Come to the cabaret
Cabaret, Kaberett, music hall, nightclub.
All are etymological variations of a word
whose meaning has surfaced recently in
Eugene at The Brass Rail, Sheli’s and
Perry's. At each of these places, some of the
hottest restaurant-theatre is catching on.
Cabaret history is a difficult one to trace.
Story by Patrick Bleck
Photos by Dave Kao
Dewey Decimal advises: cabaret — See
Music (music halls, variety shows, etc.).
Some 11,800 entries hatched on celluloid
discourage investigation. Only Britannica
offers helpful elucidation.
“The cabaret,” Britannica reveals,
"originated in France in the 1880s as a small
club in which the audience was grouped
On The Edge is one of the hottest cabaret
groups in Eugene.
around an entertainment platform.
Remember the Moulin Rouge? More: “By
the late 1920s, the German cabaret
'Kaberett' gradually had come to feature
mildly risque musical entertainment for the
middle class gentlemen, as well as biting
political and social satire."
Cabaret was music halls to England, then
a transatlantic leap where it was usually call
ed a nightclub, “one of the few places
where an entertainer can establish a rap
port with an audience in an intimate at
mosphere that encourages improvisation
and freedom of material."
Money chaperons followed World War II,
and the intimacy broke. "A few of the per
formers were successful with sharp political
and social satire, but commercial considera
tions were paramount, and nightclubs
relied chiefly on established theatrical per
sonalities who could attract a wide
audience."
Hello Harrah's.
Unfunny events multiplied: blacklisting,
struggling bisected nations like Korea and
Vietnam, Bob Hope Christmas specials,
Kent State, Tet and finally, "peace with
honor." All things staged became suspect;
spontaneity bore its own apothoesis.
Cancel rehearsal; performance to begin
immediately.
A rag-tag history to be sure, but therein
lies at least a partial backdrop to modern
comic theater, its most salient example be
ing Saturday Night Live. What one finds in
Eugene is a particularly lively strain of this
humour, performed in a cabaret setting and
prosaically labelled "wacky, off-the-wall, sil
ly," and worse, "fun."
Two groups, For Play and the more pro
fessional On the Edge, currently perform in
a cabaret setting which means, simply, in a
restaurant before a seated audience which
may be happily sipping libations. Each
group has its forte, and each is well worth
the price of a few dollars.
For Play is a group of seven members led
by University graduate assistant, Katha Fef
fer. Its show is almost entirely improvisa
tional — a series of situations set up by the
group after it's thrown verbal cues by the
audience. Example: Primitive Man
Discovers. Two grunting performers take
stage and react to the discovery of items
solicited from the audience's imagination.
Primitive Man discovers preservatives, slic
ed bread, zippers and so on. Primitive Man
also discovers primitive imagination. The
tendency toward collegiate ribaldry
somewhat undermines the group's creativi
ty. Still, it is a courageous, entertaining
show.
The majority of For Play's skits are suc
cessful. Tension runs high; electric anticipa
tion crackles through the crowd, snapping
forth involuntary cues from less sober spec
tators, stimulating a kind of primeval ap
preciation for language.
The other cabaret show in town, On The
Edge, is perhaps truer to its Germanic
variant. Political and social satire dominate.
An episode of I Love Lucy is staged in El
Salvador. Most of the vignettes are scripted,
and a good number of them satirize strictly
local lore and custom. All of them are
original, professional and very, very funny.
Cabaret is doing well in Eugene. The cur
rent run of On The Edge is sold out at the
Brass Rail. A two-act play is in the offing for
an On The Edge Christmas show.
The Brass Rail has also hosted comedy
plays performed by the Cascade Balza^
Company and plans to continue its loc^
showcasing. For Play will be around at least
through December, performing both at
Sheli's and Perry's. Look for their next per
formance tonight, Oct. 28, at Sheli's on 13th
Avenue. The show begins at 10 p.m., tickets
are $2 and seats are gone by 9:15 p.m.
13th ANNUAL
“EVERYTHING'S ON SALE SALE”
ALL 7.99 ALBUMS AND TAPES ONLY 5.99
OCTOBER 14th to OCTOBER 30th I
'v^y^k
New. On Arista Albums
and Arista Qualitapff
Cassettes
5th and Willamette,
Eugene, 687-0761
RECORDS TAPES AND VIDEO
CHECK OUT-OUR NEW LOW VIDEO RENTAL PRICES
VISA
lliliillSlfaf*
HULT CENTER FOR THE
PERFORMING ARTS
D*tf tuOfNf CHffl EuGtM oSiCOM «.’«•
TICKET OUTLET