- December 4, 2025
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Like several other arts groups in town, the Sarasota Players has become a mom-and-pop shop. With husband-and-wife Brian Finnerty and Amanda Heisey steering the creative ship, the community theater is skewing younger and edgier these days. Last summer, it leaned into sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll with Green Day's "American Idiot" musical.
This summer, Sarasota Players is producing "Cabaret," set in a seedy Berlin nightclub as the Nazis solidify their iron grip on Weimar Germany. First staged on Broadway in 1966, the Kander and Ebb musical gained broader audiences and Oscar gold with a 1972 film adaptation directed by Bob Fosse. The film starred Joel Grey as the Emcee and Liza Minnelli as the sultry singer Sally Bowles.
"Cabaret" has been revived several times on Broadway and the West End over the years, winning rave reviews and a Tony Award for Alan Cumming as the Emcee in 1998.
Even if you've never seen the musical or movie, you've heard the titular siren song:
What good is sitting alone In your room?Come hear the music play.Life is a Cabaret, old chum,Come to the Cabaret.
Unfortunately, the cheerful ditty has led to some misconceptions about "Cabaret." Finnerty, who stars as Sally in the Sarasota Players version, remembers the reaction of fellow theatergoers when she went to see Asolo Repertory Theatre's production in 2022.
"I didn't think it was going to be so dark," Heisey recalls a woman saying to her date. Evidently it was too dark because the couple decided to leave at intermission, she says.
Finnerty, who is directing Sarasota Players' "Cabaret," and Heisey don't want scare audiences away. In fact, they're having fun with the staging, doing the show on a circular stage surrounded by tables that act as a VIP section of the Kit Kat Club, where "Cabaret" takes place.
But with authoritarianism on the rise all over the world, the couple aren't shying away from the underlying theme of the show, namely that good times and complacency can pave the way for autocracy.
Based on the previous collaborations of Finnerty and Heisey, that ominous warning will be leavened with plenty of sexy singing and dancing, even within the restrictions of the Sarasota Players' temporary home in The Crossings at Siesta Key mall.
The couple recently sat down to talk about their vision for "Cabaret" at the Sarasota Players' costume shop on Tenth Street. The conference table for the meeting sat on top of the round stage that had yet to be transported across town. It was located in the middle of a two-floor warehouse bursting at the seams with props and costumes from previous productions by the community theater, which kicks off its 96th season in September.
According to Finnerty, the round stage was last used for the production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," during the community theater's 90th season in 2019. Back then the troupe was known simply as "The Players" and its home was at 838 N. Tamiami Trail, a theater across from the Municipal Auditorium that it sold.
In "Joseph," the round stage rotated, Finnerty says. However, this time it will remain stationary and a ramp will allow the Kit Kat Club performers to strut their stuff. To add to the nightclub ambience, there will be three VIP tables for two surrounding the stage. Those VIP seats, $150 each, include champagne and a charcuterie board from Pineapple Kitchen and chocolates.
Those VIP seats sold out early. Brian expects those ticket holders to show up in attire appropriate to a Berlin nightclub in the 1930s. "If not, we'll have costumes at the door that can help them dress the part," he says. "We'll have some fun little boas and such that they can throw on so they can be part of the story."
Brian says that those who have bought the VIP tickets have been told that they will "get played with a lot" during the show, which runs from July 31 through Aug. 10.
We'll try to avoid spoilers, but one mannequin that greeted a visitor when she walked in the front door of the costume shop was dressed in a filmy black dress covered with satin glove-like hands. Yowza! That's just one of many sexy outfits Sally Bowles wears in the show. "Each of the Kit Kat Club girls has six costume changes," notes Heisey.
About those costumes: They're the handiwork of Rebeca Arrigall-Watkins and Peter Centeno.
Those sitting at the VIP tables will no doubt be courted by Amy Gorman, the Sarasota Players' director of development, if they're not already donors. Let's face it, donors and volunteers make the arts possible, and nowhere is this truer than in community theater.
Performing come-hither song-and-dance is not a great leap for Heisey, a member of Hard Heart Burlesque who performs under the stage name Karma Kandlewick. She and Finnerty appeared together in various local productions for six years before Finnerty popped the question on stage after an August 2021 performance of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."
In that Dingbat Theatre Project production, Finnerty directed, choreographed and designed the costumes while Heisey played Yitzhak, a Jewish drag queen.
With the departure of Sarasota Players' artistic director, Steven H. Butler, in March 2024, the Finnertys, who married in January 2024, have taken a greater role in the community theater's creative direction under the leadership of CEO William Skaggs. However, they downplay this observation, noting it's a team effort at the Sarasota Players.
Finnerty's official title is production manager and Heisey serves as marketing and PR director, but they wear a variety of hats on and off the stage.
Finnerty and Heisey said they were initially thinking of putting "Rock of Ages" into their summer slot, given the success of last year's "American Idiot," which attracted a young, enthusiastic audience. "With college kids home from school, we try to do something a little more risque, a little raunchier than usual in the summer," Finnerty says.
Still, no one could accuse the Sarasota Players of not having fun and not appealing to young audiences during its regular season. Among the productions in their 2024-25 lineup were "Seussical: The Musical," "Little Women," "Fun Home" and "Into the Woods," whose set was decorated with greenery rescued from local neighborhoods following Hurricane Milton.
Finnerty and Heisey said they knew some performers they thought might be right for "Rock of Ages," a jukebox musical of 1980s heavy metal anthems, but changed their minds at the last minute. "Things kept happening in the world and we thought let’s do 'Cabaret,'" Finnerty says. "I think it’s probably the most important show we could do right now."
Pressed why he thinks "Cabaret" is fitting for the current political climate, he continued, "The whole piece is about reflection and mirroring the truth. It shows a lot of historic images of hate against people who are different. I think there’s a lot of that happening right now."
In some of its productions, the Sarasota Players seats the audience on three sides of the stage, but "Cabaret" seemed a natural for a theater-in-the-round production, Brian says.
The community theater is quite creative at using the shopping mall space that once housed a Banana Republic store as it waits to move into its permanent home in Payne Park. Renovations on the city-owned Payne Park Auditorium are expected to be completed by fall 2026, in time for the Sarasota Players' 97th season.
Theater in the round requires choreography and staging that keeps the show moving so that performers never have their backs to part of the audience for very long. Former dance kid Finnerty is always ready to tackle choreography. "Of course, I'm biased, but I love Brian's choreography," says Heisey. "We don't normally do things this dance-driven, and the Kit Kat Girls are killing it."
Finnerty's assisted in his "world-building" for "Cabaret" by Technical Director Scott Schuster and Assistant Technical Director Logan Junkins. Jason Ellis, assistant director of operations, is ready for any challenge that should arise during production. He also plays the Emcee in the show.
"Cabaret" has not one, but two music directors. William P. Coleman, who recently appeared in "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill" at Stageworks in Tampa, will be on stage playing piano. Meanwhile, in-house music director Heather Weiskerger will be handling music tracks that she recorded in advance. "They work really well together, so it's made for a really nice team," Finnerty says.
No matter the Sarasota Players production, audience members must be prepared for characters entering and exiting from different corners of the room. But they're given advance warning before the show not to stick their feet out in the aisle, lest they trip a performer. This is community theater, folks!
Finnerty uses the same qualifier in his spirited description of "Cabaret." "Yes, it's community theater, but we have a really solid group," he says. "They can sing, they can dance and they really care about the musical. It's going to be a really great show."
So what good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play...
