The Curtain Closes on CET’s “Cabaret”

As CET reflects on their performance of “Cabaret,” the cast and crew discuss their own interpretations and thoughts on the musical.

BY MARISA ANDONI-SAVAS

As the audience walked into the Craft Theater they were taken to a different world, in a different time. From March 9 to 12, Community Ensemble Theater [CET] performed “Cabaret,” directed by Emily Wilson-Tobin and tech directed by Laura Bird. CET presented a relevant story based on what is happening in the world around us.

The story takes place in Berlin, Germany before the Holocaust featuring American novelist Cliff Bradshaw and cabaret singer Sally Bowles. When Sally finds herself dismissed from the Kit Kat Klub, the cabaret where she works, she finds a home with Cliff. As the Nazis begin to take over Germany, the two fall in love and the atmosphere of the Kit Kat Klub and the lives of Sally and Cliff begin to change dramatically.

“I chose “Cabaret” for a number of reasons,” Wilson-Tobin said. “I’ve always loved it and I’ve always wanted to do it, but I wasn’t sure if I had the right group. Then as I thought more about it, I realized that there were a lot of things happening in the world that made “Cabaret” feel like a show that would tell a story we need to hear right now, to remind us about antisemitism and fascism. I felt like CET was a group that would handle that gracefully and thoughtfully.”

The cast included freshmen Malcolm London playing Cliff Bradshaw, sophomore Jacqueline Boynton playing the Kit Kat Klub’s star, Sally Bowls, and senior Tate Zeleznik playing the Emcee of the Kit Kat Klub. Considering the size of the Craft Theater, the set consisted of two main locations, the Kit Kat Klub and the boarding house. A sign in lights hung above the thrust reading “Kit Kat Klub” that student Tech Directors, Ria Lowenschuss, Evers Baskey and Paige Plavnick created.

“I love the [Kit Kat Klub] light sign,” Plavnick said. “It was really hard, but it was really fun to collaborate with Ria and Evers on the sign. It was a process but it turned out really good. When I saw it lit up it was a really big moment, it was special.”

As the sign was going up, the theater was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Everyone’s jaws dropped when it eventually hung up, according to Plavnick.

The musical ran for two and a half hours which required the cast to stay energetic and lively throughout the show. Nobody was more spirited than the Emcee, portrayed by Zeleznik. Filled with conflict, humor and seriousness, Zeleznik was able to make the main character seem alive yet at the same time, otherworldly.

“It’s not often that you get to work on something as meaningful as ‘Cabaret,’ a show that delivers really hard and extremely important and sadly very relevant messages to the audience, and I’m so grateful to have been able to do that especially as a high schooler,” Zeleznik said.