By Julia Doerr
Cabaret, Lincoln Community Playhouse, March 1, 2024
So, three college students, a paraeducator, a health club manager, a retail outfitter, a training and experience manager, and a couple of folks who work in insurance all dance into a bar…
… and as the ensemble who perform at Berlin’s fictional Kit Kat Klub, ca. 1931, they help transport the Lincoln Community Playhouse audience to the world of the well-known musical, Cabaret. And you know what? They are quite convincing. This is the beauty of high-quality community theater. The new production at LCP is entertaining, meaningful, and very well done.
Before the play even starts, the audience gets to see the costumes and set, as the Kit Kat girls and boys wander about the lobby and stage areas in character. This establishes the tone and segues nicely into the famous opening number, “Wilkommen,” a trilingual welcome to the decadent and rather seedy nightclub at the center of the show. Throughout the play, the action pivots back and forth between the “real life” action outside the club and the stage productions performed inside.
Initial introductions are made by the Emcee, portrayed by Will Yindrick in a charismatic and disturbing performance as the character arguably most identified with the show. Though the female lead character, Sally Bowles, might argue in her own favor, the Emcee leads us through the action, as an Emcee should, and also embodies the spirit of the era in which the action is set. He is at the heart of the symbolic portrayal of the encroaching Nazi influence in the period before Hitler’s rise to power and the Holocaust.
That being said, kudos are also due to Jacquelyn Vonashwege and Jamison Watt as Sally and her roommate Clifford Bradshaw. They make believable the relationship between two characters who find their pairing as unlikely as everybody else does. It is particularly interesting how Clifford is naïve about some things that Sally is jaded about, while Sally is blind to the political situation that Clifford recognizes and eventually urges her to flee with him. But their commitment to one another begins with genuine hope, as Sally very movingly expresses in “Maybe This Time.”
The secondary romance of the musical is between the landlady, Fraulein Schneider, and produce marketer, Herr Schultz, another tenant in her rooming house. Julie Enerson and Tom Hinshaw portray these characters, whose late-in-life courtship is sweetly accomplished. He woos her with fruit, culminating in a nice song about a gift of pineapple and a rather impromptu engagement.
Meanwhile, all is not well among the supporting “real life” characters. Clifford’s first acquaintance in Germany, Ernst Ludwig, seems friendly and helpful but has ulterior motives in recruiting Clifford to do some messenger work for him. Fraulein Kost has an ongoing conflict with Fraulein Schneider. In strong supporting performances, Nathan Kreutzer and Caitlin Marrow personify trouble.
Throughout the play, musical numbers performed at the Kit Kat Klub underline the turns of plot in the outside world. Especially well-done are the energetic “Two Ladies” and “The Money Song,” performed by the Emcee and the Kit Kat girls and boys. The choreography and direction provided by Ted Blessing are excellent throughout. In the short second act, Sally’s performance of the title song is the antithesis of the way “Cabaret” is often performed, especially outside the context of the play itself. It is not the cheery anthem of a nightclub but the determined and somewhat angry credo of Sally herself, and it is very effective.
Worthy of note are some of the many finely accomplished details of the production. The set design by Douglas Clarke was impressive, especially the view of the Kit Kat Klub as the audience entered the theater. Costuming by Maralee Maldavs was equally important in creating that Kit Kat world and in complementing the characterizations in the “real world” too. Cassi Crain’s lighting design worked well, especially the strings of light that extended into the auditorium and the shadows on the wall. And the German diction was good, adding to the overall verisimilitude.
This is not a show where everything turns out well. But the story comes to its inevitable end. And the “End of Show” number, with its stunning final touch, brought audience members immediately to their feet in a well-deserved ovation.
If you go: Cabaret plays at Lincoln Community Playhouse March 1-10, 2024. Ticket information at https://www.lincolnplayhouse.com.
Julia Doerr is a retired high school English teacher with a lifelong love of theatre.
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