STAGE REVIEW : ‘Cabaret’ Drips With Decadence

Director/choreographer Gregory Scott Young has crowded a lot of “Cabaret,” including numbers from the film score as well as the original show, into a little space--the Golden Theatre in Burbank.

Robert Smith’s set has the dimensions of an actual cabaret, complete with six round tables, where Kit Kat Klub patrons sit throughout the show, observing even those scenes set elsewhere.

Young has created some surprisingly dynamic dances for such limited quarters. The numbers in the club drip with decadence, abetted by Ken Prescott’s epicene emcee, Carl White’s ingeniously androgynous costumes, and Smith’s lighting design.

Most of the scenes set in Fraulein Schneider’s rooming house also move on and off stage with surprising dispatch. Yet there also are some scenic problems and odd choices.

For example, the Klub band, complete with a glittery red curtain, pops up in the middle of the rooming house. And why does Fraulein Schneider go to the Klub to return the engagement present two of her tenants have given her? She probably wouldn’t set foot in such a place.

As Fraulein Schneider, Elizabeth Mendoza sings well enough to make us overlook her age (too young), and Harold Brown is a wonderful Herr Schultz, Fraulein Schneider’s lover. He gets to sing “Meeskite,” an important number eliminated from the 1987 revival at the Music Center.

Michael Conway is a fine Clifford Bradshaw. But Kendall Baldwin is too hard-edged as Sally Bowles; we don’t understand why Clifford would fall for her. Her ultimate decision to remain at the cabaret is a foregone conclusion--which removes much of the impact from her rendition of the title song.

Toni Spagnola’s direction of the Kander/Ebb score is generally on the mark. But the inclusion of “Sitting Pretty” after “The Money Song” is redundant.

At 139 Golden Mall, Burbank, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m., through June 18. Tickets: $12; (818) 841-9921.