strong vocal capabilities, and a fine actress that certainly conveys her easy go lucky attitude, but there was no sweetness in this Sally even when she was with her Clifford... more than adeptly played by Sean Arbuckle who was fighting a cold at this particular performance. Clifford who is a naïve struggling American writer when he first becomes acquainted with Ernest Ludwig (Cory O’Brien) and enters this scene of depravation to find his soulmate in Sally is then forced through circumstance to view firsthand the best and worst of humankind and thus become a true author.

I

n the second act of Cabaret we see the rise of the gangster squads of Hitler and anti-semitism, all with the approval of many hapless and frightened citizens. Nora McLelland’s Fräulein Schneider is filled with pathos when she feels compelled to abandon her love for Herr Schultz, so aptly and softly interpreted by Frank Moore, both shown right, in order to assure her survival once again. Their duets are tender and their “Fruit Shoppe Dance” is a delight. For me this is the love affair of the show, and it has a sad but inevitable ending. Other inhabitants of Frau Schneider’s rooming house are individually wonderful characters!

Director Amanda Dehnert has brought forth a wonderful production that delivers a strong message about the era’s frightening and prejudicial politics and the dire circumstances that allow them to thrive. The set design by Douglas Paraschuk, and use of lighting were incredible and scene changes were refreshingly not motorized but used imagination and ingenuity to accomplish.

Not to be overlooked is the choreography by Kelly Devine that expressed exactly the wonderful music and lyrics, and the enthusiastic way in which it was performed by the entire ensemble.

CABARET runs until October 25th at the Avon Theatre in Stratford. Tickets can be ordered through the box office at 1.800.567.1600 or online at www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com.

Photos: David Hou

www.WeddingsHoneymoons.com | August 26, 2008

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