The dark and sinister themes underlying the 1966 John Kander/Fred Ebb musical “Cabaret” are a curious backdrop for an experiment by Pheasant Run Dinner Theatre in audience participation. Hitler and World War II aren’t so far in the past that theatergoers will be comfortable with race-baiting stormtrooper types hovering over their dessert course. The uneasy conversations that ensue — all kept in Fascist character — between actors and patrons, are a sure prelude to indigestion.
Then again, this revival by Diana L. Martinez, Pheasant Run’s long-time resident director, is meant to disturb. Her “Cabaret” is no ordinary evocation of the comparatively tame Broadway original, but instead borrows many of the cryptic, perverse elements of the 1987 Broadway version (both were directed by Harold Prince). The decadent Jazz-Age Berlin setting populated by prostitutes, Nazis and hedonistic nightclub revelers is presented in unflinchingly realistic terms. The dusky lighting and tawdry romances suggest the lowest depths of Kurt Weill.
The bisexual anxiety of Clifford Bradshaw, the American novelist with no shortage of male admirers who suddenly becomes involved with Kit Kat Klub dancer Sally Bowles, is explored with some sensitivity here by Greg Teghtmeyer, whose singing is otherwise more colorful than his acting. The doomed courtship of Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz, a local fruit vendor who happens to be Jewish, is played out with great poignancy by Dee Wright, in the requisite matronly portrayal, and Mark Mavetz, who by conventional standards is too young for the role of Schultz but nevertheless stalwart and purposeful in the face of persecution.
Above all else, the ominous proceedings require a genuinely brassy and carefree Sally Bowles at center stage, and in Katrina Lenk the show has just the right personality. With her Clara Bow hairstyle, luscious cherry-hued lips and fractious temper, Lenk is a nearly-perfect reflection of the 1920s-era flapper. Her singing, moreover, carries a potent mix of danger, lust and heartbreak.
In the role of the Master of Ceremonies, young Nicholas Foster is a lanky, Teutonic blond whose pancake makeup and mascara hardly conceal his blank soullessness. A deft dancer and above-average singer, Foster maintains a wraithlike presence at the fringe of one scene after another, and his knowing glances at the audience lend the necessary conspiratorial touch.
Choreographer Brenda Didier has designed her dance numbers here with a nod to Bob Fosse, who oversaw the 1972 film version. Much of the movement by the chorus is sloppy and undisciplined, just as one would expect within the false glitter of underground nightclubs of the period.
As a suburban resort with hotel rooms and theater shows packaged together for its guests, Pheasant Run remains firmly committed to a schedule of bankable Broadway hits. But director Martinez has been at this for a full decade now and is to be applauded for repeatedly reaching beyond the commonplace for unfamiliar, edgy flourishes that renew the plays in unexpected ways.
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“Cabaret”
When: Through Aug. 30
Where: Pheasant Run Dinner Theatre, 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles
Phone: 630-584-6342
