DeKalb, Il, June 24, 2024 – Willkommen! The Emcee offers as a welcome when the curtain opens on the Kit Kat Club in Stage Coach Players’ July production of Cabaret. Cabaret, the classic musical from John Kander and Fred Ebb with a book by Joe Masteroff, opens on July 11, 2024 and will run for two weekends. The musical is daring, provocative and exuberantly entertaining.
Directed by Steven Meerdink (Bright Star), Cabaret won the Tony Award in 1967 for Best Musical and Best Original Score, along with a half dozen others. SCP will be producing the 1998 revival version which itself won four Tony Awards. Terri Crain Goodman is music director with pit direction from Ken Goodman.
The story is derived from the novel “Goodbye to Berlin” by Christopher Isherwood. The novel recounts Isherwood’s sojourn into Germany during the ascension of Adolf Hitler and the rise of fascism. The musical focuses on the hedonistic nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Club and revolves around an American writer, Clifford Bradshaw, played by Isaiah Panke (Beauty and the Beast) and his relations with an English cabaret chanteuse named Sally Bowles, played by Morgan Prentiss (Something Rotten).
We are introduced at the beginning to the Emcee (Eli Oleson – The Producers) with his bawdy songs as wry commentary of the current events unfolding in Germany and the cast of characters, exploring the dark and tumultuous life of Berlin at the time. Cliff arrives in Berlin to begin work on a new novel. Ernst Ludwig (Brad Shortridge – All Shook Up), a German smuggler, offers him black market work and recommends a boarding house run by Fraulein Schneider (Mindy Kaplan – Love, Loss, & What I Wore).
When Cliff visits the Kit Kat Club, he meets Sally. They strike up a quick friendship. When she arrives at Cliff’s room the following day after being fired from her gig, she convinces him to let her live in his room. Meanwhile, Fräulein Schneider begins a tentative romance with Herr Schultz (Greg Anderson – Bright Star), an elderly Jewish fruit shop owner after he offers her fruit as a romantic gesture.
Meerdink said the use of reflective surfaces in the shows is really to have audiences look at themselves and examine how we contribute to society as individuals. “It is rare that a musical brings entertainment to the stage, as well as an important message and makes us think.” He continued, “I would just like to emphasize that this is a musical with fun musical numbers but also forces us (as audience members) to examine ourselves and ask, ‘What would we do in these circumstances’.”
“I think this show does an incredible job of showing the consequences of choosing to ignore reality, and how that affects people and all of those around,” Prentiss added.
Kaplan went further. “Cabaret brings 21st century audiences the question of action versus inaction and interest versus apathy. What would any one of us do when faced with a challenge that forces us to choose… and what are the consequences of doing nothing?”
Summer Arwood, Darielle Culver Balika, Taylor Dobes, Zach Eckhardt, Anaya Evans, Joel Ledbetter, Aaliyah McCormick, Maddie Mormino, Kasey Pennington, Joleigh Reiss, Melissa Roseberg, Aljuwan Smith and Emelie Walton round out the Cabaret cast.
Cabaret, a show that has been revived perhaps as often as any in musical theatre, contains mature subject matter. The songs, however, are iconic. From the opening number “Willkommen”, to the beautiful “Maybe This Time”, to the classic “Money”, and the haunting “Tomorrow Belongs To Me.” Kaplan offered her favorite part of the show is watching the cast members work so beautifully together. “As far as music, I have always loved the title song, “Cabaret”, and the theatrical version brings a very different meaning to the song.”
Meerdink loves the fact that Cabaret delivers a powerful message and does it by weaving wonderfully entertaining musical numbers with difficult, and often humorous, scenes. “I love that an audience can be entertained by a musical for a couple of hours and leave with an important message as well.”
Cabaret is sponsored by Paw Lickin’ Good in Sycamore. Performances for Cabaret are August 11 – 13, 2024, and August 18 – 20 with a curtain time of 7:30 p.m. along with matinee performances on August 14 and August 21, 2024, with a curtain time of 2:00. Tickets for adults are $25 each. Tickets for children 12 and under and seniors are $23 each. For more information about upcoming productions and auditions, visit the SCP website at www.stagecoachplayers.com.
