Dancing from love to loss: Cabaret Theatre presents 'The Baltimore Waltz'

Cabaret Theatre invited audience members on a trip around Europe this weekend with "The Baltimore Waltz," the most recent show of their fall season.

The play tells the story of two siblings, Anna and Carl, as they take a dreamlike vacation after discovering Anna has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Though the story takes an imaginative approach, it's inspired by playwright Paula Vogel's real brother Carl, and his experience with AIDS in the 1980s. 

Despite the show's harsh subject matter, "The Baltimore Waltz" leans into its comedy more than drama, focusing on the characters' positivity and making light out of their situations.

Ashton Jenkins, a Mason Gross School of the Arts junior, not only starred in, but also directed Cabaret's production. From the onset of the performance, his care for the material is evident. The production begins with Jenkins and assistant director Sanjay Guiadeen, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore, addressing the audience out of character to read a letter written by the real-life Carl, setting the tone for the rest of the show.

Soon after, the audience is introduced to Anna and Carl, played by Fey Somoye, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, and Jinu Son, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore, respectively.

Anna is the anchor of the story, and Somoye's portrayal is aptly grounded in a real sense of humanity and emotion. She feels aware of her fate, yet hopefully optimistic as she tries to live out what she assumes are her last days to the fullest. Somoye commands the stage with emotional depth, a perfect match with Son's depiction of Carl.

Son's performance differs from Somoye's but works just as well. Unlike Somoye's Anna, Son's Carl seems to float through the production, bringing a constant sense of comedy and lightness amongst the unsure future each character faces.

Together, Somoye and Son deliver a balance of heart, wit and playfulness that result in compelling central characters. 

Despite the surrounding cast consisting of only two other performers, the humor they provide is invaluable. Every other character Anna and Carl encounter throughout the show is played by either Jenkins or Maanav Pilania, a School of Arts and Sciences senior.

Similarly to Somoye and Son's dynamic, the difference in performance style between Jenkins and Pilania not only allows for clear differences between the multitude of characters they play but also elevates each actor's portrayals, letting both fully shine. 

Jenkins mans the more absurd characters, acting as Anna's doctor, the Garçon and most hilariously, Dr. Todesrocheln, the foreign specialist said to have the questionable cure for Anna's disease. Each of his characters varies wildly but shares the same zany charm that connects them all. 

Pilania portrays the more mysterious of the supporting characters, most notably, the man in the trench coat who shares the same stuffed rabbit as Carl. In addition, he plays a black market medicine salesman and the once famous "Little Dutch Boy," now 50 years old and devoid of his childhood innocence. 

Given the daunting task of depicting so many different characters in the same show, Jenkins and Pilania step up, with versatility that uniquely sets each performance apart.

Like all Cabaret Theatre productions, the show was performed in the company's black box theater, also known as Jameson Residence Hall, on Douglass campus. The blank slate of a stage was adorned with several set pieces, yet never fully committed to one location. 

It may seem unconventional, but the indistinct setting adds to the surreal situation and environments that the characters get swept up in. Down to the direction, the way the characters move around the space feels like they are constantly on a circular journey, finding themselves in predicaments that feel familiar, which works well considering the play's ending.

Without spoiling it, the conclusion of the story leaps further into the ethereal, surreal nature of the play, only to finish with a gut punch of an ending, pulling back the curtain and revealing the true purpose of the journey. 

As a whole, the production doesn't wow with spectacle, rather letting the jokes, emotion of the story and portrayals speak for themselves.

While it may not be a title most audience members are familiar with, "The Baltimore Waltz" combines a deeply personal story with standout performances from an intimately small cast that made for Cabaret Theatre's latest standout production.

If you missed "The Baltimore Waltz," be sure to check out Cabaret Theatre's next production, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," which runs December 6 to 8.