Shire Music Theatre to present Cabaret

Before Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman, there was Cabaret… the ground-breaking, sexy, funny, shocking, thrilling and totally memorable Broadway musical – also by John Kander and Fred Ebb.

Before Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman, there was Cabaret… the ground-breaking, sexy, funny, shocking, thrilling and totally memorable Broadway musical – also by John Kander and Fred Ebb.

It became a Hollywood blockbuster starring Liza Minelli, Michael York and Joel Gray and continues to resonate with audiences the world over.

Now Shire Music Theatre brings the brilliant and popular show to Sydney this May.

Set in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis are rising to power, it focuses on nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around the 19-year-old English cabaret performer Sally Bowles and her relationship with the young American writer Cliff Bradshaw.

A sub-plot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor. Overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at Kit Kat Klub (where “even the orchestra is beautiful”) which serves as a constant metaphor for the tenuous and threatening state of late Weimar Germany and the spectre of approaching Nazism throughout the show.

In this production, which follows Shire Music Theatre’s acclaimed recent offerings of Spring Awakening, Side Show and I Love You Because director Lauren Kate Butler sought to bring out the darker side of the show to harshly contrast the cheekiness, fun and vibrancy of its music.

“I aim for the main characters to be full and with realistic qualities,” said Butler.

“So the audience relate and don’t pull away when the story becomes more serious. Likewise the set contrasts simple dull-coloured pre-war reality with the colourful – but false – reality of the Kit Kat Club.”

Starring Brendan Hay as the Emcee, Katie Headrick as Sally Bowles, Joel Duffy as Clifford Bradshaw, Jennifer Barker as Fraulein Schneider, Kerstyn Walsh as Fraulein Kost, Ray Dubber as Herr Schultz, Brad Facey as Ernst Ludwig, Sam Larielle as Bobby, Tyler Hoggard as Victor and Claire Janes, Lisa Eastman, Kerstyn Walsh, Kira Nelson and Ebony Black as Frenchie, Lulu, Rosie, Helga and Texas (“the fabulous Cabaret Girls”). ?Plus an all-singing, all-dancing, all bumping and grinding ensemble cast.

The show opens on May 13. Bookings: (02) 8230 0668.