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UCR Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production

OPEN TO ALL UCR STUDENTS REGARDLESS OF MAJOR

CABARET
Book by Joe Masteroff, Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Based on the play by John Van Druten and Stories by Christopher Isherwood
DIrector/Choreographer: Sidney Edwards

Daring, provocative, and exuberantly entertaining, this 1966 musical explores the dark and heady life of Bohemian Berlin as Germany slowly yields to the totalitarian regime of the Third Reich. 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
Friday, 5:00-9:00pm
Studio Theatre (ARTS 113)

Callbacks: SEPTEMBER 24, Saturday 10:00am-2:00pm

Meet the Director (Zoom): Sidney Edwards will be holding a “meet the director” session on Tuesday, September 20th from 6:00-7:00pm in Zoom. This is not required, but you are welcome to come say hello and ask questions about the show. If you want to attend the meet-and-greet please email Courtney Pobst, Stage Manager: cpobs001@ucr.edu, for the Zoom link.

Needed: 16 cast members.

Actors should prepare:

  • A one-minute classical monologue or a monologue written with heightened circumstances in mind. Play it REAL, like an interaction you are having in a contemporary play. We want to hear the reality and authentic expression you bring to the table with the material.

  • 16 Bars of a musical theatre song (acapella or you can play a backing track from your phone). Singing from the show is welcomed but not expected.

  • The director hopes to learn something about how you connect your voice to your body. When you are speaking, how are you connected to the way your body moves through that emotional journey? How do you carve your environment when the audience cannot see it? How do you take in the characters living around you?

  • Please bring the monologue and song prepared and memorized. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A PREPARED MONOLOGUE, we can also provide a scene for you to read at the audition. Please request the sides at the time you are requesting the audition time slot and come prepared with the sides.

  • Tips for the audition:

    • Read and listen to the musical before auditioning. Perusal copies of the 1998 libretto can be found in multiple locations online, and all major music services have the New Broadway Cast Recording of CABARET available to stream.

    • Wear clothes you are comfortable and can move in.

    • Being “honest” is preferable to being “theatrically interesting.”

    • If you get a callback, please come dressed in comfortable clothes and closed-toed shoes, ready to move. Be prepared to work with each other and make your scene partners look great – because that makes you look *awesome*!

How to audition:

  • You must sign-up in advance for a five-minute time slot here.

  • Download and fill out the Audition Form here (in either PDF or Word format). Once this form has been filled out and you have signed up for a time slot, email your completed Audition Form and a headshot photo to Courtney Pobst, Stage Manager: cpobs001@ucr.edu.

Please note:

  • Please review the cast schedule here before signing up to audition. You must be fully available for all dates and times listed on this schedule.

  • Cast members will be enrolled in four units of TFDP 170 in the fall quarter under Professor Sidney Edwards.

  • Cast members for some roles will need to be comfortable performing in revealing costuming and/or lingerie.

Character information:

All roles are open to all ethnicities.

Master of Ceremonies (Emcee) Host at the Kit Kat Club-- a gender-nonconforming-presenting exuberant figure; comfortable with being close to the audience; dark, comedic, sinister, vulgar...yet lovable; requires a strong presence that is playful and mysterious. Must act, sing (some in German), move well, and be comfortable with bawdy/suggestive staging/choreography.

Sally Bowles A British cabaret singer at the Kit Kat Club. Quirky and flighty. Struggles with knowing the darkness of the reality of her life and has woeful luck in her relationships with men. Must act, sing, and dance well; comfortable with moments of intimacy and bawdy/suggestive staging/choreography.

Clifford Bradshaw An American novelist and English teacher traveling to Berlin. Through his journey he explores the many facets and complexities of his sexuality, politics, and artistic goals.) Must act and sing well, comfortable with stage movement, light dance, and moments of intimacy.

Ernst Ludwig A friendly and likable German, takes English lessons from Cliff, and smuggles funds for the Nazi party; comfortable with stage movement and light dance (waltz); and sing in German.

Fräulein Schneider A landlady who rents rooms to Cliff, Sally, and several other characters in her large flat. She is alone and is resigned to her place in life, but secretly longs for companionship. She is very critical of some people while looking the other way with others; comfortable with stage movement and light dance (waltz). Must act and sing well; moments of intimacy.

Fräulein Kost A prostitute who rents in Fraulein Schneider's boarding house; larger than life personality, quick witted and sharp tongued; sexual and commanding nature; must act and move well and sing in German.

Herr Schultz A Jewish fruit shop owner who falls in love with Fraulein Schneider; sweet, lovable, and adoring; heartbreakingly naive about the political turmoil in Germany. Must act and sing well; comfortable with moments of intimacy.

The Kit Kat “Girls” & “Boys” These performers are often in salacious situations and costumes. They are an eclectic mix of types and aren’t necessarily a matching unit. It is very important they act, sing, dance/move well and with confidence. They will be part of various scenes in and out of the Club; should be comfortable interacting with the audience and with bawdy/suggestive staging/choreography; also sing in German.

The Kit Kat Girls:
Rosie (non-speaking)
Lulu (non-speaking)
Frenchie (non-speaking, doubles as Gorilla, also non-speaking)
Texas
Fritzie (non-speaking, doubles as Fräulein Kost, who speaks)
Helga

The Kit Kat Boys:
Bobby
Victor
Hans (non-speaking, doubles as Rudy, a sailor, also non-speaking)
Herman (non-speaking, doubles as Customs Official and Max, both speaking)

About the play:

Set in 1929–1930 Berlin during the twilight of the Jazz Age as the Nazis are ascending to power, the musical focuses on the hedonistic nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around American writer Clifford Bradshaw's relations with English cabaret performer Sally Bowles. A subplot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor.

Overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub, and the club itself serves as a metaphor for ominous political developments in late Weimar Germany. The musical depicts Weimar-era Berlin during this chaotic interwar period as a carnival of debauchery and despair inhabited by desperate people who are unaware of the national catastrophe that awaits them. 

INFORMATION: tfdp@ucr.edu
 

 

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