Theater Review – August 3, 2024

SPIRITED AND LIVELY TPTC “CABARET” BOASTS BROADWAY CALIBER SPARKLE

“CABARET”
The Phoenix Theatre Company, Mainstage Theatre
Phoenix AZ

By Chris Curcio
Theater Critic

Pre-Nazi Germany in the late 1930s was decadent, tawdry, and increasingly sleazy but they still had freedom. When Hitler took power, things changed radically and it is this period that the 1966 award-winning musical “Cabaret” captures. Set in a risqué, off-color nightclub, the Kit Kat Klub, the low-life floor show reflects the attendees and the performers. The dance chorus also sell their bodies to get by. The sharp-tongued Emcee takes the audience on a fascinating journey that explains what losing freedoms is all about.

Could “Cabaret” have relevance in today’s America? Judge for yourself as you enjoy The Phoenix Theatre Company’s (TPTC) lithe and brittle but always dynamic and exquisitely throbbing production. Exquisite may not be a strong enough adjective for this remarkable staging.

Start with the richly revealing musical dotted with John Kander’s familiar but perfect tunes, Fred Ebb’s telling lyrics, and Joe Masteroff’s insightfully illuminating book that convey the awful impacts the Nazi regime had on German citizens who relished their freedoms.

Add Michael Barnard’s glitzy and sprightly paced production that glows with Daniel Gold’s energized choreography. This production zings along and never slows down for a second even in the more somber scenes between rooming house proprietor Fraulein Schneider and Jewish fruit seller Herr Schultz whose unconventional romance meets with disfavor.

Kevin Robert White’s music direction makes each of Kander’s tunes spark with vibrant life. There’s Aaron Jackson’s visually alluring sets and Cari Smith’s dazzling but shamefully revealing costumes stunningly lit by Tim Monson’s variably focused lighting.

Ultimately, though, it is the flawless cast that makes this production perfection. Eddie Maldonado’s frightfully decadent Emcee sets everything off with showy explanations as he guides the audience through this increasingly corrupt lifestyle. Alyssa Chiarello nails Sally Bowles in a sexy but almost androgenous way with her off kelter perspective on what is normal.  She stops the production with a glowing rendition of the show’s title tune. Chiarello reminds of Chita Rivera as she approaches her role with the late Broadway star’s vibrant star-turning style.

As American novelist Clifford Bradshaw, Christopher Behmke is appropriately confused by the goings-on and after a relationship with Sally, he is happy to return home.  Johanna Carlisle-Zepeda’s frowzy Fraulein Schneider and Mike Lawler’s wrongly optimistic Herr Schultz are perfect as the older couple who discover late-in-life romance only to run into off-putting rejection and discrimination.  A spirited ensemble sings and dances with great flourish as they execute supporting roles with distinction.

This musical’s current Broadway revival would have normally prevented TPTC from doing it but TPTC obtained the “Cabaret” rights before the show came to New York after a successful London launch.  This “Cabaret” looks, moves, and feels like a Broadway production and local audiences are lucky to have such a winning production of this great musical.  But the show is scary as it reminds us of the horrors of wrongful leadership and what it could do to our democracy just like what occurred in 1930’s Germany.

“Cabaret” continues through September 1.  To order tickets, call The Phoenix Theatre Company box office at 602-254-2151 or order tickets online at www.phoenixtheatre.com.

Grade: A

Prior to “Cabaret,” Michael Barnard, TPTC’s producing artistic director, toured me through the building of the new Dr. Stacie J and Richard J Stephenson Theatre construction.  The theater will grow from a 250-seat space with a limited stage to a 500-seat auditorium with a full stage and endless technical marvels no current TPTC theater has.  A seven-story fly loft, an orchestra pit for up to 19 musicians, and a stage that will accommodate a cast of 45 will now be possible.  The new theater is scheduled to open by August 2025.  Barnard has yet to finalize the opening show but says it will be “a popular and well known” piece. Let the speculation begin.