‘Cabaret’ Chills & Enthralls in New Jenny Boyd Theatre

Cabaret opened its run emphatically last week, tossing aside any reserve or timidity like a burlesque performer’s loosely-attached outer layers. It was energetic, flamboyant and deeply resonant. Tickets have quickly become scarce, but if you can get a seat to a remaining performance, you’ll get an eye-full and an ear-full.

Artists that seek to challenge or provoke need to, at least to some degree, understand their audience to do so effectively. And to fully appreciate the relevance and impact a piece carries into the present, that audience will benefit greatly from being aware, if not intimately familiar, with the history and contexts from which that art emerged.

For both viewers and performers of the seemingly-evergreen American musical Cabaret, these responsibilities can seem daunting, if not overwhelming. Its source material, about its author’s time in Germany beginning in the late 1920s, was originally published in the UK in the late 1930s and adapted for the stage in the ’50s as a play. The musical premiered in the United States in the ’60s, but found its broadest audience in the Bob Fosse-directed 1972 American film adaptation. That’s a lot of context.

But would-be theater-goers should take heart; the folks producing, directing and performing in the Clarence Brown Theatre company’s current production of Cabaret at the new Jenny Boyd Theatre have done practically all of that heavy lifting for you.

It’s a vibrant yet shadow-filled telling of a story nearly 100 years in the making, performed with enough nuance to confound and enough heart to reach right into each patron’s chest and squeeze (and not only during that chilling and inventive finale).

For a setting so intimate, the production quality and general effect seem gleefully out of scale. The musical performances and stagecraft on display are impeccable, which is not to say clinical. There’s grit, flair and personality in nearly every jazz-inflected phrase and believably-scuffed piece of luggage.

In an interview with IOK last week, director Helena Kays expounded further on the depth of strength this cast and production as a whole enjoy. “Our youngest cast member is a freshman undergraduate, and our oldest performer is in their 70s,” she says. “Watching the seasoned professionals mentor the younger actors, and seeing those younger actors bring so much passion and excitement, creates something really powerful. There’s so much love and support in the room. That intergenerational dialogue is really special.”

While the ample resources martialed by the producers and exuberant talents of the cast generate impact throughout the show, the hard-won choices made and thoughtful guidance provided by Kays deserve more than a fleeting moment to sparkle beneath the roving glare of the lead spotlight. It’s common enough knowledge that musical theater performers are trained to “play to the back row,” while film actors can lift an eyebrow a few feet from the camera and draw gasps of surprise or horror. But what’s the vibe supposed to be when the back row is no more than 50 or 60 feet away?

Kays answers that question skillfully and sensitively through the actors’ capable ranges of vocal projection, the scale of their gestures, and yes, even the timely employ of their eyebrow movements. And while many of the characters in the story make their livings by being provocative, it’s clear that the creative team behind this production are driven by a yearning to communicate and to share a sense of understanding. If a few thoughts are provoked along the way, so much the better.

For example, our avatar in this highly-wrought, pivotal moment, not to mention geographical place, in modern Western history and culture is an educated white male. But is he the “main” character?

Or would that be Sally Bowles? The role of the liberated and hedonistic chanteuse was memorably filled in the movie by the biggest star in the cast, Liza Minelli.

What about the Emcee, our rapacious, seemingly omniscient and slinkingly omnipresent host? It’s a character whose fourth-wall-breaking smirk and gender-bending, iconic smear of greasepaint have been reverently inhabited by some of theater’s most adventurous, not to mention famous, gay actors over the decades.

Or it could be us, the perplexed, exhausted and sometimes terrified real-life attendees as issues of sex, power, politics, and of course, sexual politics swirl through our newsfeeds daily. It’s almost as if the show exists to ask us, today, “what would you do?”, which Tricia Matthews’ Fraulein Schneider desperately implores a dozen times as the harrowing and regressive ideologies of those in power in her world begin to gain forcible control over the show’s narrative, pivoting us toward its dark conclusion.

Kays highlighted both how varied in tone and how multi-layered our viewing and listening experience is likely to be: “It’s a roller coaster. You’ll laugh one minute and be crying the next — and visually, it’s stunning. But more than anything, I want to invite everyone to come. If we open ourselves a little wider and bring together people who think differently, we can have real conversations about what it means to be citizens of the same country. This production is an open invitation for anyone to join that dialogue.”

In addition to the finely-tuned and timbred performances, Cabaret’s setting is matched to the space. Centered primarily in and around a seedy Berlin nightclub, cramped boarding-house bedrooms, and rumbling, close-quartered train cars, it’s a perfect fit for this room. Consider the trope of arena-rock musicians pining for the long-passed nights in sweaty, intimate clubs. Kim Morgan Dean (Sally Bowles), Sammy Pontello (Master of Ceremonies), and the rest of the cast are surely generating fresh core performing memories they’ll cherish for years, and you can almost see it in their eyes.

Kays feels something special going on as well, saying, “I really want this community to take a moment to appreciate how excellent and professional the performing arts scene is here. Knoxville is incredibly lucky. The theater community here is thoughtful, positive and deeply committed to its craft. The Jenny Boyd Theatre — and this whole season — feels like a moment to celebrate living in Knoxville.”

There may have been a tear-lined cheek or two during the curtain call, and not just up in the balcony where we thoroughly enjoyed our venue-spanning perspective. Our internalization of Cabaret’s themes and the many questions they pose was only beginning as the house lights went up.

Cabaret is onstage at the Jenny Boyd Theatre, located on the campus of the University of Tennessee, through March 1. Tickets are extremely limited. For questions about tickets, you can call Tuesday – Friday from noon to 5 p.m. at 865-974-5161 or email [email protected]. Each performance will have a waitlist available once the house opens on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Clarence Brown Theatre: Website | Cabaret | Season | Ticket Info