Done so often, just like Mama Mia and Dear Evan Liar-pants, Cabaret is used as the punchline of jokes about musical theater kids. It’s no joke.
Based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1939 semi-autobiographical novel, Goodbye to Berlin, it has always been a play about the seductive powers of excess, comfort and looking the other way. One is meant to feel good about the music until they understand the lyrics, because that is how propaganda operates, infiltrating through the things one loves.
Cabaret is a show that should make one uncomfortable. Jenny Boynton and Katie Wickes, the co-directors of the Marin Musical Theatre Company production running now in Novato through April 13, understood the assignment.
Gone are many of the subtleties usually threaded throughout the show. Sally’s drug addiction and Cliff’s sexuality are almost non-issues because Sally (Elly Carlstrom-March) and Cliff (Russell Mangan) are not the focus. This production has chosen to highlight Frau Schneider (Daniela Innocenti Beem) and Herr Schultz (Jere Torkelsen) to such a degree that there can be no doubt who the actual victims are.
Much of the cast deserves praise, like Stephen Kanaski’s brilliant performance as the emcee or Michael Lister’s delightfully slimy Ernst. Megan Schoenbohm’s Fraulein Kost’s calculating intelligence and the deft talents of the orchestra under Daniel Savio’s direction are also phenomenal.
Carlstrom-March’s take on Sally is interesting. This Sally is less trapped in the world she has created and more just hapless. Sometimes underwhelming, it pays off in Sally’s final number. Beem’s Frau Schneider steals the show with her phenomenal power and stage presence and brings everyone sharing the stage up with her.
The show’s production values are nothing spectacular. With no set designer credited, it’s no surprise that the set is nondescript. First-time lighting designer John Diaz’s lights do exactly what they are supposed to with little fuss, and costumes by Krista Lee and Andria Nyland are perfectly in line with all other productions of Cabaret. This reduction of production values is actually beneficial to this show because it puts the spotlight on what is really going on.
This production is worth one’s time, and it is worth the effort to take someone who refuses to see what is happening in our country today to see it. The sobering look at where hatred and the lust for power leads may not change their minds, but it will force them to stare at the hatred they support in its face.
Novato Theater Company presents Marin Musical Theatre Company’s ‘Cabaret’ through April 13 at the NTC Playhouse, 5420 Nave Dr., Ste. C, Novato. Fri & Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm., $35-$50. 415.883.4498. novatotheatercompany.org.
