Cabaret Creative

Director

Denise Gilks

Denise is so excited to Cabaret, a bucket list show of hers! A graduate from Frostburg State’s Theatre & Dance program, Denise is a very active member of the local theatre scene. She spends a lot of her time at the Embassy as the newly retitled Business Manager, helping behind the scenes when she’s not on stage. Most recently, you could have seen Denise on stage for a change as Loretta in The Girl Who Loved the Beatles at the Embassy. When she is not on stage, she spends a lot of time directing and stage managing productions whenever she can. She recently directed Acting Out for Good’s production of “Disney’s Dare to Dream” and stage managed “Dearly Beloved” here at the Embassy. She thanks you for attending and helping us keep the arts alive in Cumberland!

Choreographer

Skylar Lane

Skylar is an actress, artist, and entrepreneur. She is a regular on and off the stage at the historic Embassy Theatre. Along with serving as the theatre’s Production Manager, Skylar frequents all facets of the creative process, filling roles such as choreographer, director, writer, graphic designer, stage manager, and performer. Skylar is a dance instructor for various local organizations, where she prioritizes creating accessible opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to participate in the performing arts.

Music Director

Al Hall

Al is excited to continue his fifth season at The Embassy leading the Kit-Kat Band in Cabaret! Favorite past roles include Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, Music Directing Heathers: The Musical, and Smudge in Forever Plaid. Al has a passion for preserving history through the candid lens of home movies, photos, and recordings. Outside of acting, you’ll find him playing all kinds of music from Funk & Soul to Steel Drums and Dixieland Jazz. He is a Composites Process Engineer at Northrop Grumman – ABL and holds degrees in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from West Virginia University. Al would like to thank this cast for making the job very easy in their preparedness, the band for turning around wonderful music so quickly, and Skylar, Denise & Tyler for allowing me to create this show alongside them. Enjoy the show… and as the story unfolds, please ponder “What Would You Do?”

Original Creative Team

Joe Masteroff

Born in 1919 in Philadelphia, Joe Masteroff had only one dream from infancy: to write for the theatre. After the essential lonely childhood and four-year stint in the Air Force, he came to New York to face his future: book writer or book seller? Luckily, luck intervened. Before long he had three shows on Broadway bearing his name: The Warm Peninsula starring Julie Harris, and two musicals, She Loves Me and Cabaret, for which he was the book writer. His other work included the libretto for 70, Girls, 70 and Desire Under The Elms and book and lyrics for Six Wives and Paramour. Thanks to indulgent parents, the New Dramatists, Hal Prince and many others, Joe Masteroff retired and lived in subdued luxury until his death in 2018.

John Van Druten

John William Van Druten (June 1, 1901 – December 19, 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observations of contemporary life and society.

Christopher Isherwood

Christopher Isherwood was a novelist, playwright, screen-writer, autobiographer, and diarist. He was homosexual and made this a theme of some of his writing. He was born near Manchester in the north of England in 1904, became a U.S. citizen in 1946, and died at home in Santa Monica, California in January 1986.

John Kander

John Kander is a Tony, Emmy and Grammy-winning composer, a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors Award, and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. With frequent collaborator Fred Ebb, he composed the score to dozens of Broadway musicals, including Cabaret, Zorba, Chicago, The Act, Woman of the Year, The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Steel Pier. Read more…

Fred Ebb

Fred Ebb (1933–2004) was an award-winning lyricist, librettist and director who frequently and successfully collaborated with composer John Kander. Ebb's work for the theatre included Flora, The Red Menace; Cabaret; The Happy Time; Zorba; 70, Girls, 70; Chicago; The Act; Woman of the Year; 2x5; The Rink; And The World Goes Round - The Kander and Ebb Musical; Kiss of the Spider Woman; and Steel Pier. His film work included Cabaret; Norman Rockwell: A Short Subject; Lucky Lady; New York, New York; Funny Lady; Kramer vs. Kramer; A Matter of Time; Places in the Heart; French Postcards; Stepping Out, and the 2003 Academy Award winner for best picture, Chicago. For television, Ebb wrote Liza with a Z; Goldie and Liza Together (starring Goldie Hawn and Liza Minnelli); Ol' Blue Eyes is Back (starring Frank Sinatra); Baryshnikov on Broadway; An Early Frost; and Liza in London. His last projects included a musical version of The Skin of Our Teeth and Curtains, with book by Rupert Holmes. Ebb also provided additional material for the updated script of Rodgers & Hart's By Jupiterand additional lyrics for the 1997 TV remake of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. Read more…