Skyline’s musical theatre and dance department hasn’t put on a musical in over 30 years, but all of that changed on April 21 when the department debuted “Cabaret.”

The department was supported by the President’s Innovation Fund and the ASSC. The musical was based on a play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood with music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb. The performance was set in Berlin, Germany from 1929 to 1930 before the beginning of the Third Reich.

The cast and crew were ready to take on the challenge of “Cabaret.” The cast and crew had no hand in picking the production piece. When they signed up for either the music or the dance class, the musical was already chosen so they could begin working on the performance.

“It was a class on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” said Angelino Simbulan. “You audition for it and it is a whole semester long; we were rehearsing, singing, dancing and blocking.”

Simbulan played one of the main characters, Clifford Bradhsaw, who is an American traveler who finds his way into a small town in Germany. There he ends up at a club, where he falls in love with the star of the club, Sally Bowles, who was played by Julia Thollaug.

“I thought it went really well,” said Thollaug. “We had a couple of glitches, but overall it was cool and it was neat to finally do it. . . . It was a really ambitious choice, and it came together. I am kind of in shock. I didn’t see the set until after spring break, and when I walked in, I was like, ‘Woah, we have a show.'”

The show’s narrator, Jamie Ball, felt like all of their hard work had finally paid off and that they were as ready as they could have been for their performances.

“I hope this builds incentives for more musical theatre and more dramatic productions here at Skyline because we deserve that kind of education,” said Ball.

The musical had adult content and was aimed more for adults than kids. The outfits for the club backup dancers were pretty risqué, as they were merely lingerie. There were also Nazis, flappers, and prostitutes. The cast really played their strengths well. Everybody played their parts well and the cast as a whole looked strong. It looked like there was good cohesion between everybody on stage.

The way the stage was set up with the set, the music and the clothes really made you feel like you were brought into a club in Germany in the 1920s.