March 3, 2020
NOTE: All performances and events are suspended and/or postponed to the public until the end of the semester (or further notice). Anyone who has already purchased a ticket has three options:
- Exchange your ticket for an event during our 20-21 performance season.
- Receive a refund: if you purchased your ticket online, you will be contacted by our box office manager. If you purchased your ticket in person, please contact the box office at [email protected], (248) 370-4578 or visit during regular business hours (Tuesday-Friday, 3-6 p.m.)
- Do nothing - your ticket purchase will be a donation to SMTD.
Oakland University’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance will present Cabaret — a Tony Award-winning musical about the dangers of apathy and inaction in response to growing hate and racism in society — from March 26-29 and April 1-5 in Varner Studio Theatre on the OU campus.
Tickets are $22 for the general public, $12 for students and $12 for the 10 a.m. matinee. To purchase tickets, visit www.etix.com. The show is intended for mature audiences.
“One might assume that this production, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, which first premiered in 1966 during the Vietnam War, could feel dated or offer irrelevant subject matter for today’s society,” said Director Beth Guest, a special lecturer at OU. “However, this story’s message is as important for today’s audiences as it was for those in the ‘60s.”
Set in Berlin, Germany during the Weimar Republic in the 1930s as the Nazis are rising to power, Cabaret focuses on the nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around American writer Cliff Bradshaw and his relationship with English cabaret performer Sally Bowles.
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| Mariah Colby |
“Though the city faces financial instability, the budding democracy inspires a new freedom of expression,” Guest said. “The cabaret finds a home for all of it. The Emcee invites the audience to luxuriate in its hedonist splendor. But the lure of the bawdy, decadent life leads to complacency, and a refusal to fully acknowledge the horrors of the Nazi party growing evermore powerful in Germany.”
OU student Mariah Colby, who is currently working on her B.F.A. in Musical Theatre, will play Sally Bowles in the upcoming production.
“Sally is a spunky, sweet girl from England living in Berlin and working as a cabaret singer — but don't tell her mama that,” Colby said. “She is so swept up in the glamour of the cabaret lifestyle that she is blind to the rise of the Nazi Party around her. This story showcases the past wrongs we've made as a society, but it is also a reflection of what our future could hold if we continue to get caught up in the cabaret of our own lives.
“I am so thankful to be a part of this production and to tell Sally's story,” she added. “She is bold and unafraid to speak her mind, which is an admirable trait that I try to bring into my everyday life. Everyone in the cast and production team are so talented and dedicated to putting in the effort to tell such an important story. It makes showing up to daily rehearsals all the more exciting and special.”
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| The 2001 cast of "Cabaret" |
Theatre Professor Karen Sheridan, who is serving as a dialect/accent coach for the upcoming production, also directed Cabaret when the musical was performed at OU in 2001.
“I love Cabaret and I loved working on the show here in 2001,” she said. “It was a dream team cast and design team. And there is still nothing not to love about this musical. It’s still entertaining and relevant.”
Emily (Wilson) Bogart, who played Sally Bowles in the 2001 production, agreed.
“The differences between sexuality and gender identification in everyday culture have dramatically shifted in the 19 years since the 2001 production, but I think that makes the spirit of the play even more meaningful,” she said.
While it’s been 19 years, since she performed in Cabaret, Bogart said she still has fond memories of the role.
“It was a great experience for me,” she said. “I had never played a role like Sally before. I was typically a character-type performer, so the costumes and physical feel of Sally was fun for me.”
Bogart is now married and has two children who share her love of music. While she has left her life as a performer behind, she says the training she received at OU helped to prepare her for her current role as a surgical care nurse practitioner at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.
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| Bogart as Sally Bowles and Bybee as the Emcee in "Cabaret" (2001). |
“I sincerely believe that my training at OU prepared me for my medical degrees because I learned ethics, how to time manage and what hard work is all about,” Bogart said. “And learning to see the world through a ‘character’s eyes’ in my BA undergrad has allowed me to be more empathetic with the patients and families that I care for. I’ll never forget Edie Diggory and Karen Sheridan, who supported me through the very best and most challenging times of undergrad.”
OU alumna Cassandra Svacha, who played Frenchie — a Kit Kat girl — in the 2001 production, said the experience was “a fun and challenging ride.” She recently graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London with her MFA in Advance Theatre Practice specializing in Contemporary Directing and Performance.
“Cabaret is timeless, easily commenting on today’s political climate,” said Svacha, who will be directing Crazy for You and Shrek in New York this summer.
“For me, Isherwood’s stories of Berlin used in Cabaret acts as an invitation,” she added. “As an audience member you start to fall in love with the Emcee as he invites and guides you into the Cabaret of colorful characters and stories. However, with that invitation comes a slightly out of focus, decayed and layered world that might not be as beautiful as the Emcee keeps reminding you.”
The role of the Emcee was played by OU alum Joey Bybee in the 2001 production.
“It was nothing short of amazing, scary, crazy and fun,” Bybee said. “Roles, like the Emcee, that breakdown walls and allow you to connect directly with the audience are some of the most empowering. Delving into the political climate of the time and the subversive function of these cabaret clubs sort of permanently altered my trajectory as an entertainer. I became obsessed with the idea of escapism, not just through entertainment, but the whole experience.
“Now, in addition to performing in musical theatre, my focus is producing cabarets and managing some of the top performance venues in Los Angeles,” he added. “Basically, I get to be a real life Emcee, though I usually wear more clothing and less eyeliner than in 2001.”
For more information on this and other upcoming performances, visit www.oakland.edu/smtd.
Performance Schedule:
• Thursday, March 26 at 8 p.m.
• Friday, March 27 at 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
• Saturday, March 28 at 8 p.m.
• Sunday, March 29 at 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, April 1 at 8 p.m.
• Thursday, April 2 at 8 p.m.
• Friday, April 3 at 8 p.m.
• Saturday, April 4 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
• Sunday, April 5 at 2 p.m.