Theater Review

Tom Titus

If you think you’ve seen the musical “Cabaret” -- and since it’s been

around for nearly 35 years with generous local exposure, you probably

have -- you still haven’t witnessed a production quite like the version

now being presented at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

It’s almost inaccurate to refer to this touring show as a “revival,”

since director Sam Mendes (an Oscar winner for “American Beauty”) and

codirector and choreographer Rob Marshall have injected a visceral

sensation of in-your-face power and brilliance into the John Kander/Fred

Ebb musical, which had done pretty well on its own back in the 1960s.

This “Cabaret” seethes with hedonistic decadence. Set in Berlin just

prior to the Nazi takeover, the show mixes elements of the movie version

(Cliff’s bisexuality, Sally’s haunting solo “Maybe This Time”) that

weren’t present in the original play. The emcee also has a more dominant

role, even orchestrating the action outside the Kit Kat Klub like a

sadistic puppeteer.

Fortunately, the show’s adapters didn’t repeat the mistake made by Bob

Fosse’s film version by eliminating the aging German landlady and her

Jewish fruit merchant suitor. Their heart-rending subplot is crucial to

any production of “Cabaret,” and it’s especially relevant in this one.

“Cabaret” is set in 1929-30 Berlin, years before Hitler predicated

World War II and slaughtered millions of Jews. Yet the ominous harbinger

of coming events pervades the show and, in a stunning final tableau, adds

a terrifying epilogue. The music, heavy on drums and brass, is strident

and insinuating, punctuating the seething elements of its familiar, but

here often expanded, story line.

This might be the last place you’d expect to find a recent Miss

America belting out the title tune, but Kate Shindle -- who won the crown

just two years ago -- tears into her round-heeled, coke-snorting Sally

Bowles character with a vengeance. Shindle renders an achingly honest

portrayal of the cabaret songbird and devotee of o7 la dolce vitaf7 ,

and no one from Liza Minelli on down ever has injected the title number

with such raw, shudder-inducing forcefulness.

Jay Goede contributes a strong, solid counterpoint as the American

novelist who seems to be the only prescient character on stage and whose

outrage at the spread of Nazism is emphatically delivered. That his Cliff

tends to cruise both sides of the Autobahn, sexually, seems irrelevant

and even detracts somewhat from his moralistic persona.

As for emcee Jon Peterson, playgoers would be advised to leave the

kids home before savoring his performance. Peterson expands on the

heretofore only suggested erotic aspects of his role (the “Two Ladies”

are one of each gender), gloriously reveling in his sensual nature, and

his showmanship in the cabaret numbers is splendid.

Alma Cuervo as the world-weary landlady presents a powerful argument

for accommodation and her singing voice is on a par with Shindle’s. As

her gentle Jewish suitor, Hal Robinson is one of the few who exhibits

genuine compassion and he impresses even without his lighthearted solo,

“Meeskite,” which has been excised from the program. Nothing lighthearted

about this “Cabaret.”

The frisky Fraulein Kost is remarkably played by Lenora Nemetz, whose

Broadway debut came in “Cabaret” -- the first version (1966). Nemetz also

doubles as a Kit Kat chorine and chills her audiences at the close of the

first act with a haunting rendition of the Nazi anthem “Tomorrow Belongs

to Me.”

Tomorrow, and considerable days, weeks and months afterward, should

belong to this robust revival, which writhes with a syncopated fury under

the baton of music director Patrick Vaccarriello’s superbly brassy

orchestra. It may be a period piece, but this “Cabaret” packs an

exclamation point.

CUTLINE: Kate Shindle portrays the sensuous singer Sally Bowles in the

touring production of “Cabaret,” now at the Orange County Performing Arts

Center.

WHAT: “Cabaret”

WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 660 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

WHEN: Final performances at 2 and 8 p.m. today, and 6 p.m. Sunday

HOW MUCH: $28.50 to $62.50

PHONE: (714) 556-2787