Cabaret (I had to return)

This was my second time visiting the Kit Kat Club. Read my earlier review here. This is a show that I wish were required viewing for everyone in America, if not the world.

Cabaret is a show that takes place in Berlin, Germany, as the Nazi’s rise to power. Before the Nazi’s, Germany (especially the city of Berlin) was a hotspot for the LGBTQ+ community. It was where people were able to be themselves. And this is shown by the Kit Kat Club itself. Inside the club, everyone and everything is care free. Everyone and everything is beautiful. Life is beautiful. The show itself goes back and forth between the room rented by the American protagonist, Clifford, and the club, hosted by the Emcee.

This show, on the surface is about Nazi’s coming to power and how the people react. It then delves deeper: The show is about compliance. The show is about not knowing what to do. The show is about not believing that it could happen. The show is about not believing it can happen to you. The show is about not believing it can be that bad. The show is about fleeing. The show is about standing your ground. This show is about rationalising the horrors that are around you in order to deny that they are occurring. This show is about being so certain that you are right that you either ignore what’s happening around you or you do not even realise that it is getting as bad as it is.

I love this production. I love how immersive it is. I was seated on the opposite side as I was the first time that I saw this show. This allowed me to be closer to the actors during the main show. This allowed me to see more detail. This allowed me to appreciate the small movements of the dancers that I had not noticed before. This includes Herman covering his eyes as he dances to avoid looking at the overly sexual men and women and the fist placement of the gorilla (played by Karl Syler Urban, for this performance). Even being able to see the small glances that the actors gave each other while on stage put even more depth into a show that’s already very deep.

In this show, we see how Nazi Germany slowly creeps its way into every aspect of the characters lives, even inside of the Kit Kat Club itself. And we watch as everyone’s lives are changed.

This was the second time that I’ve seen the show with Adam Lambert as the Emcee. And he is phenomenal. The first time that I saw this show was before the election. It was before, when we still had hope for the next four years. But now it is after the election. The side of progress and freedom lost and executive orders have been signed. We are in a country where we can clearly see the fascists regime coming in and actively deciding who is or is not American enough. We have people, both legal immigrants and undocumented immigrants, being rounded up and sent away. ICE is infiltrating schools and places of employment. There is a push to deny the existence of transgender, non binary, and intersex individuals. Guantanamo Bay is being set up to be an interment camp (a labour camp). There is already talk of taking away the legal protections granted by marriage to those who are already married, but happen to be in a same sex marriage. And all of this information may be taking its toll on Adam as his performance was more strained this time around. In fact, he cried at a few different points in the show. He even changed some of his line delivery. For example: the first time that I saw this show, he almost spat out “she wouldn’t look Jewish anymore” while this time, the line was spoken softly and it came off as being more like genuine love. I am glad to report that there was no laughter, not even nervous/uncomfortable laughter after this line (there has been many reports of Adam stopping the show, in character, to explain that that line is not a belly laugh line). This time around, you could have heard a pin drop. I heard no laughter, but I did hear audible gasps of shock.

Both times that I have gone, I have seen the Sally Bowles understudy (Gabi Campo) and she has been phenomenal. I have never seen Auli’l perform the role, but if Gabi is the understudy and she is this good, I have to imagine Auli’l is amazing as well.

Another impressive thing to note is the pre-show. I noticed many new faces for the dancers and musicians. And with new faces, came new dances. Very impressive to see them changing up the pre-show and therefore having to learn and memorise even more dances.