This April, audiences will be transported into a sea of political commentary, eclectic songs and Bob Fosse-style dance numbers at the Marquis Players’ spring musical, “Cabaret.” The show was announced last Friday at the Marquis Players annual fall performance showcase.
“Cabaret” takes place in a late 1920s Berlin jazz club and centers around the romantic endeavors of cabaret performer Sally Bowles as well as an eccentric and propaganda-filled Emcee, or Master of Ceremonies. The musical serves as a commentary on the Nazis’ rise to power in Germany and the dangerous antisemitism surrounding it.
According to the Marquis Players vice president Liam Thompson ‘24, “Cabaret” will allow the group to deal with more serious themes and provide a change in tone from its previous shows.
“I am excited to deal as a cast [and] club with more serious themes,” Thompson said. “There’s [an] opportunity within the club to work with other clubs to do education, which I think is really exciting. I think … there’s also some level of risk to ‘Cabaret.’”
Alex Thurtle ‘24, Marquis Players’ president, is also excited to explore the serious themes in Cabaret, particularly in the context of bringing discussion of these themes to the greater campus community.
“I’m Jewish, and so this show deals with topics like the Holocaust and all of those things involving that around that time period,” Thurtle said. “So I think that as a cast, it’s going to force us to really take the time to discuss these really hard themes and kind of bring a message to Lafayette that hasn’t necessarily been talked about very much, yet [is] super relevant with us going into the 2024 election cycle.”
Cormac Hurley ‘24 serves as the director of Marquis Players this year and is eager to work with both returning players and new talent this coming season, especially due to the positive reception at the musical’s announcement.
“I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and tell me that they’re so excited and that they love the show, which I’m really excited about because ‘Cabaret’ is … very different,” Hurley said.
“’We have so many talented people, and especially so many talented first-years,” Hurley continued. “I’m excited to have a cast that’s really going to kill the show.”
The process of selecting the annual spring musical is a collaborative one, with the entire Marquis Players executive board coming together to make the decision. According to Thompson, this decision-making process is multifaceted, with the board focusing on choosing a show that will highlight the strengths of club members.
“We felt that ‘Cabaret’ has a good principal cast,” Thompson said. “Then additionally, there’s a lot of good featured dancing roles [and] featured ensemble roles, and it’s also a show that has a lot of good dancing in it.”
Auditions for “Cabaret” will take place early next semester and the show will be held at the Williams Center for the Arts from April 13-17.
