Cabaret: ★★★ BANG

We have seen "Cabaret" before, and we have been in cabarets before, but this is the first time we have seen "Cabaret" in a cabaret. Theatre Rhinoceros is a tiny space to begin with, but transformed into a small nightclub in 1930s Berlin, listening to the timeless songs by Kander and Ebb, we get a chance to feel this music the way it might have sounded then.

John Fisher directs the story we are all familiar with -- young American Clifford Bradshaw, an aspiring novelist, finds himself at the Kit Kat Club in libertine Berlin between World Wars, a time and place where sex in all flavors is as popular as pretzels. He falls for Sally Bowles, a performer who has bounced from job to job and from partner to partner. She, unlike Clifford, is refusing to see the Nazi horror show rising ominously on the horizon, a time when the halcyon world of the Kit Kat Club is certain to be eradicated.

We cheered the ensemble cast, especially since they were forced to climb up and down rickety ladders and attempt dance routines with barely room to kick a leg. Our favorite was Stephanie Fields, who plays Fraulein Schneider, who rents rooms in her home in order to survive, and who will face the most difficult choice of all: Love, or survival.  In "What Would You Do?" Ms. Fields's voice is strong and resonates with us as she sings:

"...With a storm in the wind,

What would you do?

With the clock running down,

What would you do?

Would you pay the price?

What would you do?..."

Rudy Guerrero is brilliant as Emcee, far more threatening than the Joel Gray we have grown accustomed to. Kudos as well to Gabriel A. Ross, with his apples and pineapples, as Herr Schultz. And there is a moment at the end of Act One when, for the first time, several patrons at the Kit Kat are seen wearing red Nazi arm bands. Before this, the show is happy, funny, hopeful. From that moment on, we are brought back to a small theatre in the Castro, where we hope tomorrow still belongs to us. 

RATINGS: ★★★ BANG

The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division grants Three Stars with a Bangle of Praise to Theater Rhinoceros's "Cabaret." The three stars are for the ensemble cast, for Megan Soledad and Brendan Looney as Clifford and Sally, and for Armando Fox's band. The Bangle is for the theatre's great idea to stage this show in such an intimate and innovative setting. Now, that's chutzpah. 

"Cabaret"

Theatre Rhinoceros

4229 18th St., San Francisco

EXTENDED Through Dec. 29

$17.50-$55