CABARET
July 10 - 22, 2006
Recreating Sam Mendes’ Award-winning smash hit revival, Cabaret transports us to 1931 Germany during the rise of Nazi power under Adolf Hitler. The unabashed display of sexuality and heroine chic on stage at the fictional Kit Kat Klub mesmerizes in this story of doomed relationships set against the backdrop of crumbling Berlin.
Adult content and situations.
REVIEWS
"A thrilling and moving experience!" - GayOgunquit.com
"The music and singing- especially from Ms. McArdle were incredible." - GayOgunquit.com
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With music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and book by Joe Masteroff, CABARET tells the story of an English woman's romance with an American writer set against the background of a crumbling Germany at the start of The Third Reich. CABARET features some of the best-known songs in musical theatre, including "Willkommen," "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," "Money" and "Cabaret."
British director Sam Mendes first staged CABARET at the Donmar Warehouse in London to critical acclaim, and sold-out houses, in 1993. For the New York production, Mr. Mendes chose the former Henry Miller Theatre, which was operating as a nightclub, to create the non-traditional performance space that is the infamous Kit Kat Klub. The treatre was re-configured with a combination of cabaret-type seating as well as traditional theatre seating. The production eventually transferred to the notorious Studio 54, with a multi-million dollar custom redesigned theatre space.
In addition to winning eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, the original production of CABARET also received the New York Drama Critics' Award, the Outer Critics"Circle Award, the Variety Poll of New York Critics, and London's Evening Standard Award and Plays and Players Award.
CABARET is based on the true-life observations of Christopher Isherwood who wrote "The Berlin Stories" about his experiences in Berlin between 1929 and 1932.
Playwright Joe Masteroff had the idea of developing the story into a musical and brought it to the attention of Harold Price, who contacted the songwriters, John Kander and Fred Ebb.
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ANDREA MCARDLE (Sally Bowles) - reprises the role of Sally Bowles, having starred in Cabaret in the National and International Tours. She is best known for originating the title role in Annie in 1977, for which she received a Tony Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical, marking her the youngest nominee in Tony history at the time. Broadway credits: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Belle); State Fair (Margy Frake); Les Miserablés (Fantine); Starlight Express (Ashley). Other credits: Jerry’s Girls, National Tour. TV: “Rainbow” (Judy Garland), Nielson rated Top 15 for the week; “Annie” (Star-to-Be); “Divas on Broadway;” “Andrea McArdle on Broadway;” “All My Children;” “Dance Fever;” “Doug Henning Special;” “Broadway Plays Washington;” “Annie Christmas Special;” “Search for Tomorrow” (Wendy Wilkins). Recordings: Andrea McArdle on Broadway; Andrea McArdle’s Family Christmas: A Holiday Celebration; Annie (Original Broadway Cast Recording); Jerry’s Girls (Original Cast Recording). Ms. McArdle is married to composer Edd Kalehoff with whom she has one daughter, Alexis.
MICHAEL BROWN (Bobby, Kit Kat Boy, Banjo) is so excited to join this wonderful cast and crew! Currently, he resides in Pennsylvania, where he teaches third grade. National Tour: Cabaret (Emcee, Bobby). Los Angeles: Jesus’ Kid Brother, Hudson Mainstage. Regional: Seussical, Fulton Opera House; Winesburg, Ohio, Arden Theater; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Oklahoma Shakespeare Festival; The Music Man, Prather Family Theaters; Noah, Behold the Lamb, Sight and Sound Theaters; Proof, Langhorne Players; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Joseph), Footloose (Ren McCormack), Godspell (Jesus), The Fantasticks (Matt), Bucks County Playhouse. Thanks B.T.! Love to Mom, Dad, Steve and Kristen!
WIL DARCANGELO (Victor, Kit Kat Boy) occasionally still treads the boards as an Equity actor, now his main artistic outlet is his recording and concert career. Credits include: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Joseph); A Christmas Carol (Bob Cratchit); Cabaret (Bobby). Recently, he appeared as both the Villian and the Hero in a Vaudeville melodrama that capped off his second season as Artistic Director of the Rollstone Performing Arts Series in his hometown of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He is half-way complete work on his original music debut album One Wing, schedule for release in May 2007. www.WilDarcangelo.com
ALISON EWING (Lulu, Kit Kat Girl) is thrilled return to Cabaret, having performed on Broadway and the First National Tour (Lulu/Sally Bowles). Credits: Harold & Maude, The Musical (Sunshine), Into The Woods (The Baker’s Wife), Theatreworks; The Last Five Years (Cathy), Baby, Proof, Honour (Pam), Starting Here, Starting Now, Playhouse West; 8-Track, Theatre on San Pedro Square; Beggar's Holiday, Marin Theatre Company. When she’s not on stage, you can hear Alison co-hosting XM Radio’s Life, Love, and Health. Voice-overs: X-Box’s The Godfather, Macy’s, Grand Mariner, E-Bay, Albertson’s and Microsoft. Alison thanks her family for their support and Turbo for coming out to see this one!
STEVE GAGLIASTRO (Hans, Rudy, Kit Kat Boy) is excited to be making his Ogunquit Playhouse debut. He is also pleased to be returning to the cast of Cabaret, having played Hans/Rudy on the Asian National Tour and in the United State Regional Premiere at the Foothills Theatre. Credits include: Kong's Night Out, Lyric Stage; Evita, Miss Saigon, Titanic, A Christmas Carol, all at the Foothills Theatre; Jerry Finnegan’s Sister, First Night, both at the Majestic Theatre; Pippin, Turtle Lane. Steve is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a B.A.in Music/Music Education.
RUSSELL GARRETT (Ernst Ludwig) returns to Ogunquit having directed and choreographed Beehive. He performed here in the 1990 production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Caleb). Broadway/National Tours: The Scarlet Pimpernel; Show Boat; 42nd Street; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; A Chorus Line. Russell created the role of Miss Texas in the Off-Broadway hit Pageant. Favorite credits include: The Music Man (Harold Hill); Anything Goes (Sir Evelyn Oakleigh); The It Girl (Monty), written and directed by B.T. McNichol; Bent (Horst); the one-man play Another American. Russell is a director and choreographer as well as the current Artistic Director at the Foothills Theatre in Worcester, Massachusetts.
MATT JONES (Max, Hermann, Custom Official, Kit Kat Boy) is pleased to make his debut performance at the Ogunquit Playhouse. Credits: Cabaret (Max), Gypsy (Angie/Pastey), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (LeFou), Annie (Rooster), Damn Yankees (Rocky), Foothills Theatre; Titanic (Harold Bride), Bucks County Playhouse; Olympus on My Mind (Tom), Barksdale Theatre; A Christmas Carol (Young Scrooge), National Tour. Thanks to BT and Brad for the opportunity to play Max once again!
ANDREA CHRISTINE LEIGH (Texas, Gorilla, Kit Kat Girl, Clarinet) is pleased to return to Cabaret once again having performed in the show in the National Tour, at the Westchester Broadway Theatre and at the Foothills Theatre. National Tours: Oklahoma!; The Phantom of the Opera; Brigadoon. She has danced professionally with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Buffalo City Ballet, Parsons Dance Company for Times Square 2000 and recently for the Telemundo television network at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Much love and thanks to my amazing friends, family and, especially, Tony and Daniel for all their love and support.
PENNY AYN MAAS (Fritzie, Fraulein Kost, Kit Kat Girl) is honored to make her Ogunquit Playhouse debut with the role she performed on Broadway and at the Westchester Broadway Theatre. During her five years with the Broadway company of Cabaret, she played Texas, several instruments and all other Kit Kat girls at least twice. Broadway: Crazy for You; Damn Yankees starring Jerry Lewis. For several years Penny performed in and often choreographed Swingtime Canteen (Lilly McBain) at regional theatres including Charlotte Repertory Theatre, The Asolo and Fullerton Civic Light Opera. Recordings: Swingtime Canteen. A graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, Penny aspires to hula dance.
JON PETERSON (Emcee) just finished an Off-Broadway run of George M. Cohan Tonight! At The Irish Repertory Theatre (2006 Drama Desk Award Nominee, Best Solo Performance, 2006 Drama League Honoree). Broadway: Cabaret (Emcee). National Tours & Regional: Cabaret (Emcee), National Broadway Theatre Award Best Actor in a Musical Nominee; A Chorus Line (Paul), The Muny; Have a Heart (Henry); The George M. Cohan Revue (George), Bistro Award Best Performer in a Revue. West End & UK Credits: The Sound of Music (Rolf) with Petula Clark; A Chorus Line (Paul); Dames at Sea (Lucky); She Loves Me (Bus Boy); Y (Revue); CATS (Skimbleshanks, Mistofolees); On Your Toes, Blitz (Georgie). Film: Anna Ballerina, Mail Order Wife, Surviving Picasso, Chish ‘N’ Fips. TV: “The Bill,” “Inmates,” “Out on Thursday.” Cabaret and concert appearances with Ruthie Henshall, Michael Ball, Bonnie Langford, Stephen Brinberg, Chita Rivera, Comes Love, Skidoo!. Albums: The Johnny Mercer Jamboree, Skidoo!, George M. Cohan Tonight!.
SCOTT ROBERSTON (Herr Schultz) recreates the role he played on Broadway in the long running revival Cabaret, Studio 54. Broadway: Damn Yankees opposite Jerry Lewis; The Boys from Syracuse; Grease; The Pajama Game. Off-Broadway: Hello Muddah; Singapore; She Loves Me; It’s Only a Play. Regional: Annie Warbucks, The Kennedy Center; The Falsettos; All in the Timing; The Foreigner; Disney’s Beauty and the Beast; Harmony. Mr. Robertson just completed filming Tenderness with Russell Crowe. Film/TV: In & Out, Heartbreak Hospital, Zelig, “Law & Order: Trail by Jury,” “Spin City,” “Third Watch.” Other credits: Bucknaked: Manbites Dog Theatre. Recordings: Just One More Song (cdbaby.com).
STACEY SIPOWICZ (Frenchie, Kit Kat Girl, Trumpet) Broadway: Cabaret (Rosie, Lulu, Frenchie, Texas & Helga). Tours: Cabaret, First National Tour; Fame, European. Regional: Cabaret (Sally Bowles u/s & perf.), Great American Songbook. Other favorites: A Wonderful Life, Actors' Fund Concert; tap dancing with Sir Elton John in Carnegie Hall & swinging on the trapeze with the Baby Janes in NYC. Originally from the Boston area where she danced with Impulse Dance Company (Adrienne Hawkins, Artistic Director) & the Debi Hanley Dancers of Wilmington, MA! BFA in Dance from UMASS Amherst. AEA member. Love and thanks to my husband, family and friends for their continuous support!
LUCY SORLUCCO (Fraulein Schneider) is a specialist in contemporary music, having created over 50 roles by composers Britten, Colgrass, Weisgall, Peaslee, Rodgers and Rorem. Credits: The King & I(Lady Thiang), Theatre by the Sea; Ken Hill’s The Phantom of the Opera (Madame Giry), National Tour; Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider), National Tour, Asian Tour, Foothills Theatre, Westchester Broadway Theatre; Miracle on 34th Street (Dr. Pierce), Westchester Broadway Theatre; Fe-Mail with Tovah Feldshuh, La Mama, e.t.c.; Jefferson Slept Here, Primary Stages; Blessings of the Day, Dramatists Guild. Lucy is thrilled to be working with BT again and this distinguished cast. Love and gratitude always to her mother, Mafalda and sons, Stuart and Geoffrey!
ELIZABETH SPINOLA (Rosie, Kit Kat Girl, Violin) is thrilled to return to the Kit Kat Club once again, in her Ogunquit Playhouse debut, after touring with Cabaret. She resides in Washington, D.C. where her credits include: Cyrano, The Shakespeare Theatre; Mack & Mabel, Signature Theatre; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Toby’s. As a violinist, Elizabeth has performed in orchestral pits for The Last Five Years at Metro Stage and Moscow at The Actors’ Theatre of Washington. Love and thanks to friends, family and Jose.
KENDRA STILLWELL (Helga, Kit Kat Girl, Clarinet) is thrilled to once again be performing at the Kit Kat Klub. Kendra has performed in Cabaret as Texas, Lulu and Helga in three regional productions, two national tours and, most recently, in the South Korean and Japanese International Tours. She holds a BFA in Dance from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Kendra works as a freelance makeup artist and restaurant manager in New York City. Much love and thanks to family and friends for their unconditional support.
JEFF TALBOT (Clifford Bradshaw) - Broadway: Sly Fox and Fortune’s Fool; Off-Broadway: Home of the Brave. Recent: Caraboo, Princess of Javasu at Goodspeed and The Diary of Anne Frank at Paper Mill Playhouse, The Odd Couple (Felix) and The Rainmaker (File). Regional: numerous, including Yale Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Syracuse Stage, North Shore Music Theatre, River Rep and Hudson Stage Company. Television: “Law & Order”, “Law & Order: SVU”, “Law & Order: CI”, “One Life to Live”, and “As the World Turns”. Jeff has written the plays Critical Moment (with Stephen Kunken), For Nate and Molly and Tender. MFA: Yale School of Drama.
JENNIFER WERNER (Fritzie, Fraulein Kost – week of July 17-22) performed on Broadway and the National Tour of Cabaret. National Tours: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Mrs. Potiphar). New York credits: Sinatra: His Voice, His World, His Way, Radio City Music Hall; Salute to Sondheim, Brooklyn Academy of Music; Radio City Rockette. Commercials: L’oreal; Clairol; Royal Bank of Scotland; Degree Antiperspirant. Choregraphy: Monday Night NFL commercials; “Upfronts;” Cabaret, Austrailian production; Roundabout Theatre’s As Long as We Both Shall Laugh, American Airlines Theatre; A New Brain, Merrily We Roll Along, NYU; Chicago, Theater Barn; Winnie the Pooh and the Perfect Day; Foothills Theatre; Carolina Theatres. Love to Tessa and Thomas.
BRADFORD T. KENNEY (Executive Artistic Director) is thrilled to join such an outstanding staff and Board of Directors in shepherding the Ogunquit Playhouse through one of the most exciting times in the history of both the Playhouse and Ogunquit itself. As the Artistic Director at the Foothills Theatre in Worcester, Massachusetts, he oversaw such productions as: Miss Saigon, Disney's Beauty & the Beast, Cabaret (National Regional Premiere), Dick and Jimmy Van Patten in The Sunshine Boys, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (Regional Premiere) and Ragtime. He is Co-Founder of the Wachusett Theatre Company in Massachusetts which produced: The Sound of Music, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Angela Williams in Aida (Northeast Regional Premiere), Ted Lange in Damn Yankees and Eddie Mekka in Fiddler on the Roof. Mr. Kenney’s productions have been nominated for five Independent Reviewers of New England Awards. In addition to his production credits, Brad was named one of Worcester’s top business and community leaders by the Worcester Business Journal and is listed in Who’s Who. Performance credits include: the title role in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Sorcerer, Salisbury Lyric Opera; Iolanthe (Strephon), Savoyard Light Opera; Carousel (Billy Bigelow); Titanic (Barrett the Stoker); Company (Bobby); Guys and Dolls (Sky Masterson); The King and I (King); Hello, Dolly (Cornelius). He dedicates this time in the theatre to the memory of Ryan Curtis.
KIMBERLY A. STARLING (Associate Artistic Director) arrived in 2001 as the Box Office/Subscription Manager but was so involved with the operations of the Playhouse, she was named the Director of Operations by the end of that year. A native of Rollinsford, New Hampshire, Kim attended Plymouth State College in the White Mountains. She became Box Office Manager at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, New Hampshire which led to a five year stint as the Front of House & Audience Services Manager at the Emerson Majestic Theatre in Boston. Next, Kim returned to her beloved White Mountains as the Managing Director at the North Country Center for the Arts. Missing her family and friends brought her back to the Seacoast. Kim's most important role in life is sister, niece, daughter, granddaughter, cousin and most especially aunt to a crazy clan in Dover, New Hampshire; she enjoys travel to her homeland of Northern Ireland.
BT MCNICHOLL (Director) will direct the European premiere of The Producers in September, followed by Cabaret at the Folies Bergère in Paris in October, after which he will work again on Broadway with Sam Mendes on the new David Hare play The Vertical Hour starring Julianne Moore. In December, he opens A Christmas Story, based on the film, at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. Favorite productions include: Very Good Eddie – Best Musical 2004, Goodspeed Opera House; Camilla – 2002 Kleban Award, Walnut Street Theatre; The Cherry Orchard – Best Production 2003, Dorset Theatre Festival; Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, International tour.. He won the Australian “Tony” award for Cabaret, which he also staged in Amsterdam and Madrid, where it is the longest running play in Spanish history. He wrote the lyrics for the well-received musical The It Girl and is co-writing and directing new theatrical entertainment for Busch Gardens in 2007. McNicholl served on the creative teams of seven Broadway shows, including Sondheim’s Passion and the Nathan Lane revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He is currently a Development Consultant for MGM, for whom he has also created a new version of Some Like It Hot.
ROBERT V. THURBER (Co-Director) is very happy to be back at the Cabaret well with BT McNicholl and Susan Taylor, having worked on this production variously as Stage Manager (1st National Tour), Production Consultant (Madrid), and Assistant Director (2nd National Tour). He’s also happy to be back at Ogunquit Playhouse, where he worked in 1999 as the advance stage manager for their production of Deathtrap. He can most often be found stage managing. NYC credits include 700 SUNDAYS (Asistant Stage Manager), Dinah Was, The Ratpack Is Back!, Now Hear This!, Deep Down, Avow, Goodwill, andA Good Swift Kick (all as PSM). National Tours include the afore-mentioned Cabaret as well as Les Misérables (also as 1st ASM). Regional PSM credits include Goodspeed Opera’s premieres of Actor, Lawyer, Indian Chief and Silver Dollar, Dennis DeYoung's The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Tennessee Repertory Theatre, and various shows at Portland Stage Company, Arizona Theatre Company, and Paper Mill Playhouse.
SUSAN TAYLOR (Choreographer) is thrilled to work on her seventh production of Cabaret with BT. Currently there areproductions running in Amsterdam, Madrid and soon in Paris. She performed in the production of Cabaret on Broadway as well as the first National Tour. On Broadway she also performed in Victor/Victoria with Julie Andrews and Sideshow, which she also can be heard on the cast album of. In Vienna she performed in Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Marta/Spiderwoman) – cast album, CATS, Elizabeth, Kiss Me, Kate, Grease (Cha-Cha) – cast album, Sweet Charity (Charity), Freudiana, West Side Story as well as many TV shows and commercials. She starred opposite Jerry Lewis in Damn Yankees (Lola) on the National Tour as well as the West End in London. Regionaly she performed at The Radio City Music Hall in New York City and a production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She performed as a principal dancer with the Oakland Ballet Company for eleven years and was privledged to work with Eugene Loring and Agnes DeMille, to name of course just a few. She is married to Corey Brill, has a beautiful daughter named Chloe and lives in Southern California.
BRUCE BARNES (Musical Director) is delighted to return to the Ogunquit Playhouse where he served as Musical Director for Nunsense II, starring Pat Carroll. Recently, he was the Musical Director of Damn Yankees at North Shore Music Theatre. Broadway: Peter Pan (Conductor) with Cathy Rigby; The Roundabout Theatre’s Cabaret (Assistant Conductor),Studio 54. Credits include: West Side Story, European & Japanese Tour; Lincoln Center’s Meet the Artist Series, International Tours. National Tours: Kiss Me, Kate; Cabaret; Peter Pan; CATS. As a pianist, Bruce has accompanied a range of artists from Eartha Kitt to Beverly Sills.
ROBERT LEVINSTEIN (Production Stage Manager) Robert is very happy to return to his Maine extended family at the Playhouse for his 5th season. Broadway: Waiting in the Wings (with the legendary Lauren Bacall), Voices in the Dark, Parade (Lincoln Center). Off-Broadway: Clue: The Musical. Pre-Broadway Workshop: The Jazz Singer. National Tour: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Regional Tours: AIDA, Fame. Regional: Resident PSM for North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, MA 2000/2001 Seasons. Resident PSM for the Ogunquit Playhouse 2003/2006 seasons which included Always...Patsy Cline with the lovely Sally Struthers. This winter, Robert will be the PSM for the National Tour of Camelot starring Michael York. Robert is a proud member of Actors Equity Association. All my love to Alan for all his years of love and support.
RICHARD ELLIS (Scenic Designer) NYC credits: Yardbird, Gardens of Frau Hess, Home of the Brave, Fifth of July, Cradle Song, The Radio City Music Hall. Stock: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, CATS,Evita, Chicago, Aida, Smokey Joe’s Café, Footloose, Always...Patsy Cline. Industrials/Theme Park: American Brands, Showtime, Pizza Hut, Dollywood, Opryland, Silver Dollar City. Scenery for Alley Theatre, American Theatre Company, Stages St. Louis, Maine State Music Theatre, Stamford Theatre Works, Westport Playhouse, Tennessee Repertory, Helen Hayes Theatre, Downtown Cabaret, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Playhouse on the Square. Graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Design Program and currently on faculty at the Theatre Program at Lehman College.
WILLIAM IVY LONG (Costume Designer) current Broadway: Hairspray (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards); The Producers (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards); Chicago. Other credits include Cabaret; Grey Gardens; The Caine Mutiny Court Marshall; Sweet Charity; A Streetcar Named Desire; La Cage aux Folles; The Frogs; Little Shop of Horrors; The Boy from Oz; Contact; Big; The Music Man; Annie Get Your Gun; Swing; Steel Pier; Smokey Joe’s Café; Crazy for You (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards); Guys and Dolls; A Christmas Carol; Six Degrees of Separation; Assassins; Lend Me a Tenor; Nine (Tony, Drama Desk, Maharam Awards).
RICHARD LATTA (Lighting Designer) has worked in NYC, Ogunquit and elsewhere for the past twenty-some years, designing Off-Broadway, regional, and industrials. Last season: Nunsensations Tour (Stoneham Theatre, Drury Lane Water Tower Place and Drury Lane Oakbrook and upcoming productions in Westchester, San Francisco and a TV special); The Lost Boy (Helen Hayes and Queens Theatre.) As an associate to Projection Designer Elaine McCarthy: Mazeppa (Metropolitan Opera) & Thurgood starring James Earl Jones (Westport) At American Ballet Theatre, Mr. Latta has been a teaching professional for their schools program since 2002. Thanks to Brad for the opportunity to continue this amazing journey at the Playhouse!
ED THURBER (Sound Designer) owns and operates E.M.T. Studios, specializing in theatrical sound effects and voice recordings for voice-overs, announcements and TV & radio commercials. He was employed for the past four seasons at the Foothills Theatre in Worcester as the Associate Technical Director, Sound Operator and Engineer. Ed owned and operated Marlboro Theatrical Technology, a full service theatrical supplies company. He founded “Total Theatre Workshop,” which, for five years was a successful workshop for aspiring actors and theatrical technicians. Ed and his wife Yvonne are devoted to theatre and are looking forward to joining the Ogunquit Playhouse this summer. “Break-A-Leg.”
STEVEN ESPACH (Advance Stage Manager) is a proud to be a member of Actors’ Equity Association, this is his first foray at the Ogunquit Playhouse. As the Production Stage Manager at the Foothills Theatrein Worcester, he has stage managed over 40 productions in the past five years. One of those productions in Spring 2004, provided Mr. Espach the opportunity to be the first stage manager in the United States, outside of Broadway and two National Tours, to work on the Sam Mendes/Rob Marshall production of Cabaret along side director BT McNicholl. Inpast summers Mr. Espach has been a Stage Manager at the New Century Theatre in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he will return after Cabaret.
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The scene is a sleazy nightclub in Berlin as the 20s are drawing to a close. Cliff Bradshaw, a young American writer, and Ernst Ludwig, a German, strike up a friendship on a train. Ernst gives Cliff an address in Berlin where he will find a room. Cliff takes this advice and Fraulein Schneider, a vivacious sixty-year old, lets him have a room very cheaply.
Cliff, at the Kit Kat Club, meets an English girl, Sally Bowles, who is working there as a singer and hostess. Next day, as Cliff is giving Ernst an English lesson, Sally arrives with all her luggage and moves in.
Ernst comes to ask Cliff to collect something for him from Paris; he will pay well for the service. Cliff knows that this will involve smuggling currency, but agrees to go. Ernst's fee will be useful now that Cliff and Sally are to be married. Fraulein Schneider and her admirer, a Jewish greengrocer named Herr Schultz, also decide to become engaged and a celebration party is held in Her Schultz shop. In the middle of the festivities Ernst arrives wearing a Nazi armband. Cliff realises that his Paris errand was on behalf of the Nazi party and refuses Ernst's payment, but Sally accepts it.
At Cliff's flat Sally gets ready to go back to work at the Kit Kat Klub. Cliff determines that they will leave for America but that evening he calls at the Klub and finds Sally there. He is furious, and when Ernst approaches him to perform another errand Cliff knocks him down. Sally sings her big number "Come to the Cabaret". Next morning Cliff is alone, packing to go home. Schultz comes into say he is moving to another part of Berlin. Sally arrives looking ill and without her fur coat; she has sold it to a doctor who has performed an abortion to get rid of her baby. She tells Cliff she is not going to America with him. Leaving Berlin on the train, Cliff recalls the events of his life there. The Master of Ceremonies reminds the audience that he promised that they would forget their troubles.
- From The Guide to Musical Theatre