Tess Ammerman as Sally Bowles in Actors'NET of Bucks County's production of CABARET running through July 31.
Willkommen to the final offering of their 15th Anniversary Season. Actors’NET of Bucks County in Morrisville PA presents the John Kander and Fred Ebb musical CABARET. Produced and directed on Broadway in 1966 by Harold Prince the show ran for over 1100 performances and won eight Tony Awards.
Director Joe Doyle’s lively and energetic production tells a story of love both young and old against a backdrop of growing hate and mistrust in Germany just prior to the Nazi’s gaining full political control of the country.
We are introduced to this world by the Emcee played by the exuberant Scotty Lutz. On board a train arriving from Paris we meet a young American author Clifford Bradshaw, effectively portrayed by John Bergeron and the well cast Ken Ammerman in the mysterious role of Ernst Ludwig. Ernst directs Clifford to a boarding house run by the long suffering Fraulein Schneider, in a lovely turn by Susan Blair and to a night spot called The Kit Kat Klub frequented by Ernst.
At the Klub, Clifford meets the Emcee, some denizens of Berlin night life as well as the Kit Kat Klub Girls, a wonderful group of dancers led by choreographer Dani Tucci-Juraga. He also sees for the first time the star attraction Sally Bowles, an English ex-patriot, played with verve by Tess Ammerman. Into this we mix some comic relief with a boarder at the rooming house, the enterprising Fraulein Kost, comically played by Tami Feist and a budding love affair between Fraulein Schneider and the local fruit merchant Herr Rudolf Schultz, warmly and effectively played by Actors’Net regular Marco Newton.
As the story progresses Clifford is caught up in a growing relationship with Sally Bowles and what seem to be innocent trips to Paris for Ernst Ludwig, for which he is extremely well paid. All of this unravels as Ernst’s true motives are revealed and dark clouds begin to gather over The Kit Kat Klub.
All of the famous songs are here, along with exciting dancing and a complex and compelling story line. If you only know “Cabaret” from the film starring Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, I strongly urge you to see the play as the story lines and character relationships are not the same.
CABARET
Book by Joe Masteroff, (based on the play “I am a Camera” by John Van Druten & stories by Christopher Isherwood)
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Directed by Joe Doyle
July 15-31, 2011
Actors’NET of Bucks County
At The Heritage Center
635 N. Delmorr Ave.
Morrisville, PA
Tickets: 215-295-3694
www.actorsnetbucks.org
