Cabaret
Mar 17 – Apr 2, 1994
By John Kander
Director Pia Wyatt
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF CABARET LIFE
1) Come, if possible, late, so that the guests already there know that you do have something else to do.
2) Give your coat to the woman in the Cloakroom. You’re a friendly man and your coat is new.
3) Sit down haphazardly and noisily. Then change your seat often until you find one with the right shape.
4) Read the menu and wine list loudly and noisily to your companion. Learn it if possible off by heart, and then order a portion of “later”.
5) When everything concerning your material welfare has been looked after, take part – even if at first only unwillingly – in the artistic presentation. Look upon the conferencier with contempt right from the start. He’s anass and because of that, let him feel your spiritual superiority.
6) Place your loud interruptions exactly where they don’t fit. This actually belongs to the enlivening of the program.
7) If you’re a woman, then criticize the d ress of the performing artiste loud ly and skillfully. (Don’t forget your lorgnette for this.)
8) During the song presentations, blow your smoke unbotheredly toward the podium. The singer will inhale it willingly. It makes her voice soft and supple.
9) During acts, use your cutlery and glasses in an unbothered fashion. Their sound does one good and replaces the band.
10) When you have been bored long enough by the program and have gotten angry over the bill, leave as noisily as you came in with the consciousnessof having spent a most enjoyable evening.
PIa Wyatt
A dancer since age six, Pia became involved with theatre at age nine with The Wonder of It All at Victoria’s own Newcombe Auditorium. This production, which ran for three summers, also starred such talents as John Krich and Harvey M. Miller.
Her last show was for the Victoria Conservatory of Music in which she choreographed Anything Goes! at Kaleidoscope Theatre. She has worked in Dawson City, Yukon for four seasons, and plan store turn there this summer. Pia’s University of Victoria credits include last summer’s Talley’s Folly, death scenes from Hamlet, The Lover and various assistant directorial roles. Cabaret is the culmination of six years of training at the Phoenix. This show would not be possible had it not been for the patience and support of the entire crew and cast that has helped to create this musical.
Thank you to all and welcome to the Cabaret.
Directors Notes
Welcome to the Kit Kat Klub, Berlin’s hottest cabaret. It is New Year’s Eve, 1929; the beginning of a new year and a new decade. It is through this Klub that this gut wrenching, dizzying play unfolds. The Kit Kat Klub criticizes, comments on and satirizes what is happening in Berlin in 1929-1930, and how this desperate struggle for survival is prevalent today. The insistent mirrors that engross the Kit Kat Klub reflect the audience in distortion to indicate that you, the audience, have the capacity for the fascism, the racism and the degeneration that Nazi Germany possessed.
Cabaret comes from a variety of sources. Christopher Isherwood a novelist, travelling through Germany in the twenties and thirties wrote BerlinStories which John Van Druten then adapted into a play I Am A Camera. With the brilliance of lyricist John Kander and musician Frank Ebb, Joe Masteroffwrote the libretto andCabaret the musical was created. Cabaret’s musical numbers convey the seediness and the decadence through the doors of the Kit Kat Klub with unwavering honesty. The seductive atmosphere of Cabaret combines the irresistible sexuality with the impassive perversity of 1929 Berlin.
It is due to the Phoenix Theatre’s extensive technical facilities that I decided to study at UVic. However, it is the talented artists that I have been able to work with that have furthered my passion for theatre. Cabaret is my M.F. A thesis project. It has been challenging, rewarding and fulfilling. Willkommen!
Cast & Creative
Creative Team:
Director/Choreographer Pia Wyatt
Assistan Director David Cheoros
Musical Director Peter Brown
Set Designer/Costume Designer Brian Bell
Assistant Set Designer Sam Wittingham
Lighting Designer/Special Effects Darell Moore
Assistant Lighting Designer Karen Lewis
Sound Designer Steve Goodman
Cast:
Darly Harris Master of Ceremonies
Caroline Cave Sally Bowles
Gregory Tees Cliff Bradshaw
Camille Stubel Fraulein Schneider
Kennedy Goodkey Herr Schultz
Julia Hoover Fraulein Kost
Colin Plant Ernst Ludwig
Poppy Guloien Helga
Lucas Myers Rudy
Erin Fitzgerald Bettie
Peter Balkwill Hans
Jennifer Cassady Inge
Michael Rinaldi Otto
Bonnie Mathers Heidi
J. David Thompson Max
Medina Hahn Mauzy
Graeme Somerville Fritz
Michael Rinaldi Greta Gorilla
PROGRAMME
