First opening on Broadway in 1966, “Cabaret” is probably most well known as the 1972 film version directed by Bob Fosse and starring Joel Grey as the Emcee and Liza Minelli as Sally Bowles. All long legs and bowler hats, the film features that iconic Fosse look and musical numbers from Kander and Ebb—the songwriting team that brought us the musical “Chicago” and Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”

But Seacoast Repertory Theatre’s current run of the show is not your father’s “Cabaret.” Unless, of course, your dad happens to be Billy Butler.

Produced and directed by the Rep’s artistic director Craig Faulkner, “Cabaret” features several interwoven stories. We have young American writer Cliff Bradshaw (Alec James), who meets up with helpful German Ernst Ludwig (Chris Bradley) on a Berlin-bound train on New Year’s Eve in the early 1930s. Ernst sets Cliff up, getting him a place to stay at Fraulein Schneider’s (Cathy McKay) and recommending he check out the local burlesque hotspot, Berlin’s Kit Kat Club. There he meets Sally Bowles (Christine Dulong) and their lives become intertwined during the rise of the Nazi party in Germany.
The relationship that develops between Sally and Cliff is counterbalanced by Fraulein Schneider’s romance with Herr Schultz (Bill Humphreys), the timid proprietor of a nearby fruit shop. When it becomes clear that what the Nazis represent can no longer be ignored, all of the lovers must come to terms with their own relationships to money, power and each other.

This production takes inspiration from the 1993 London and subsequent Broadway revivals of “Cabaret,” both starring Alan Cumming as the Emcee. Faulkner’s direction makes excellent use of the space, blending the theater space with the world of the club. Before the start of the show, as audience members found their seats, dancers stretched beside the railings, bantering in German and chatting up spectators. Dissolving this fourth wall makes the audience part of the show, creating an opportunity for spectators to connect their own desires for escape through entertainment with the characters.

Deftly navigating the audience through these spaces is Billy Butler as the Emcee. Known for standout performances in Seacoast Rep productions of “The Rocky Horror Show” and “Batboy,” Butler is back from New York City where he’s prepping his “Gay Bride of Frankenstein” for a 2012 off-Broadway premiere. From the very first number, “Wilkommen,” Butler sings, dances and, yes, goose-steps in his garters, proving once again why he’s one of the Seacoast’s signature showmen. He makes the entirety of the theater his stage, dancing in the aisles, pulling audience members into the act and, when he’s not directly in the action, commenting on it from above—a one-man glittery-nippled Greek chorus. Butler’s Emcee asks the viewer to acknowledge his or her own relationship with entertainment as an escape, most notably in the final scene.

Christine Dulong, fresh off her role as Dorothy in Prescott Park’s production of “Wizard of Oz,” is a knockout as Sally Bowles, evolving from sweetly manipulative and charming when she first meets Cliff to simmering with barely-contained anger in her main number, “Cabaret.” Dulong’s “Maybe this Time” is also fantastic.

Less believable in this production is the relationship between Sally and Cliff. He’s played far too conservatively to imagine that Sally would be with him for any reason other than that he gives her a place to hang her coat and a cup in which to mix her prairie oysters. To paraphrase Fraulein Schneider’s number, the chemistry left me saying “So What?”

Other standouts in the show are local favorite Bill Humphreys, whose sweetly understated Herr Shultz is wonderful in his duet with McKay in “It Couldn’t Please Me More.” Who knew a song about produce could be so entertaining? Butler’s “Two Ladies” and all of the Kit Kat Club dance numbers are toe-tappingly fun, served up with high energy and a brassy bawdiness supported by the band, led by musical director William Asher.

The choreography and costuming for “Cabaret” is spot-on, and a tip of the hat goes to the dancers for authentically embodying the seedy decadence of the ’30s, some even going so far as to sport actual scratches and hand prints.

While thoroughly entertaining, “Cabaret” demands that its audience consider the impact of entertainment at any cost. After the wild applause died down at the end of the show on opening night, an audience member remarked, “Well, that was depressing.”

Don’t miss your chance to say “Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome” to “Cabaret,” running through Oct. 23 at the Seacoast Repertory Theater, 125 Bow St., Portsmouth, 603-433-4472. For more information, visit www.seacoastrep.org.