Don’t bury your head in the sand: Porchlight’s ‘Cabaret’ is as beautiful as it is ever-timely
Josh Walker and The Company. Photo by Liz Lauren.
Insatiable appetites and violent delights have thrown our species into cycles of unrest and terror since time immemorial. Some fight back against the cycle, some bury their heads in the sand, and yet more still bear witness, observing the carnage of social forces bigger than anyone has any right to bargain with.
In the face of increasingly dire and distressing geopolitical circumstances, John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff’s classic seems more relevant than ever in recent years. Cue Porchlight Music Theatre’s production of Cabaret, delicately juggling a tale of victims, survivors, and witnesses, capturing magic in the melancholy through bold direction, outstanding choreography, and a jaw-droppingly talented cast.
Direction by Michael Weber is bold and unafraid. From the outset, Weber sets Cabaret as a memory play set within a now-dilapidated Kit Kat Klub, a haggard Emcee, (played by Josh Walker), beckoning the ear of a much older Clifford Bradshaw (played by Gilbert Domally) who has returned to make photographic documentation. And while some choices pay off more than others, this production has something to say about the subject matter, and the cyclical nature of human violence and memory.
Brenda Didier’s choreography pops, sizzles, and tugs for attention in all the right ways, and a flawless ensemble brings Didier’s and Weber’s combined vision to fruition, jam-packed with diverse perspectives, boundless personality, and peerless skill, matched by the principal players of this cast.
Josh Walker shines as the ethereal, utterly captivating Emcee. His delight and palpable commitment to the role commands attention with breathless ease.
Erica Stephan alights in the role of Sally Bowles, embodying the confident drive and seething desperation of the character with authenticity and boisterous tenacity.
Josiah Haugen deftly navigates the subtlety and banality of the sinister Ernst Ludwig. Adding a humanizing allure and charm to Ludwig’s ideological bigotry, Haugen creates a compelling embodiment of one of the most unequivocally reprehensible movements of human history.
Mary Robin Roth and Mark David Kaplan as are magnificently matched as Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz, respectively, and their chemistry is as endearing as it is heartbreaking.
Angela Weber Miller’s set design is part-train station, part-stage, but also part-cathedral of sorts. Lofty rafters hang above, drawing the eye heavenward as the Emcee and others look down as gods, judges, and specters of a long-past world. A window interfaces with Smooch Medina’s projection design to set the scene for various storefronts and traveling sequences. Miller’s set is a gallery unto itself, undeniably pleasant to look at, and yet, haunting in its capacity for emptiness.
Lighting design by Patrick Chan is brilliantly moody, choreographing shadows in a dramatic dance with foreboding footlighting, stark backlights, and muted greens, purples and yellows.
Cabaret remains timeless because the human struggle to consolidate security and freedom will be ever bloody. At the outset of endemic terror, the wanton revelry of an ignorant public perpetuates victimhood and subjugation—in refusing to acknowledge the cycle of violence beginning anew, we are doomed to live out the inevitable conclusion. Thus, in bearing witness to a grim, stark reminder of humanity’s frightening shortsightedness, Porchlight enlightens and reflects for our sake, lest we let the cycle continue.
Cabaret runs through March 19th at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N Dearborn St. For tickets or more information, please click here.
For more reviews on this or other shows, please visit theatreinchicago.com.