In 1929 a young man named Christopher Isherwood wrote a compilation of stories called "The Berlin Stories," which chronicle his time in Berlin from 1929 - 1932.
Tonight the seedy underworld characters he wrote about will dance and sing across the stage at Emens Auditorium.
The stage show is a narrative loosely combining various aspects of Isherwood's stories, mainly a short story called "Sally Bowles."
During this time Isherwood spent some time in the cabarets, which as tour press representative Hannah McDonald described are places to be entertained, like a social club, but not exclusively a men's club.
After John van Druten wrote a Broadway version of "Sally Bowles" titled "I Am a Camera," songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb created the musical that is now known as "Cabaret."
The movie "Cabaret" was made famous in the 1970s when Liza Minnelli won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Bowles.
In this touring production of "Cabaret," Sally Bowles is played by Allison Spratt. Her lover, Clifford Bradshaw, is played by John Byron Holley.
McDonald said the show is mainly about the consequences of society and how the Nazis took power in the 1930s.
"It's about the social environment of what happened in Nazi Germany and the moral decay of people and how they allowed the Nazi to take over," McDonald said.
Although McDonald has never seen "Moulin Rouge" she said there might be some parallels between "Moulin Rouge" and "Cabaret."
Both are love stories, one of an English woman's romance with an American writer, and the other of a boarding-house keeper and a Jewish shop keeper.
"It's the story of a doomed affair," McDonald said.
This musical is not appropriate for young children, as the issues, themes and apparel are mature in nature, McDonald said.
"The women are skimpily clad," she said. "There are real issues and real content. That makes it more gritty but more true to reality."
"Cabaret" features some of the most famous musical numbers that have been onstage including, "Cabaret," "Money (Makes The World Go Around)," "Maybe This Time," and "Willkommen."
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