Mason Street Warehouse Presents CABARET, Now thru 7/12

The Saugatuck Center for the Arts' Mason Street Warehouse (400 Culver Street) kicks off its professional summer theatre season with the gritty glamour and glitz of Cabaret. This updated version of the popular Broadway production opens at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts tonight, June 26 at 8:00p.m. and runs through Sunday, July 12. Tickets for the show can be reserved online at sc4a.org or by calling (269) 857-2399.

Cabaret is set at the provocative Kit Kat Klub in 1930's Berlin where an English performer and an American writer fall in love on the brink of World War II. With the threat of violence and persecution on the horizon, the entertainers and patrons of the nightclub start to question if their decadent, bohemian lifestyles can survive.

This is the second production of Cabaret on the Mason Street Warehouse (MSW) stage (the first production was in 2005) but theatregoers will be seeing a different side of the classic Broadway production.

"Our production of Cabaret is based on the latest revival version that was just seen in New York this past year," said Kurt Stamm, MSW Artistic Director. "It includes new material that was not in the original...rewritten scenes, songs from the movie, and some interesting character modifications. It also gives the audience a better sense of what 1930's Berlin was like both politically and socially while exploring non-conformist views on sexuality, drug use, and entertainment. This version, while more raw, is more true to the time period than the original."

MSW's revival version features classic tunes including "Wilkommen" and "Cabaret," as well as the movie version's "Mein Herr" and "Maybe This Time."

Cabaret will be brought to life by a group of 21 actors and musicians including Broadway professionals, MSW "alumni", and "Center Stage" performance interns. MSW Alumni actors, Mary Robin Roth and Tim Ewing, will be reprising the roles they played in MSW's 2005 production of Cabaret:Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz.

Mary Robin Roth has been honored with Chicago's Jeff Award and the After Dark Award, and has performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Michigan's Meadow Brook Theatre, Arkansas Repertory, and Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre. Tim Ewing is a Broadway, Television, and Film actor who has been in the national tour of Mama Mia and has guest-starred on television shows likeLaw and Order and Falling For Grace.

Cabaret's Kit Kat Girls will be played by MSW and Western Michigan University Alumni Kelli Goddard, MSW and Circle in the Square Alumni Laurie Gardner, University of Michigan Musical Theatre student Leah Mattfield, Western Michigan University student Payton Reilly, Chicago-based professional actressCarol Rose Durkin, and New York-based professional actress Cassandra Christopher. Sandy Zwier, a Western Michigan University graduate and MSW Alumni, will play the character of Fräulein Kost.

The Kit Kat Boys of the Cabaret cast include Western Michigan University Musical Theatre major Joe Cavaiani, University of Michigan Musical Theatre major Alexander Sherwin, Western Michigan University student Christian Klepac, DePaul University graduate and MSW Alumni Billy Konsoer, and University of Arizona Musical Theatre graduate Chris Okawa.

Northwestern University graduate and Broadway actress, Stacey Harris, is playing Cabaret's female lead, Sally Bowles. Stacey has toured both nationally and regionally for shows including Dreamgirls and Cinderella. MSW Alumni Joe Somodi, who returns to MSW for his third production, plays Cliff the male lead.