Theatre department revives Cabaret with a twist

By Wanda Haskel on April 25, 2017

For more than 50 years, the musical Cabaret has pushed boundaries and made audiences think deeply about issues both personal and political. 

Now, it’s Towson University’s turn to innovate the modern classic, set in Berlin’s extravagantly seedy Kit Kat Club during the lead-up to World War II.

The show’s director, Associate Professor Stephen Nunns, says that one way he’s rethinking the story is by casting a woman as the androgynous Emcee—a part traditionally played by men.

Senior Christy Czajkowski is thrilled to take on the bold and sexy role and is preparing by researching androgyny in popular culture and studying human movement.

“It’s interesting; I kind of have to be both genders,” muses the Carroll County, Maryland native.

Topical as the show’s gender exploration is in today’s climate, so too are the political themes humming through the play, which crescendo in the final scene when we learn the Emcee is on the next train to Auschwitz.

The pleasure-seeking crowd at the Kit Kat Klub has ignored the coming storm with an almost desperate glee. But in the end, merry-making can’t shield them from wretched reality.

“Cabaret plays with the idea of how dangerous it is to be oblivious to what’s going on in the world,” says Czajkowski.

Equally eager to hit the mainstage is junior Molly Cohen. She will play the lead character Sally Bowles, a self-involved cabaret performer who buries her head in the sand even as the Gestapo rounds up citizens for transport to concentration camps.

“So many famous and incredible women have played her,” (think Liza Minnelli, Judi Dench and Natasha Richardson), says the singer from Frederick County, Maryland. “I’m really excited to figure out what the best interpretation of her is for this production.”

So in the words of Sally Bowles, “Life is a cabaret, old chum. Come to the cabaret!”

Tickets for Cabaret are: $10 TU students, faculty and staff; $20 regular price; and $15 seniors. Preview tickets are $10. Visit the TU Box Office for more information.