Extended! Olney's 'Cabaret,' a sensational feast, now thru Oct. 13

Mason Alexander Park is the Emcee and Alexandra Silber is Sally Bowles in CABARET at Olney Theatre Center/Photo credit: Stan Barouh
 
What good is sitting alone in your home when you can come to the play? Life is a Cabaret, old chum. Come to the Cabaret.

It's a holiday in September! 

It's raunchy, robust, and it rocks Olney Theatre Center's 82nd season start.

It's the music which brings us to the show.

The timing is post-World War I in Weimar Germany, in Berlin, then the third largest city in the world where citizens sought joy amidst dire economic circumstances, and here they came!  To the "cabaret."

If Joel Grey is the actor who immediately pops into your mind when you think of Cabaret, Olney Theatre Center's newest show has got his double starring on stage. (Joel Grey is still kickin' at age 87.)

Mason Alexander Park, the master of ceremonies, is magnificent. He's the centerfold with a personality and voice who directs the pizazz and revelry which increase alongside spreading Nazi weeds in this garden of tawdry delights.

Besides Mr. Park, the marvelous music is the star here.  Forget the growing gloom and sit back (or sit up right on stage, if you like) and enjoy "Money, Money," "Two Ladies," "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," and "If You Could See Her," among many tunes.

Mason Alexander Park (center), the Emcee,  with the Kit Kat Girls in CABARET at Olney Theatre Center/Photo: Stan Barouh

The Kit Kat Klub, the place to be for ribaldry, is every bit as raucous as the name sounds with a stage at a nightclub and a glittering backdrop of rich, velvety floor-to-ceiling drapes which cascade behind an 11-member orchestra (led by Christopher Youstra) who are decked in tails.  

Overshadowing the fun on the backdrop is a ghastly face in a cracked mirror which reflects the hot dancing girls in spectacular ooh-la-Las Vegas costumes whose kicks almost reach the chandeliers.
    

Gregory Maheu is Clifford Bradshaw, an American who arrives in Berlin to write a novel.  He woos a cabaret star, Sally (Alexandra Silber) and tries to convince her to eventually return with him to America and save herself.  Director Alan Paul successfully changes Mr. Bradshaw from a timid weakling into a confident man who can say no.

It's not all debauchery. Some balance is presented by the sweet relationship which develops between Herr Schultz
 (Mitchell Hébert) and Mr. Bradshaw's landlady, Fraulein Schneider (Donna Migliaccio) until.... The credibility of both actors swept up the audience which hoped for the best.

That Cabaret was chosen for staging now was not by chance, but planned to coincide with events as a reminder that this, too, can happen again in a world of persistent evil.

The powerful ending is a shocker and leaves you dazed. Artistic Director Jayson Loewith writes In program notes that it's a bit different from Olney's usual climax, but as anyone will tell you who's seen the show, Cabaret is another huge hit in Olney's expanding and renowned musical portfolio.

Lights out!  

The Cabaret is closed.

Other cast members are Jessica Laurel Ball, Jessica Bennett, Patrick Ford, Ben Gunderson,  Andre Hinds, Lina Lee, Connor James Reilly, Bridget Riley, Tyler Quentin Smallwood, Tom Story, Katy Tabb, Louisa Tringali, and Rick Westerkamp.

More members of the creative team, Wilson Chin, scenics; Kendra Rai, costumes; Colin K. Bills, lighting;
Matt Rowe, sound;   Ali Pohanka, wigs;  Zach Campion, dialects; Madison Bahr, assistant stage manager; John Keith Hall, production stage manager; Josiane  M. Jones, director of production; Katie Spelman, choreographer; and
Katie Ciszek, dramaturg.

What: Cabaret by Joe Masteroff, John van Druten, Christopher Isherwood with music by John Kander and lyrics, Fred Ebb

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Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832.

When: Through Oct. 6, 2019, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; matinees on Saturday, Sunday and some Wednesdays (Sept. 11, 18, Oct. 2) at 2 p.m. An audio-described performance for the blind and visually impaired Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 8 p.m. and a sign-interpreted performance Thursday, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. 

Tickets: Begin at $42 with discounts for groups, seniors, military, and students

Ages: Olney rates this as "PG-13" but I rate it an "R" although most of the sex and debauchery are not pronounced.  One "F-bomb."

"Afterwords": Post-show discussions after most Saturday matinees with the cast and crew
  
Duration: About 2.5 hours with one 15 minute intermission. You'll wish the show would go on.

Refreshments: Available and may be taken to seats

Parking: Free, lighted and plentiful on-site

For more information: 301-924-3400 for the box office or 301-924-4485.

patricialesli@gmail.com

   

Olney's terrific 'Tenors'

From left are Matthew Schleigh as Max, John Treacy Egan as Beppo, and Alan Wade as Saunders in Ken Ludwig's A Comedy of Tenors /Photo by Stan Barouh

What is opera without sex?  Not opera!

The year is 1936 in Paris where a zany group of stars beset by egos and threatened manhood (imagine) jeopardize the staging of the sold-out "concert of the century."

The show may not go on, after all.

The hand-wringing producer (Alan Wade is Saunders) has become a madman with only three hours left to get the team ready for the really big show.

From left, exiting over the balcony is Allyson Boate as Mimi, Alan Naylor as Carlo (hidden behind the door), Emily Townley as Maria, and John Treacy Egan as Tito in Ken Ludwig's A Comedy of Tenors /Photo by Stan Barouh


A Comedy of Tenors by Tony winner (Lend Me a Tenor ) Ken Ludwig, with some Shakespeare on steroids and Verdi and Puccini thrown in, is the featured performance at Olney Theatre Center, but you don't have to like opera to laugh a lot.  

Just come for the enjoyment.

We did and got our just rewards, all right.

Temperaments, mixed-up identities, and escapades fill the show.

John Treacy Egan is Beppo and Patricia Hurley is Racón in Ken Ludwig's A Comedy of Tenors /Photo by Stan Barouh


In an elegant hotel suite (designed by Charlie Calvert) the opera star, Tito (John Treacy Egan) arrives after a flight (a fight?) with his wife, the animated and dynamic Maria (Emily Townley) whom Tito shortly "discovers" is having an affair with their daughter's fiancé (Carlo is Alan Naylor)! A man, 20 years younger! (Imagine)

Heartbroken, the inconsolable Tito forfeits his stage appearance, unable to sing one possible note.


Producer Saunders is beside himself.  Now, two hours and counting. Whatever shall he do?


To the rescue from out in the hallway comes a super bellman bearing a striking resemblance to Tito with a voice to match (and a lover of Tito's "fruits," too).


Also arriving in town is a Russian diva and "other woman"(!),  Racón (Patricia Hurley), a former Tito paramour, who wants to partake of Tito's "talents," too. 

From door-to-(four)-doors and woman-to-woman, the men doth move, and over the balcony railing, to the gasps of the audience, daughter Mimi (Allyson Boate) throws herself, dress billowing, and arms flailing as she makes one giant leap for womankind (which was sur real). 

The outstanding, sonorous voices of the three tenors singing together (Egan, Naylor, and Matthew Schleigh as Max) soon gave me pause to wonder if it was a tape, but my seatmate, Olney apprentice, Meghan McVann, set me straight, that the voices were real, belonged to the artists, and were on stage. (Kudos to McCorkle Casting.)


All the performers excel at their assignments but it is Maria, Mrs.Tito, who especially shines among the stars, a standout whose exaggerated mannerisms, dramatic gestures, and histrionics more than effectively convey her character.

Director Jason King Jones deserves much applause for getting the performers to their places on time.    

Seth M. Gilbert's costumes are perfect for the period (and now), upper-class smaltzy, elegant, and operatic.


Mr. Ludwig attended the opening night show and afterwards, cast, crew, and audience celebrated another big hit in Olney.


Other crew members are Sonya Dowhaluk, lighting; Casey Kaleba, fight director; LaShawn Melton, wigs; Justin Schmitz, sound; Brianne Taylor, dialects; Cat Wallis and Ben Walsh, stage managers; and Dennis A. Blackledge, director of production.

What: A Comedy of Tenors by Ken Ludwig


Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832.

When: Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Wednesday matinee May 1 at 2 p.m. An audio-described performance for the blind and visually impaired Wednesday, April 24, at 8 p.m. and a sign-interpreted performance Thursday, May 2 at 8 p.m. 

Tickets: Begin at $42 with discounts for groups, seniors, military, and students

Ages: Olney rates Tenors as "PG-13."  

"Afterwords": After Saturday matinees on April 20, 27 and May 4 and 11.
  
Duration: Almost two hours with one 15 minute intermission

Refreshments: Available and may be taken to seats

Parking: Free, lighted and plentiful on-site

For more information: 301-924-3400 for the box office or 301-924-4485.

patricialesli@gmail.com