This weekend, Stage of Life Theatre Company (SoL) continues its run of the 1966 black comedy “Cabaret.” This very well may be the only musical that has ever made this reporter shed a tear. It is a vision into a fantastical yet genuine world, about real people dealing with real problems at the end of the world, and the club they all attend to try and escape it.
For those who have never heard of it, “Cabaret” chronicles a story of the last days of a 1929 Berlin cabaret known as the Kit Kat Club. This story is told mostly through the lens of American wanna-be writer Clifford Bradshaw’s relationship with the English cabaret performer Sally Bowles. Through these characters — alongside a couple of elderly German suitors, the other performers at the Kit Kat Club (including a horrifying Master of Ceremonies), a prostitute across the hall and Clifford’s somewhat suspicious best friend — we bear witness to the end of an era in Berlin, as charming debauchery is replaced with the dark, all-enveloping and spirit-killing reality of fascism.
While watching “Cabaret,” any empathetic audience cannot help but fall in love with its cast of disgusting, perverted and greedy characters as they experience the trials and tribulations of day-to-day life. Everyone is out to get something, but “Cabaret” subtly suggests that this is just the way life is and will always be, so it’s wrong to judge them for it.
Possibly due to this fact, the characters feel deeply real. No one is purely good or evil, rather almost all the characters function within a grayness that necessitates audience empathy, because we see these flawed individuals in their wretched lives and cannot help but see ourselves. The main romance of the play is messy and complicated, but there is beauty and humanity to be found within that struggle. These people argue and fight, but we know deep down that they are still people, and they all still have something honest to their lives.
As the story develops, it becomes clear that the debauchery of the Kit Kat Club and its patrons is truly harmless in the grand scheme of things, for when true evil arrives in Berlin, only then do we realize how good we had it.
From a musical aspect, the songs are wonderfully put together, with the most interesting to this reporter being the in-universe song-and-dance numbers brought to the audience by the Kit Kat Club. They first seemed somewhat frivolous distractions from the overall plot, but it quickly became clear that they represented something deeper as the story went on. The more classic “musical-style” musical numbers are also quite good, and are performed beautifully by their singers. This musical features a live band whose talent elevated the show to something very professional.
On another production note, the set design is excellent. There are very few set pieces within the show, which would normally be a hindrance. But in this case, it helps to elevate the fantasy. Since the Kit Kat Club doesn’t really exist in the physical space of the theater, it creates an opportunity for the audience to imagine a truly decadent and overwhelming space that may not strike the same chord in the wake of a detailed set. When there were set elements, it never took away from this feeling. One particular decision featuring phone lines created a truly amazing effect.
The actors were incredible, with the emcee in particular being exceptionally funny and simultaneously very touching. The older actors portraying the two German suitors were deeply heartwarming. All of the cabaret performers brought a real charm to their numbers and scenes and, of course, our main duo was incredible, imbuing their scenes with an intense realism. The suspicious best friend of Clifford, Ernst Ludwig, is deeply charismatic — and squirrely — and leads the audience to have doubts early. This is one of the many great traits of SoL’s “Cabaret” — everyone is real.
In conclusion, “Cabaret” provides a fun, raunchy and honestly heartbreaking experience, serving as a peak into a time and way of life that is otherwise far distant. It is one of the most beautifully tragic pieces I have had the pleasure of witnessing in recent memory, and this reporter would highly recommend seeing “Cabaret” before it closes. In the words of Sally Bowles, “Life is a cabaret, ol’ chum, so come to the Cabaret.”
“Cabaret” continues at the Thunder River Theatre this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2pm. Find tickets at www.soltheatrecompany.org