’18C Kuss stage to become a ‘Cabaret’ to start
When the Broadway Tour of the musical revival of “Cabaret” h its the Kuss Auditorium stage, it will showcase a lead actor in his dream role on his first national tour.
It’shardtonotno tice the Emcee character, for which actor Joel Grey won both a Tony Award and Oscar. He’s sort of the ringmaster around the Kit Kat Klub, where the show is set.
Erik Schneider’s version of the Emcee will be all his own audiences can experience when the Tony Awardwinning “Cabaret” kicks up its heels at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10 at the Clark State Performing Arts Center.
The show is presented by the Clark State Performing Arts Center and contains mature content.
Having just celebrated its 50th anniversary, “Cabaret” tells the story of preWorld War II Berlin, the club and the people including a writer and singer who use it as an escape as the Nazi party begins its rise.
The role of singer Sally Bowles in the film made LizaM inelli a star.
When Schneider was 12, the chance to look into the hispar ents introduced him Emcee, who wasn’t defined to the Oscar-winning film before. version of “Cabaret,” and it “The music hooked me, was love at first sight. This songs like ‘Maybe This Time’ revival focuses on the char- and the opening number acters and gave Schneider ‘Willkommen,’” he said. “I
When: Admission: More info: call the role of Emcee delicious. He’s a trickster — not acerbic; lewd, but with a tongue-in-cheek element to him.”
Schn eider even got to spend time in Berlin to research the role and came away with how he could make the character his own, comparing him to a mythological character or Loki.
He added the script and music are beautifully written, with classics such as “Cabaret,” “Mein Herr” and “Money.”
The tour just opened on Dec. 28 and the cast and crew are working on honing it to perfection by the time it reaches Springfield.
“The beautiful thing is we canleanoneachother.Our ensemble came in as triple threats and now have added instruments, so now we’re quadruple threats,” Schneider said.
It will esp eciallybehelpful to have one another to keep each other going t hrough a six -month tour from city to city.
On a personal level, Schneider sees the story as something people can relate to in terms of politicalovert ones.
The second act sees the beauty start to seep out and the characters facing emo- tional journeys and how do you get back from t hatemo- tional trauma.
“It’salot l ikereallifenow the climate they were in,” said Schneider.
“It’s an interesting world for everyone to step into for a night.”