ACT opens 'Cabaret' at the Strand Theatre

Nov. 16—PLATTSBURGH — The Artistry Community Theatre leaves its regular venues, AuSable Valley Central School and Keeseville Elks Lodge #2072, in southern Clinton County to make its Strand Theatre debut with "Cabaret" this weekend in Plattsburgh.

"This is our first sort of big venture," director Derrick A. Hopkins said.

"It was made famous by Liza Minnelli (Sally Bowles) in the film and Joel Grey (Master of Ceremonies), who won Oscars."

ACTs productions riffs off the 1972 flick directed by Bob Fosse and Jay Presson Allen's screenplay, which was a riff on the same-name musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff, which was a riff of the 1951 play "I Am a Camera" by John Van Druten, who riffed the 1945 "The Berlin Stories" by Christopher Isherwood, who riffed his 1939 novel "Goodbye to Berlin" and his 1937 semi-autobiographical novella, "Sally Bowles," set in the jazz-age in Weimar-era Berlin.

Like in jazz, there's a whole lot of riffing going on of Isherwood's and his comrades' bohemian escapes.

"This production has been remarkable," Hopkins said.

"We have an amazing cast and crew. We've explored the political climate. It takes place during the rise of the Nazi Party at the end of the '20s and the beginning of the '30s, the thriving anti-culture of that time in Berlin, Germany.

"Our choreographer (Meghan Janovsky) had a great quote. She said, 'It's kind of the Wizard of Oz in reverse.' The Wizard of Oz starts in black and white, then you get to color. This show starts with vibrant color, and then as the political party takes over in the play, we move to black and white and gray. I thought that was a really great description of the production."

CAST

The cast (in order of appearance):

Emcee (Elizabeth Abair), Rosie (Gigi Mason), Lulu (Brianna Murphy), Frenchie (Kristin Campbell), Fraulein Fritzie Kost (Carlinda LaPierre), Texas (Chelsea Lancaster), Helga (Gabrielle Wrisley) Bobby (Mason Barber), Victor (Roscoe Duquette), Hans (Aidan Croghan), Herman (Sebastian Kuhn), Max (Matt Tetreault), Bruno/Rudy (Ethan Luoma), Sally (Megan Land), Cliff (Kilian Croghan), Herr Ludwig (Max Longware), Fraulein Schneider Brenda Chase McColgan), Herr Schultz (Bill McColgan) and Child (Aria Mahoney).

"The cast and crew has been exploring Cabaret because the show really takes place in the Cabaret Club and then it takes place in the society of which the play is taking place in the early '30s," Hopkins said.

"But it also takes place, as the scripts describes it as, the moments in the void where there's no time or place. While we're in the club and in the void it's almost as if the audience becomes that fourth place. That the present day becomes another setting.

"So the cast and crew of are very aware of this duality of we're telling a story from the past, but we're also here to talk about the history so that way we cannot only entertain but we can also pass along the lessons from that time period."

Hopkins notes that the drama is set almost 100 years from the present.

"Which is sort of strange to think about," he said.

"It's 1931, '32, '33 that this is taking place. We are a decade away from that, a hundred years from World War II. It's kind of wild to think about."

AUGUST START

Auditions were held in early August, and rehearsals started the next week.

"The cast was just so eager to get going," Hopkins said.

"They wanted to start the dances, so they started the dances. The music director Kathy Kokes just jumped right in and took the energy and just ran with it. I started building characters and talking about accents and the history of the time and how can we be authentic of the time period but also be creative with the piece. The three of us kind of just jumped in headfirst way back in August."

As a community theater, rehearsals are built around people's everyday jobs in hospitals, schools, and businesses.

"We're always struggling to find time to balance everybody's work schedule," he said.

"It worked out really well but we started so early because hiccups happen along the way."

SET

Staging for the most part is minimal.

"We have a set piece in the back," Hopkins said.

"We have two levels that are six feet high., and another that is at eight feet. We have a giant illuminated light for the Kit Kat Club, and there are two freestanding talks because the play has to move seamlessly from the club to a train station to a bedroom to a hallway and then to a fruit shop.

"So it all has to be seamless because it's almost as if all the worlds are clashing together at the same time at this one moment in time. So if it was too convoluted with the set, I think it wouldn't work."

The show pivots on old steamer trunks found on Facebook Marketplace.

"Props are housed in the trunks," Hopkins said.

"The trunks play the furniture. The trunks are indicative of the furniture pieces that we would need in the scene."

The last two years, Hopkins has taught "Night" by Elie Wiesel.

"He was a holocaust survivor," Hopkins said.

"He gave his firsthand account, and he talks about the suitcases and the steamer trunks that people would bring. Then, they would bring them out into the ghetto and have them there to carry. The Nazis would make them leave their steamer trunks, so they could rob them later.

"So this idea sort of inspired me to keep this idea of the steamer trunks and suitcases kind of always present on the stage. The set, in a way, becomes its own character as you start to look at it. Yes, we're in a club, but we also have these other pieces that are not traditional furniture pieces and why we are there? The Emcee is in one of the steamer trunks for that reason. It's because the trunks are almost like a haunting reminder of the past, too.

COSTUME

For wardrobe, the great team of Linda Murphy, costume coordinator, and Gigi Mason, Susan Ford-Croghan, Brianna Murphy, and Debra Stevenson pulled pieces from wherever they could.

"The men wear a lot of three-piece suits," Hopkins said.

"The women wear more of those (ensembles) on the cusp of the '20s. It's that transition into the '30s and that roaring '20s Gatsby-feel. So when we're in the club, we're doing a lot of sequins, a lot of pieces that reflect light, a lot of headdresses.

"But when we in the real life of the period, it's more earth tones, muted colors, to represent, I believe at that time, we were in the midst of the Great Depression, so it's not like everybody had money lying around. We are reflecting those worlds in that way."

ORCHESTRA

The Cabaret Pit Orchestra is under the direction of Jeannette Woodruff who leads a fabulous poly-instrumental musicians — Trevor White (reed 1), Kevin Alexandrou (reed 2), Matt Kuhn (trumpet), Tricia Jackson (trombone), Carolyn Wilson (banjo), Anastasia Pratt (bass), Marjorie Kelting (piano), Steve Woodruff (synthesizer), and Stu Pray (drum set).

"Some players are playing two or three instrument sometimes in a song," Hopkins said.

"You will see one put down a guitar and pick up a banjo. Another one playing the synthesizer will pick up an accordion. You got one playing the clarinet will pick up the saxophone.

"We end up with this sound of an orchestra that would have 15-20 players but it's only eight. The way that the score is written it covers all of these parts. They're just fabulous. They're great. They're all local professionals from all over the North Country that they are coming in to do this."

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

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