You could waste all of your single dollar bills at a strip club this weekend, or you could try to snag a front row seat near the dancing beauties and brawny boys of the Jewish Theater Ensemble’s production of “Cabaret.”
Oh, and watch out for the Nazi.
“Cabaret” takes place in pre-World War II Berlin and follows the seduction of American novelist Cliff by the colorful life of the Kit Kat Club, a racy Berlin nightclub.
It’s a musical that blends sexual scandal with historical dramatic irony as the audience knowingly watches carefree Cabaret performers who are unaware of their future fate under Nazi rule.
“(The show) is a really eclectic, risque mix of what has previously been seen,” says Communication freshman Travis Greisler, who plays the sexually ambiguous and eccentric emcee of the Kit Kat Club. Greisler also has performed in Broadway productions of “The Who’s Tommy” and “Les Miserables.”
“‘Cabaret’ is full of very interesting characters,” says Communication senior J.D. Serfas, who plays susceptible novelist Cliff. “The emcee is fascinating and Sally (Cliff’s love interest) is gripping. Cliff is the normal American in this strange Cabaret world.”
Cliff falls in love with starry-eyed and sensual Kit Kat star Sally Bowles, who is played by Communication sophomore Caroline Fourmy.
“Sally is the most adorable and tragic character, I think, in music theater,” says Fourmy.
She says her character is constantly challenging her. “She loves life to a fault and she wants so badly to be loved that she’s just a complete mess.”
In addition to a complicated love story, “Cabaret” addresses a society on the eve of Nazi domination. The Nazi presence in the play builds from one Nazi character and a casual mention of “Mein Kampf” to a fearsome force that rips lovers apart.
“It’s a time capsule of what was happening in Berlin before Nazis took over,” says Greisler. “We’re just watching this one nightclub and two people falling in love. It’s showing how a mass population got taken over through the viewpoints of a few characters.”
For slightly higher ticket prices, audience members can sit at tables or couches incorporated into the “nightclub,” and surrounded on three sides by stages, including the Cabaret stage and the Cabaret’s “backstage” where the dancers dress and prepare for their performances. During the Cabaret scenes, dancers use poles to climb off stage and interact with the audience.
“There might be some lap dances,” says Greisler. “You are in Berlin before the war at the sleaziest nightclub you can imagine. We’re creating a new experience by having the setting become the Kit Kat.”
“Cabaret” is directed by Communication sophomore Kevin Kearney, who has never before directed a musical. Moreover, the show’s star Serfas, has never performed in a musical. Because of this inexperience, Kearney and the actors of “Cabaret” strove to make the production unlike past adaptations by emphasizing the more weighty undertones of the drama.
“We approached everything as if it were a play before a musical,” says Kearney. “The emotional content and themes in the show will be a lot stronger because of it. I want (the audience) to get a brand new idea of what the play is about. I want them to feel haunted, moved.”
The songs of “Cabaret” are also more realistic than other productions, according to Serfas.
“I don’t really like musicals in general,” says Serfas. “But this show justifies the music. Most of the songs are on the Cabaret stage.”
A subplot of “Cabaret” portrays an elderly couple in love and torn apart by the man’s Jewish identity under pressure from the Nazis.
“If it’s done well, it should blow your mind,” says Fourmy. “Yes it’s a musical, yes it’s fun and sexy, but the undercurrent is so strong. It’s dealing with chaos and war and insanity.”
‘Cabaret’
What: Jewish Theater Ensemble’s winter musical
When: Feb. 12 at 8 p.m., Feb. 13 and 14 at 8 and 11 p.m.
Where: Louis Room, Norris University Center
How much: $5 at jewsonstage.com