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Review

Putting on their 51st production, the students at La Habra High School brought to the stage their scintillating rendition of the 1966 popular Broadway hit and film —Cabaret. The show was performed as a co-production started on September 24th – 27th at La Habra High School and continued the second weekend from September 29th – October 1st at Fullerton’s Muckenthaler Cultural Center.

The sexy boys and girls of 1931 Berlin's oh-so depraved Kit Kat Klub pulls no punches as they pepper the audience with crudely funny lines, and engage in somewhat risqué self-expression on-stage. The club's skimpily dressed dancers are important to maintaining the unsettling atmosphere of the Kit Kat Club, where bisexuality and homosexuality are full partners in the mix. But there's a dark side to this club, an underlying theme which centers around ground zero for the rise of Adolph Hitler.

The high school's sterling "Cabaret" cast, directed by veteran Artistic Director Brian Johnson, features Patrick Gray as the degenerate Master of Ceremonies, Emily Taylor as the world-weary Sally Bowles and Nathan Daraban as the American Clifford Bradshaw, a struggling novelist who, like his native country, is slowly awakening to the Nazi menace. “The show is really about the distractions in life that take you away from the things that are happening,” said the La Habra High School senior, Patrick Gray.

Ms. Taylor, playing a role made iconic by Liza Minmelli in the 1972 film version, is particularly stunning in a pair of showcase solos, "Maybe This Time" and, of course, "Cabaret."

The spacious outdoor stage at The Muckenthaler allows plenty of breathing room for this energetic song-and-dance show, which is half ravishingly entertaining and half cautionary tale. That's an odd marriage of skills which is difficult to pull off, although perhaps not as challenging as the one proposed in "Cabaret" between Fraulein Schneider, a middle-aged German landlady played by Lillie Muir, and Herr Schultz (Ron Gutterman), a Jewish fruit merchant.

Despite its readily apparent depravity, the Kit Kat Klub seems almost a safe haven and there's an underlying spirit of playfulness captured in the Master of Ceremonies' hypnotic first number, "Wilkommen."

The entire ensemble is fantastic, portraying Kit Kat Klub girls, waiters, sailors and assorted wastrels. Director Brian Johnson seems to have given these young performers the necessary background and guidance to really sink their teeth into this dense material.

So, as the song says, “What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play!” This was the perfect opportunity to do just that — I’m so glad I didn’t miss it.

Performed September 24 - October 1, 2015

Chris Daniels
National Youth Arts

~ Cast ~

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Bobby: Michael Reehl
Clifford Bradshaw: Nathan Daraban
Emcee/Master of Ceremonies: Patrick Gray
Ernst Ludwig: Bryce Satterfield
Fraulein Kost: Alissa Shoeman
Fraulein Schneider: Lillie Muir
Herr Schultz: Ron Gutterman
Max: Jake Garbeg
Sally Bowles: Emily Taylor
Victor: Wyatt Logan
Ensemble:
Bryan Connolly
Camille Vargas
Colette Ufholtz
Daisy Pacheco
Hannah Mendoza
Holly JOrdan
Isabella Wouters
Michael Larson
Nicole Ramos
Paul Smith
Rian Dixon

Director: Brian Johnson
Choreographer: Brian Johnson
Musical Director: Brian Johnson