Making sexy bland: A tame 'Cabaret'

"Cabaret" is a sexy, innovative musical.

But you wouldn't know that from the current production at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre.

COURTESY PHOTO The cast of "Cabaret" at the Kit Kat Klub. The show runs at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatrethrough May 31.

Much of the action takes place at the Kit Kat Klub, a decadent sex club in Berlin where anything goes. But the way the Broadway Palm depicts it, it's just a place where men and women sit at tables and occasionally dance together.

 

When the emcee (John Ramsey, Jr.) introduces the female club dancers and jokes, "Each and every one of them a virgin!" you actually believe him.

The women seem just so gosh-darn wholesome, as if they're auditioning for a Disney musical. And when the male Kit Kat Klub dancers hit the stage in longsleeved shirts and vests, they look like waiters about to assemble at a table to sing "Happy Birthday."

It's hard to tell if the problem's with the casting, direction, or costuming. My vote is a combination of all three.

True, this production seems to be based on the earliest stage version of "Cabaret." That means that great songs such as "Mein Herr" and "Maybe This Time" aren't included and the bisexuality of the aspiring novelist, Cliff Bradshaw (Kip Taisey) is glossed over and just vaguely alluded to.

The theater says their production's a mixture of the first version and the 1988 revival. Somehow, they took the most conservative aspects of both productions. But still, it's "Cabaret," so I kept hoping for some kind of spark from the stage, some show of decadence or even naughtiness. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen until Amy Marie McCleary (also the show's choreographer) comes on stage as Fraulein Kost, a boarder who entertains a steady stream of men in her room.

McCleary captivates every time she's on stage, demanding the audience's attention. She's bold, rough around the edges, and completely unapologetic about her sexuality.

She's what the entertainers at the Kit Kat Klub should all be like, but aren't.

And I can't help but wonder why director Brian Enzman didn't cast her as Sally Bowles, the female lead. That's a role she could've really sunk her teeth into, and the show would've been so much the better for it.

April Monte doesn't do a bad job as Sally. There just aren't any sparks there, and no chemistry with Taisey. But Monte redeems herself in Act II, when everything - including herself - falls to pieces. She delivers a powerful rendition of "Cabaret" as a musical version of a nervous breakdown.

Taisey is an engaging performer, with a strong, gorgeous voice and an earnest way of delivering his lines. He plays the role as a real straight arrow, and does it well, but it would've been interesting to see more of his sexual struggle and bisexuality expressed, or at least hinted at.

Ramsey, as the emcee, fails to connect with the audience. His jokes fell flat, and people didn't seem to grasp what he was saying, at least at the performance I attended. As the show goes on, he teeters on the edge of mania, as he mocks the insanity around him. His solo of "I Don't Care Much" is moving, and his actions at the end of Act I chilling. If only the show was filled with more moments like them.

But curiously, Ramsey's character doesn't exude sexuality, and even his song, "Two Ladies," in which he cavorts with two women and sings about their threesome, seems chaste. (Other versions pair him up with a man and a woman.)

And strangely enough, the most homoerotic moment in the entire show is when one Nazi puts his hand on the shoulder of another Nazi, who's singing "Tomorrow Belongs to Me."

Marc Ciemiewicz does well in the small but pivotal role of Ernst Ludwig, and Kay Francis brings a steel-iron strength to the role of Fraulein Schneider, a woman who finds love late in life.

The costumes (by Jim Conti) seem made by someone who wants to promote abstinence, rather than an "anything goes" sexuality. This is definitely a G-rated show you could bring young children, or grandparents, to.

The Broadway Palm has made a successful career out of appealing to the masses by providing family-fun entertainment. They like to stick to the middle of the road with their theatrical offerings, and it makes their patrons happy. But in this case, it seems that in their efforts not to offend audiences with "Cabaret," they've drained the very life out of it. It's like the cable station that shows reruns of "Sex and the City," but deletes all the cursing and excises any scenes showing or mentioning sex.

Why offer a risqué show and then clean it up?

It's also the most neutered production of "Cabaret" I've ever seen. And even though it's not newest Sam Mendes version of the musical, it should still be quivering with sexuality, even if it's smoldering just beneath the surface.

There is so much that this production could've been. And it doesn't help that the Naples Players, a troupe of community actors, just ended a superlative run of the same show that was everything this "Cabaret" should be but isn't: edgy, moving, disturbing, sexy.

.. if you go

>> What: "Cabaret"

>> When: through May 31

>> Where: The Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, 1380 Colonial Blvd.

>> Cost: $25 to $52

>> Information: Call 278-4422 or go to www.BroadwayPalm.com