What good is sitting alone in your room?

Come hear the music play!

Life is a cabaret, ol’ chum and the sooner you realize that the better because things can change.

The Kit Kat Club is open in Langley and everything there is beautiful, as they say in the show. The entertainers are beautiful, the music is beautiful, even the orchestra is beautiful.

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts transports audience members to 1929 Berlin on the eve of the Nazi uprising with the musical “Cabaret” opening at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 8 and running through June 23.

Based on the 1946 book “The Berlin Stories” by Christopher Isherwood, director Ned Farley has chosen a version of the script that remains true to the gritty rawness captured by Isherwood, with lyrics by Fred Ebb and music by John Kander.

All versions of the script are based on the original play, “I Am a Camera,” by John Van Druten, who used the book as a starting point.

The play went on to inspire a film with the same title and eventually the Tony Award-winning stage musical and the famous musical film “Cabaret.”

The director

This is the third experience with “Cabaret” for Farley, who said he is drawn to plays that have a social or political context.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work off the 1987 revised script, which recaptured the feel of the original ‘Berlin Stories’ where we can see the openness and untainted nature of the city begin to be eroded by the social and political movement that became the Nazi regime,” Farley said.

He also said that while he won’t pass up the opportunity to direct a play just for fun, he is more likely to want to find a connection with a topic and plumb the script for ways to portray its message for a contemporary audience.

“In my opinion, we are living in a time period in history where the atrocities of Hitler are similar to present activities in many parts of the world,” said Farley. “Unfortunately, the nationalism of Germany during the emergence of the Nazi party is not that far adrift from what we are seeing unfold in the U.S. today. I fear that the apathy and/or naivete of many in our country is providing fertile ground for a re-emergence of such ‘nationalism’ and its consequences which include the use of fear as a repressive tool, casting the ‘other’ as the enemy and the slow erosion of rights.”

Juxtaposed with the issues of the slow infiltration of hatred by the Nazis and how it taints the lives of common, unassuming Berliners is the nightly shenanigans that play out in the local cabaret, the Kit Kat Club. The dancers and singers who perform there might as well be living out an illusory dream, seemingly unaware of the catastrophic wave that is rolling toward them.

The choreographer

Kathryn Sandy O’Brien plays Fraulein Schneider, a boarding house owner who falls into a doomed romance with a Jewish man.

O’Brien is also the choreographer for the production. She talked about her experience with the process of creating movement for the Kit Kat Club dancers.

“Watching a group of dancers bond and become a unit is probably the most exciting thing that can happen in a production like ‘Cabaret,’ which would be so much less without them,” she said.

O’Brien is well cast as the choreographer for a show like “Cabaret.”

Her approach is direct and reflective of the raw realism that Farley is after in creating a nightclub atmosphere littered with a rag-tag bunch of bohemian Germans and exiles of disparate ages who are desperate to perform in order to survive.

“My approach is tongue-in-cheek; sexy but amusing with layers in between,” said O’Brien. “I would like the audience to wonder who these dancers are and how they get to this place. I would also like them to experience the seduction of youth and perhaps a glimpse of how one can sink to this level of survival by selling off parts of their souls for a few marks and sequins.”

The musical director

Kira Keeney stars as protagonist Sally Bowles, the headliner of the club, who seeks refuge from her personal struggles and the darkening world around her by immersing herself in the decadent life of a cabaret diva.

Keeney also was given the tricky task of being the musical director for the show which she sees as a challenging yet rewarding experience.

“It’s been a really interesting process,” Keeney said.

“There are so many versions of the score for this show which have been developed, revised and adapted many times. I wanted to find the versions that we could adapt to match Ned’s vision. I think we’ve managed to put together a superb version,” she said.

The orchestra, led by Chris Harshman, has had to be very flexible and adaptable during the rehearsal process; a necessity for such a complex score. Keeney is astounded by the band’s abilities and is eternally grateful for their talent.

“The band has been just wonderful,” said Keeney.

It is not an easy thing to convey the ugliness and oppression of pre-war Germany when dramatic scenes are mingled with singing and dancing.

But Farley is determined to do it and seems to be challenging island audiences to step out of their comfort zone and face the sometimes harsh but ultimately beautiful music of awareness.

“In my mind, ‘Cabaret’ serves up the message to ‘watch out’ loud and clear,” Farley said.

This play is recommended for adult audiences. Parental discretion is advised.

“Cabaret” plays at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 8-23, and 2 p.m. Sundays, June 10 and 17. Call 221-8268 or visit www.WICAonline.com for tickets and information.