Back to Past Shows The Observer Cabaret - a musical with a message By Elizabeth Yakes “Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome.” With this greeting the emcee of the dark and seedy Kit Kat Klub draws the audience into 1930’s Berlin. “Leave your troubles outside,” he seductively entreats. “Life is disappointing? So? Forget it! We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful!” And the audience and I willingly obliged, becoming the Kit Kat Klub audience, oblivious to the outside world. We were immediately caught up in the sordid Berlin nightlife with the emcee’s raunchy introductions of the Kit Kat girls and the Kit Kat boys. This wretched crew, done up in garish make-up and skimpy lingerie, simply oozed desperation and sex. Our telescopic view was gradually broadened to include snippets of the outside world. Cliff Bradshaw (Eric Michael Gray), an American Writer, travels to Berlin by train in an attempt to revive his flagging career. Along the way he meets Ernst Ludwig (Jeff Marsey), a friendly German who is smuggling items from Paris for “some political party.” Ludwig refers Bradshaw to Fraulein Schneider’s boarding house, where he takes up residence. Bradshaw ventures to the Kit Kat Klub on New Year’s Eve, where he watches Englishwoman Sally Bowles (Audra Degesys) belt out the tongue-in-cheek “Don’t Tell Mama.” The saucy front that Bowles puts forth gradually begins to crack as she shows up Bradshaw’s room one night, telling him that she has lost her job and needs a place to stay. She warns him that it won’t be for long, as she generally inhabits the room of a different man every week. Meanwhile, a burgeoning romance develops between Fraulein Schneider (Carrie Shanafelt), the owner of Bradshaw’s boardinghouse, and Herr Schultz (Derek Lebzelter), a Jewish fruit merchant. The shy love that develops between these two lonely souls is beautifully portrayed in the whimsical “It Couldn’t Please Me More.” A type of love also starts to develop between the flighty Sally Bowles and the bisexual Cliff Bradshaw. Bowles and Bradshaw cling together like desperate drowning victims. The two relationships soon reach a climax. Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz decide to marry, while Sally reveals to Cliff that she is pregnant. He offers to serve as the baby’s father so that she will not have an abortion. At this point the audience is completely caught up in the drama of the two relationships and the lewd interspersed Kit Kat Klub numbers. Like the Germans during the 1930s, the audience has been lulled into a sense of complacency (“We have no troubles here!”) and blindness. Somehow, evil has insidiously crept into the world while we weren’t watching. It is a brutal slap in the face when a swastika is suddenly unveiled on Ludwig’s arm at Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz’s engagement party. Ernst Ludwig’s political party is the Nazi party, and he menacingly warns Fraulein Schneider that it will not be in her best interests to marry a Jew. The girl next to me quietly sobbed at the shocking scene segue into intermission. The opening of the second act was even more disturbing, as the Kit Kat Klub dancers perform a kick-line dance that ends in goose-stepping. From this point on, the audience is relentlessly dragged downward with the characters, who can no longer ignore the evil that exists in their midst. The two promising relationships rapidly crumble under the weight of the malevolence in the atmosphere. A brick crashes through Herr Schultz’s window. Fraulein Schneider, who fears for her boardinghouse license, reluctantly breaks off her engagement with him. Cliff, horrified by what he sees transpiring, tries to convince the politically apathetic Sally to go to America with him. Sally’s broken, twisted spirit, however, can’t accommodate this change, and she escapes commitment in the only way she knows how: by aborting her baby. Despite Cliff’s pleadings, Herr Schultz also chooses to remain in Germany. There is no resolution or closure to this musical, only an increasingly intense performance of “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” an anthem to “the fatherland,” culminating with the emcee ripping off his jacket to reveal a Jewish star on his armband. Behind him stood Herr Schultz, Fraulein Schneider, Sally Bowles, and Cliff Bradshaw, their faces symbolically bruised by the losing battle that they fought with the insidious evil that crept into and shattered their fragile lives. A stunned audience gave the cast an enthusiastic, well-deserved round of applause at the end of the show. Director and choreographer Ken Gasch, assistant director Mark Gondree, and musical director Brian Damron put together and incredible, emotionally charged production. The atmosphere at the Spot was perfect, exuding the seediness of the Kit Kat Klub. The crisp, sharp accompaniment of the Kit Kat Klub band showcased the voices of the talented cast. David Harvey’s performance as the emcee was mesmerizing. Harvey’s musical talent was particularly evident in the heart-breaking “I Don’t Care Much,” and his stage presence made the show. Audra Degesys played the difficult role of Sally Bowles well, exuding a manic desperation. The considerable acting abilities of Carrie Shanafelt (Fraulein Schneider) and Derek Lebzelter (Herr Schultz) were highlighted throughout the production, while their musical prowess was evident in “It Couldn’t Please Me More” and “Married.” Eric Michael Gray’s earnest performance as Cliff Bradshaw was also noteworthy. Indeed, the entire cast did a tremendous job of juggling a difficult subject matter. The Footlighters are to be applauded for delivering a musical with a message: never forget.

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