Even constrained by the limitations of a rented set, master director Michael Matthews and an absolutely superb cast deliver a 5-Star Theatricals Cabaret resplendent with Matthews’ unique brand of brilliance.

As any musical theater aficionado will tell you, Cabaret (book by Joe Masteroff based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories and John Van Druten’s I Am A Camera) centers on a visiting American writer’s love affair with an expatriate English nightclub entertainer as Nazism takes its hold in pre-WWII Germany under the ever observant eye of the club’s ubiquitous Emcee (Sean Samuels).

It’s on a Berlin-bound train that Isherwood alter-ego Clifford Bradshaw (Connor Bullock) makes the acquaintance of Ernst Ludwig (Jacob Wilson), the outgoing Berliner who will introduce him to lodgings run by seen-it-all Fräulein Schneider (Valerie Perri) and, more importantly, to Berlin’s pansexual nightlife.

Kit Kat Club star Sally Bowles (Emily Goglia) quickly finds herself taken by the handsome, sexually fluid American, and before you know it, the two expats have become live-in lovers.

Unfortunately for the young couple, the deeper Sally and Cliff’s intimate coupling gets, the deeper grows Germany’s infatuation with Hitler, prompting Cliff to have second thoughts about earning extra Deutschemarks as an amateur courier for Ernst.

Fräulein Schneider too begins to think twice about marrying her Jewish suitor, greengrocer Herr Schultz (Ron Orbach), who had previously won her heart with a pineapple, and Berlin, which had seemed to Cliff such a perfect antidote to staid old England, now shows itself to be a considerably more dangerous place to call home-away-from-home.

When reviewing Matthews’ transcendent Celebration Theatre Cabaret at the 49-seat Lex Theatre back in 2018, the first thing I mentioned was the absolutely stunning scenic design Stephen Gifford had created specifically for that uber-intimate staging, and the myriad ways it complemented and heightened Matthews’ vision for the production.

Having to stage a production on rented sets doesn’t do a director any favors, but thankfully for audiences, the always inspired and inspiring Matthews has taken this drawback as a challenge to meet and conquer.

The uncredited design’s more realistic set pieces remind us that what we’re seeing actually happened to Christopher Isherwood in 1930s Berlin while the superimposing of surreal imagery upon them (as when the Emcee materializes inside Cliff’s flat and we are transported from reality to the fantasyland that is the Kit Kat Klub, or when the Emcee watches over Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz’s “It Couldn’t Please Me More”) reminds us that we’re in the presence of a director who doesn’t do anything by the numbers.

Matthews’ Cabaret oozes sensuality at every turn while studiously avoiding the bruised skin and ripped fishnet stockings that became the norm for far too long following Sam Mendes’s 2,377-performance 1998 Broadway revival, opting instead for the glitzy allure of Berlin nightlife circa 1930, lit with plentiful panache by Brandon Baruch.

Casting the sensational Sean Samuels as the Emcee reminds us that Berlin was not only a haven for queer Germans but for performers of color escaping the racism of their homelands, and Samuels is as sexy and charismatic as he is sensual and seductive in an absolutely stunning star turn.

Goglia sings and acts the living daylights out of Sally, her rendition of the musical’s title song taking us from an emotionally drained Sally just going through the motions to a woman gone off the rails to devastating effect.

Bullock digs deep into Cliff’s conflicted emotions, and by giving the Isherwood stand-in the opening stanzas of the climactic “Willkommen,” Matthews gives a rising L.A. stage star his own chance to devastate.

Perri’s gritty, resilient realist of a Fräulein Schneider makes the defiant “What Would You Do?” Perri’s own bit of brilliance while Ron Orbach gives Herr Schultz more than enough folksy charm to conquer Fräulein Schneider’s hardened heart.

Wilson’s oilily charming Ernst and Vigil’s unapologetically frisky Fräulein Kost do terrific supporting work, Vigil doubling as Kit Kat Kutie Friztie alongside fellow Kit Kat sex kittens Tatiana Monique Alvarez (Rosie), Sydelle Aaliyah Bhalla (LuLu), Angeline Mirenda (Frenchie), Amy Smith (Texas), and Rianny Vasquez (Helga) plus the equally sexy Christian Tyler Dorey, Christopher Ho, Donovan Mendelovitz, and Tarrick Walker as Kit Kat Boys Herman, Bobby, Hans, and Victor.

Clarice Ordaz’s choreography is as pizzazzy as it is original, from a Rockettes-ready “Kick Line” to an “I Don’t Care Much” whose dancers execute their seductive moves while lying supine on the stage floor (and holding candles to boot).

Music director Gregory Nabours not only elicits the best from his singing actors but conducts the production’s live band to perfection.

Jonathan A. Burke’s crystal-clear sound design, Luis Martinez’s terrific hair and makeup design, Alex Choate’s period props, and Chris Steele and Gail Garon’s costumes complete Cabaret’s production design in a 5-Star revival that benefits enormously from being staged in the more intimate Scherr Forum.

Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richier Ferris, CSA. Madison Miyuki Sprague understudies Sally and Nick Tubbs understudies Herr Schultz. Child performer Henry Witcher’s recorded voice is heard singing “Tomorrow Belongs To Me.”

Cameron J. Tucker is production stage manager and Olivia Riddle is assistant stage manager. Jack Allaway is technical director. David Elzer is publicist.

Few Broadway musicals have proven as much of a director’s showcase as Cabaret, and this mesmerizing midsized revival is no exception. Even rented sets can’t stop Michael Matthews from making this a must-see 5-Star Theatricals 2025 season opener for Cabaret fanatics and first-timers alike.

5-Star Theatricals, 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Thousand Oaks. Through March 30. Thursdays & Fridays at 7:30, Saturdays at 1:00 and 7:30, and Sundays at 1:00.
www.5startheatricals.com

–Steven Stanley
March 14, 2025
Photos: Veronica Slavin Photography

Tags: 5-Star Theatricals, Fred Ebb, Joe Masteroff, John Kander, Ventura County Theater Review