If you think you know Cabaret, then you might be in for a big surprise. Cygnet Theatre’s newest staging of the show, opening to previews tonight, is putting a slight spin on the show’s narrator. You see, the Emcee, traditionally performed by a man, is being played by a woman.
The show has been a staple in gay theater since Joel Grey’s performance as the Emcee in the original 1966 Broadway production. He also played the same role in the 1972 movie adaptation with gay icon Liza Minnelli as the lead actress. Alan Cumming, an openly bisexual actor, provided a more sexually-charged interpretation in the 1998 revival. Now, Karson St. John takes on the role in San Diego.
“Surprisingly, it’s been a pretty seamless transition,” St. John told the San Diego LGBT Weekly. “Traditionally, you have a male character that’s played in a very feminine way, and now I am a making it a female character playing it in a masculine way. With this role, because the gender and sexuality lines were already blurry, it works.”
Set in the tumultuous city of Berlin, just before Hitler’s rise to power, Cabaret tells the interlocking stories of a cabaret singer, Sally Bowles, and an American writer, Cliff. Through it all, the Master of Ceremonies presides not only over the Kit Kat Klub where Sally performs, but also presides over the story of Cabaret. St. John’s Emcee serves as a constant metaphor for the tenuous and volatile state of late Weimar Germany throughout the show.
“There is a lot of covering up going on, a lot of metaphors, a lot of musicality that is representing issues of the time,” St. John said, adding, “which is where my particular role comes in. My songs and my presentations are reflecting what is going on in the story, which has to do with the issue of what will become the holocaust, the Jews versus the Germans, of covering up homosexual issues, of sexuality – of raw sexuality – all of these really heavy issues that you wouldn’t normally think would make a great musical.
“The use of music as a tool makes this show very unique, and very exciting for me in particular,” she continued. “There is always some larger implication of my songs. They are used as a tool to reel in the audience, and get them in a happy and open place. Then I get to metaphorically and emotionally whop them over the head when they are in that open place.”
St. John speaks of her character with a casual style of familiarity. Throughout the interview, it almost seemed like the character was meant for a woman, if not for her personally. Yet, she originally did not audition for the Emcee. She was hoping to play the lead female role.
“When I went in for the audition, I was auditioning for the role of Sally,” St. John said. “It wasn’t like I was auditioning with a bunch of other girls for the Emcee. He was auditioning guys for it.”
It wasn’t until director Sean Murray made the suggestion did she even consider the part.
She explained, “He called me after the third call back, and said, ‘Listen, I have this idea. I was watching you, and you have this strength about you that I would really like to use. Would you be open to coming in tomorrow and reading the Emcee?’ Immediately, I said absolutely.
“That was it for me. I felt more like an Emcee than Sally,” she continued. “I totally changed my tactics, got dressed up, and went in the next morning and said, ‘I’m going to make this impossible for you not to succeed.’”
Now St. John – along with Murray and the rest of the cast and crew – are hoping the show’s gender bender will be a success with local audiences. It’s a natural change.
“The Kit Kat Klub is already a decadent place. It doesn’t matter who’s sleeping with whom, what gender you are, or how you treat each other. It’s just raw sexuality,” she said. “I was surprised, getting into it, that it all makes sense. We didn’t have to fiddle with the character or change any of the lines.”
Take, for example, the song “Two Ladies.” In the Joel Grey version, the Emcee sings about a ménage à trois with two other women. Alan Cumming added his own spin by switching out one of the girls for a boy, without switching the words. St. John’s interpretation plays with the gender even further.
“I’m going to be in man drag, and I have two guys in girl drag,” she said. “It’s so totally confusing, because you are not sure if I am a guy or a girl, are they guys or girls, or does it really matter. We’ve just blurred everything – which makes it funny, and totally open to interpretation, and different.”
St. John points out that the Emcee’s sexuality, as either a male or female, has always been unknown. Is the Emcee straight, gay, bisexual or transgendered?
“I don’t even think it’s definable,” St. John answers. “Every number, the Emcee is taking on a different role. In each number, my sexuality is defined. But as a character, I think it’s omnisexual.
“I haven’t found any need to put any boundaries on my Emcee in that way,” she continued. “It’s been really fun to keep it open, and then put her in different situations. I don’t really call the Emcee a her. I feel like the Emcee is an it.”
With the changes, she is preparing for just about everything from the audience – from an older crowd that remembers the original to a younger bunch.
“I am expecting people who are like me, who are really familiar with the show, and are going to be interested in seeing it done in a new way. I am expecting people who are going to be uncomfortable with the changes … and that’s ok.”
Even with the small to extreme modifications within the show, St. John assures the show stays true to its meaning, saying, “I think this speaks to anyone who has felt they are in the minority or if they have ever been discriminated against. This speaks to that tremendously.”
St. John opens Cabaret to previews tonight, March 17, with opening night officially March 26. Tickets can be purchased by visiting Cygnet’s website at cygnettheatre.com, by calling the box office at 619-337-1525, or in person by visiting Cygnet’s box office. Cygnet Theatre is located at 4040 Twiggs Street in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
