DIRECTOR'S NOTE:
First let us say, if you like the Cabaret movie, you are about to have a very different experience.  We enjoy the movie, but find the musical much more engaging, deep, and involved.  It has much more for character depth, story strength, and social commentary. Cabaret is an interesting musical to work with because of its many incarnations and interpretations.  We tried to create an experience where the audience are guests in the Klub as they are presented the story (also why the girls play so many extra roles). We hope that our version appeals to you, and does justice to the versions before.
 
Choosing Sally. The character of Sally was originally meant to be an untalented performer 
who can’t sing (reason why she is in a seedy cabaret in Berlin). That poses a problem when your lead “can’t” sing in a musical. We chose, for the enjoyment of audience, to cast a talented Sally. Also, the trend has been to cast Sally as an older woman.  Sally is/was meant to be young 20’s to show her immaturity.  Our vision of Sally was to show that she is young, but has an air of worldly experience about her in order to balance some of Cliff’s naiveté.

Another fact, cabarets like the Kit Kat Klub were 3rd rate, and that is why the girls are supposed to be portrayed as unattractive and the bottom of the barrel.  Well, our girls are beautiful...deal with it!

Removing the popular songs was a difficult choice.  We put back “Why Should I Wake Up” 
(that was replaced by “Maybe This Time” for the movie) in order to give Cliff a chance to express the changes in his character, and his relationship with Sally.  Another reason, some of the popular songs were not included in the score or script (e.g. Mien Herr, & Maybe This Time).  And finally, sorry to say, was practicality. We needed to bring the time down from over 2 hours.
   
We would like to note that we see Cabaret as a relevant piece that calls people to consider injustices and prejudices in the world.  It is set during the rise of Nazi Germany, but that only stands as a backdrop to much more. We see this play as a commentary on how abuses of rights can create chaos and destruction on individuals and on society.  The musical is/was designed to call people to look around and ask “could this be happening here?”  It hopefully will cause people to look, see, and reflect if we have learned from past events to not allow them to happen again. This is expressed through the Emcee.  He represents all that Berlin was, and what it would become. In the end he reveals that he is tagged as a Jew (Star of David), a Sexual Deviant (Pink Triangle), and a Political Dissident (Red Triangle) all of which were unacceptable under Nazi rule. 
     
If you want a more in depth analysis of Cabaret, we found the chapter Inside Cabaret from Scott Miller’s book From Assassins to West Side Story (Heinemann Publishing, 1996), to be quite insightful, and true to what we have experienced Cabaret to be.