SAXTONS RIVER — Main Street Arts is holding auditions for its winter production of the musical Cabaret, scheduled for performances in mid-March.
Auditions are Thursday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 14, from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 15, at 6:30 p.m., including call backs. Those auditioning need to attend only one session.
Rehearsals will begin in January and will typically be held two evenings a week and weekend mornings. Performances are the middle two weekends in March.
Those auditioning should expect to read from the play and work into a scene or two. Anyone not able to attend either audition may contact director David Stern at dstern@mainstreetarts.org or 802-376-4761 to arrange an alternative audition time or to send a video.
The audition will entail singing a solo song section (about 16 bars), learning and performing a dance combination in small groups, and perhaps reading small scene sections from the script. The latter will especially happen during call backs.
This production replaces the originally scheduled Shrek the Musical, which has been postponed to a later date.
Set in a Berlin nightclub in 1931, Cabaret opens with a garish master of ceremonies welcoming the audience to forget their troubles at the cabaret. With the Emcee's bawdy songs as wry commentary, Cabaret explores the dark, heady, and tumultuous life of the city's natives and expatriates as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich.
Besides the Emcee, roles include Cliff Bradshaw, a young American writer newly arrived in Berlin, English singer Sally Bowles, boarding house owner Fraulein Schneider, mild-mannered Jewish fruit seller Herr Schultz, and the male and female dancers of the Kit Kat Klub where Sally performs.
Musical numbers include “Wilkommen,” “Cabaret,” “Don't Tell Mama,” “Money,” and “Maybe This Time.” Further information about Main Street Arts is available at www.mainstreetarts.org.