Lovett is a Cabaret

By Timothy Faust     11/20/08 6:00pm

The success of Lovett College's deservedly well-received I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change ("Lovett's I Love You, You're Perfect needs little change", Feb. 22, 2008) seemed to many a dramatic revival of the college's once-stagnant theater program. Cabaret, directed by Lovett College senior and I Love You... cast member Paul Early, builds upon the spring show's forward momentum and brings a wide assortment of talent to the stage lights, but a few dark spots mar what is otherwise a very enjoyable performance.Cabaret, written by Joe Masteroff with John Kander's music and lyrics by Fred Ebb, explores the relationship between cabaret performer and general debauchée Sally Bowles and struggling young American author Clifford Bradshaw as they weave their way through the hedonistic excesses of Berlin's underbelly during the Nazi rise to power.

Much of the action takes place in and around the Kit Kat Klub, where Sally, an English expatriate, is a featured performer. Ring-led by an enigmatic, genderless (though certainly not sexless) Master of Ceremonies, the Kit Kat Klub and its performers represent the turbulent, flickering sentiments of the German people in the waning months of the Weimar Republic.

The elaborate Lovett performance begins at the ticket counter. The college commons, which does not easily lend itself to performances, dons smoky red and black each night as it transforms into a faux-cabaret of its own, with traditional seating intermixed with round tables lining (and sometimes upon) the stage. This commons renovation is fantastic because of its painstaking attention to little details, like classy-looking bowls of candy placed on each of the cabaret tables. The set, true to the red-and-black theme, creates a similarly striking first impression. A well-designed backlit "window" glows a sensual, subdued red and highlights a multiple-level and fairly spacious stage. If all of the show were as stunning as its set's initial response, Cabaret would rest among those few productions whose names are muttered in fits of nostalgia as the pinnacles of Rice college theater.

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Despite occasional glimmers of genuine genius, there is simply too much disparity within the performance for it to reach that lofty peak. At its worst, Cabaret plods along like an exhausted tugboat. In its best moments, Cabaret is absolutely spectacular. The cast takes to the grim and twisted book with a contagious and earnest enthusiasm that invites the audience to engage itself in the production.

Early has assembled a solid set of leads who do not elevate the show beyond its lines but do not sink it, either. Baker College senior Andrea Lindzey brings a substantial talent to her performance as Sally, and her jazz-inspired vocal accents and skillful theatrical reactions enhance her character highs and lows - though her frequent switches from one to the other come too rapidly or too frequently and paint her as a caricature instead of a character. Martel College junior Charlie McKean, as Cliff, has the opposite problem. While Charlie is certainly one of the most talented vocalists to step foot on a Rice stage, outside of song his portrayal of Cliff tastes a bit wooden. Cliff is an everyman in whom we can find some sort of moral compass, but McKean's attempt at finding a stoic even-headedness neuters his emotional range and depth. For much of the show the interplay between the two leads - for that matter, between most of the characters - seems to be directed by the script instead of by the characterizations.

The remaining leads and supports are proficient and consistent. Jones College freshman Devin Glick makes his Rice debut as the Emcee, and jumps into what might be the show's most challenging role with tremendous gusto. Instead of tying the show together, Glick's Emcee pokes at it from the corners with variable returns. While he fails to give the character any real depth and trades the role's sinister underpinnings for over-the-top flamboyance, Glick acts with such vivacity that he is forgiven for most of his weaker spots.

Lovett senior John Westbrook's Ernst Ludwig has a good flow in his wordplay and a decent sense of dynamism that keeps his characterization enjoyable even when the character is at his most despicable. The romance subplot between matronly Fr?ulein Schneider (Lovett junior Megan Weeks) and amicable fruit vendor Herr Schultz (Early) is cute and their dialogs are often more believable than the others in the rest of the show.

Worth special mention are the performances of Lovett seniors Adam Hill and Ben Ellington and Lovett freshman Isaac Sabat. The three take their roles as the only male cabaret performers with an almost disturbing - no, definitely disturbing - enthusiasm and bring waves of laughter with every entrance.

The choreography, by Lovett sophomores Kristina Haag and Brittany Trentadue, is crisp, clean and very appropriate to the Cabaret atmosphere. Pianist and Lovett senior Christopher Armstrong is at all times everything an accompanist needs to be: on time and tuned in. The rest of the band is able and talented and they perform well - occasional missed notes rarely detract from the overall production.

As a rule, the ensemble is very gifted; as eager to scintillate (or strip) as they are to sing. There are a few moments with pitchy notes or the performers lost in more complicated passages - but the numbers in which the ensemble is confident, poised and precise are wonderful things to behold. The last half-minute of Act I, an all-chorus, full-throated "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" triggers those primal human impulses and reactions that transcend the stage and settle within our bones; those few seconds alone are the strongest of the entire evening.

For all its shortcomings, Cabaret is very much a worthwhile ticket and a solid investment of what will undoubtedly be a trend of strong Lovett productions.

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