Theater Reviews: Cinderella, Schmutzigen Deutsche Kabarett

GO  SCHMUTZIGEN DEUTSCHE KABARETT This latest, late-night creation from sardonic, surrealist director-choreographer Amanda Marquardt is so straightforward and simple in its concept and execution that it's a wonder no one thought of it before. Take the Kander & Ebb musical classic Cabaret, jettison the treacly and preachy Joe Masteroff book, and stage the results as a brisk and breezy, melodrama-free evening of simulated Weimar nightclub entertainment. The schmutzigen is provided by the indecently flamboyant Luke Wright, who, from opener "Willkommen" through his solo on "I Don't Care Much" to the show's finale, vamps his way through an endless string of double entendres to stake a creditable claim to the role of MC that made Broadway stars of Joel Grey and Alan Cumming. Marquardt herself appears as Sally Bowles (replete with Liza-like false eyelashes), displaying an appealing set of pipes on such signature numbers as "Don't Tell Mama," "Cabaret" and "Mein Herr." Wright returns (wearing little more than an uncredited but campy pair of tuxedo briefs), with chorines Skye Noel (also credited as dance captain and co-choreographer) and Carmen Faulkner, as the trio strut their comic stuff in "Two Ladies." But, you might ask, if there's no book, what about the musical's politics — and what does that have to do with us? Relax. Marquardt gets in her licks, and puts the Deutsche Kabarett, political-satire bite back into Cabaret with "High Chancellor," a hilarious, show-stealing strip number, with Jonica Patella in Hitler drag, bumping, grinding and goose-stepping to the Nazi march "Erika." ZJU Theater Group, 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; Fri., 11 p.m.; thru Dec. 17. (818) 202-4120, zombiejoes.homestead.com. (Bill Raden)

SUMMER IN HELL "They're not nice people" is something of a refrain in playwright Miles Brandman's surface-skimming amorality tale of sex, drugs and privilege among the decadent idle rich of the Long Island shore. It is also an understatement, at least when applied to Brandman's iniquitous and narcissistic young protagonists, Milt (Tyler Jenich) and Pat (Amy K. Harmon). Dumped at the family's beach house for a week of surf and sun, the unchaperoned first cousins become bored with their routine of incest, sunbathing and backbiting. To liven things up, Milt lures over one of Pat's former conquests, the hunky working-class townie Nick (Dan Gordon), who has kept his distance from the disreputable pair since his engagement to priggish local heiress Barbara (Melissa Powell). No sooner does Nick jump at the bait than Milt arranges for Barbara to catch her fiancé and Pat in flagrante delicto. In the ensuing emotional fireworks, Milt relieves Barbara of her virtue along with her illusions regarding the putative moral superiority of both her and Nick. If this sounds like something out of Molière, Brandman plays it for anything but laughs or satire. Director David Jette turns in a polished production that includes Sarah Krainin's redwood sun-deck set and Ian Garrett's summer-swelter lights. And while a superb cast looks like they're having a field day — particularly the leering and insinuating Jenich — the play's lack of social or psychological insights limits its figurative reach to a cynical contempt for its own characters. Brimmer Street Theatre Company, Studio/Stage, 520 N. Western Ave., L.A.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru Dec. 18. (213) 290-2782, brimmerstreet.org. (Bill Raden)

PHOTO BY AMANDA MARQUARDT

Schmutzigen Deutsche Kabarett

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• Gwendoline Yeo
• Ethel Waters
• Amanda Marquardt
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
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GO  SWEET MAMA STRING BEAN: A CELEBRATION OF BLUES WOMAN ETHEL WATERS The unwanted product of violence — her mother was raped at knifepoint when only 12 — Ethel Waters grew up in the slums of Philadelphia during the early 1900s. She ran with a rough street crowd and developed a hustler's sassy attitude. By the time she fled her own abusive marriage at just 14, she had a soulful singing voice that would draw attention at parties. Soon after, Waters was singing the blues onstage to appreciative crowds while living the rough life of touring on the black vaudeville circuit; eventually she became the highest-paid black recording star in the country, the first female black singer to be heard on radio and, later, the highest-paid female performer on Broadway. She brought the house down at New York's Cotton Club singing "Stormy Weather" and won a Grammy Award in 1933. Waters was the second black performer to be nominated for an Academy Award, for her performance in Pinky (1949). ValLimar Jansen brings Waters' distinguished career to the stage with a fine jazz trio, accompanied by husband Frank Jansen on keyboards. Wearing glittering gowns and feathered headdresses, ValLimar wraps merry humor and an indomitable spirit around her engaging performance as she skips and shimmies her way through 16 classic blues songs, and her mellifluous, full-bodied voice has the depth of strong coffee. Fremont Centre Theatre, 1000 Fremont Ave., South Pasadena; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 3 p.m.; thru Dec. 31. (866) 811-41111, fremontcentretheatre.com. (Pauline Adamek)