The Ghetto Cabaret




Cameron Woodhead in The Age today gives The Ghetto Cabaret four stars ****

He says Evelyn Krape, as the MC in dusty tux promises to make us laugh and cry. He says, 'it might be Krape's finest hour: whether she's crooning through a megaphone or lighting up comedy routines, she's a commanding presence.' Hear, hear! (- though I'd add her finest hour may well be her one-woman performance in Female Parts). Woodhead says 'The Ghetto Cabaret doesn't turn it's eye from the darkest material, and flows with artistry that entertains and moves, doing justice to the memory of the Holocaust and the spirit of the Jewish culture that survives and transcends it.' [production photo by Jeff Busby]

Here's a reprise of my recent review of this terrific show:

Last Sunday night we saw The Ghetto Cabaret created by Galit Klas and directed by Gary Abrahams. This is a fortyfive downstairs production in collaboration with Kadimah Yiddish Theatre.

Provocative, funny, political and deeply moving - it is also strangely hopeful.

It's described as: 'A powerful new cabaret featuring Yiddish songs written in the Jewish ghettos of WWII. Full of songs unheard of for decades, THE GHETTO CABARET speaks of the wit, courage and chutzpah of a people struggling to stay alive, as they reveal the spirit of resistance against fascism.'

Based on the real events of the 1940s ghettos, the production includes flashes of contemporary political commentary. As we arrive, audience members are given a felt colour-coded badge to wear (they are abstract shapes, but the meaning is clear, they remind us of the yellow Star of David that Jews were forced to wear, the pink triangle for homosexuals, the black triangle for asocial women).

English and Yiddish is spoken and sung throughout, and great care is taken that non-Yiddish speakers can understand - either the action tells you, or it's bilingual, or the translation is projected onto an improvised sheet. For everything is improvised here - we are all in the basement, all in the ghetto - and whatever is to hand must make do as a prop. Such improvisation enhances the theatricality wondrously; an autumnal scene set inside a wardrobe, with leaves dropping as a woman sings, is so simple yet magical... and deeply poignant.

A cast of six and two musicians, the acting, singing and music, the direction and design - it's all extremely good. Movingly good. This is true cabaret - with a kick and a kiss.

Season ends 18 August 2019. Go see.

https://www.fortyfivedownstairs.com/wp2016/event/the-ghetto-cabaret/


Writer/Performer: Galit Klas
Director: Gary Abrahams
Performers: Jim Daly, Nelson Gardner, Galit Klas, Evelyn Krape, Joshua Reuben & Dimity Shepherd
Musical Director/Pianist: Scott Griffiths
Musician: Alex Burkoy
Set & Costume Design: Dann Barber
Lighting Design: Rachel Burke
Choreographer: Leanne Marsland
Stage Manager: Cassandra Fumi
Production Assistant: Bridget McWilliams

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