In a musical-mad town such as ours, it can sometimes be tough for even a great show to stand out from the crowd. Not so Stray Dog Theatre's sultry Cabaret, one of the sexiest, dark yet ebullient shows to appear on a St. Louis stage in recent memory. Directed by Justin Been, the sinuous production was filled with splendid staging choices that played to the small theater's strengths. Kit Kat Girls and Boys snaked through the audience, serving drinks and giving audience members a play-within-a-play sense of being in an actual cabaret. But perhaps Been's most effective choice was to cast the inimitable Lavonne Byers in the typically male role of the emcee. Not only did the androgynous Byers suffuse numbers like "Two Ladies" with a potent sexual ambiguity, but her menacing presence also played seamlessly with the rest of the cast, whose members brought a vital and original energy to this beloved masterpiece.