Shari Shattuck has been a successful actress for many years, starring in movies such as On Deadly Ground, television series including a three-year run on The Young and the Restless, and the international miniseries The Baron. She is also an accomplished classical actress with roles such as Lady Macbeth and Kate in The Taming of the Shrew on her long list of theater credits.

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Life is never a ‘Cabaret’
Knightsbridge goes back to a time when hedonism was replaced by horror

Back in the early 1930s, long before it became one of Los Angeles’ sister cites in 1967, Berlin was a bastion of decadence where drugs, sex and song were there for the taking.

There was no discrimination as long as one could show a force of hard cash.

It was a careless “Cabaret” time for the city with a population of less than 1 million, yet had more than 30,000 brothels. Nazis were deemed a political nuisance, and so the show rolled on. Afterall, who has time for politics when having fun is the raison d’etre?

Then the Nazis rolled over, the lights went out and all parties were replaced by “The Party.”

Oh, what a naughty-turned-nasty time that was, and oh, oh, oh what a good-turned-great time for those who catch the Knightsbridge Theatre’s production of “Cabaret” — book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Fred Ebb and music by John Kander.

Directed and produced by Joseph Stachura, this is the Knightsbridge’s first new production at their Los Angeles location since they left Pasadena last month.

For the christening, they have transformed their 1920s-built silent theater at 1944 Riverside Drive into a Weimar-era cabaret where pimps and prostitutes greet you at the door. Theater guests act a little shy being asked if they would like to meet one of the girls or boys on stage. They know it is all a show, but do they dare respond?

The Kit Kat Klub house manager (Stachura) greets us and warns us about the ensuing offensiveness and to ignore any Nazis who come by during the show and ask for money.

The first act begins, the Mardi Gras mood takes over and the fun never stops. One by one, the performers come out and flirt, flash, fling and sing their ways across the floor in precision without a schism.

Emcee (Corey Shiffman) parades the stage with the ghosts of all yesteryears written across a scarred wilderness.

His prize possession is Sally Bowles (Shari Shattuck) a gregarious gal who has got all the guys she wants. Is she from England? Australia? It does not matter. Identities are kissed off at the front door.

An American author, Clifford Bradshaw (Jarod Scott) is overwhelmed by this city, far more profligate than Paris — and less poetic and politically astute. Forget about the woeful World War I past and leave all your troubles behind. But troubles are never far behind.

Gone at intermission are the whispering players, replaced by the SS soldiers who yell at theater guests to get seated now. We still know it is a show, but the mood, like the play, is different.

Berlin, once a city of toleration and excess, has become a state of intolerance and denial. The sensual spirit of the people is broken, swapped for national hysteria. The machine that will wheel its unfathomable horror on the world is now in operation.

The populace had been so drugged on their own self-centered appetites that they were unprepared to match those who would be ordering bigger meals, feeding off destruction. Was there anything ever so deadly as the intoxication of imperialist power!

Bruises and broken bones accompany the tattered clothes of the dancers. The emcee tries to become a part of the marching military parade, but he is only crawling toward his demise. Booze and pills are no longer drugs of choice, but necessity, used in the hopes of escaping life altogether.

From the musical direction of Debbie Lawrence and the Kie Kit Kat Orchestra (Lawrence, Juliet M. Rivera, Deirdre Lee Wall, Jennifer Richardson, Anna Michelle Wang and Steve Neumann) to the swinging Kie Kit Kat Mädchen (Richardson, Mooney, Wendy Obstler, Sarah Marina Ali, Ina Barron and Megan Kay) and Der Chorographer Jeff Wallach, to the notable performances of Shiffman, Scott, and Marisa Murray (Fräulein Kost), the Knightsbridge Theatre has a near masterpiece on their hands.

However, standing on the seedy rooftop of this magnificent “Cabaret” production is Shattuck’s perfect performance. Shattuck has proven she can act in previous Knightsbridge productions, but here every gradation of Sally Bowles manifests in a matter that makes that other, more famous performer’s effort look like cowardice. What a voice!

If Shattuck is not found on the list of nominations for best performance of the year, somebody is not doing their job.

With the few minor role exceptions and some moments of clunky lighting, this production of “Cabaret” is a rollicking tour-de-force.

One that is ever so germane to the political game going on today.

By John Esther
PASADENA WEEKLY

Links:

Cabaret (coming soon)
IMDB (Internet Movie Database)

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