As John Kander & Fred Ebb ready their new Steel Pier for Broadway, their 1966 classic Cabaret continues as a regional theatre perennial. Alaska's Perseverance Theatre will open their production Jan. 17.

Director Anita Maynard-Losh has taken a play-within a-play approach to the material, which she points out is very different from the famous Bob Fosse movie. By having the Cabaret characters band together to put on a play, Maynard-Losh can also cut the show's 36 characters into a manageable 14.

Maynard-Losh has said she hopes this Cabaret will give the audience "a musical with guts. It's clearly not...The Music Man. It's racy, sexy and full of great signing, music and dancing."

Maynard-Losh said she finds her inspiration for the production in the paintings of George Grosz, whose expressionism captured the "chaos and degeneration" of 1930s Berlin. "His lines weren't straight and even, they were off kilter -- like the world."

Costumer Katie Jensen and designer Art Rotch are using those guidelines for their work on the piece. Shari Kochman choreographs. The 14-member Perseverance cast includes Tery Kelly as the Emcee, Beth Cline as Sally Bowles, Eric Brown as Cliff, Karen Cross as Fraulein Schneider, Rick Bundy as Max and Matt Reckard as Herr Schultz. Also performing will be Ellery Lumbab, Roz Koester, Alanna Malone, Diane Anderson, Summer Koester, Dave Reimer, Brennan Halterman and Ryan Spady.

Songs, by composer Kander and lyricist Ebb, include "Wilkommen," "Don't Tell Mama," "Two Ladies," "Perfectly Marvelous" and "Tomorrow Belongs To Me." The book, by Joe Masteroff, is based on Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories and the John van Druten play, I Am A Camera.

For tickets and information on Cabaret, which is recommended for mature audiences, call (907) 364-2421.

--By David Lefkowitz