The sun's rising
The coffee's back in
It wouldn't be more than it
Without dough and frozen
WRJN
What good is sifting
Alone in your room
Come hear the music play
Life is a cabaret
Don't jump
Come to the cabaret
Put down the knitting
But put down the broom
Time for a holiday
Life is a cabaret
Don't jump
Come to the cabaret
Now why are we playing cabaret
Because it's coming to UW Parkside
May starts May 1st
And I've got the director here
Like I put it all together
Fred Olson, thanks for joining us
Before we get into the show cabaret
I want a little bit about you
What made you a big theater
Because you came from
Why not North Dakota
Which I can't imagine
Of the abundance of theater
There might be some local community theater up there
Yeah, there's a professional summer stock
That's owned by the university
But the theater bug bit me
I was a senior in high school
And I did a spoof of
Yeah, my high school drama teacher
Cornered me and said, hey, can you do a Scottish accent
And I said kind of
Yeah, I could
I was never able to act in my high school
We tried out for, I think, 12 angry men
I forget what it was
And I got on stage
And I tried to read it
And I couldn't
Sound like I was reading
And so I became the stage director for four years
In high school
Stage manager, I couldn't act
I don't know how you guys remember lines
Yeah, it's a challenge, it can be a challenge
I can't remember local news and timeless hits
It has to be typed in front of me
I can't remember it
I can't remember the weather, I just read it 10 times already
Is there a trick to memorizing a whole script?
A lot of it is wrote memorization
Just over and over
But it helps to know what the character wants
You know why they're saying that the motivations can happen
I know the old motivations
Yeah, the motivations
The thing I never understood about that is
If you screw up one line, the person who asked the line after you
Doesn't know when to come in
Yeah, I mean, so you're responsible for their bad
But for the they look like horrible performers
Because you didn't read the right line
They didn't know what, oh man
Takes a village
Takes a village to put on a show
Absolutely
Okay, so from my not North Dakota
You went right to the theater
District of the world, Broadway
There were a few pit stops
Yeah, I went to grad school at Grand Forks in North Dakota
And then didn't get enough grad school there
So I went to Western Illinois and Illinois
So you came to Midwest, okay
Yes, yeah, mm-hmm
And then you went, it's a future shock to go from North Dakota to New York City
Trust me, I know
Yeah, it was a little different
A lot of people
Did you get involved in any productions there on Broadway?
So I did, not on Broadway
I did more film in TV acting when I was in New York
Oh, okay
And then, you know, when you're in New York
It's sort of a joke that everyone in the Midwest wants to hire you
So that's where I did more theater
I lived in New York and would fly out here in direct shows
I've seen so many movies filmed in New York
I mean, I was sitting at Central Park West one day
And I'm waiting for somebody
And I see this signed Palantine for president
And I say, and I see camera and I have that film
It's in political, they film commercials all the time
You see it all the time
And I see people scoring around
About six or seven months later
And I'm watching the review of this movie
And I see Palantine for president
They see Palantine for president
And I've seen that somewhere
I don't know, it was taxi driver
With Robert Jeniro
They were filming it right there
But Jeniro was not a star at the time
Right
So my father was blocked in traffic
While they're filming Ghostbusters and Manhattan ones
And he's cursing them out
Because he's got to get to an appointment
And they're blocking the streets with Ghostbusters
And the music, Candor and Ab
I mean, you can't beat the music from Cabaret
The subject matters to the little strange
It takes place during Nazi Germany
In the Nazi days in Berlin
And it's kind of a CD musical
The people are CD, the whole thing is kind of
But the song just so great, the story is good too
It's got a good ending to it too
And I can't stop thinking when I think of Cabaret
I don't think of Jill Hayworth who did the Broadway show
I think of Liza Manelli
Liza Manelli
You can't unsee her
Her take on the role of Sally is iconic
In that movie version
And she plays the desperate clown so well
And that's been something that we've talked about
And developing this piece is like
Well, okay
These are student performers
And they are also aware of these iconic performances
But you know how to make it their own
Our own version of Sally
That grace is performing
I interviewed Jill Gray once
And he had a movie coming up
Man on a string or something
But I wanted to talk about Cabaret
Because he was in the Broadway show
And went over to the movie
Which is kind of, it's not what doesn't always happen
And he didn't want to talk about it
He said, we're going to movie to talk about
I said, let's mention Cabaret
I want to talk about the movie
He was over it
I saw him backstage with my dad
Was doing some work with the plumbing at the palace theater
And he was just going back there
And I mentioned, I'm going to talk about Georgia
I want to talk about Man on a string
Okay, just a moment
We're going to get all the details on Cabaret
I'm going to tell you the plot
Where you get tickets from
And we're going to play some more music
And it's beginning to love Cabaret
At UW Park Top
What's the name of the theater?
It's the Rita
The Rita Talent Pickens performing art center
I can never remember that
Parkside, a parking galore
You don't have to worry about parking
And the whole campus is nothing but parking
And I've been to that theater, it's a really beautiful theater
It is, it's gorgeous
Mama
Thanks I'm living in a convert
As a cluded little convert
In the southern part of France
Mama
Doesn't even have an inkling
But I'm working in a nightclub
In a pair of lacy pants
So please sir
If you run into my mama
Don't reveal my indiscretion
Give a working girl a job
Don't tell mama
One of the great songs from Cabaret
Brett Olson is here, director of Cabaret
At the Rita Theater at UW Parkside
Right next to
Rustic Springs
Right there
In that general area in Canosia
We'll get off it
J-R
The other direction
E-R-A
So Cabaret, now how do you, how do you find the lead people for this
You have to sing, you have to dance, you have to act
It's the hat trick, you gotta know how to do it
The triple threat, you know, the audition process
Was pretty thorough, they came in, you know, they had a few songs
So they had to prepare and then we had callbacks
With all of the music from the show
And then there was a dance callback and an acting callback
And it all took several hours
And a couple sleepless nights on my part
Did you ever worry, I'm not gonna find my Sally Ball
I'm not gonna find her
I'm not gonna find her, what am I gonna do
I have to get a way to do it myself
No, I don't worry at all
I just, you know, it just call
No, no, no, no, no, no
The creative process is easy
This is motoring city over here
Popping motoring so
Was it easy to find local talent to fulfill that?
Well they're all college students at Parkside
And so the students are insanely talented
Working so
Yeah, the process was pretty clear by the end of it
Why cabaret? Now, but people don't know
This is taking place during the Nazi regime in Berlin, Germany
Through the end of the war
And it was troublesome to get some of those people to wear the swastika
Because when they, when it was at the received theater guild
They had to wear it there and it's kind of a
It'll trouble me to wear one
It's troubling, but it's a key part of the story
And, you know, we've spoke with the students and made sure that they felt
Like that was something they could confidently do
And it wouldn't, you know, harm them in any way
And yeah, there wasn't true
And it appears several times in design elements in the costumes and set design
Yeah
So, why cabaret though? Why not some nice little fluffy musical
With daffodils
Well, you know, cabaret starts really fluffy
You know, the first hour of it is very entertaining song-and-dance
The whole movie is entertaining song-and-dance
And it is
It's all entertaining, that's the point
But the harshness of the reality that they live in takes a second
Because it's this club, a basement club with this beautiful show happening
The Kit Kat club
While Berlin is sort of struggling around them
With the Nazi influence
But the show was actually chosen before I was hired on it, UW Parkside
Because this is my first year, so I was sort of hired to direct it
So I can't super comment on why they selected it other than
It's always a timely piece
Because it always reminds people regardless of what's going on around them
When do they, when do they say no enough is enough?
And how do they decide what they will accept
And it's not always happy times in this
It's a little down, but it's such a great musical
Every song is a winner
Absolutely
Misi Kites, one of my favorite ones
It's beautiful, I love the whole of it
Yeah, they're all good
Now, one of the ladies who comes in here from the received theater guild is
Jocelyn
Fish
And she, I found out, is the assistant director for cabaret, huh?
Yes, she absolutely is
Who knew that was even taken place?
Yeah, she's, Jocelyn's been great
She's even as part of her assistant directing project
She's staged a few of the scenes
So she has some ownership over some of these moments too
So the cast says, well, Brett's had to do it this way Jocelyn said he didn't know he's talking about it
You're going to do it this way
Yeah, that's our dynamic for sure
That's tough to work with
Well, it is the easy if they, if you're both on the same page all the time
Absolutely
And we pretty much are, but Jocelyn's been fantastic
Now, the sets, the design, that's another tough thing we do
Now, you have a stage where the curtain that can come down and so forth at the guild, they don't have that
I mean, they, everything's got to be done in front of the audience
So, it was a little easier for you
Who does all the sets set designing?
So, Jodie Seacus designed this set
Oh, Seacus, she's the one who sent me this, okay
Yeah, it also sends you a blurb there
He's the resident scenic designer and the professor at Parkside
And he did a beautiful job, the concept is that it's sort of this interior circus-like space with fabrics flying in and out
And we make good use of the fly system
Yeah, we'll see that's something you have too
Yeah, it benefits you
And do the students do all the work, the craftsmanship on all the sets and everything?
Yeah, the vast majority of it
We have a few employees that faculty and staff that lead the efforts
But it's pretty much that we're really huge on the company model at Parkside
Everybody learns a little bit of how to do everything in addition to acting and stage managing
And the public in tickets says, because this, I love cabering
And again, if you've never seen the movie or the stage show before, you gotta see it
It's just, you get to just sucked into the whole atmosphere of this show
And the music is, every song is a winner, there's no losers
When I went through the cast album to pick a song, I went, they're all good
Which one am I gonna pick?
Some are a little more down than others, but
And then you get to the big finale, the big cabaret song that everybody knows
So how do you get tickets?
At the fastest ways to go to uwp.edu slash the Rita
Real slow again
uwp.edu slash the Rita
And that's R-I-T-A
That'll take you to the box office website
You can also call us at 262-595-256-4
And could you physically enter the box office? Is it open?
Yeah, you can physically enter the box office
10 to 2 p.m. usually
Okay, yeah
If students are there?
Yeah
All right, everyone, take your money
They will, they will take your money
Take a price as nice and
Yeah, they're very affordable
Like Hamilton, where's $2,000 a seat on Broadway?
Definitely not, definitely not
It's $20 for it
Excellent, excellent, that's good
Because I can't believe some of the prices on Broadway
Now people are paying
Yeah
I said Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on Broadway years ago
And it was $125 a ticket
For Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on Broadway
And that's a low-ball price now
Yeah, that's just, that's a night out, you know?
Yeah
People are packing those theaters those prices
And when you go on, you know,
Tripped in New York City, money's no object
Yeah, when you live there, it's a little different
You're like, okay, I need a budget
He's an object, money's the big object
Well, this is great, now it's just your first
Directorial job at the Parkside
Yeah, it is, yeah, so I just started Parkside this year
So this is my first time directing at Parkside
How long is the run of Cabaret?
May 1st through
May 10th
May 10th
So there's six performances
Friday, Saturday, night, and then a Sunday, Matt and A
Both weekends
It's almost sad, you put all that work into it
And six performances
Yeah, we try to stretch it out over two weekends
But that's the nature of theater, yeah
And it's a voice for you after this
It was something else lined up after this
Yeah, I'm directing a couple musicals in Colorado this summer
Oh, you're going to go to Shlup the Colorado now
Yeah, Shlup out to Steamboat Springs
Okay
Also, you're just bags are always packed
Pretty much, yeah
Well, good for you
Thanks
Yeah, the radio's the same way
I'm no different, I went all over the country to
The wind up here
Yeah
So it's no deer
Well, this is just great
One more time, let's talk about Cabaret
Cabaret is playing at the Rita Theater
And that is at UW Parkside
It starts May 1st, runs through May 10th
Six performances, see about a hurry up
And you can go to the website which is
UWP.edu
That EDU slash the Rita
That's R-I-D-A
Did you take us that way or call the box office phone number again?
262-595-256-4
You have that written down somewhere?
Yeah, I do
I think I'm looking down
In my lap
I know you're looking down here
Cheater
I have right in front of me
Yeah, I just keep writing in front of me
Well, that's great
Now, if you missed any of our chitchat
We will podcast this later today
And you're able to hear it all again
I wish you luck
Be safe out there with those travels, okay?
Yeah, I will
What show are you doing up in Colorado?
Wonderland
It's an Alice in Wonderland musical
And then a Disney review
Well, good for you
Thanks
Thanks for watching everybody
Capriate UW Parkside may first through the 10th
You don't want to miss it
Thanks again for coming in