Invitation to a “Cabaret”

“Life is a cabaret… Come to the cabaret!”

June 16. A song with English lyrics and a familiar melody comes filtering through the door of the basement rehearsal hall of the Seoul Arts Center. Softly cracking the door open and peeping in, I see a bevy of blue-eyed actors and actresses rolling on the floor, intent in song and dance. It’s as if someone has taken an entire Broadway rehearsal hall and relocated it to this room.

This is the rehearsal scene of the Broadway cast of the musical “Cabaret,” which tours Korea from June 24, starting with Daejeon and moving on to Seoul, Daegu, and Busan. The cast, picked through auditions from the pool of musical actors who had previously starred in “Cabaret,” will cross the channel to Japan after completing the show’s Korean run. Vance Avery and Katrina Yaukey, who play the main characters Emcee and Sally Bowles, are accomplished veterans of “Cabaret”: they began in bit parts, served their terms as understudies (actors who substitute for the leads in emergencies), and went on to star in the principal roles. The entire team of actors and actresses are dazzling in their command of the songs and dance numbers.

“Cabaret” first opened in 1966 on Broadway, and has been a steady favorite for over 30 years since. Set in Nazi-era Berlin at a seedy cabaret called the Kit Kat Klub, the musical tells the story of cabaret singer Sally and her lover, an American writer named Cliff, as the mad wind of Nazism blows through their lower-middle-class lives. Emcee, the master of ceremonies for both club and musical, guides the audience through the tale.

The Korean tour will showcase the 1993 version directed by Sam Mendes, known to Korean audiences for his Oscar-winning film debut, “American Beauty.” Deftly combining the dismal political realities of the 1930s with the decadent cabaret scene, where prostitution, drugs, and homosexuality ran rife, Mendes fashioned a musical that fuses fun with meaning. “The Mendes version emphasizes the story’s dramatic elements,” says Assistant Director Stephen Clear, “And the audience will be able to enjoy the show as both a play and a musical.”

Today’s rehearsal is a “run-through,” and the cast performs the show exactly as they would before an actual audience. Act 1 opens with Emcee and his crew as they welcome the “guests” to the Kit Kat Klub. Act 2 ends with Emcee’s farewell speech upon a now-empty stage. The cast maintains a constant and serious concentration on their performance, so that when Sally and Cliff argue at the end of Act 2, the sound of the slap resounds throughout the room.

Even more impressive is the fact that most of the actors and actresses not only sing, dance, and act but play musical instruments as well. When their turn came around, members of the orchestra in charge of the saxophone, trumpet, violin, or the cello would set aside their respective instruments, perform a song and dance number, then quickly return to their places without even pausing to wipe the perspiration from their brows.

Avery, in the role of Emcee, boasts an eerie and sensual charisma as he dances erotically with a group of chorus dancers while singing the song “Money” in the middle of Act 1. After the rehearsal, Avery explained that his character was “a kind of guide leading the audience into the musical itself.” “More than any other musical, ‘Cabaret’ shows off the talents of the actors and actresses to their fullest extent. It’ll captivate Korean audiences for sure,” he affirmed.

Schedule

Daejeon, Jeongsimhwa International Cultural Center, Chungnam University (June 24∼30); Seoul, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts (July 3∼16); Daegu Opera House (July 20∼25); Busan Cultural Center (July 27∼August 1).

(Tel) 1544-1555, 1588-7890

Mi-Seok Koh mskoh119@donga.com