Western Carolina University’s School of Stage and Screen opens its Mainstage theatre season with a performance of the musical Cabaret.
Cabaret opens at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 27 in the Hoey Auditorium. The show will run until Sept. 30. However, on Sept. 30, the show will play at 3 p.m. Tickets are on sale now either online or in the Bardo Arts Center. Tickets for students and children are $10, seniors are $15 and adults are $20. The show is not recommended for children 12 and younger.
The musical tells a story of forbidden love when an American journalist falls in love with an English Cabaret singer in Berlin during World War II. As the story deals with the struggles of important topics such as identity, sexual orientation and abortion, the show is considered relevant to many issues of today. The show is directed and choreographed by Ashlee Wasmund, Western Carolina’s Dance and Musical Theatre Program Coordinator, and the cast are students from the School of Stage and Screen.
Senior acting major, Anthony Sims, who stars as Herr Schultz in the show, believes viewing the show will make audiences consider our nation’s past.
“I think audiences will enjoy the show but, in a way, it will make people appreciate where we are today verses where we were once,” says Sims. Sims’ Herr Shultz also finds love but is unable to marry because he is Jewish and his love interest is a German woman.
Sims is confident that the show will be an exciting beginning to the Mainstage Season and one that gets audiences thinking.
“When people think of Cabaret, … they probably think that it’s just a comedy, you know, like it’s such a light-hearted thing. But, once you actually see how the story develops, you realize that this is a real heart-wrenching show in terms of not being able to love who you want to love,” Sims explains.
In addition to Cabaret, some other performances this season include Noises Off, Cloud Cult Light Chasers, and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
