“Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome.” Those would be the three immortal words that anyone who’s watched Cabaret will remember in its opening scene, as the Emcee invites the audience to the Kit Kat Club, a decadent underground venue in 1931 Berlin designed for all kinds of seedy entertainment performed under cover of darkness, a celebration of the queer and the outcasts of society.

Coming to the Drama Centre Theatre this October, local theatre company Sing’theatre is set to revive the 1987 version of the musical for local audiences, requesting you leave your troubles outside before stepping in to this wonderland of delights. Starring as the iconic Emcee is Dwayne Lau, while entertainer Sally Bowles will be played by Kimberly Chan, as they dance and sing their way into your heart, and present this story of the rise and fall of the club, and the lives of its inhabitants during the fascist Weimar Republic era of Germany.

Speaking to Dwayne, Kimberly and choreographer Lisa Keegan, we found out more about how Sing’theatre is set to adapt this dreamy musical, and how they plan on living up to the legacy set by other iconic productions around the world. “I’m really excited to be a part of the show, but to be honest, when Nathalie (Ribette, artistic director of Sing’theatre) asked me to audition, I didn’t know enough about it,” says Dwayne. “To me, it was like Chicago, but raunchier. Then when I went to read more and watch YouTube clips of it, I really started to fall in love with its soundtrack and the whole concept, with a focus on giving the story more clarity, and making all the character motivations crystal clear.”

Cabaret was originally performed in 1966, and has seen multiple iterations across the years, including a 1972 film adaptation starring Liza Minnelli and choreography by the legendary Bob Fosse, as well as a more recent award-winning theatre-in-the-round version in London, which premiered in 2021 with Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley in the lead roles. “Only the 1987 version of the musical is available to international casts to perform, which is the version we’ll be using,” says Kimberly. “But the exciting thing about tackling such a classic is that we’re able to add our own spin on it. There are so many characters, and I think people will come in each finding resonance with a different one, with so many iconic songs and moments, all tied together by the human condition.”

On the fear of being compared and carving out a niche for themselves, none of them are worried at all, and are confident in their portrayals. “When Hossan Leong (director) brought me on, he literally asked me what ‘animal’ I thought the emcee would be. It’s a huge role, and you’ve had people like Alan Cumming, Joel Grey, and Eddie Redmayne each playing different versions,” says Dwayne. “Hossan told me not to compare, and I thought about how I needed to input my own personality into it, with some of my signature candour and craziness amidst the serious and manic moments, which I feel is very true to me, and allows me to tell the story of Cabaret as its de facto narrator.”

“In all honesty, I started out disliking Sally, because she seemed to be the complete opposite of my own personality,” says Kimberly. “But I thought about focusing on the story we’re trying to tell, and looked back at the musical’s source material, one of which was Christopher Isherwood’s novel Goodbye to Berlin, and thought about how I would guide the audience and shape their responses.”

“So my version of Sally focuses on her being a working girl, where she really is trying to survive after being placed in terrible spots her whole life, trying to keep her head above water,” she continues. “We all put on airs and act glamorous, but it’s for the sake of getting by and making sure you’re in a good position. It comes from a genuine place beyond just being sexy and sultry, and she finds this safe space in. the Kit Kat Club to be anything she wants to be, letting loose. and enjoying.”

For Lisa, a Liverpool native, she explains how adamant she was on not being influenced by Bob Fosse’s numbers, and how she was stuck with choreographer’s block for the longest time. “I went in trying to be inspired by the music, and it was an arduous process. We went back to the musical’s roots, and my own influences growing up, so we incorporated more vaudeville, slapstick comedy style elements into the performance,” she explains. “So it ends up being more akin to the Radio City Rockettes or the Tiller Girls, and with our cast and ensemble, I was confident we would do great.”

Under Hossan Leong’s direction, ensemble members are not merely part of the scenery or background dancers, but expected to be part of the team, each having their own character and singing as well during the group numbers. “Choreography is so essential to the process of creating musical theatre, and Lisa is the kind of person who gives people the space to experiment and push them if she sees potential them,” says Kimberly. “So we somehow managed to push out the full run within two weeks, and I just, sat down there and got goosebumps, seeing everything come together like that. The rest of it was just touching up on the ballad here or dane there, and all that layering stems from Lisa’s artistry and ability to tell a story through dance, alongside our creatives that contribute to the devising of it all.”

“Kim puts it very well, but she also needs to know that both Kim and Dwayne are really triple threats, and I knew they would both smash their roles in every aspect of their characters,” adds Lisa. “I’ve also known some of these dancers since they were teens, some for twenty years now, and I had full confidence they would be able to execute what I demanded of them, in both technicality and character work.”

Cabaret may seem like a foreign concept to Singapore, particularly with its German setting and its age, but finds relevance in its timeless themes and ever-important message to champion diversity and beware of fascism. “We still have subtle forms of racism even today, like how people still have so much to say about mixed marriages for race and religion, or even violence towards the weak, like the Kinderland abuse cases that surfaced recently,” says Dwayne.

“Maybe some of us have become desensitised to all this violence, because people have been so exposed to it via the media and the internet nowadays. To show such ideas onstage is not to shock, but to remind people that there’s a fine line before violence tips into abuse and fascism, and to really get them to think about how humans can do this to another human, and each time we do a run, we. do bring home that weight with us,” says Kimberly. “That’s why art is so important, to keep these conversations going, to provide a safe space to explore and to talk about these things.”

While Cabaret isn’t necessarily about the sex and raunchy elements, it seems to still contain ‘enough’ of them to have been slapped with an advisory 16 rating. “Hossan talked a lot about the context of the play and how Germany was in debt and poverty after the war, forcing people into prostitution and vaudeville to earn money, turning it into a part of life, rather than sex for the sake of it,” says Dwayne. “Sometimes I do wonder about how much people are exposed to nowadays, whether it’s on Netflix, or even worse things on TikTok. This is a show that’s important to younger audience members too – I remember learning about World War II and the Great Depression back in secondary school, and you think about how it’s so important to showcase the dangers of racism and fascism, before the teenagers grow up and it becomes even harder.”

“The dancers in the Kit Kat Club probably flash their knickers at most, and throughout the choreography process, I wondered just how far I could push it. I know we’re in Singapore, and it’s not like it’s going to be Moulin Rouge in Paris where they literally go topless, but in the same vein as British comedians Benny Hill or Barbara Windsor, we can take the comedic route,” says Lisa. “Back then they could get away with more, practically doing piss-takes on ‘the Kaiser’ and the Germans, and sometimes that’s what you need without having to use raunch.”

“Cabaret doesn’t have to be raunchy, and your choices serve the piece. Previous versions elsewhere went further because they wanted to go more punk, but we don’t need to do that, and want to focus more on the story instead,” says Kimberly. “I think about my friend who’s performing at the version on West End, and they really prioritise the experience of being immersed in the show, but one thing that I recall her telling me is how their director focuses so much on the freedom the club represents, where there is no ‘cut off’ for the note they sing during numbers, and for them to sing as freely as they want.”

“I do think our arts scene is better than it was twenty years ago, but it’s still important to speak up, to keep pushing and trying, and support the important messages we as artists want to push out. I do think we end up doing some form of self-censorship, or walls we never expect, and that means there’s always room for more freedom,” adds Kimberly. “In a way, what I feel is that we need more freedom to explore and express, instead of just ensuring that every single show we put out here is polished or amateur, with no in-between for experimentation. That’s when you find the terrible things and the brilliant things, and invite even more conversation within and about the industry.”

And as for how they hope Singaporeans will receive the show? “I do hope people watch this production and go away thinking about the power of art. I hope people have conversations after the show about what they enjoyed and appreciating all the different elements that go into the show,” says Kimberly. “A few days ago I woke up and went wow, I’m going into the theatre to rehearse, doing something I love and making a living out of it. It’s moments like these that keep me going, and my theatre family and actual family, and audience that give me the support I need.”

“And for me, I hope audience members start to think about leadership, and be more discerning about people in power, and whether charisma needs to be questioned,” says Dwayne. “Hopefully they also become more alert to facets of racism, or even just enjoying the show and understanding how much talent goes into this. Perhaps it will spark some dreams of their own, and convince them to pursue them, or be more open to speak about them with the opportunity the show brings with all its topics.”

Cabaret plays from 5th to 15th October 2023 at the Drama Centre Theatre. Tickets available from SISTIC