'Cabaret' revival proves provocative, exciting

Photo courtesy of www.convos.purdue.edu SHOWTIME: Cabaret, a musical set during the uprising of the German Third Reich, will show at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Elliott Hall of Music.

By Jeff Lowe
Staff Writer

The seedy glamour of the Kit Kat Klub will come alive at Purdue when the four-time Tony Award-winning play "Cabaret" is performed at 4 p.m. on Sunday in Elliott Hall of Music.

The show is for adults only, and tickets cost from $12 to $36 for general admission and $12 to $28 for Purdue students.

The play is a revival by composers Kandar and Elb, of a classic 1952 Broadway hit, "I Am A Camera." The play tells the story of Sally Bols, an English woman, and her romance with Cliff, an American writer, against the backdrop of a crumbling Germany at the beginning of the Third Reich. It is set in a seedy German dance club.

Hannah MacDonald, the press agent for the tour, said, "This is a revised adaptation of a classical musical. It's a version that could have only been made now, at this time in history."

The actors will sing, dance, act and even play in the orchestra. "The performers will be onstage for the whole show, performing different functions," said MacDonald.

Many of the musical's songs are some of the world's most recognized. Hits such as "Wilkommen" and "Money (Makes The World Go Round)" are among the numbers performed.

The play has had a long and interesting history, as the original was adapted from stories written by Christopher Isherwood called "The Berlin Stories." Isherwood wrote the stories while in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich. The original "I Am A Camera" was a Broadway hit and was even made into a musical. The revival play itself has garnered tremendous acclaim and in 1988 won the Tony Award for Best Revival.

Larry Sommers, director of Purdue Convocations, who has seen the play before, said, "In this play, the Cabaret is a metaphor for the encroaching Third Reich and the emcee serves as a voice for decadence and Nazism trying to pull Bols towards it. While Cliff, the American, is the voice trying to pull her away from them."

The play's location and subject matter makes it not suitable for the whole family and is suggested for mature audiences only.

MacDonald said, "It deals with a terrifying time and is a gritty, down-and-dirty version."

Sommers said, "This musical twists these metaphors even more and it has some very provocative moments. It is definitely something that most Purdue students would be surprised by how much they like it."

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'Cabaret' revival proves provocative, exciting

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