Texas State's 'Cabaret' is a dark production for a dark time – Entertainment & Life – Austin 360



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The clbadic musical "Cabaret" is a dark story in the happiest of times, so what does a top notch production of the show look like today? Positively brutal, in a vital and necessary way.

The resonance between "Cabaret" and our contemporary world is impossible to miss. With music by John Kandor, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff (based on John Van Druten and the stories of Christopher Isherwood), the musical tells the story of the citizens of one boarding house in Berlin on the Take a look at the furiously badualized burlesque hijinks of a cabaret called the Kat Club Kit. In Rome (or in this case, Berlin), "Cabaret" speaks volumes about the rise of fascism in our own time. country and internationally.

"Cabaret" has become a popular revival in the past few years, but the new production of the Texas State University Department of Theater and Dance shy away from.

Right from the opening of the book, director Tom Delbello chooses to be a part of "Cabaret," taking what is normally a burlesque atmosphere and transforming it into something more akin to an S & M dungeon the brilliant and thematic costume designs from Alexander Stearns).

This hyper-baduality is intimately tied to the choreography co-created by Jacob Burns students and Beau Harmon, a kinetic explosion that grows the manic throughout the production. The Kat Club Kit performers are like robots on the verge of exploding, or puppets jerked to and fro on their strings; it is both engaging and disturbing, the rising threat of the storm.

Just as the baduality is amplified in this production, so too is the sense of anger. A potent, directionless rage vibrates underneath the surface of much of the play, exploding at times in disturbingly fascistic (and badistic) ways.

Nick Eibler, as the Emcee, is given the task of physically embodying this social breakdown. He is at turns charming, ambiguous, hilarious, pathetic and absolutely frightening, often within the same number. Similarly, Logan-Rae as Sally Bowles is a good-time girl, as most actresses portray Sally, and more of a knowing participant in her own degradation, a terrifying take on the character that is perfectly in tune with the rest of this production.

Texas State's production of "Cabaret" is dark and unsettling, and it provides solutions for our own dark and unsettling era. What it does, however, is use high-energy theatricality to burn some vital issues in our brains, daring us to care more about ourselves and the world.

'CABARET'

When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13-17, 2 p.m. Nov. 17-18

Where: Patti Strickel Harrison Theater, Texas State University, San Marcos

Cost: $ 5- $ 10

Information: txstatepresents.com

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