Theatre Tulsa: "Cabaret"
Theatre Tulsa Studios
June 22, 2025
I’ve never seen a live production of Cabaret, yet it is one of the musicals universally adored by theatre nerds. A college assignment brought the 1972 film adaptation starring Liza Minnelli and Joel Gray to my attention, but if I’m honest, all I remember from that viewing is a claustrophobic boarding room and a lot of weird song and dance numbers at a nightclub. So, knowing it was a highly regarded piece of art, it’s been on my list to catch.
The events in Cabaret derive from the award-winning book Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. The semi-autobiographical account follows Cliff Bradshaw, an American writer who travels to Berlin to work on his next novel. He quickly becomes engrossed in the hedonistic, vibrant world of the Kit Kat Klub and its star performer, Sally Bowles. The book is known for its striking portrayal of the final days of Weimar-era Berlin before the Nazi party took power. The musical has had several revivals since its Tony Award-winning debut in 1966. The most recent, billed as Cabaret at the Kit Kat Klub, reimagines the play in a more immersive way, with audience members sitting around all sides of the stage, which is how Theatre Tulsa stages their version—every performance of which sold out before opening night even arrived.
It’s remarkable how some black paint, LED lights, and a sneaky smoke machine can transform a former Family Dollar into a nightclub, even at 2:00 in the afternoon when I saw the show. Compared to some of Theatre Tulsa’s more recent sets, this one was minimal. A raised platform set the performers a few inches above the ground. Some chairs, the occasional side table and an askew frame adorned with lights made for a versatile backdrop that allowed the action on stage to shift from the Kit Kat Klub to various locations outside it. A four-piece band in the back expertly delivered the score and the audience rounded the three other sides of the stage.
For an extra $10, you could sit at a bistro table up front, but I opted for the cheaper general admission ticket. After carefully selecting my seat, I worried my view would be obstructed. But when Theatre Tulsa says this is an immersive experience, they aren’t kidding. While a lot of the main actions took place on the stage, the actors moved freely amongst the crowd. Brief transitional scenes happened within the audience. Props and empty chairs, brought onto the stage during certain scenes, were strategically placed on and around the bistro tables. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to see everything and alarmed when the major fistfight at the peak of the musical happened literally right in front of me. My momentary panic aside, it’s hard to imagine watching Cabaret in a more traditional theater. When staged like this, it makes the audience feel like they are a part of the story, and this meta element becomes a key component in the production’s power.
A sleepy Sunday matinee after a long tech week did not deter this energetic cast, even with a few dropped lines that halted the pace at one point in Act One. The Kit Kat Girls (the female ensemble comprising Madison Green, Aubree Harper, L’aria Krautter, Prudence Lloyd, Haley Sandford, Sofia Thornblad, and Manda Yarberry) brought a sexy energy that slapped a goofy smile on my face and had me giggling throughout the opening number. Liz Masters and Bill Hader were absolutely charming as Fräulein Schneider, the world-weary landlady of the Berlin boarding house where Cliff resides, and Herr Schultz, the Jewish fruit vendor who also lives there. Kara Young-Paden’s Sally Bowles bubbled across the stage, spouting aspirations, desires, a quick joke or deflective comment, diffusing the tension and brightening the room with natural ease; you see how Cliff becomes so taken with her. As playful as he was haunting, Joshua Terrones commanded the room as Emcee, the host for the Kit Kat Klub and the musical as a whole.