freeFall Theatre opens its 2012-2013 season Aug. 30 with a remount of the Kander & Ebb classic, Cabaret, brought back by popular demand. From left are Megan Morgan, Joel Gennari, Haley Schneider and David Mann.
ST. PETERSBURG - freeFall Theatre opens its 2012-2013 season Aug. 30 with a remount of the Kander & Ebb classic, Cabaret, brought back by popular demand.
"There were so many people unable to get tickets that we simply had to offer it again," said Jim Sorensen, freeFall's managing director and actor in the show. "People were actually angry that they couldn't get in! It's really exciting to know that people can be this passionate about live theatre."
"What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play!"
The history of the Kander & Ebb masterpiece is a long one, and includes several Broadway and West End productions, a 1972 film version, 8 Academy Awards and 12 Tonys. It is based on John Van Druten’s 1951 play I Am a Camera, which was adapted from the Christopher Isherwood's 1939 novel, The Berlin Stories.
Set in 1931, Berlin as the Nazis are rising to power, the story focuses on nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around the cabaret performer Sally Bowles and her relationship with a young writer, Cliff Bradshaw. A sub-plot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor. And overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub which serves as a constant metaphor for the tenuous and threatening state of late Weimar Germany throughout the show.
Reprising his critically acclaimed role as the Emcee will be David Mann, director of Acting Studies at Blake School of the Arts. Local stars Roxanne Fay, John Lombardi and Larry Alexander will also return, along with Sorensen.
Lauren Wood from Sarasota will join the cast as Fraulein Kost, and headlining in the role of Sally Bowles is Jennifer Byrne, whose New York credits include the original cast of Evil Dead: the Musical and the revival of The Pirates of Penzance. The Kit Kat Klub dancers are Joel Gennari, Heather Baird, Megan Morgan, Haley Schneider, David Michael Bevis and Kevin Patrick Martin.
Eric Davis, freeFall's award-winning artistic director, helms the production, with pianist Michael Raabe musically directing and leading the five-piece live band, and Cheryl Lee choreographs. Once again, freeFall's flexible-space Studio Theatre has been transformed into the famous Kit Kat Klub by set designer Steve Mitchell, complete with cabaret tables and a bar, and freeFall technical director Christopher Rutherford lights the show. Mike & Kathy Buck Designs are responsible for the occasionally skimpy costuming.
Cabaret will return on Thursday, Aug. 30, and run Thursdays through Sundays through Sept. 30. Show times are 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays.
Tickets are $39 or $46, depending on seating. Discounts are available for students, seniors, military, and freeFall Members. "Rush tickets" for $22 are sold on an as-available basis 30 minutes before each show to students and teachers with ID's, and industry artists (show an AEA ID or your name in a printed program.)
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