‘Cabaret’ date benefits Jewish

By Jewish Review

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See the multiple Tony-Award-winning play "Cabaret" and support the Oregon Jewish Museum at the same time.

The OJM benefit includes tickets to the Oct. 10 performance of "Cabaret" by Portland Center Stage as well as an Oct. 1 panel discussion on social issues of the era depicted in the play.

Set in 1930s Berlin on the eve of the Nazis’ rise to power, "Cabaret" is set in both the decadence of the seedy Kit Kat Club and in the real world in which the club existed. The musical focuses on cabaret singer Sally Bowles and
her relationship with writer Cliff Bradshaw.

In a subplot, Cabaret also looks at the doomed romance between a German boarding house owner and one of her tenants, a Jewish fruit vendor. A German warns the woman that it might not be wise to marry a Jew. Reflecting the woman’s break up with her fiance in the "real world," the club emcee sings a song defending his dance partner, a woman in a gorilla suit, with the last line "If you could see her through my eyes, she wouldn’t look Jewish at all."

PCS’s production of Cabaret stars Storm Large as Sally Bowles and Wade McCollum as the Emcee.

Large was a contestant on last year’s TV Reality Show Rock Star Supernova. The Portland woman was born in 1969. She is popular around the Portland music scene with her band "The Balls."

Tickets to the benefit also include admission to a pre-event.

The Oct. 1 panel discussion is being put together by OJM, complete with a Portland State University history professor and an art historian to discuss the time period and social themes and the art, literature and politics in Weimer Germany.

The Oct. 10 Cabaret performance will be at 7:30 p.m. at the PCS Gerding Theater 128 NW 11th.

Located at 310 NW Davis St., the OJM exhibits a variety of shows throughout the year as well as housing a permanent collection comprising some 3,000 photographs, Jewish art and Judaica, organizational records and the memorabilia of families and individuals. When the Jewish Historical Society of Oregon merged with OJM in 1996, its 150-year-old collection, formerly in storage, became available to scholars.

Tickets for the OJM benefit are $54 for general admission and $72 for patron tickets, which include preferred seating. To purchase tickets, contact the OJM at 503-226-3600 or email museum@ojm.org.