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Willkommen: Park Slope’s Gallery Players
present “Cabaret,” a play about the turbulent
Berlin nightlife scene in the late 1920s, during
the rise of the Nazis, featuring, from left, Cait
Farrell as Rosie, Brian Edward Levario as the
Emcee, Lorinne Lampert as Fritzie, and Ryan S.
Lowe as Lulu. Alice Teeple
Emcee threats
Musical recalls the rise of Nazis in Berlin
COURIER LIFE, SEPT. 6-12, 2019 43
By Kevin Duggan Maybe it can happen here.
A Park Slope theater company
will present a timely take on a
musical set in Berlin during the rise of the
Nazis. This version of “Cabaret,” opening
on Sept. 7 at Gallery Players, uses the tale
of a nightclub’s denizens dealing with the
rise of fascism in Europe to warn today’s
audience about hateful ideologies that are
on the rise in the United States, according
to its director.
“We were trying to draw a correlation
from the 1920s and 1930s Berlin to 2019
in our own country,” said David Cronin.
“It feels like these same issues are still
around: homophobia, racism, transphobia,
terrorism.”
The musical, which launched on
Broadway in 1966, is set at the Kit Kat
Club, a seedy Berlin nightclub during
the Weimar Republic, when the capital
city’s nightlife offered a tolerant refuge
for people on society’s margins, whether
because of their gender, sexuality, religion,
or race. Previous iterations of the
show often glossed over the club’s diverse
character by employing casts that were
predominantly male, white, and straight,
according to Cronin.
“The thing that gets blown over in usual
productions is that the Weimar Republic
was very queer and inclusive,” Cronin said.
The director has expanded the story arcs
of some minor characters, while keeping
the script largely the same. The cast in this
show also features several gender-non-conforming
actors and cross-gender casting.
“We tried to make it so that the actors
on stage are like the people you see on the
street,” he said.
The show’s sleazy nocturnal frolic foreshadows
German society’s descent into the
darkness of the Holocaust, showing how
many people ignored its horrors until it
affected them directly, said Cronin.
He drew parallels between Germany’s
hateful politics and the encroaching policies
of the Trump administration, including
the transgender military ban and putting
migrant children in cages.
“It can shift so quickly,” he said. “I
think that maybe even I ignored it, and
within two years it was, ‘What country do
I live in?’ ”
Watching the topical show might not
be easy, but the director believes that he
has a responsibility to truly represent
how quickly a liberal society can fall
for hate. He hopes the production will
ignite discussion and reflection among
the audience.
“The show is a lot to swallow, and we’re
certainly not downplaying the raw emotions
— it’s going to be uncomfortable,”
he said. “My goal is that people leave the
theater and have discussions about what’s
happening today.”
“Cabaret” at Gallery Players 199 14th
St., between Third and Fourth avenues in
Park Slope, (718) 595–0547, www.galleryplayers.
com. Opens Sept. 7 at 8 p.m., then
Thu–Fri at 8 p.m.; Sat at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.;
Sun at 3 p.m. through Sept. 29. $30.
Talkback after the Sunday, Sept. 15
performance.
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