The Emcee, played by junior Eric Rehm of UMass, is one of the many reasons to have seen “Cabaret.” The musical opened on Thursday, Jan. 31, with daily showings through Saturday, each one boasting a robust turnout that has become customary of Interterm productions. “Cabaret,” the fifth such Interterm musical, enjoyed merited success due not only to the number of talents, but also to the great variety of performers that collaborated in the show. Singer-actors invariably had to dance, moving in a dynamic set to the music of a full, live orchestra, conducted by Mark Lane Swanson, Director of Instrumental Music at the College. While each aspect of the play was strong on its own, it was this cohesive working of individual parts that led one music major to call “Cabaret” by far the best musical the school has ever produced.
“Cabaret” begins with the story of Clifford Bradshaw, played with sincerity by sophomore Mark Knapp. Clifford is a young American writer who travels from Paris to Berlin in hopes that a change of environment will finally inspire his great novel. A man he meets on the train, played by Ben Gold ’10, eager to help, directs him to a place where he can rent a room and suggests the local Kit Kat Klub for entertainment. He even offers Clifford occasional jobs for easy money (which end up being political jobs for the Nazis).
Clifford follows this man’s advice and finds himself at the Kit Kat Klub that very night, entranced by the racy performances and especially by the cabaret’s brightest star, Sally Bowles, played by first-year Julie Moorman. They embark on an affair and soon Sally ends up pregnant with a child whose paternity is uncertain. Although Clifford urges her to return with him to America in the face of increasing Nazi presence and social unrest, Sally chooses her unstable but more bohemian lifestyle as the toast of the Kit Kat Klub.
Sally and Clifford’s story is interspersed with colorful music numbers from the cabaret’s stage as well as snapshots of the romance between Clifford’s landlady, Fraulein Schneider (Nicole Kinsley ’09) and Herr Schultz (Ross Wolfarth ’08) a local Jewish fruit vendor.
More than merely showcasing unsuccessful love stories, “Cabaret” is a social commentary on the changing times of Weimar-era Berlin, just before the Nazis claim complete control of the German government. The Emcee, never a part of any non-musical scene, stood both as sentinel and victim of the change. Songs like “Money” and “If You Could See Her Through My Eyes” spoke to the economic crisis in Berlin as well as the growing stigma against the Jewish community in Germany. At the end of the play, the Emcee’s role as raunchy master of ceremonies in the seedy Kit Kat Klub led to his internment in a Nazi camp. His words in “Wilkommen” contrast with his own fate and that of the rest of the characters: “So—life is disappointing? Forget it! We have no troubles here!” he sings. By the end of the musical, however, the characters cannot forget their troubles in such uncertain times any longer.
Each of the stars possesses a remarkable singing voice, and did a fantastic job of delivering authenticity to their roles. Rehm brought the delightfully bawdy Emcee to life in perhaps the most memorable and expert performance of the play. Knapp could not have been more quintessentially American as Clifford, or more hopelessly optimistic that his relationship with Sally would work out. Moorman had big shoes to fill, with Liza Minelli famously playing Sally Bowles in the 1972 film adaptation of the play. However anxious she was, Moorman credited her director with giving her confidence to tackle the role and imbue it with both the over-the-top drama of the cabaret queen as well as a sense of genuine vulnerability. More than just a tour-de-force to display a great voice, Moorman’s climactic singing of “Cabaret” was full of uncertainty and irony, as her character seemed to realize at that moment that her mantra, “life is a cabaret, old chums,” was plainly false.
The supporting cast offered up equally commendable portrayals, no small feat considering they had to work through the German accents their roles required. Kinsley and Wolfarth gave understated, though poignant portrayals of their respective characters whose union is doomed to the uncertainty of the future in pre-Nazi Germany. The Kit Kat Klub Boys and Girls were sleazy and sensual to perfection. One of the dancers credited Director A. Scott Parry with really pushing his players to “sell it all” and not be afraid to try new things.