Cabaret

Cabaret

Nov. 9-11, 15-17, 7:30 p.m.,

Nov. 10-11, 2:30p.m.

Loeb Ex

Directed by Katherine L. Price ’14

Produced by David C. Manella ’14 and Alexandra M. Kiley ‘15

The crew of “Cabaret” wants to ensure that the audience feels as if they are really in the “Kit Kat Klub,” the nightclub in Berlin where the musical is set. The Loeb Ex will be decorated to look like a jazz lounge; audience members will be seated around tables on three sides of the stage. Within this immersive setting, the audience will witness the stories of Cliff (Jeremy Y. Venook ’15), Sally (Maya M. Park ’16), Fraulein Schneider (Taylor K. Phillips ’15), and Schultz (Ari D. Brenner ’14) as they live life during Hitler’s rise in 1930s Germany.

Director Katherine L. Price ’14 says that the first act is strikingly different from the second in tone. “OBERON’s [production] was very dark, which is what I’m trying to stay away from,” Price says of the opening act. The dark moments later in the play are designed to highlight the similarities between “the Kit Kat Klub” and Nazi Germany as a whole.

“The cast [embodies] the wild energy of the Kit Kat Klub and respecting the very sinister political machinations that led to World War II,” says Sean K. Hardy ’16, who plays Victor. This shift in tone is in large part due to the drastic change between the first and second halves. “You don’t really see the ending coming, because it starts out being a fun time with sexy girls and romance and ends up being about the realities of politics,” says Margot K. Taylor ’16, who plays Fritzie. This fun but dark spin on the production—created by emphasizing Nazism and the harshness of the era—is a very important aspect for the crew.

The production aims to bring to the front the changing status of Jews in 1930s Germany. These particular ideas hold personal importance to many members of the cast and crew. “A lot of [‘Cabaret’s’] production team is Jewish, including me,” says Price. An example of the production’s emphasis on the deteriorating relationships between Jewish and non-Jewish Germans is a song that is sung by the Emcee (Alexander M. Willis ’14) while dancing with an actor dressed up in a gorilla suit. Using an absurd costume to represent perceived difference Willis sings, “If you could see her through my eyes / She wouldn’t look Jewish at all.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: Nov. 11

An earlier version of this article referred to the character Fritzie, played by Margot K. Taylor ’16 in “Cabaret,” instead of Fraulein Schneider, played Taylor K. Phillips '15. It also stated that director Katherine L. Price ’14 aimed to make her production less dark than earlier renditions; in fact, Price stated that the first act of the musical is lighter than the second. Furthermore, the article incorrectly implied that an actor dressed up in a gorilla suit sings in the show, while in fact the song is a solo performed by the Emcee while dancing with the gorilla. The lyrics of that song were reported incorrectly.