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Against the backdrop of the current American presidential campaign, one of Sally Bowles' hedonistic lines in "Cabaret" lands with chilling irony: "That's just politics, and what does that have to do with us?"
In Utah Repertory Theatre's new production of "Cabaret," Anne Louise Brings brings a lifetime of being invested in the music to her portrayal of the complicated, messy Sally Bowles.
That's thanks to her mother, a classically trained actor-turned-junior-high-drama-teacher. "I've known about Sally my whole life," Brings says. " 'Cabaret' was a big deal in our family," and one of the first movies the young girl saw in a theater.
"Who doesn't want to play Sally?" Brings says. "She's an iconic and quintessential female role, for sure, but one of the things I really enjoy is how layered she is. She's a little shallow, a little whimsical, and underneath that I think she's a survivor and very smart."
The actor loves performing "Maybe This Time," which she terms as an internal monologue that the audience gets to eavesdrop on. "The music starts at Point A and ends at Point Z within 3 minutes," she says. "That's pretty awesome, and it's a huge challenge."
The beloved 1966 Broadway musical's tentpole role is often overshadowed by the brassy talent of Liza Minnelli's outsized signature turn in the 1972 film adaptation.
Finding the layers in Sally is just one of the elements that should help this local production of "Cabaret" seem freshly relevant, if not prescient. In addition, the story will unfold against the current backdrop of sexual politics, as Teresa Sanderson is playing the cabaret's Emcee, the character made iconic through Broadway performances of Joel Grey and Alan Cummings.
"Wrapping your head around that character is so interesting," says director L.L. West. "The sexuality is a little bit fluid."
As Sanderson started working to create the character, the actor was buoyed by her research about women throughout history who dressed as men to survive dangerous times and places. To label Sanderson's Emcee transgender is too simple: The actor says she is a woman playing a man who is playing a woman.
No matter the gender, the character functions as an everyman as history's march accelerates. "As the second act happens, I think that whole façade of him falls apart," Sanderson says.
The acclaimed musical classic, with music and lyrics by the legendary team of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb, was based on John Van Druten's 1951 play "I Am a Camera," itself adapted from Christopher Isherwood's 1939 novel "Goodbye to Berlin." A headline-making 2014 Broadway revival focused new attention on the musical.
The story is set in Berlin's seedy Kit Kat Klub in 1931 and revolves around a sexually confused young American writer, Cliff Bradshaw (Johnny Hebda), who is drawn into an intense entanglement with Brings' Sally Bowles. Another weave of the story involves the doomed romance between Fraulein Schneider (Jayne Luke), a German boarding-house landlady, and her suitor, Herr Schultz (Michael Nielsen), a Jewish fruit seller.
Sanderson, an Ogden native, has offered extraordinary performances in a run of iconic roles in recent local productions, including the strong-willed stage mom of Dark Horse Company Theatre's 2011 "Gypsy" and an LDS-mother-turned-transgender-man in Plan-B Theatre's 2013 "Eric(a)."
"I love the idea of transformation," says Sanderson about her approach to the Emcee. "He will transform in makeup and costume. From the first look to the second will be completely different."
Having such a strong actor in the role, who just happens to be a woman, offers a contemporary slant to the beloved story, West says. "I don't think people have seen this side of Teresa. I mean they've seen a lot of sides of Teresa, but this is dark and menacing and funny. It's a little scary, and she's fascinating to watch."
Says musical director Anne Puzey: "Teresa's role is out of the ordinary. She's a multidimensional character, rather than just an Emcee at a cabaret club. There's lots going on. At every rehearsal, [Sanderson] is exploring and coming up with something new. I don't know if there will ever be an arrival point with this character."
West hopes the stripped-down black-box staging and cabaret seating will invite the audience to feel as if they are part of the scene. The Kit Kat girls might look different than some theatergoers might expect, while the Kit Kat boys play mostly the role of observers.
The cast praises the outsized talent of Puzey, the musical director who is also playing keyboards as part of the onstage band, as well as the choreography of Ashley Gardner Carlson.
"The way she understand musical composition is beyond genius," says Brings of Puzey, whom she considers a mentor. "She's an architect. She can take apart these gorgeous numbers that everybody knows and find something new in them. She has an innate understanding of how the art of a story works in a song, and how it unfolds the emotional development of the character."
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'Life is a cabaret, ol' chum'
Utah Repertory Theatre presents "Cabaret."
When • Aug. 26-Sept. 11; 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with 2 p.m. Saturday matinees; additional closing matinee on Sunday, Sept. 11, 3 p.m.
Where • Sorenson Unity Center's Black Box Theater, 1383 S. 900 West, Salt Lake City
Tickets • $35 table seating, including "mocktails" and period snacks; $20/$17 for tiered general seating; parties of three should arrive early to be seated together; available at the door or utahrep.org/tickets
Also • The Saturday, Aug. 27, 2 matinee is a "Pay What You May" performance
Content advisory • Adult content