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Come to the "Cabaret"
Playhouse lifts lid on season with Kander and Ebb classic
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown Playhouse will launch its season with a splash when it presents the Kander and Ebb musical “Cabaret.”
Directing will be Frank Lucas of Cleveland in his Playhouse debut. Lucas is a theater professional who has directed “Cabaret” twice before.
The cast is led by Vaughn Schmidt as the emcee and Joanna Andrei as cabaret singer Sally Bowles, with John Fleming, John Chambers, Christina Hovanec, John Weber, Kayla Boye, David El’Hatton, Russ Nalepa and Victoria Lubonovich.
“Cabaret” is set in Berlin in 1931 as the Nazis are coming into power. It morphs from carefree decadence through a stifling transition in politics and tolerance.
The action centers around two relationships: between cabaret singer Bowles and an American writer named Cliff (Fleming), and boarding-house operator Fraulein Schneider (Hovanec) and Jewish merchant Herr Schultz (Nalepa).
“Cabaret” opened on Broadway in 1966 and became an instant smash that ran for more than 1,100 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. It was revived and altered in 1987 and 1998, and was adapted into a 1972 film.
The Playhouse is doing the 1987 version, Lucas said, adding that some songs from the movie also are being incorporated.
Although the music is “terrific,” said Lucas, it’s the way the story encapsulates a key moment in history that makes “Cabaret” so enduring.
The musical starts off happy and playful but slowly degrades. The changing German society is reflected over the course of the production by the emcee of the Kit Kat Klub, a seedy cabaret.
“I don’t want to be a World War II historian, but even through the revivals, ‘Cabaret’ has never lost that message of ‘we don’t want this to ever happen again,’” said Lucas, referring to the war and the Holocaust. “If anything, that message has gotten stronger,” he continued. “By the time you get to the end, the audience doesn’t realize how it got there. The opening is so bawdy and fun, and it slowly erodes. By the time the musical ends, it’s very sad.”
Lucas’ production will copy the rapid pace of the movie. Scene changes will move swiftly; as one set is wheeled offstage, the next will be moved on in full view of the audience.
Music will come from an eight-piece ensemble led by Nick Samson. Colleen Chance is the choreographer, and Dorothy Butler Facciobene is the costumer.
Lucas said he is impressed by the cast and crew at the Playhouse. “Their discipline is good, so focused and professional,” he said.
A Kent State University graduate, Lucas began his theater career in the early ’70s when he moved to New York to work on soaps and with some touring companies. Broadway began to struggle in the late ’70s, so Lucas moved back to Cleveland where he took a series of 9-to-5 jobs while staying active in community theater. After getting fired for a third time, he told his wife, “I’m going back to where I belong. If I get fired again, it’s going to be for a job that I care about.”
Lucas’ theater career began a revival at that point. He gained positions with the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, Carousel Dinner Theater, Cleveland Playhouse, Long Lake Arts Camp in the Adirondacks and as artistic director for several Cleveland-area community theaters.