Every now and then you attend a production that leaves you speechless.

Zen Zen Zo’s production of Cabaret, is one of those. Even though it’s been a few days since I saw the production, I’m still trying hard to think of the words that do it justice.

Cabaret is a wonderful and colourful musical centred around the libertine Kit Kat Club of 1930’s Berlin, that has a dark undercurrent to the narrative. The events are foreshadowed by the subsequent reign of Nazi Germany which inevitably leads to the destruction of the cabaret underworld and the colourful characters that grace the Cabaret stage both on and off.

Now add the iconic musical with the amazing talents of the Zen Zen Zo physical theatre, and what you have is an intriguing re-interpretation, that leaves you captivated long after the curtains have been drawn. The Brechtian-styled production represents faithfully the lives of the main protagonists through narrative and song. Changes included boys in the Kit-Kat Club girls line-up, with sexual lines blurred, that add a tone to modern relevance.

Sandro Colarelli was magnificently cast in the Emcee role, portraying playful, sexual and menacing all with equal measure. He sang the opening Wilkommen stylishly dressed in his half black and white costume with a painted face, that I won’t deny was one of the most captivating opening sequences to a production that I had ever seen. His rendition of Tomorrow Belongs To Me just sent chills down my spine.

The attractive Matthew Hadgraft played the naive young American writer, Cliff Bradshaw, quite convincingly. While Zen Zen Zo members, Sam Plummer as Ernst, Jillian Geurts as Fraulein Schneider, Earl Kim as Herr Schultz and Krystal Hart as Fraulein Kost all gave solid, believable and show stealing performances.

Now some are probably wondering how was Emma Dean as Sally Bowles? I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed her take on the iconic character made famous by Liza Minelli. The girl brought her own interpretation of the character to the stage and made it her own.

With such a young cast, I was left utterly transfixed by the professionalism and talent that was displayed on stage. The one thing I found most brilliant about Zen Zen Zo’s Cababet was how as an audience it drew you in, rather then feeling like an onlooker, you felt part of the show.

This is a must see show, and a prime example of the amazing talent that Queensland is producing.

Zen Zen Zo’s Cabaret is performing at Cremorne Theatre, QPAC, South Bank, Brisbane.
Dates 4th to the 20th of August 2011.