“Cabaret” is coming to town.
Now, don’t shrug your shoulders. This is exciting.
Some musicals bare repeat viewings.
So even if you saw the production Arizona Repertory Theatre did last year.
Or the Winding Road Theatre Ensemble’s production in 2013.
You want to see “Cabaret” again.
And you especially want to see the production Broadway in Tucson is bringing our way next week.
Here are four reasons why:
1. This is the Roundabout Theatre Company road show of the Kander and Ebb musical, directed by Sam Mendes and co-directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall. Mendes is behind the 1998 revival of the musical that snagged all sorts of Tony Awards. This 2014 revival, much the same as Mendes’ earlier one, was nominated for Tonys, as well. The production makes palpable the dark decadence of “Cabaret,” about 1931 Berlin, when the Nazis were just beginning to assert themselves in Germany. And its relevance seems particularly profound in this ugly election year.
2. The music, from the title tune, to the heartbreaking “Maybe This Time,” to the chilling “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” is just downright brilliant. Each tune serves the story and enlightens the audience.
3. The cast includes Randy Harrison as the Emcee (he was one of the stars of Showtime’s “Queer as Folk”). “Harrison’s Emcee seduces us, flatters us, mocks our square ways — and then makes us squirm with wondering why we fell for him in the first place,” said the Chicago Tribune. Andrea Goss’ Sally Bowles charmed the Houston Chronicle: “Goss is magnetic as Sally, a regular girl desperately trying to be anything but average.”
4. The reviews: “… A harrowing, heartbreaking show that will stay with you long after the bleak finale,” said the Houston Chronicle of this road show. “Now this is what ‘Cabaret’ is supposed to be,” reported the Cincinnati Enquirer. And this from the Baltimore Sun: “… The musical feels doubly meaningful, given the politics and tone of today, with the fresh efforts to single out ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation. Life is a cabaret, all right, but, as this production so powerfully reminds us, your table may not always be waiting.”
