Carl In Cabaret, Last Week 10/18-22

Last Week To See This Show, Oct 18th - 22nd.  After a 12 year hiatus from theatre, Carl Johnson has returned to the stage in the role of Bobby for the upcoming production of Cabaret with the Stone Soup Theatre Company. Carl is honored to be cast in this role and to perform with such a talented cast. (Stone Soup Theatre Co. was just nominated by the INDY for best theatre com. in Orange co.)

Carl has been singing since 3rd grade and frequently found himself on stage throughout for the rest of his life. Most recently, Carl has been performing as a Tenor with The Durham Savoyards, Long Leaf Opera, Duke Chapel Choir, just to name a few. Carl is very excited to be back on stage.

LIMITED CABARET TABLE SEATING: Buy your ticket now
Don't just see Cabaret - experience it! Each performance includes general seating as well as only 4 Cabaret 2 top Tables up front for each performance.  Each table seats 2 and includes a choice of of a bottle of wine or sparkling juice before the show starts, 2 commemorative wine glasses and dessert at intermission. Buy your table NOW before they sell out. This is also a great way to support Stone Soup Theatre Company as proceeds serve as a fundraiser. 1930's style clothing is welcome (but not at all necessary).

click here to RESERVE YOUR TABLE or purchase general seating NOW before they SELL OUT

Cabaret the Musical, Comes to the Triangle
by Nita Tyndall

“There was a Cabaret, and there was a Master of Ceremonies, and there was a city called Berlin in a country called Germany and it was the end of the world.” So goes the last spoken line of dialogue in Cabaret, the musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff that opened on Broadway in 1966. Based on Christopher Isherwood’s semi-autobiographical novel I Am a Camera, the show follows American Cliff Bradshaw as he experiences the vice and (excitement) of 1929 Berlin, only a few years before the Nazi party would rise to power.

Stone Soup Theatre Company, a Triangle community-based non-profit theater company created to serve local enthusiasts and performing artists in the communities of Durham and Chapel Hill, NC, will be returning to the Wynn Theatre 300-G E Main St, Carrboro, NC 27510 to produce the Broadway smash hit CABARET. The production will run Oct 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22. Daring, provocative and exuberantly entertaining, Cabaret explores the dark and heady life of Weimar-era Berlin as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich.

Founded in 2021 as a community-based non-profit, Stone Soup’s mission from day one has been to serve the local community via the arts. Their inaugural production was Something Rotten in 2021, and since then the company has expanded, adding new shows every year. Last year’s season saw shows like the classic Into the Woods as well as new musical Ride the Cyclone (the first production in North Carolina). This year, they’re expanding even more, with Cabaret this October, Romeo & Juliet in April 2024, and The Spitfire Grill next June. All shows will be produced at the Wynn Theatre in Carrboro (formerly the Arts Center, now owned by the Center Theater) at 300-G East Main Street. Although still a relatively new theatre company, Stone Soup is already establishing itself as a force in the local theatre scene, nominated as one of the “Best Theatre Companies” in Orange and Chatham counties by the Indy Weekly.

Much like the short story for which the company is named, director and founder Melissa S. Craib Dombrowski and music director and founder Dr. Joanna Sisk-Purvis were driven by a desire to create a theatre company that would serve the entire community, filling a hole for local community theatre that’s perhaps been missing in the Durham/Chapel Hill area and providing an avenue to theatre outside of local touring Broadway productions or university shows. Both certainly have the credits to pull off such ambition—Dombrowski has regularly been recognized in regional awards for Best Director, Best Adapted Script, and Best Choreographer, while Sisk-Purvis has musically directed for youth and community theatres in Los Angeles and North Carolina.

Cabaret is certainly a departure from last year’s productions, but a necessary one. The meta format of the show, where scenes of everyday life in Weimar Republic Germany are interspersed with at turns bawdy and touching songs like “Don’t Tell Mama,” “Maybe This Time,” and “Money,” is accentuated by the character of the Emcee, the Master of Ceremonies hosting the show—and the only character who’s aware that the show is a performance at all,

consistently breaking the fourth wall to interact with the audience. Brady Bowman, a recent graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, plays the Emcee in this production. Previously, he was seen in Stone Soup’s production of Ride the Cyclone as Noel. Kayla Petrille plays Sally Bowles, an English Cabaret singer whose tragic arc and relationship with Cliff is the through-line of the show. Petrille, a voice teacher, was also last seen in Ride the Cyclone as Jane Doe. Rounding out the trio playing Cliff Bradshaw is Jason Rune, a master’s student at UNCG studying vocal pedagogy. The electrifying voices on the three leads are supported by a strong cast of local actors in the ensemble and supporting roles, as well as a full orchestra of local musicians led by Sisk-Purvis.

Stone Soup’s vision for the show puts particular emphasis on the queerness of the characters. “In a time where LGBTQ rights are being challenged right and left, and book bans are sweeping the country, Cabaret feels more important now than ever,” says Dombrowski. Cabaret is a show that doesn’t shy away from showing the darker sides of life in the Weimar Republic, but it also takes time to revel in the joys and relationships among the characters, particularly the romance between Fräulein Schneider, an aging landlady (played by Mickey Reed), and Jewish fruit store owner Herr Schulz (played by John Adams.) While their sweetness of their relationship is underscored by the threat of the rising Nazi regime, Dombrowski also lets shine the sweetness and humor between the characters. “They’re the true love story in the show,” she said. And it’s moments like that—the real, human moments in Cabaret—that make the show so timely and touching, and this particular production one that can’t be missed.

What: Cabaret the musical
Who: Stone Soup Theatre Company
When: October 13-15, 18-22
Where: Wynn Theatre, 300-G E Main Street, Carrboro, NC
Buy tickets: https://stonesouptc.ticketleap.com/ https://stonesouptheatreco.com/

Instagram, Facebook: @StoneSoupTheatreCo

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