Willkommen, bienvenue, Theatre Arlington!
“Cabaret,” set in a Berlin nightclub amid the Nazis’ rise to power in 1929, is opening the 2024 season of Theatre Arlington.
Perceived parallels between “Cabaret” and the current political climate in the U.S. are part of the reason why Theatre Arlington chose to produce the play, said Steven Morris, production co-director and executive director at the theater.
The musical is 58 years old and set almost a century ago, but it’s still relevant today, Morris said. The story deals with individuals affected by the political climate and how certain people chose to ignore the politics around them — a dark-eged tale told through a juxtaposition of fun, upbeat songs.
“My hope is that we will never forget what happened,” Morris said.
If you go
What: Theatre Arlington’s production of “Cabaret”
- When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; and 2 p.m. Sundays, through March 3
- Where: 316 W. Main St., Arlington
- Price: $35 for students and 62 and older; $40 for adults
Visit here for more details.
“Cabaret,” with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, first opened on Broadway in 1966. The production ran for three years on Broadway, winning eight Tony Awards, including best musical. A 1972 film adaptation of “Cabaret” won eight Academy Awards, including best actress for Liza Minnelli.
In the following years, “Cabaret” was revived multiple times, with many changes to the script. The characters and cast get more diverse, the stories become more sensational. Yet, the impact remains, as the most recent adaptation — a 2021 West End London revival — earned its leads, Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley, Laurence Olivier Awards for their acting.
Theatre Arlington’s version, however, remains faithful to the 1966 original.
That means no “Maybe This Time,” “Mein Heir” or “Money, Money,” as those popular songs date to the 1972 film.
Actor Presley Duyck, who plays Sally Bowles, said the original version is a challenge for her, since the character was more fully drawn in the later adaptations.
In Duyck’s mind, Sally is whimsical, charming and playfully rebellious but also has a lot of imperfections. She hopes her portrayal will showcase a balance of those qualities, she said.
“This is the story of the world changing around these characters that refuse to change — too self-focused on their hedonistic lifestyle to pay attention to the dark collapse of humanity,” Duyck said. “I think the way this show portrays that is very special – as an audience member, you get lost in the fun of the Kit Kat Club, until you realize you cannot ignore what’s happening anymore.”
Morris has layers of pressure going into directing the production, he said.
There are people’s expectations of hearing their favorite songs or experiencing the shock values of the adaptations that explore the characters’ sexualities, a component less prominent in the Theatre Arlington version.
Then there’s the personal sentiment Morris brings to the work. At 8, he first listened to the original cast recording. In 1980, it was also the first musical he performed in while attending The University of Texas at Arlington. His college mentor, who passed away a few years ago, directed him in that production.
He admired the sincerity of the 1966 version while still enjoying the subsequent revivals, which are more open-minded but darker, and he hopes people will give the original production a try, Morris said.
“This one feels much more like 1929. To me, it’s just more heartfelt,” he said.
Dang Le is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org or @DangHLe. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Arlington Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.