“Sex sells” is as true as it has always been, as last night’s sold-out premiere of Cabaret at the Hart House Theatre clearly demonstrates. Director Adam Brazier sticks close to the 1966 original (as opposed to the later movie) of the racy musical about a seedy cabaret in the politically-charged climate of late Weimar Berlin. American writer Clifford Bradshaw (Keenan Viau) goes to Berlin to finish (and first, to start) his novel, but he is sucked in by the allure of the energetic cabaret, where he meets and falls in love with British dancer Sally Bowles (Courtney Lamanna). Though Clifford is supposed to be a prudish American whose wild side has to be teased out, Viau and Lamanna were missing chemistry. As the seductress, Lamanna had a wonderfully expressive singing voice and played her part convincingly. However, as the designated irresistible man-eater, she is missing the subtle eroticism that distinguishes Scarlett Johansson from Katy Perry.

MAYBELLE LEUNG

But Michael-David Blostein as the emcee makes up for this. He led the night with flamboyant masculinity and, along the way, fleshed out the play’s political dimension, as his performance transitioned from carefree to harsh in parallel to the rise of the Nazi Party. The subplot of the romance between Jewish fruit-seller Herr Schultz (Don Berns) and Fraulein Schneider (Renee Stein) serves as a reality check on the bohemian bliss of the cabaret. Unlike Viau and Lamanna, Berns and Stein have great chemistry on stage, with his unfailing optimism set against her nervous cautiousness.

What starts out as a giant lingerie party where gender and intention don’t matter ends with a stage in ruins and the escapist illusion in tatters. The supporting cast captures the mad spirit of the seedy cabaret during “the end of the world” (Clifford’s description of his Berlin experience). With amusingly explicit choreography, all performed in outfits that surely made Northbound Leather a few bucks richer, the musical numbers were all delivered with great nuance and extravagance.

Cabaret runs until January 28 at the Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle.