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Cabaret Flower Mound Performing Arts Theater is one of the new theater companies that have sprung up around the metroplex in the last few years. It's a small company that, from the productions that I have seen in the past, usually stays safe in its choices. With Cabaret, FMPA has mounted a dramatically intense production that is one of the best musicals of the season. This is a very dark and sexual musical. But instead of making it clean, director Neal Whitmore and his cast have buried themselves in the decadent and stark reality of the piece. This is more than your average community theater production. FMPA and this cast go for the soul of the piece, exposing all of its sexuality, hatred and indignities to Jews and gays with full gusto in the direction and execution, creating a musical that no one should miss seeing. Whitmore and his cast have stripped away many of the same elements used over and over again in past Cabaret productions and have painted bold new strokes of artistic beauty. As I frequently mention, pace is one of the key elements in theater; it can kill a show in seconds. Whitmore keeps the entire production in constant flow with set and lighting going in and out at perfect speed. Not once is the pace broken, even with a lengthy first act. The use of a soloist singing above a scene change helps this a lot as well. Without a doubt, this is one of the best paced musicals this season. The staging by Whitmore over Corey Ranson's simplistic, yet purposeful, set is sublime. He has subtext splattered all over the emotional content within the book and score with many surprises. At times you can feel how the audience is fooled in a scene or song with comedy, only to be slapped with reality; they are unsure whether to applaud or not. That is theater - making an audience truly feel and think. Lela Bell's choreography is absolutely marvelous, fresh, exciting, vibrant, and dazzling. She has the choreography serve as subtext to various words or phrases within the book and score. Her dance work comments on what is being said or sung with various body movements, configurations, etc. Bell's work is bathed in sexuality and fits beautifully into the piece. "Wilkommen," "Don't Tell Mama," "Mein Herr," and "Money" are all fantastic. Bell's work is ingenious. Adam Wright provides his usual professional musical direction for the piece as well. Throughout the evening, Wright keeps tempos and pace flowing from the band (who are placed above the set) in soothing unison with the company. Regan Adair has created terrific costumes for the Emcee and Sally. Each of their costumes are designed with the correct subtext that the role requires. My personal favorite is the gown that Sally wears for the title number. Donald Fowler gave his best performance of last season in Floyd Collins. As the Emcee I honestly feel he has now given the best performance of his life. It's difficult to wash away the memory of Joel Grey or Alan Cumming in this role, but Fowler achieves the task midway through the opening number! From his intense acting to his fill-the-room energy to his always gorgeous vocals to his total commitment to character, I was just blown away his work in this role. He takes the role in a totally new direction that adds such amazing subtext and emotion, it will leave you speechless. If there is any problem with Fowler's performance it would be his diction in some of the rapid fire lyrics (especially in "Money"). But this is a minor quibble. Each of his solo numbers are showstoppers, from the bawdy "Two Ladies" to the stirring "I Don't Care Much" to the heartbreaking "If You Could See Her." What he does with this role is emotionally powerful. Fowler is without a doubt the star of this production. As Sally Bowles, main attraction at the Kit Kat Club, Stephanie Riggs is deliciously exquisite. Riggs wears Sally's carefree attitude towards life and its problems like an emotional coat. Riggs uses sexual heat and femininity to full tilt in her Kit Kat Club numbers. The actress also provides raw emotion as well as deeply felt meaning in her solos. For "Maybe This Time," she gives a very ethereal quality to the lyrics. As for the song "Cabaret," Riggs sings with fierce commitment, resulting in a poignant performance of the song. Riggs belts the final notes of this song with a firm vibrato and boldness, resulting in a major showstopper solo within the evening. Riggs has consistently provided outstanding performances each time I have seen her on stage. This season she was fantastic in Uptown Players production of Falsettos; now she can add yet another brilliant performance with her work in this production. She is just radiant as Sally. The role of Cliff Bradshaw is a difficult one in that the character has no big production numbers, his one solo ("Don't Go") is usually cut, and the character can become bland when cast with the wrong actor. Jim Lindsay steers clearly away from this and provides a character that the audience can truly have empathy for. Lindsay creates a solid arc for his characterization and acting. Cliff starts off full of optimism for this new world in Berlin, but as the evening progresses we see him begin to drown in the dark reality that lies behind the glitz and glam of loving someone from this new world he has entered. This is the first production of Cabaret I have seen seen in which Cliff's bisexuality is explored in great detail. With this, Lindsay gives a much more rich, complex, and defined Cliff than any of the past actors who have played this role. It provides much more impact and character definition and gives more emotional weight to the relationship between Sally and Cliff. Both Riggs and Lindsay provide very believable chemistry that also adds to their outstanding work here. When I saw George Redford play Schultz in Greater Lewisville Community Theatre's version of Cabaret, I felt he was not connecting with the role and its subtext, but here in FMPA's production, he does. This time around, Redford gives much more heart and vulnerability to this man who owns a store and happens to love a woman who is not Jewish. However, Redford does lose his Jewish accent off and on during the evening. I applaud director Whitmore, musical director Wright, and Redford in deciding to drop the awful solo "Meeskite," a song that Schultz sings in the engagement party scene. This song stops the pace and emotional flow dead cold, and frankly is just plain dull. The cutting of the song allows Redford's character more touching emotional subtext for that final scene of act one. Lynn Rutherford will touch your heart with her moving performance as Fraulein Schneider, particularly in her act two solo, "What Would You Do?" The actress gives Schneider some humorous undertones as well. Rutherford and Redford create a sweet innocent quality for their duet, "It Couldn't Please Me More." Choreographer Bell also adds another level of festive delight to the duet by having four of her dancers perform like Ziegfeld girls with hats of fruit on top. Both Rutherford and Redford earn the audience's compassion in their touching performance as a couple that cannot marry and live in peace. Kristen Blevins Prather as Fraulein Kost has a copper red hairstyle reminscent of Rita Hayworth and plays this "woman of the night" like a cat in heat, loving the game of sex. Prathers shows Kost's motives with evil delight in her acting and body posture. R. Bradford Smith as Nazi supporter Ernst Ludwig gives the character more humor than I had seen in previous productions. Smith also has the German dialect pretty consistent throughout the evening. The actor shows solid restraint and ice cold demeanor as this follower of Hitler's new world. Throughout the cast there are other wonderful performances as well: Cris Galvan (Fifi) and Lindsay Hand (Natashia) as the two main girl sidekicks to the Emcee; Jeff Harwell as Max, the slithering manager of the Kit Kat Club; Robert Silva as the Gorilla; Rafael Villegas as Bobby; and Rick Starkweather as Rudy, a sailor whose name Kost can't remember. Director Whitmore cast an African American performer as one of the Kit Kat Club girls - Joi Jackson. Ms. Jackson is a gorgeous woman who also happens to be the best dancer in the company. The casting of Ms. Jackson adds a rich new layer of subtext and great impact to the goings-on outside the club. The ensemble of Kit Kat boys, girls and the added trio of female singers are all smashing as well. They are the backbone of this production. Each has endless energy, commitment, and abundance of talent. They add much life and excitement to all the company numbers (in spite of a few missed dance steps and dancers a beat behind the others in some of the numbers, which I attribute to opening night jitters). This ensemble is top notch. The only real major problems in the show are the sound and body mikes. Right after the opening number, body mikes were left on and cast members could be heard talking backstage. Also, for some odd reason, the Emcee's mike is always kept low, while Schultz's body mike is at ear breaking volume. This is not helped by body mikes coming on at full volume midway through actors' lines. Hopefully these problems have been rectified, because in all honesty they do harm the emotion of the evening at times. The final scene of this production is jarring, haunting, emotionally painful to watch, and devastating. The audience is so quiet that it actually takes a few seconds of silence in the dark before they start to applaud. The scene is multi-layered with incredible staging and performances by the entire company. Visually and emotionally, it will stay with you long after you leave the theater. FMPA's production of this well known and overly produced musical is a must see, no question about that. They have wisely explored and rediscovered new meaning and life in the piece. It is everything that I always wish and hope for in a production of a warhorse musical. FMPA's Cabaret is without a doubt a superior production, and one of the best of the current season. FMPA Theatre presents Cabaret through July 7th at The Irving Arts Center's Commons Theatre. For tickets, call the Box Office at 972-724-2147 ext. 2. Don't forget to ask about table seating and the "Cabernet & Cabaret" reception. Cabaret CAST |
