Whose frau-line is it anyway?
A Williamsburg production of the musical “Cabaret,” set in pre-World War II Germany, will invite audience members onto the stage to read lines and sing along with the actors. Those Damen und Herren who jump into the Brooklyn Theater Club’s production, which opens at Muchmore’s on Feb. 18, do not have to be trained actors — they just have to have fun, says the play’s director.
“I think it really ranges from people who get super into it, and are totally in character, and some people are just having fun and going about their lines,” said Stephen Schapero, the show’s director. “No matter what, we’re all doing it together, and we always get a round of applause.”
The play, about a saucy cabaret called the Kit Kat Klub, in a Germany where Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich is just coming into power, will feature all of the songs and choreographed dancing audiences have come to expect of the beloved Broadway classic, according to Schapero.
But before each one of the play’s two acts, crew members will offer copies of the script to audience members and invite them to take on a minor role. The newly-recruited actor might have to sing or dance, but will not goose-step, said the director.
“No one will be a Nazi,” said Schapero.
Those who would rather not read from the script can still aid the show by becoming props. Those audience members can look forward to being objectified in a variety of interesting ways, according to actress Mara Frankel.
“They can participate as props and scenery,” said Frankel, who plays Fräulein Schneider. “We’ve had people be doors before. Last time we had someone as the meat grinder from ‘Sweeney Todd.’ ”
“We find lots of ways to make everybody useful,” Schapero added.
Everybody who attends the Brooklyn Theater Club production is invited to participate, but there is also room for ticket holders who just want to sit back and be entertained, Schapero said.
“We ask everybody before the show and the second act if they want to be involved,” he said. “If you’re not a fan of audience participation, we’re open to that too.”
“Cabaret” at Muchmore’s [2 Havemeyer St. between N. Eighth and N. Ninth streets in Williamsburg, www.brook
