IN HERE , LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
Cabaret is – as it has been since its premiere over five decades ago – both an enduring allegory and a mirror to the moment . As we present the third Cabaret in TCR history ( 1977 and 2004 , previously ), this musical theater masterpiece remains chillingly relevant .
Though Weimar-era Berlin was a time of political extremism and social agitation , post-war relaxed censorship laws resulted in a cabaret boom . These “ free spaces ” allowed artists , intellectuals , modernized women – and anyone who felt a personal divergence from social norms – an invitation to the “ party .”
We endeavored to make our version of the Kit Kat Club a lush , gleaming , richly colorful , and beguiling place that feels of another era , but still entices our contemporary sensibilities . One that reorients , resisting the urge to fall into the well-established aesthetic of Cabaret . All in a gradual intersection with the dark account of the rise of Naziism in Germany . The bigger the distraction , the deeper illusion of security . Our Kit Kat world invites an exploration of sexuality against the looming backdrop of extreme and violent repression .
Cabaret ’ s visual universe is another wildly expressive , sumptuous creation by TCR resident artist , S . Benjamin Farrar (“ Stuben ”). Stuben ’ s conceptual research incorporated feminine curves and sensuality through a kaleidoscopic lens of progressive artistic movements , including abstract expressionism , art deco , Dada , Bauhaus , and the work of several luminary 20 th century photographers . The scenery – hand-painted by scenic artist Lucie Greene – presents a mix of rich , smoldering colors , metallics , and iridescents . The super-scale women enveloping the stage are a celebration of the feminine – protective , yet devastatingly powerful goddesses restraining the
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