Come to the ‘Cabaret,’ old chum, at the Straz Center in Tampa

It’s been just over 50 years since “Cabaret” premiered on Broadway, but Andrea Goss says the show still surprises audiences.

“I think a lot of people know the movie, which is very different,” Goss said. “I think people are shocked by how relevant it is.”

Goss is beginning her second year playing Sally Bowles in the touring production of “Cabaret.” The tour comes to Tampa’s Straz Center for the Performing Arts for eight shows beginning on Tuesday.

The touring production is the 1998 Broadway revival co-directed by Sam Mendes (known to movie fans as the director of “American Beauty”) and Rob Marshall (who directed the film version of “Into the Woods”), which won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. It was one of the earliest Broadway musicals to use the now-popular approach of eschewing a pit orchestra and having the performers on stage play instruments.

Among the differences between the film and stage versions, Goss said, is that the stage version puts more emphasis on the political developments in Germany in 1930. Some audiences are taken aback when, in the second act, the story line turns toward the rise of the Nazi Party.

“It asks the question ‘How did it happen?’ ” she said. “How did the Nazi Party come to power? I think people are surprised by how relevant it is to some things that are happening in the world today.”

It’s still a musical, though, and it’s still entertaining. It’s witty and occasionally funny, and it has the Kander and Ebb songs everyone knows, including the title song, “Wilkommen” and “Maybe This Time.”

Details: Jan. 24-29, Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 1 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $47-$99, plus service charge. 813-229-7827, strazcenter.org.

This story was originally published January 18, 2017 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Come to the ‘Cabaret,’ old chum, at the Straz Center in Tampa."