The Toronto Theatre Review: Horrorshow Productions’ Cabaret

By Ross

The audience is revved up and ready for the Horrorshow Productions‘ Cabaret, and no wonder. We’re drawn intoxicatingly and immediately into the pre-show space by some very compelling characters singing classics with faux Germanesque accents that work their magic on us all. The seedy smoke lingers seductively in the air, smelling more sweet than sharp, as the magnificently curated band warms up. It’s a divinely decadent introduction, as we settle in for the ride, hoping that Toronto’s newest non-profit community theatre group rises to the occasion. I’ve seen numerous productions of the Kander and Ebb musical, made mega famous by the Fosse film that starred the incomparable Liza Minnelli. I still have wisps of that film inside me, seen on my mom’s bedroom television late one night when she wasn’t feeling well and I was keeping her company. I don’t think I was even old enough to be called a teenager back then, nor do I think she knew what she was letting her young son watch, but that film and those images were forever etched into my budding theatre junkie brain almost instantaneously, creating an energy and excitement that still rushes through my brain and body when I hear a musical’s band warming up. Much like it did last night as I waited for this Toronto production to get underway. 

“Welcome to Berlin,” we are told, quite accurately numerous times during the beginning scenes of this deliciously created spectacle. Crafted together in shades of darkness and light by Jack Phoenix and Reba Pyrah, the producer and directing team behind Horrowshow Productions at Alumnae Theatre in Toronto, the overall multi-layered effect of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is delightfully surprising and decadently entertaining, pulling us in completely from the first note played, thanks to the music direction by Jake Schindler. The energy is sublime, electric, and engaging, even when it is served up a bit overly cooked and overwrought. Divine decadence, one might say, with its creatively expansive eyes wide open in amazement, matched by a sneaky subtle intelligence gifting us with a production that easily rises above any expectations that I had walking into the space.

I was a bit worried, I must admit, as I sat in the black box theatre for a revival of one of my all-time favorites. This was billed as a community theatre creation, made up of determined volunteers and supporters, working hard to create the kind of experience one would want and expect from this show. But in all honesty, this Cabaret sings strong, and delivers the complex framing with optimistic energy and power. Starting with a stellar enticing turn by Taylor Long (Bowtie’s Falsettos) as the black leather-clad Emcee who ushers us through the piece most menacingly. Long is a delicious dish of raw seductiveness that conducts his entrance energetically to a solid drum roll. It’s a captivating engagement, playing great homage to the past Broadway production that starred the captivating Alan Cumming, and is etched in danger, sometimes a tad explosive, but always completely captivating.

Backed by the fascinating and engaging Kit Kat Girls, this production easily beckons us in most invitingly. The girls are shockingly good and connected, sharply choreographed by Maya Lacey, who finds precision and delight in these talented actors. They are magnificently coordinated, particularly when backing the well-voiced Jessa Richer (Bad Hats’ Narnia) as the Kit Kat’s star attraction, Sally Bowles. With the audience wrapped precisely and intimately around their fingers, Long, as the ever-elusive and twisted Emcee and his Sally, drive forth a dichotomy that attempts to unearth a dangerous appeal under his wide seductive grin. Both push it a bit too far forward; Long with his outbursts and Richer with her British twang, but overall their performances hit true and vocally hard, finding layers upon layers of devilish glee at every turn of the screw. The tense engagement of the whole show is intoxicating, playing perfectly with a crew of black and white clad dancers, courtesy of the wardrobe and costuming of Mickey Agnelli, knowing with all confidence that we are roped and tied in completely by their energetic commitment.

Richer unpacks the damaged and desperate Sally well, finding the essence of this complicated creature while trying hard to never let the tension of the moment flag. She delivers on this, albeit one that could use a less frenetic engagement, but it’s her voice that really brings home this portrayal. Lit strongly by Connor Price-Kelleher, her “Maybe This Time” performance, pushed to the forefront by conductor Adam Rosenfield’s tight use of his band, gives us everything we need to know about the impatient Sally, which only makes her well-crafted “Cabaret” all the more devastating, and insightful to the pain and disengagement she feels towards Clifford, played lovingly by Emrik Burrows (TMTC’s Into The Woods).

Those three, along with the rest of the solidly connected and determined cast (George Marino as Ernst Ludwig; Alexandra Nunez as Frälein Kost; Maureen Barnes as Fritzie; Michelle Chew as Lulu; Dorian Fournier as Helga; Jennifer Gibbs-Reilly as Texas; Steven Hotchkiss as Karl; Gus Lederman as Frenchie/Gorilla; Randy Lei Chang as Herman; Robert Mackenzie-Herr as Rudy; Mai Luening as Rosie; Justin Matthews as Bobby; Michael Murphy as Max/Officer; Avi Petliar as Victor; Nicole Sherwin as Chanteuse; Kevin John Sizaon as Hans; and Lizzie Song as Heidi), elevates the space with their connection to the material, presenting this complex treat with an expertise that borders on tawdry deliciousness.

Sounding great, with a constant whim and snappy offerings, Phoenix and Pyrah’s direction is to titillate and captivate, digging into the powerful reflection of societal upheaval to serve us up every delicious crumb inside Joe Masteroff’s devious book and John Kander and Fred Ebb’s magnificent score. The final product delivers with a determined inventiveness that is both furiously entertaining and devious. The unmasked energy, while giving nods to all the previous intertwined productions, insinuates itself within like that charming smuggler, Ernst, portrayed by Marino, bringing in illegal Paris treats for his Berlin customers. The inspiration of every simple structure, including all the set pieces laid out before us, courtesy of props lead and mic assistant Kelly Walters, vibrates the musical forward with a compellingly fun energy.

The sinister darkness isn’t always as prevalent as the music and the band, particularly when Germany’s history is unveiled and unmasked center stage to a few surprising gasps from the audience. But I also don’t recall ever being so pleasantly surprised by any off-Broadway staged rendition of Cabaret. Horrowshow Productions has certainly delivered a determined and entertainingly strong Cabaret with a clear emotional undercurrent to be reconned with, particularly when it becomes clear that “Tomorrow Belongs to..” them, and not to the sweet Fräulein Schneider, tenderly portrayed by Jill Louise Léger and her grocer, Herr Schultz, played by the gentle Cyril Johnston (BurlOak’s Little Shop of Horrors). Their pineapple engagement literally “Couldn’t Please Me More.”

That Goodbye to Berlin by Isherwood that inspired John Van Druten’s 1951 play I Am a Camera, which in turn, brought forth this brilliant musical, plays out the historic details extremely well, with passion and purpose. Léger rises to the occasion, particularly when she delivers her simple and emotional “What Would You Do.” It finds all the required sadness that is at the core of this piece. As the Christopher Isherwood stand-in, Clifford, Burrows, with that great mop of hair and open honest eyes, finds the duality of his straight man/gay man appeal and his blossoming awareness of all that is going wrong in the final days of the Weimar Republic and in Berlin itself. It works its way into our soul, as does the production as a whole. It’s not Broadway caliber, to be honest, but for a first-time production by Toronto’s newest non-profit community theatre group, Horrorshow Productions has energetically gifted us all with a stunning first-time entry into the Toronto theatre scene with this wisely crafted poverty-stricken Weimar Republic world, where a musical can be entertaining, seductive, insightful, complex, yet also historically and emotionally strong. “Life is a Cabaret, old chum.” And you really should take that to heart and “Come to the Cabaret.” That is if you can get a ticket. It will be a night you will completely enjoy, because “in here, life is beautiful“.