Vaudevillian music and scantily clad men and women will fill the University Theater tonight, with the opening performance of "Cabaret." The classic musical is set in 1930 in Berlin before Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
It begins with writer Cliff Bradshaw (freshman Curtis Becht) remembering the time he spent in Berlin, specifically in the Kit Kat Club, a night club host to decadence of all kinds. Bradshaw meets another American, singer Sally Bowles (junior Amber Rees) at the Kit Kat Club, and quickly falls in love. As the Nazis seize power in Germany, the lives of the people who frequent the club, including Bradshaw and Bowles, begin to fall apart.
"It's clearly something audiences can relate to because we have groups today who are discriminated against because of their race, creed and nationality," said the play's director Bill Jenkins.
Junior Tony Howell, who plays the emcee in "Cabaret," said themes from the play include injustice and indifference. The emcee plays an important role in the play: he welcomes the audience to the show, but over the course of the play, his true nature is revealed.
"My character exists to fool [the audience]," Howell said. "He's there to convince the audience that this [the Nazi regime] is right, this is beauty, this is what we want."
"Cabaret" is based on the short story "Sally Bowles" from the collection "The Berlin Stories," by Christopher Isherwood, who spent time in Berlin between 1929 and 1932.
Tonight's performance will be the first one in 17 years. To commemorate this, the Department of Theatre and Dance has invited departmental alumni for a series of events this weekend. On Saturday afternoon there will be an alumni softball game followed in the evening by a reception hosted by Ball State University President Jo Ann Gora.
The proceeds from Saturday's performance will go to student scholarships in the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Jenkins said the show is appealing because it is a familiar story, it's fast-paced, fun, edgy and controversial.
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