Cabaret at the Guthrie

There is a point in the arc of a artistic work when it crosses the zenith of cultural relevance from iconic to parody and ultimately into cliche.  Take the story of a seedy nightclub located in the outskirts of a major city.  It’s the late 1930s and fascism is on the rise, but it’s just whispers for now.  As things take a turn for the worse, a couple of star-crossed lovers contemplate their destiny before parting ways, the woman going back to her old lover and the man setting off to find his own way out of trouble.  It’s the story of Cabaret, but it’s also the story of Casablanca.  One of these remains an immutable, incomparable masterpiece that reached a level of perfection it can’t possibly be improved upon, the other is running now at the Guthrie.

With an iconic musical like Cabaret, the artistic director has two choices: tell the story without embellishment, or push boundaries to fit the story into a parallel narrative that resonates in the moment.  Guthrie artistic director Joseph Haj took the safe path.  There’s an irony to the fact that a story about half-dressed dancers writhing provocatively and Nazi sympathizers could be considered tame, but this isn’t the 1960s.  Nothing about this production of Cabaret felt risky or edgy or groundbreaking; instead, it just felt uninspired.  Forty years after it debuted, crowds of families will gather on Sunday to watch Pride floats with people strutting down Nicollet Avenue in outfits more risque than the dancers’ costumes, the nation witnessed its first authoritarian-style military parade in Washington, D.C. mere weeks ago, and bands of masked government agents are roaming the streets, abducting people, and rendering them to foreign prisons in the dark of night.  The distance between the events of the play and reality has never felt closer, muting whatever visceral impact the show may have had.

There isn’t anything wrong with the show, per se.  The actors were talented, the singing was phenomenal, and the live, on-stage band kept the energy up to the very end.  In many ways, Cabaret is an indictment of the very audience watching it play out.  The dancers and other characters are all trying to find a way to distract themselves from the world around them, deluding themselves into believing the good times will never end.  And there we all were, watching a show as though everything outside was perfectly normal.  “Life is a cabaret, old chum.  Life is a cabaret!”

Cabaret runs from now through August 24, 2025 at The Guthrie in Minneapolis.  Make sure to arrive early so you have time to visit the pop-up Kit Kat Club for specialty cocktails and snacks before the show!