“Cabaret” at NMU

Northern Michigan University will present the daring and provocative musical Cabaret Oct. 3-5 and 10-12. The play is set in a Berlin nightclub as the 1920s draw to a close. It explores the tumultuous life of the city’s natives and expatriates as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich.

“It’s a really interesting musical—more dark and gritty than happy-go-lucky—but very fun to put on,” said director and choreographer Kristen Beth Ludwig. “It was a time of economic depression and the rise of fascism. It’s a political musical, in a sense, but not about an election. Part of why we put it into our season this year is because we are in a very divided time in this country, and that is exactly where Germany was back then. Many of the themes are still relevant today, and that just shows we still haven’t learned from our history, and we’re going to continue that cycle if we can’t break free from it.

“In the U.S., we talk about the free love era of the 1960s, but that was very prevalent in the late ‘20s and early ‘30s in Germany, before Adolph Hitler came to power. The nightlife was thriving, and the people who work at the Kit Kat Club in Cabaret are very free with their sexuality, very open with their gender fluidity.”

The source material for the musical is Christopher Isherwood’s novel The Berlin Stories, about his experience in the city in the Jazz Age early ‘30s on the cusp of Hitler’s ascent. The book inspired a previous play, I Am a Camera, which portrays the writer as a detached observer from everything swirling around him. In Cabaret, on the other hand, the American novelist character named Cliff Bradshaw is actively involved in the plot.

“Cliff is intent on writing his next great American novel,” Ludwig added. “He’s already tried London and Paris for inspiration, but finds himself in Berlin. He gets seduced by the nightlife and the Kit Kat Club, where there’s an emcee who is like a puppet master for this memory play. Cliff is immediately taken with this English singer, Sally Bowles, an eccentric, fascinating woman who ends up talking her way into living with him and starting a relationship.”

A side story involves Fraulein Schneider, the owner of the boarding house where Cliff rents an apartment. She tentatively begins a romance with Herr Schultz, a mild-mannered fruit seller who happens to be Jewish.

NMU will be performing the 1998 Broadway revival version of Cabaret, which was directed by Sam Mendes. It featured Alan Cumming putting his stamp on the emcee role originated by Joel Grey, and Natasha Richardson as Sally Bowles. The revival ran for five or six years and brought in several guest stars for the leading roles.

The choreography was by Rob Marshall, who also directed and choreographed the movie musical Chicago. Bob Fosse had famously choreographed the 1972 Cabaret movie starring Grey and Liza Minnelli. Ludwig said she pays homage to both in her original choreography for the NMU production.

The NMU cast arrived on campus before classes started for a week-long boot camp to learn all of the music and staging for most of the big production numbers.

“We have a live pit band for the first time in many years for the fall musical; it’s being conducted by my brother-in-law Matt Ludwig, who retired as band director at Marquette Senior High School. Set designer Lex van Blommestein designed a runway that projects forward from the stage, bringing the action as close to the audience as possible. And our cast is phenomenal. Kendyl Dahlstrom does a fantastic job playing Sally Bowles. Logan Newcomb, who played Wayne in Puffs last season, is our Cliff Bradshaw. And Michael Ahlstrom, a Marquette native and crowd favorite, is the emcee.”

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 3-5 and 10-12, with a 1 p.m. matinee on Oct. 12. A sensory friendly Theatre for All matinee will be offered at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5. Tickets are $25 for the general public; $22 for NMU employees, seniors and military; $15 for youth; and $5 for NMU students. They can be purchase at nmu.universitytickets.com.