Drama Department to Present Two Versions of Cabaret
By Richard Pierce
It’s Berlin, New Year’s Eve, 1929. An American writer in search of adventure takes up with the bohemian Sally Bowles, a performer at a decadent cabaret, on the eve of the Nazis’ rise to power. The story brilliantly intermingles the sexual underworld of Weimar Berlin with its moral and economic collapse.
Audiences will be able to choose from two different versions of the Tony Award-winning Cabaret when the Department of Drama at the Tisch School of the Arts presents a full stage version and a concert presentation in October. The young actors will present the full stage version at the Tisch School for 10 performances followed a week later by a special concert presentation for two performances at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.
“The propulsive energy of this cast of 26 electrifies the room,” said director Jean Randich, adjunct teacher in drama. “Like the play’s characters Sally Bowles and Cliff Bradshaw, they share the hunger of youth. And like the cabaret artists of Weimar Germany, they even dance on the edge of a precipice on our specially constructed industrial set.” Randich, who is both Brown and Yale trained, specializes in new work and in re-envisioning the classics, and has lived and directed in Germany.
Carbaret will run Oct. 2-7 and 9-11, at 8 p.m., with one matinee at 2 p.m. on Oct. 11, in the Abe Burrows Theatre, located at 721 Broadway, 1st floor. Tickets are $12; or $6 for students/seniors. Visit smarttix.com; or call 212-868-4444. Cabaret: A Concert Presentation will run Oct. 17, at 8 p.m., and Oct. 18, at 5 p.m., in the Skirball Center, located at 566 LaGuardia Place. Tickets are $15; or $10 for students/seniors. Call Ticket Central at 212-279-4200.
Cabaret features the music of John Kander, the songs of Fred Ebb and a book by Joe Masteroff, and is based on a play by John van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood. The drama department production features musical direction by Jana Zielonka and choreography by Tony Stevens.
