THEATER | SANTA FE
Life is a ‘C’ at the Santa Fe Playhouse
Next in the theater group’s ‘Power Plays’ opens Thursday, July 2
The Santa Fe Playhouse would like to welcome you to the “Cabaret,” the next production in its “Power Plays” season, opening Thursday, July 2.
“The show is a lot about power between people and who in the room has power,” Jeffrey Barba, who plays the Emcee, said. “Who is disempowered? In what ways is power being misused?”
Barba said the musical’s focus on agency and survival while working through people’s choices in unthinkable circumstances puts “Cabaret” within the theme.
“I think it shows the ways in which misuse of power infiltrates a person’s daily life, their relationship with other people, and their relationship with themselves,” Barba said.
Show choreographer Laura Orozco Garrett, who also plays Lulu, said “Cabaret” is a cautionary tale about the rise of fascism and unchecked sources of power.
“There are these fun, flashy numbers in the beginning that really pull you in and excite you,” Garrett said, “and if you are not paying attention, you don’t notice the rise of fascism that is happening in the background, and so that’s the underlying story.”
Working as both an actor and choreographer gave Garrett different ways to interact with the story, and said it was emotional connecting with the script.
Garrett said she appreciated how director Anna Hogan had the cast examine the script and overall story to see where the characters are coming from and how they are feeling.
When it came to the choreography, Garrett wanted the numbers to feel different from other renditions of the play, including the 1972 movie adaptation. She wanted to focus on how movement can push the story forward and reveal more about what the characters are going through.
One song that stood out for her in making this difference was “Money.”
“A lot of the lyrics (in) ‘Money’ and the sounds in it are really dark,” Barba said, “and it’s not always done in that way. I have such a vivid image of Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, you know, shimmying as they’re singing about if you haven’t any coal in the stove.”
“Choreographically, I really tried to nod to more of the desperation and greed, and how the greed of other people puts people into positions of desperation,” Garrett said.
“That’s been a really fun number for me to dig into.”
Barba said “Cabaret” is one of his favorite musicals and noted that it was created by members of the queer community. The character he plays, the Emcee, was originated on Broadway by Joel Grey, who is a Jewish gay man.
He said “Cabaret” taught him what it meant to live in a city, to be gay, what musical theater is, and that fascism was really bad.
“Whatever freedom I am drawn to in this show and that thrills me is flattened, killed (and) put at risk by fascist ideas and the misuse of power,” he said.
“That tension in the show is so delicious and is so like painful and beautiful all at once,” Barba said.
Elizabeth Secor is an arts fellow for the ϼ. You can reach her at esecor@abqjournal.com.