"...And Darryl Maximilian Robinson handles the role of Nazi Ernst Ludwig with total success." -- Bill Spurgeon, Executive Editor of The Star Press, Enchanted Hills' 'Cabaret' Compelling, The Muncie Star of Muncie, Indiana, July 3, 1984.
When actors and actresses begin their training to become professional and lifelong artistic presenters of Their Craft, they are taught to truly and completely explore the breadth and width of their skills and talents. This has been the case since ancient times when the legendary solo performer Thespius broke away from the traditional Greek Chorus of Plays and chose to present his speeches as Monologues.
Despite the best efforts of stage and screen agents, casting directors, producers and promoters over centuries to "type" actors and actresses by Race, Physical Appearance and Demeanor ( frequently resulting in talented and skilled performers being deprived of roles and employment that they deserve ), a true interpreter of The Dramatic Arts has always been schooled to embrace this irrefutable fact: an actor or actress is solely limited by The Scope of Their Imagination and Their Talent! And for any true artist of The Craft of Acting to ignore this fact, is to be an artist who will never achieve complete and total satisfaction in their career or their work.
Enchanted Hills' 'Cabaret' Compelling
By BILL SPURGEON, The Star's Executive Editor, The Muncie Star of Muncie, Indiana, July 3, 1984.
SYRACUSE, Ind. "Cabaret," a stirring musical play about some ugly times in Germany 5 decades ago, is the current offering of the Enchanted Hills Playhouse east of here on Lake Wawasee. The show, based on the stories of John Van Druten and Christopher Isherwood about the people of Berlin at the beginning of the Third Reich, is, essentially, "a downer."
But Joe Masteroff's book, John Kander's music and Fred Ebb's lyrics are the sources of its redemption as enjoyable theater, topped off by an excellent cast and a firm directing hand.
Director Jeff Koep has put together a compelling production, catching the nuances of the story about an American writer who goes to Berlin where he becomes captivated by a cabaret performer.
The major subplots involve the use of the writer as an unwitting courier for the Third Reich, and the poignant love story of the writer's landlady and a German -Jewish merchant. Nancy Leigh Scoggins and Jeff Little are well placed as Sally Bowles and the American Clifford Bradshaw. Fraulein Schneider (the landlady) and Herr Schultz (the merchant) are convincingly played by Kathleen Hekl and Gerald Armstrong II. And Darryl Maximilian Robinson handles the role of Nazi Ernst Ludwig with total success.
With the exception of the haunting "Tomorrow Belongs To Me," the parodic "You Could See Her Now" and the title song, "Cabaret" has few songs with memorable names, but the music varies from the rollicking to the tear-eliciting, resulting in a captivating segment of excellent theater.
The play is well staged on the barn's small proscenium; the orchestra plays well; the performers move gracefully, and the costumes and properties are authentic to the period (unlike a Cabaret production this reviewer saw in Emens Auditorium a few years back, in which a bright neon sign flashing the word "MOTEL" was used as background; the play is set in a decade when the word had not yet come into use). Cabaret runs this week Wednesday through Sunday. Curtain time is 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 8:30 p.m.
In 1984, 39 summmers ago, your humble servant in The Theatre, Darryl Maximilian Robinson, chose to rise to the challenge of shattering a stereotype when he assumed the role of Nazi Ernst Ludwig in The Enchanted Playhouse of Syracuse, Indiana revival of Kander and Ebb's "Cabaret.'
In preparation to play this particular character role, your humble servant in The Theatre, read one of the most vicious, cruel and EVIL BOOKS ever written, "MEIN KAMPF."
Needless to say, after reading several of it's author's HATE-CRIMES driven views, after finishing less than half of the work, this actor was able to get the gist of who and what a Nazi was.
This actor was also blessed to earn multiple fine notices for his performance as Nazi Ernst Ludwig in "Cabaret."
"Success of this show at the barn theater east of Lake Wawasee lies in several factors: The performances of Stephen Monroe as the master of ceremonies, Jeff Little as Clifford Brandshaw, Darryl Maximilian Robinson as Ernest Ludwig, and certainly Kathleen Hekl and Gerald Armstrong II as Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz; director Jeffrey Koep’s firm hand at the tiller; the tautly-written script itself; and in no small measure the beautiful music and the way it is presented by the EHP production." -- Bill Spurgeon, Guest Reviewer, 'Cabaret' success at Enchanted Hills, The Mail-Journal of Syracuse, Indiana, July 4, 1984.
And he has never felt the need or the urge to portray a Nazi since.
A Chicago-born and stage-trained actor and play director, celebrating nearly 50 years of stage performances, and Founder, Artistic Director and Producer of both The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago and The Excaliber Shakespeare Company Los Angeles Archival Project, Darryl Maximilian Robinson was most recently named a winner of a 2022 Making The World Happening Award for his numerous online theatre-related offerings at Allevents.in during the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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