Reprise Theatre Company's 2011-2012 opens with the classic American musical "Cabaret," playing September 13 to 25 (press opening September 14, 2011) at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The musical based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb; will be directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge.
Musical theatre historians often note that ‘Cabaret' was groundbreaking in its subject matter: it was one of the first musicals to tackle a very dark period of history - the eve of Hitler's rise to power in Weimar Germany - and also groundbreaking in using the songs in the Kit Kat Klub as commentary on the story. "Above all else however, ‘Cabaret' is engrossing and entertaining. A fascinating set of characters - Sally Bowles, the cabaret singer, Cliff Bradshaw, the American writer, and the very singular Emcee, a type never seen before on the Broadway stage, are thrown into a time of history - 1931 Berlin - that rivets our attention," says Gilles Chiasson, Producing Director of Reprise Theatre Company.Marcia Milgrom Dodge, whose critically acclaimed Broadway production of "Ragtime" was nominated for seven 2010 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Direction of a Musical, and who directed and choreographed the Reprise production of "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" will direct "Cabaret."Dodge directed and choreographed "Ragtime" at the Kennedy Center, where it won the Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Resident Musical and for Direction.
Jason Alexander is the artistic director of Reprise Theatre Company. Christine Bernardi Weil is Managing Director and Gilles Chiasson is Producing Director of Reprise Theatre Company."Cabaret" is based on John Van Druten's 1951 play "I Am a Camera," which in turn was adapted from the novel "Goodbye to Berlin" by Christopher Isherwood. Set in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis are rising to power, it is, as Fred Ebb said, "about people dancing on The Edge of a cliff and not quite falling over." "Cabaret" revolves around Sally Bowles, a cabaret performer in the seedy Kit Kat Club, Cliff Bradshaw, the young American writer she becomes involved with, and the characters of the edgy, threatening world they inhabit, including landlady Fräulein Schneider, caught in a doomed romance with Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor. Overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub, a decadent and ominous symbol of the era.
Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski
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