Theatre Review: Dynamic cast propels ‘Cabaret’ at Actor’s Express

“There was a cabaret, and there was a master of ceremonies, and there was a city called Berlin, in a country called Germany—and it was the end of the world.” This is Clifford Bradshaw’s final line in the musical “Cabaret,” currently being performed at Actor’s Express through Sept. 1.

Bradshaw is speaking not only of his personal experience but of the end of the Weimar Republic and the approaching darkness of the Nazi era. The time is 1931 (although Hitler didn’t come to full power until 1933).

Since its original Broadway opening in 1966, the musical “Cabaret” has become world famous; its fame was greatly abetted by the 1972 movie version starring Liza Minnelli. Atlanta’s Actor’s Express is currently presenting the show, in a rousing, scintillating production directed by Freddie Ashley. The book is by Joe Masteroff, based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood. The music is by John Kander; lyrics by Fred Ebb.

In March 1929 a 24-year-old Isherwood visited Berlin for the first time; it was the wildest, raunchiest city on earth, dizzy and decadent in ways I can’t describe to you here. Christopher, however, was delighted.

A young American novelist named Clifford Bradshaw (Terrence Smith) arrives in Berlin and meets a friendly (so he seems) young German named Ernst Ludwig (well played by Truman Griffin), who directs him to a boardinghouse owned by Fraulein Schneider (a luminous performance by Mary Lynn Owen). Cliff and she haggle gently over the rent, but she shrugs and says “So What?” – a jewel of a song in a musical full of jewels: “For the sun will rise and the moon will set and you learn how to settle for what you get; it will all go on if we’re here or not, so who cares, so what?”

He also meets Sally Bowles (a dynamic Callie Johnson), a British girl who works in the Kit Kat Klub, a Berlin nightspot around which all the action spins. Cliff and Sally become roommates—and more. Her former boyfriend Max (Cole Ferguson) is jealous and has thrown her out. There are other tenants at the Fraulein’s house, such as the highly sexed and ultimately dangerous Fraulein Kost (Megan K. Hill).

Perhaps the most charming relationship of the evening is the September romance between Fraulein Schneider and her Jewish suitor Herr Schultz (Steve Hudson), an elderly fruit shop owner who lives in the boardinghouse (“It Couldn’t Please Me More”).

We’ve yet to mention the central figure of the show, and that is the Emcee of the Kit Kat Klub. The Emcee is one of the most brilliant conceits of musical theatre. He is at once funny, clever, and ominous.

He is played winningly by Hayden Rowe, a strapping young man more robust than one often thinks of the Emcee; many of us have long associated Joel Grey with the role both on Broadway and in the film. Mr. Rowe has a fine, powerful singing voice, and he keeps the evening moving smoothly.

That’s all the plot you get; it’s quite well known, and if not by you, think what you’ve got to discover!

“Cabaret” is blessed by a dynamic cast; in addition to the above, there are Chloe “Cece” Campbell, Caroline Gammage, Aliciona Strothers,Wynne Kelly, Tatyana Mack, Jacob Craig, Cole Ferguson, Tyshawn Gooden, Joel Harlan-Ledbetter, Roberto Mendez, Kendra Johnson, Zack Tellez, Dustin Presley, Kendall Felix, Ben Cole, Sarah Ann Burke, and Edwin Navarette.

Your program will give credit to the entire creative team, such as music director Ashley Prince, choreographer Kari Twyman, lighting designer Joseph P. Monaghan III, and costumes by Nicole Clockel.

An actor in a touring professional company of the show said, “Any time discrimination and hate speech, and scapegoating of minorities—religious, sexual—are used to motivate political action, this show is relevant.” Enough said.

“Cabaret” is one of the greatest American musical dramas; director Ashley has somehow conjured an esprit de corps among this cast that is moving and contagious.

For tickets and information, visit actorsexpress.com .

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