Love is Blossoming and Life is Beautiful at Ogunquit Playhouse’s ‘Cabaret’

by Linda Chin

‘Cabaret’ – Creative Team: BT McNicholl (Director), Andrea Leigh (Choreographer), Bruce Barnes (Music Director), Robert Brill (Scenic Designer), William Ivey Long (Costume Designer), Richard Latta (Lighting Design), Kevin Heard (Sound Designer), Roxanne De Luna (Wig/Hair and Makeup Designer), Anthony C. Daniel (Casting), Robert V. Thurber (Associate Director and Production Stage Manager). Presented by Ogunquit Playhouse at 10 Main St, Ogunquit, ME through August 10

(Note: At this writing, the news of the passing of Hal Prince, director of Cabaret’s original (1966) production, has been announced. RIP to the Prince of Broadway.)

There is a theater (Ogunquit Playhouse), and there is an executive artistic director (Bradford T. Kenney), and there is a state (Maine) in a country called the United States, with a production of Cabaret that is simply, sensuously, sensational. Having seen multiple revivals of this iconic musical on college, regional, and Broadway stages over the past four decades, I’ve been struck each time by the brilliant and complex musical composition and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the masterful book by Joe Masteroff (commissioned by the late Hal Prince), and the timelessness of the show’s themes. In Ogunquit’s Cabaret, the lighting and scenery, costumes, wigs and makeup, the music and choreography, the orchestra, the girls – and yes, the boys – are beautiful, and all the elements in this exquisite production meld seamlessly to tell the story of life in 1930s Berlin, of love blossoming with the rise of Nazi Germany as a dark, lurking backdrop.

From his first “Willkommen” at the top of show, the Emcee (Randy Harrison) sets the story’s lascivious tone, and delivers an enchanting performance throughout, whether he’s observing the action from the shadows or in the spotlight, paired with a gorilla or in a trio with “Two Ladies.” In the decadent Kit Kat Club, lust (not to be mistaken for love) flows freely and American novelist Clifford Bradshaw (Billy Harrigan Tighe) and English cabaret singer Sally Bowles (Kate Shindle) connect for the first time.

Cabaret is most often described as a story about Cliff and Sally’s tumultuous love affair. As with many young romances, their relationship has its phases of highs and lows, teeters between solid ground and less-firm footing, and confuses love and infatuation. Their performance lacks heat; their chemistry possibly neutralized by Cliff’s conflicts about his sexual preferences and/or Sally’s passivity. It is as Sally Bowles the starlet where Shindle reveals verve and vulnerability and her character sizzles. In the ensemble number “Mein Herr” she embodies Sally in every step, every inch of her being, and in the title number “Cabaret” Shindle shows her remarkable range as a performer and storyteller.

The  “other” love story in Cabaret’s narrative is the blossoming romance between German landlord Fraulein Schneider (Mariette Hartley), and German-Jewish fruit seller Herr Schultz (John Rubinstein). Watching stage, screen and television veterans Hartley and Rubinstein together onstage is akin to taking an acting master class. Their rendition of the duet “It Couldn’t Please Me More,” when Schultz the elderly suitor gifts his sweetheart with a pineapple, brought tears to my (and much to his surprise, my theater date’s) eyes for the first time. And, Hartley and Rubinstein each have scenes in which the observations and life wisdom they share with members of their community are so powerfully delivered (and so powerfully felt) that the audience spontaneously erupts into applause. Of note, this is the first time I’ve witnessed this response to spoken word, not a song and dance number, in Cabaret or any other musical, a testament to the pair’s acting prowess.

As written for Cabaret’s original (1966) production, Schultz and Schneider’s courtship is secondary to Cliff and Sally’s (even though it is arguably the primary romantic, more mature relationship), and is a sub-plot of the primary storyline (even though it offers the first foreshadowing of the Nazi influence on ordinary people’s lives). Of note, their characters were not included in the 1972 Fosse film version, but replaced with a younger Gentile-Jewish boy-meets-girl pair. These decisions (as with the inclusion or suppression of strong female, minority/immigrant, homosexual/bisexual characters) may have been based on what audiences expected or found acceptable at the time, but Mariette Hartley and John Rubinstein’s authentic and moving portrayals of Schneider and Schultz have forever made their “othered” love story the heart of Cabaret for this reviewer. I will never think of my right to marry who I love, or the simple pleasure of pineapples, the same way again.
Ogunquit Playhouse is on the National Register of Historic Places. From my perspective, this production of Cabaret has earned a top place in Cabaret’s 50-year production history and New England Theater musical theater history. For tickets and information, go to: http://www.ogunquitplayhouse.org/