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Do academicians have more fun?
"Cabaret' at Villanova
Among the region's university theater programs, Villanova Theatre's productions most often rise to a professional level. Villanova seems to enjoy a special flair for musicals in particular. Its production of Kander and Ebb's Chicago in 2002 captured a slew of Barrymore Awards, beating out better-financed musicals mounted by the professional troupes.
Now, Villanova is reviving Cabaret, the other jewel in the Kander-Ebb repertoire, and it's another solid display of showmanship. The cast is lively and enthusiastic, and Valerie Joyce's direction and Barby Hobyak Roche's choreography are consistently inventive.
It may surprise those who know Cabaret mainly from Bob Fosse's innovative film version that the original show is much more conventional. Fosse set almost all of the movie's musical numbers on the stage of the Kit Kat Klub, a sleazy nightclub in Weimar-era Berlin, and the singers and dancers commented on the activities of the characters outside the club. While we see traces of that concept in the original stage version (particularly in the "If You Could See Her" number), much of the show follows the conventions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein "musical play," in which the songs function as extensions of the dialogue.
Still, Kander and Ebb as well as their librettist Joe Masteroff deserve credit for taking the musical into darker territory, paving the way for Stephen Sondheim's experiments in the '70s and '80s. Cabaret works especially well on Villanova's thrust stage, surrounded by the audience on three sides, giving us the feeling that we're actually patrons in a nightclub.
David Cregan, an assistant professor of theater at Villanova, is delightfully campy and sinister as the Kit Kat Klub's Emcee. He's particularly effective in his rendition of "I Don't Care Much," a lesser-known Kander and Ebb number. Why this beautiful, moody song hasn't become a standard among jazz musicians mystifies me.
Kathryn M. Lyles is appropriately flighty as Sally Bowles, the headliner at the Kit Kat Klub, and Jeffrey S. Paden is earnest and intense as the young writer who's her love interest.
Next year, Villanova will conclude its season with a revival of Annie Get Your Gun. While Cabaret didn't need much tweaking, Irving Berlin's take on the life of Annie Oakley features some unfortunate stereotypes of Native Americans that present challenges for contemporary theater troupes. It should be fun to watch the folks at Villanova rise to that test.
Now, Villanova is reviving Cabaret, the other jewel in the Kander-Ebb repertoire, and it's another solid display of showmanship. The cast is lively and enthusiastic, and Valerie Joyce's direction and Barby Hobyak Roche's choreography are consistently inventive.
It may surprise those who know Cabaret mainly from Bob Fosse's innovative film version that the original show is much more conventional. Fosse set almost all of the movie's musical numbers on the stage of the Kit Kat Klub, a sleazy nightclub in Weimar-era Berlin, and the singers and dancers commented on the activities of the characters outside the club. While we see traces of that concept in the original stage version (particularly in the "If You Could See Her" number), much of the show follows the conventions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein "musical play," in which the songs function as extensions of the dialogue.
Still, Kander and Ebb as well as their librettist Joe Masteroff deserve credit for taking the musical into darker territory, paving the way for Stephen Sondheim's experiments in the '70s and '80s. Cabaret works especially well on Villanova's thrust stage, surrounded by the audience on three sides, giving us the feeling that we're actually patrons in a nightclub.
David Cregan, an assistant professor of theater at Villanova, is delightfully campy and sinister as the Kit Kat Klub's Emcee. He's particularly effective in his rendition of "I Don't Care Much," a lesser-known Kander and Ebb number. Why this beautiful, moody song hasn't become a standard among jazz musicians mystifies me.
Kathryn M. Lyles is appropriately flighty as Sally Bowles, the headliner at the Kit Kat Klub, and Jeffrey S. Paden is earnest and intense as the young writer who's her love interest.
Next year, Villanova will conclude its season with a revival of Annie Get Your Gun. While Cabaret didn't need much tweaking, Irving Berlin's take on the life of Annie Oakley features some unfortunate stereotypes of Native Americans that present challenges for contemporary theater troupes. It should be fun to watch the folks at Villanova rise to that test.
What, When, Where
Cabaret. Music by John Kander; lyrics by Fred Ebb; libretto by Joe Masteroff; directed by Valerie Joyce. Villanova Theatre production through April 5, then April 14-19 at Vasey Theatre, Ithan and Lancaster Aves., Villanova, Pa. (610) 519-7474 or www.villanova.edu/artsci/theatre.
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