Jon Peterson has some choice words for those who don’t return after intermission to the searing, sexualized touring production of Kander and Ebb’s classic Cabaret.
“I’d say to them, ‘Grow the fuck up,'” laughs the 55-year-old British actor who brings the show’s iconic emcee to vivid, lascivious life. “‘Don’t you think it’s time to be a little bit more honest with yourself? Sex exists. People do it. You do it. So come on, get real.'”
This is not your standard-issue Cabaret — not by a long shot. Based on the 1998 Broadway revival, directed by Sam Mendes and co-directed Rob Marshall, the narrative cleaves closer to that of the 1966 original Broadway production, rather than Bob Fosse’s overly-familiar 1972 film. The ill-fated romance between Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit merchant, and his landlady, Fräulein Schneider, has been fully restored, bringing added moral depth and political resonance to the underlying story of the downfall of the Wiemar Republic in 1930s Germany.
“They sing four songs,” says Mary Gordon Murray, who as Schneider, hits it out of the park nightly with the intensely charged showstopper, “What Would You Do?” “And all those songs are cut in the movie…. It’s really kind of a revelation for people that there’s this whole other storyline that’s such a big part of the evening.”
“It’s such a beautiful, tragic story within the story,” adds Peterson. “It’s just perfectly set up. Cabaret is like a little Russian doll, isn’t it? There’s a doll within a doll within a doll. It’s just gorgeous.”
Murray isn’t put off by the production’s overtly erotic tones, though her choice of words are gentler than her co-star’s.
“I certainly don’t want people to walk out,” she says. “That’s not the point of doing theater. On the other hand, I’m not dismayed that something like this is risky enough, and political enough, and has a strong enough opinion, that maybe some people aren’t gonna go for it. That’s pretty ballsy for a musical to do. I don’t think it should be something gratuitous — you certainly don’t want to alienate people. That’s not the point, but on the other hand, this is a strong cup of tea. Perhaps some people won’t care for it. Well, so be it.”
"Depending on the cities that we're in, people have more or less familiarity with the piece, and with the song specifically," says Matt Rodin of the Stephen Sondheim classic "Getting Married Today."
The showstopper is a highlight of the composer's Tony Award-winning musical Company, and Rodin, who performs it in the production now at the Kennedy Center, refers to it as a "rollercoaster."
Company debuted on Broadway in 1970 with music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by George Firth. Director Marianne Elliott conceived of this production before the pandemic as a way to mark the musical's 50th anniversary.
"We market ourselves as all-male," says Bobby Carter, a longtime member of the New York-based Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. "And yes, we are, for the most part, what one would consider drag queens, because we do use the modalities of dressing as women to emphasize the characters that we're portraying."
Carter is quick to point out, however, that "the drag an element of what we do, but it's not the reason, and it's not the main focus."
He continues: "I always have to stress that we are first and foremost a ballet company. Yes, we all happen to be gay -- I'm not necessarily trying to out my colleagues, but not many people join this company in search of doing the male roles." At that, Carter can't help but let out a hearty laugh.
The season of rebirth and renewal is beautifully expressed in dance. And in that spirit, it's especially beautiful this season to see so much renewed life among dance artists, companies, and venues that have for the past few years endured the pandemic struggles and survived, or even come back stronger.
In every corner of the DMV, from Dance Place to Wolf Trap, the Kennedy Center to Hylton Performing Arts, world-class artists are making their debuts on our stages, or premiering never-before-seen works sure to excite, inspire, or push the boundaries of what we've come to expect.
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