The Fountain

The emcee, played by Zac Mordechai, in “Cabaret” summed up the musical at the beginning: “There are no troubles here, life is beautiful, the girls are beautiful and the orchestra is beautiful.”

The Friday night production of “Cabaret” put on by the independent Windwood Theatricals touring company, part of UCA Public Appearances, was beautiful. From the set to the cast of this 12-time Tony award-winning production, the energy was electric in Reynolds Performance Hall.

Set in 1929 Berlin, the production explores the relationships among a complex cast of characters, including an American writer, a Nazi, an elderly boarding house landlady, a fruit store owner and a spunky lounge singer. The intrigues builds with the relationship between the American and the singer.

However, the story is anything but innocent. With risqué dancers and talk of homosexuality and threesomes, the musical was very sexually open. The emcee was by far the most entertaining character, providing comic relief with his crazy quips and teasing audience members. At one point, he told a woman in the audience to stand up and show her “tush.”

The most suggestive musical number, called “Two Ladies,” was one of the flashiest and best performances of the night. It revolved around the emcee being with two Kit Kat girls at once. Though it may seem highly offensive to some, it fit perfectly with the tone of the first act of the musical. Some audience members must have found the material offensive. Many people left after the first act.

In the second act, the characters become disillusioned with their relationships and the play takes a tragic turn. It is during this act that Sally, the lounge singer, sings the title song with tears in her eyes. For the final somber touch, it becomes harder and harder for the emcee to stay optimistic and, at the end, repeats the line about no troubles at the club with such insincerity that it breaks your heart.

The two acts in “Cabaret” almost seem like two separate plays. Very similar in style to the famed musical “Into the Woods,” it begins with a happy, light-hearted first act and ends with heart-wrenching reality. The first act is meant to be flashy and put the audience into the fun-loving mindset of the characters – life is just a cabaret and why should we worry? Yet, living in oblivion can only last so long and the heaviness of that realization rested on the audience like it should have. The first act, however, went surprisingly slow and lacked the depth of the second half, which really sold the production.

The performances were extraordinary, most notably “Don’t Tell Mama” with Sally and the Kit Kat girls, “The Money Song” with Sally and the emcee and “Cabaret” with Sally. The orchestra in the background was flawless, the set had all the appropriate gaudiness of a 1929 night club and the costuming was deliciously sensuous.