{Storm Large as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. photo by Owen Carey}
Cabaret opened at Geva Theatre in Rochester, NY this past weekend, and so far, the public and critical response has been nothing short of, well, phenomenal. For starters, we’re told (but we don’t have pictures of this yet) that those “polar bear” Rochesterians […]

»read more from "Rochester Waders love a perfect Storm"

The high was 14 degrees the first day we landed in Rochester for Cabaret rehearsals at Geva Theater. Geva was one of the theaters we studied closely when designing the Armory, as it is also housed in a renovated Armory building.

The theater is configured differently than the Gerding, in that the stage thrusts out […]

»read more from "Cabaret in the Snow"

{Sally Bowles (Storm Large) and Kit Kat Boy, Hans (Luke Longacre) in “Mein Herr” from Cabaret.}
As the Portland run of Cabaret comes to a close, the cast prepares for our transfer to Geva Theater in Rochester, NY just after the New Year. Next week we load up trucks with the sets, costumes and props and […]

»read more from "Cabaret Moves On"

I was a little nervous about hosting school groups to CABARET, but all of them had a great time and we have received nothing but positive responses from both teachers and students. Well, almost nothing but positive. I received thank you cards and letters from one of our high school groups the other […]

»read more from "Letter From A Student"

Well, the season is upon us.  After two days of blissful sunshine, the windy and wet came back today as if to say…”welcome to spookytime.” It was a not-so-subtle reminder that, just a week before the fateful night, I still have no costume to wear when I attend Cabaret for Halloween.  You see, I took […]

»read more from "Halloween On Wednesday?"

Due to overwhelming popularity, we’ve extended Cabaret one more week through November 11th! We knew this was going to be a great show and everyone here at PCS is thrilled that Portland has responded to it so enthusiastically. What can we say other than sometimes the right people and the right ideas come together at […]

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I’ve probably received as many emails during the first two weeks of Cabaret as I receive for the entire run of most shows.  A few of my favorites:
“Ann, Noreen and I got to see Cabaret last night and it was overwhelming.  It was one of the most powerful statements and performances that I have ever […]

»read more from "more Cabaret feedback"

During the final preview for Cabaret on Thursday night, I sat next to a couple who asked why I was taking notes.  I told them, and the gentleman introduced himself as Tom.  With a little coaxing, I learned that he is remodeling a house that he expects to sell at NE 29th and Alberta.  Tom and his wife (girlfriend) look to […]

»read more from "The Buzz on Cabaret"

Favorite comment of the week came from Mary Fellows, a friend of my wonderful Board Member, Howard Shapiro’s.  I was walking down 10th Street on the Cabaret dinner break and ran into Howard who promptly introduced me to Mary.  Howard told her I was with PCS, and Mary said - “West Side Story” was the […]

»read more from "ON THE STREET"

Technical Rehearsals for “Cabaret” began on Thursday evening. Over a four day period we move into the theater, add lights, costumes, michrophones, and the band. Trying to figure out how to maneuver each of the scene changes, respace the scenes to fit the actual physical set and adjust the choreography so a dancer doesn’t land […]

»read more from "Finally Onstage"

Friday night I headed across the river to go see Storm perform a song from Cabaret. The performance was for a taping of Live Wire, a local radio show that is taped in front of a live audience at the Aladdin Theater. The website for Live Wire describes the show as, “music, scintillating conversations, sketch […]

»read more from "Storm Large Slays LiveWire! Audience"

The crew began loading the set into the theater yesterday.  We ran the whole thing for the first time this afternoon, and on the break went downstairs to see how they were coming.

It looks deeper than I had imagined (which is a good thing).  We’ve been in the tiny rehearsal so long, its going to […]

»read more from "FIRST SIGHTING"

Fight choreographer, John Armour, came in on Friday to build the two fights for the show. After having to build the operatic sequences in West Side Story’s “rumble” this was pretty straightforward. Scott Sachs is seen here working on his punching technique.

John David Woods practiced “kicking” Romain in the head, while Romain […]

»read more from "FIGHTING HARD"

The costume shop is about to explode.  In one week the clothes have to be ready for actor’s to wear onstage.  Tesa is seen here working on the “gorilla” costume for Act II.

Meanwhile, Foggy worked on the dress that said Gorilla will actually wear.

Larissa provided final touches on the ladies undergarments. 

Barbara built a pair of […]

»read more from "COSTUMES COUNTDOWN"

A week and two days before we move onstage, we shot the publicity photos for Cabaret on the Mezzanine level. I always hate the photo shoot, because it eats time out of the rehearsal day - but Owen Carey, our photographer created some pretty cool looks.

Besides Wade McCollum and Storm Large, the show also […]

»read more from "Final Touches"

In the original version of Cabaret the Emcee is an entertainer, the audience’s guide through the evening and a great showman.  But he stands clearly outside of the action of the play.
In the version we are using (from the Studio 54 Revival) he is woven through the action in a more interesting, though at times […]

»read more from "WHO IS THE EMCEE?"

 
There are four versions of Cabaret.  The original script for the 1966 Broadway premiere (directed by Hal Prince and choreographed by Ron Fields). 
 The 1972 Movie version (directed by Bob Fosse) which added two songs for Sally:  Mein Herr and Maybe This Time.
The 1987 Broadway Revival (directed by Hal Prince) - which tried to update and clarify Cliff’s sexuality - […]

»read more from "The Cool New Version"

 So one of my favorite moments from week one of rehearsal:  we’re rehearsing the scene where Sally bursts into Cliff’s apartment and tries to convince him to take her in.  Storm and Romaine (Cliff) are reading through the scene for the first time and we get to the song “Perfectly Marvelous Girl”, the piano accompaniment […]

»read more from "Bursting into Song"

This email came in this past week about student tickets, and I thought it was worth sharing:
“I was just searching for tickets to take my two daughters to Cabaret and discovered your pricing. Having just returned from NYC and being overwhelmed at the expense of taking them to A Chorus Line (which I did anyway […]

»read more from "STUDENT TICKETS ROCK!"

Saturday September 1 marked the day single tickets for the season went on sale to the general public. It was funny to arrive for rehearsal shortly before 10 am and find a line of folks outside the box office waiting to get the seats they desired.
There were also several folks hanging out, watching the videos […]

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 Welcome to the scene shop!  One of the questions we are asked most often is, “Where does this show go after its run in Portland?”  I explain that most of the time the show isn’t going anywhere (though Cabaret is an exception because it travels to Geva Theater in Rochester, NY in January).  In fact […]

»read more from "ON HAMMER AND SCREWS"

Cabaret kicked off rehearsals this morning with a meet and greet of the entire staff of the theater and the cast of the show. After a quick ten minute break - the cast launched right into music rehearsals.

Rick Lewis, our musical director jumped right into putting the cast through their paces on Wilkommen. He pretended […]

»read more from "CABARET BEGINS REHEARSAL"

The PCS 2007-2008 season officially started for me today as I emailed all the initial information for the Cabaret playbill to our publisher, Skies America. Title page, Cast page, a feature article, some Cabaret history, a staff list…yada yada yada. It’s nice to feel the rush of a new season coming on, but I’ll be […]

»read more from "A New Season Begins"

Sooooooo you’ve seen a lot of sketches for the Cabaret set, and I’m now able to share some of the ideas for costumes. Jeff Cone is our resident costume designer, and because we work together so often (our first show was back in Atlanta in 1990, oy vey am I old), I don’t always ask […]

»read more from "Cabaret Costume Sketches"

ust back from completing the casting for Cabaret. A lot of people ask where our actors come from. Through the course of a season about half come from Portland, and the other half come from Seattle and New York. Which immediately conjures images of our sitting through cattle calls of thousands of actors with numbers […]

»read more from "Casting Trip To New York"

Notes from Skip re: Cabaret set design…
“Hope you’re swell. I rebuilt model incorporating thoughts from our discussion. It feels much better related to faded elegance and hopefully less Russian industrial. I changed the angle of side walls slightly.
The center platform is 32″ high (was 24″); two step units both portable - one circular (might be […]

»read more from "re: Cabaret set designs"

We were more fortunate in our round of local auditions for Cabaret than expected. You don’t always think about it – but finding triple threats (actors who can sing and dance as well as they act) in PDX can be a real challenge. But we were tickled by the results.
Joel Ferrell (our choreographer from West […]

»read more from "More Cabaret Casting"

Just back from a week of vacation (largely spent here in PDX biking, hiking, piddling), to find early sketches of the set for Cabaret in my in box. Skip Mercier (designer for West Side Story) is designing and shared some very rough ideas about a direction we may head in. Thought you might be interested […]

»read more from "early Cabaret set sketches"

I was sitting at lunch yesterday with Bob Gerding (for whom the Armory Theater is named) and he said, “Hey, I heard a rumor that this Storm Large woman is going to play what’s her name (Sally Bowles) in Cabaret. Is that true?” I said that INDEED it is true. Hurrah!
And yes, indeed, Mr. Wade […]

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