Randy Harrison doesn’t mince words about the political relevance of Cabaret in the era of U.S. President Donald Trump.
More than a decade after playing young gay man Justin in the TV series Queer as Folk, Harrison is finishing a year on the road in the touring production of the 2014 Broadway revival of Cabaret, with a final stop in Toronto from Feb. 14 to 19 at the Princess of Wales Theatre.
The musical’s message — about the dangers of complacency in an era of rising fascism and intolerance — is more important than ever, said Harrison, who plays the Emcee.
“The parallels are horrifying, obviously,” said Harrison, 39.
“I remember reading the Isherwood books (upon which the play is based) and they were talking about these Nazis on the streets like teenage frat boys and nobody took them seriously; they were like these idiots. And I was like, ‘oh my God, that’s how we’re thinking about Trump,’” he said.
“To watch somebody who’s motivating their political base by fear and hatred and deception, and using racism and religious intolerance to motivate people, it’s really, really scary.”
The musical, written in 1966, was based on the work of gay writer Christopher Isherwood, who lived in Berlin during the Weimar Republic era, a period of political upheaval and hyperinflation that preceded the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in 1933.
Harrison said the musical was originally meant to draw attention to the civil rights movement in the U.S. South and to remind people that the oppression of the black community there was a collective cause for alarm.
“The show is ultimately about the massive irresponsibility of being politically disengaged and thinking you can pretend these things don’t affect you when you’re part of an interdependent society and world,” Harrison said.
“John Kander (who wrote the music for Cabaret) says, ‘I wish the show would stop being so relevant,’ but it does not because it continues to be happening, especially in (the U.S.) right now.”
Harrison said he saw the 1998 Broadway revival, directed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall, three times and was deeply affected by it.
“But I never really thought of myself for the role at the time because obviously I was 20 years younger. And then when this revival tour was going out and I realized they were looking for an Emcee to do the tour, I thought ‘Oh my God, I’ve sort of aged into this role,’” he said.
Queer as Folk — most of which was filmed in Toronto — was a huge break for the novice actor, allowing Harrison to return to his first love, live theatre, after the series ended in 2005.
“It’s taken a while, but I think the farther I get away from (Queer as Folk), the deeper and deeper I understand what an enormous blessing it was having been part of a show that affected so many people,” Harrison said.
“I was very lucky. It wasn’t the most lucrative because theatre doesn’t pay that well, especially regional and off-Broadway stuff, but because of Queer as Folk I was really able to subsidize a different kind of career that most actors don’t get to,” Harrison said, noting he has been able to perform in works of such renowned playwrights as Samuel Beckett, Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams and Henrik Ibsen.
Coming back to Toronto for the end of the tour is going to be “insanely emotional, and so beautiful and kind of like a full circle moment,” he said.
The TV series was filmed between September and April, so Harrison said he’s used to Toronto winters and has happy memories of exploring College St., Queen St. W. and the city’s theatre scene.
“Mostly I remember the crew. We had such an amazing crew and I spent five years with these people day and night, and got to know them and their families. We had people getting married, we had people having children and I’m so excited to see them again,” Harrison said, noting many are coming to see Cabaret.
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