As the lights dimmed in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, people rushed to their seats and conversations quieted. After a few moments of hushed suspense, a blinding array of lights swept out over the audience, lighting up each face in the crowd before the orchestra sprang into the unmistakable opening notes of “Willkommen.”
The University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance held a production of “Cabaret,” which ran Oct. 2-12. It was a more traditional interpretation of the show, in which the Emcee of a nightclub guides viewers through the story of a young couple in late 1920s Berlin, heavily focusing on the dangers of complacency. The lights shone on the audience before the show and before intermission, reminding them that they, too, played a role in the story in front of them. The Emcee’s consistent direct addresses to the audience leaned into this theme even further.
Music, Theatre & Dance senior Zoltan Berencsi was a bold Emcee, both reflecting the intensifying dread in the show’s plot and acting in energetic opposition to it. He jumped skillfully from playful to serious and back again, taking his time with pauses, using slow steps and lingering looks to draw in the audience and deepen each scene with textured stillness. There were many times he stood alone on a dark, empty stage, filling it completely with his deliberate expressions and body language. With a strong foundation of acting, singing and dancing, Berencsi had room to make his portrayal of the Emcee detailed and weighty — immediately lighting up the stage each time he entered. You could tell he felt the importance of the role with every move he made, to both the show’s success and the message it conveyed.
An equally enchanting performance came from Music, Theatre & Dance senior Nova Brown as Sally Bowles. She stood out in every scene, especially opposite Music, Theatre & Dance junior Tsumari Patterson as Sally’s partner Clifford Bradshaw. Patterson managed to dive richly into the complexities of Sally’s character, each line nuanced and full of life. She was exquisite throughout the entire show, but her performance of “Cabaret” was truly something special. Brown had a firm grasp on the difficult number and she delivered it with intense, raw pain, starting the song with a soft uncertainty that slowly devolved into loud, desperate emotion. At the song’s close, Brown flung her arms open to the audience and tilted her head back as a golden light shone down onto her: a pose so perfectly nuanced with the theme of complacency and so chilling after such a passionate performance.
Many other performers were also powerful, such as Music, Theatre & Dance senior Caroline Patterson as Fräulein Schneider, who brought touching depth and realness to her entire character, especially in “What Would You Do?” Similarly, Music, Theatre & Dance senior Fabian Rihl, who played Herr Schultz, took to the stage with heartbreaking hopefulness and warmth, and the chemistry between both of these characters felt very real and natural. The ensemble of Kit Kat girls and boys was incredibly vibrant, the result of terrific dedication to their roles and superb costume and lighting design — both creative and expressive without being too distracting. The costumes of the leads were especially notable, with both Sally and the Emcee eclectically and colorfully robed, bringing the Kit Kat Club to life.
As the show neared its end, I sat in my seat with anticipation, waiting for the moment where, in the well-known 1993 revival by Sam Mendes (“1917”), Alan Cumming’s (“The Traitors”) Emcee takes off his coat to reveal a concentration camp uniform. But it didn’t come. Instead, the Music, Theater and Dance School’s production chose a different ending where the other characters’ fates are shown. Herr Schultz gets led away wearing a yellow Star of David, and the Emcee simply leaves the stage after a silent farewell.
At first, I was upset with this change. In other productions, the moment in which the Emcee reveals that striped uniform has an unmatched shock value, especially after spending so much time laughing at the Emcee’s bawdy antics. The message in it is obvious: You cannot escape fascism by ignoring it. It will reach you in its heaviest capacity. But as I thought more about the ending this production chose, I started to realize just how much more fitting it was. It’s a more ambiguous finale — the audience is left not knowing exactly what happened to each character, but with a feeling that it must have been horrific. The performance doesn’t just focus on one character’s fate or that of Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis — instead, it reminds audience members that complacency in the face of fascism affects us all. There are many endings; no one is immune.
This message was conveyed throughout the show from the moment the audience entered the theatre. It was what the University’s Department of Musical Theatre chose to emphasize throughout their interpretation, an idea that feels increasingly relevant in today’s America, where each day feels more and more like “Cabaret.” The timing of this show and the heaviness in the actors’ performances didn’t just make for gorgeously crafted theatre — they made a statement, and a clear one.
Daily Arts Writer Audrey Hollenbaugh can be reached at aehollen@umich.edu.
