Arden Theatre Company Heads to the Kit Kat Club with CABARET

Arden Theatre Company kicks off their 30th Anniversary Season with the Tony Award-winning musical CABARET, based on the book by Joe Masteroff and the play by John Van Druten and stories by Charles Isherwood. Music is by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. CABARET will be directed by Arden Associate Artistic Director Matthew Decker on the Arden's F. Otto Haas Stage at 40 N. 2nd Street in Philadelphia. Honorary Producers are Sid and Ruth Rosenblatt and Chris and Lee van de Velde.

The Kit Kat Club is the hottest nightspot in 1929's seedy and sinful Berlin. American writer Cliff Bradshaw travels to Germany in search of inspiration and pleasure, and finds both in nightclub performer Sally Bowles. However, outside the club's doors, the Nazis' impending rise to power threatens to splinter their decadent lifestyle. Featuring one of Broadway's most memorable scores, CABARET is the winner of 11 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Choreography for the original 1967 Broadway Production, and Best Revival of a Musical in for the 1998 production.

Director Matthew Decker won the Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for the past two years for his work on the Arden's The Stinky Cheese Man and for Into the Woods at Theatre Horizon. He is known for his inventive reimaginations of traditional musicals. For CABARET, the Arden will transform the F. Otto Haas Stage into the Kit Kat Klub with the use of cabaret tables.

Says Decker, "CABARET is one of the great American musicals that examines the vivid and tempestuous cultural life of 1929 Berlin before the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazi party. The play was originally conceived in 1966 by Hal Prince as an answer to the American Civil Rights movement, and seems to be revived during times of turmoil in our country. It is a cautionary tale that I find to be eerily relevant today."

He adds, "The great impact of this piece lies in Kander and Ebb's glorious score and the vital and important question at its core: why do we continue to allow destructive powers to gain control of society? Now more than ever, this is a question that we as Americans should be asking."

Local cabaret and theatre artist John Jarboe plays the Emcee of the Kit Kat Club and New York-based actress and songwriter Charissa Hogeland is Sally Bowles. Jarboe is the co-founder of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, where he also serves as Artistic Director. He has appeared with the Walnut Street Theatre, Theatre Exile, People's Light & Theatre, Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre and The Wilma Theater. Hogeland's recent credits include Daisy Buchanan in Baz: Star Crossed Love in Las Vegas, Nicola in the 1st national tour of Kinky Boots, Veronica in the Off-Broadway production of Heathers, and the Hollywood Bowl production of Chicago.

Additional casting includes Daniel Fredrick as Clifford Bradshaw, Christopher Patrick Mullen as Ernst Ludwig, Mary Elizabeth Scallen as Fraulein Schneider, Suli Holum as Fraulein Kost, Kenny Morris as Herr Schultz and Steven Rishard as Max. (Others in the cast listed below.)

Single ticket prices are $37-$52, with discounts available for groups of 15 or more, seniors, students, military, and educators. Call the Arden Box Office at 215.922.1122, visit www.ardentheatre.org or visit the box office at 40 N. 2nd Street in Old City, Philadelphia.

SPECIAL EVENTS and PERFORMANCES:

Opening Night is Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 7pm. The Opening Night sponsor is Harmelin Media.

Post-show discussions will be held following performances on Thursday, October 5 at 7pm, Sunday, October 8 at 2pm, Wednesday, October 11 at 6:30pm, Sunday, October 15 at 2pm and Wednesday, October 18 at 6:30pm.

The Arden is wheelchair accessible and provides assisted listening devices and large-print programs at every performance. Open Captioned and Audio Described performances will take place on Friday, October 13 at 8pm and Saturday, October 14 at 2pm. Reservations are required for accessible seating and may be made by calling the Arden's Box Office at 215.922.1122.

Founded in 1988, Arden Theatre Company is dedicated to bringing to life great stories by great storytellers-on the stage, in the classroom, and in the community. Five productions are staged each season as part of the Mainstage series and two productions through Arden Children's Theatre, the city's first resident professional children's theatre program. New work is produced through the Independence Foundation New Play Showcase. The Arden's Education Department includes: Arden for All (AFA), a theatre access and education program for underserved young people; Arden Drama School, the after-school, Saturday, and summer camp classes for students in grades pre-K-12; Teen Arden, an immersive after-school access program for Philadelphia-area based teenagers; and the Arden Professional Apprentice Program, a nationally renowned comprehensive theatre management training program. The Hamilton Family Arts Center is the new facility dedicated to education programs and new play development.

The Arden has received numerous honors including 65 awards and 373 nominations from the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre. The Arden is a winner of four "Theatre Company of the Year" designations (Philadelphia Inquirer), six Philadelphia Magazine "Best of Philly" awards and three "Best of Philly Kids" awards, the City Paper's Reader's Choice Award and the prestigious "Great Friend to Kids Award" from the Please Touch Museum for Arden Children's Theatre work. For accessibility efforts, the Arden was named a "Keystone of Accessibility" by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Arden Theatre Company is a professional, nonprofit 501(c)(3) theatre company and a member of the Theatre Communications Group, the League of Resident Theatres, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Old City Arts Association. The Arden also participates in The Barrymore Awards, a program of Theatre Philadelphia.