When Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall joined The Roundabout Theatre to recreate the Tony Award-winning Cabaret, they brought in a nastier, gaudier and cruder production than had ever been brought to any stage. If you have seen this play before, you will immediately feel how much further they went to bring the audience to back a time of incomprehensible foreboding.
After the curtain rises on this production of Cabaret, the momentum builds throughout the first act, holding our attention for the full 90 minutes. Mendes keeps up a breathtaking pace so the audience does not dare look away for fear they will miss something.
Cabaret—taken from Christopher Isherwwod’s Berlin Stories—tells a tale of life in excessive Berlin in 1929, when the world was standing on the precipice of oblivion.
The brassy Sally Bowles (Andra Goss), becomes a driven, free-spirited, diva-gamin with a vengeance. Her phrasing of “Come to the Cabaret” and “Maybe This Time” is impeccable.
The insidious, leering master of ceremonies (Randy Harrison) of the sleazy Kit Kat Club guides us through the plot and subplots. His creepy, amoral characterization becomes almost uncomfortable at times; you realize he is a sign of decadent times that are about to come to a crashing end.
Cliff Bradshaw (Lee Aaron Rosen) as Sally’s patient boyfriend has a beautiful delivery.
The most special moments come from a finely seasoned Shannon Cochran as the widowed landlady and a sympathetic Fraulein Schneider and gentle Mark Nelson as the Jewish fruit merchant Herr Schultz. Their doomed sweet love affair is tender and poignant.
The glitzy and tattered costumes of William Ivey Long, with a creative set by Robert Brill make for an interesting production.
Rob Marshall revisits the bawdy choreography with a great energetic chorus that boggles the mind.
The Kit Kat Club’s orchestra under the direction of Robert Cockman brings in the ultimate decadent mood that permeates the entire theatre.
This Cabaret pulls no punches. The audience leaves the theatre with the fresh realization that what happened in Germany in the 1930s changed the world forever. Some would recognize a parallel with our times in the here and now.
Camille Bounds can be reached at bo******@co*******.net.
‘Cabaret’
Golden Gate Theater, 1 Taylor St, San Francisco
Performances through July 17
Tickets: (800) 840-9227 or visit www.amtsj.org
