I saw Cabaret with Joel Grey and Lotte Lenya when I was about 12. That bit when you walk in the theater and see the audience reflected in a mirror, and then you see yourselves again when the MC says see, you forgot your troubles, you had a good time, knowing the horrible things you'd just watched was one of the most striking I've had in theater.
I’ve never been fortunate enough to have seen a stage version of this, but I grew up on Fosse’s film. Liza is so iconic in the part of Sally-her vulnerability breaks your heart, even as her deliberate obliviousness to everything going on around her infuriates you. “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” just chills me to the bone, made even worse by the fact that it is a great song turned into a monstrous anthem by who sings it. I have made up entire backstories to the one elderly man in that beer garden who does NOT join in the singing.
I was lucky to see a touring production with Joel Grey, but I was so young and swoony/overwhelmed being so near him that the depth of the play didn’t fully penetrate… years later when I watched the movie and understood it, I wanted so bad to experience the stage show again!
Do try and see it live. It’s almost totally different from the film. If you think that Sally Bowles is heartbreaking ,(she gets on my nerves) then you’ll be an emotional wreck at seeing the main two characters (IMHO) the elderly couple being ripped apart. The stage musical doesn’t belong to the younger characters but the older ones! The love story between Fräulein Schneider and Herr Shultz is sweet but doomed to end in horror 😢 It was criminal how the film moved the emphasis away from the elderly couples love story to the Ménage à trois going on between the three younger people. It took away the heart of the musical! 🎵 🎵🎵🎵BUT SO WHAT🎵🎵🎵
I’ve worked on a couple of professional rep theatre runs of Cabaret, every night being back stage working on the next production, with the tannoy on, so that I heard the whole show through every night. Even now, 20 years later, I know that script by heart! (And also the show Guys and Dolls) Cabaret’s a great musical, but any cast needs plenty of charisma… or the show’s a stinker, because then you don’t care what happens to them!
@@Blaize24 I saw him in High School for an after school trip, it was my first Broadway Show and remains one of my favorite Broadway productions. He was so engaging with the audience. Emma Stone was supposed to play Sally but people were upset when her understudy played her instead. I actually liked it more because the understudy was British, and even more because it really allowed Alan Cumming to shine without the celebrity part taking over (he of course is a celebrity, but it takes a back seat to his actual talent.) It felt like the right amount of gritty and in some ways felt like it really took us back in time not as much to Pre War Berlin, as Broadway in 1966, the original Broadway production. It felt like you were watching something truly monumental.
@@matthewcole4753 It was Michelle Williams when I saw it but was absolutely a time machine kind of experience. And Alan Cumming was, of course, simply brilliant. I love Joel Grey's Emcee, but Alan's is the one that speaks the most to me.
Cabaret is my favorite musical ever. I was in the pit of it for my high school's production in early 2020. We did the 1993 version and did not censor anything and I know the drama teacher got quite a few angry emails but I'm so glad we (in my opinion) did it justice and respected the work. It was a great experience for me and due to both that and the excellence of the show's themes I will always love it.
I’m glad hear high school students got the opportunity to do something like that. I was a theater kid stuck in a football centric high school in the south, and we got in trouble for suggestions projects like Cabaret and Rent.
i got to work on a production of cabaret in 2018 in a theater that could fit maybe 60 people. to me, that's always going to be the definitive cabaret - tiny theater, grand piano on the stage that we could not move, no orchestra, instruments played by the actors and cobbled together from the cast's own collections. the piano became cliff's typewriter and the light booth became our backstage area. i couldnt tell you if the production was incredible or not, but im definitely not going to forget the experience nor the chills i got every time the lights went out after ludwig slammed the audience door in the finale
I saw the new production in London with Amy Lennox as Sally. The entire immersive experience , the audience/cast interactions were just brilliant. It's not just seeing a musical, it was an evening out at a club with a performance. As much as I love the movie, I prefer the darker, grittier verson. It's just an incredible experience.
While I do not consider myself a fan of musicals , I have been fortunate enough to catch a touring performance of “Cabaret “ and it truly is a remarkable piece of theatre/art. I left the performance in silence at the end. It’s sad to see the world repeating its hideous history.
Another great documentary from you. I was in the Prince production of Cabaret on Broadway and tour with Joel Gray for three years and you listed facts even we did not know. Thank you.
This is a wonderful exploration of one of my all-time favorite musicals. It's exciting to see how modern productions continue to find new magic in Cabaret, but it's also good to reflect on what's been lost along the way. We've become so focused on celebrating the queer elegance of the Kit Kat Klub that we've forgotten it was originally an indictment of a mostly middle-class audience watching it in 1966. Kander and Ebb's "What Would You Do?" is as relevant now as it was then. Thank you also for giving Jean Ross her due. I've often suspected that "Sally Bowles" was mainly a self-portrait. In real life, it was Jean Ross who had the good sense to get out and Isherwood who was living in denial. By the way, let's not forget one of the best Isherwood stories about Cabaret (maybe apocryphal, but fun anyway): he was somehow dragged to see the musical and was asked if it was accurate. "Not in the least," he said. "I've never f****d a woman in my life." This channel deserves an audience. Thank you so much.
In 2012 I directed the play 'I Am A Camera'. It's a really good play and I had a wonderful cast. I read Isherwood's books and researched his life. He was a fascinating man indeed. Our production won several awards and it remains one of the plays of which I'm most proud.
That trapezoidal mirror at 10:32 also appears in “Springtime for Hitler” from the Mel Brooks musical, The Producers. And it just helped me realize the multiple layers of satire.😮🤯😂
Like all great theatre, Cabaret´s themes are universal enough to be reimagined a 1000 times. yet keep fascinating each new generation. And this little documentary brilliantly explores how and why. Well done, sir.
Excellent summation. I was 8 when the movie "Cabaret" opened, and the ads on TV and in the newspaper had me transfixed! I knew it was 'naughty' and I knew I wanted to be a part of it!
I was lucky enough to see the west end production in March 2023 and have not stopped thinking about it since. This is a crazy good show, literally life-changing.
My father told me about this when I was a kid. He saw it in Boston and again when it came to New York, and he said they had changed that line (from If You Could See Her), apparently it was too much. I was always glad they put it back into the film. It’s so powerful.
Thanks for this fascinating history of such an iconic classic. I would love to have seen the various stage revivals - but I was lucky to see Joel Grey in a touring revival in the 90s.
Words cannot express how much I want to see the current West End production. I will just have to spend all my wages on it one day, I think it’s worth it.
This was a fabulous video! Thank you for all the detailed information of the various versions! I’ve only seen the movie, and the portrayal of the rise of the Nazis shakes me to my core every time I see it. The version where the emcee is in concentration camp clothes at the end really struck me as what would happen to the character irl.
I saw Mason Alexander Park in Cabaret in London and they were exceptional. From the other clips of actors I've seen performing as the Emcee, none of them have captured the androgyny of the Emcee as well as them.
It always irritates me when people say that Liza Minelli's Sally was way too talented and would never have ended up in a sleazy club singing for pay, or "slumming" as you put it here. All you have to do is watch any reality singing show like American Idol or The Voice to see that sooooo many really talented people never make it big. Even the winners of those contests most often never get big or famous. I've always felt Liza's Sally is so self-destructed, childish, and deluded that she'd never hit the big time without totally screwing it up. And Liza's so perfectly wonderful in the role, singing/acting-wise, that I've always felt she's meant to embody the spirit of an age more than a real person, if that makes any sense, any more so than the Emcee is a "real" person. All that's to say, for all those Liza nay-sayers (including Hal Prince, who put the kibosh on her getting cast in the original stage play)--give it a rest! Liza is wonderful in the role in what is, for me, a perfect movie.
I was thinking this too. You need a lot of luck to get famous and that’s why lots of great performers never get their big break. So in that way I think it works to have good singers play sally and even more sad because in that context she knows she has the chops for stardom and that’s why she stays in Berlin
Yeah, that's how I always interpreted it when someone brings up the criticism that Liza was miscast as Sally. Film Cabaret is practically a reinterpretation of the stage version and Liza's Sally is merely another interpretation of her. Another interesting interpretation I've heard about film Sally is that her incredible singing is merely how she thinks she sounds in her head
What an illuminating and entertaining investigation of the cultural phenomenon we call Cabaret. The way that it has undergone so many alterations and reinterpretations, from the original source material created by Isherwood in his stories about Weimar Berlin, is a truly fascinating story in itself, and also illustrates the way that art is continually adapting to the times in which it is made. I loved Isherwood's stories, which were in themselves adapted from reality, not least in the way he presented himself. That 'I am a camera' business was a pretence, an attempt to give his stories a journalistic, objective quality; in truth, he vigorously engaged with the opportunities that the city offered to people of 'his kind'. As a young gay man. the atmosphere in Britain at that time for the generation that had just missed being slaughtered in the Great War was dour and oppressive, without any possibility of sexual liberation. Berlin, on the other hand, was then probably the most sexually permissive place in the entire world, a reputation that drew Isherwood like a moth, to go there, and enjoy, at least for a period, a life of sexual hedonism, without constant fear of being exposed, stigmatized or criminalized. That didn't last, sadly, as National Socialism viewed any kind of non-traditional sexual expression as a corruption of the Aaryan ideal to which Hitler was enslaved. His gay adventures were too much for publication in the 30s, however, and had to go. He knew about the demands of censors, so it's a little odd that he was so unsympathetic to the dilemmas faced by his adapters. And it is a pity that he was so set against Cabaret in any of its incarnations, and failed to see what a powerful work of art it is. To grumble about its success, all the way to the banks is a little disingenuous.
Brilliantly accurate, full and nuanced. It's a complex story, with so many (complicated, sophisticated) versions and authors along the way, representing numerous transmutations. Told and illustrated beautifully here. With tons of fascinating information about Hal Prince and Lotte Kenya! Plus the key gay/queer content finally traced honestly and clearly.
Cabaret is one of my favourite musicals ever. I remember going to see a local version with my cousins and we got to "if you could see her" number. Then the last line happened, my cousins both went "WTF". I don't think they had quite realized what the musical was about. and I ADORE the movie version. It's such a good adaptation of a musical.
I saw this when my university did it- ramping off the Alan Cumming version, with a queer cast. Watching a MAGA guy stand up and "Roman Salute" while shouting "Trump for President" at a haunted cirque/ burlesque in my town a few months later was surreal
@fmcgucket3076 THE Crucible is one of my favourites. Group think is so dangerous I feel its so important to speak up against injustice when we meet it, see it, even if it is not the easiest path.But there are lots of good people in the world too.Personally trying to focus on even the little things to be grateful for works.Sounds all warm and fuzzy, yet along with activism, works best for me.Looking around the world it can feel very overwhelming. So we do what we can.Kindness is very powerful!
@@morganniciomhair8284 too true. To pull at any thread of fascism is to damage the whole cloth. It's all connected. So I do what I can, where I can, and we all keep pushing forward
@fmcgucket3076 YES. It's important not to be overwhelmed.And remember we are always being bombarded with bad news from all over the world.When my daughter was little she asked me" Mum why can't there be news that is all about the good things and good people being kind.Who decides on the news?Can I write to the President and ask please?I encouraged her ( we are Irish) She got a sweet letter back.I thought it was a good lesson for a little girl (8) to do something and adress what she felt strongly about.(I was glad she got a letter back and I wouldn't have to make one up!
Hey, thank you. I've seen both stage production in the movie and I love them. This video brings back a lot of memories. Cabaret was the first my first adult movie I was. 14 and my mother took me because she wanted to see the movie. And I believe that she thought I would not understand what was going on on the screen. We never talked about it. I'm now 67. And she is still alive and to this day. She does not know that I knew. 😊
There was a London revival directed by Gillian Lynne in the mid-eighties which was described as an agit-prop production. It was also the first major production to incorporate songs from the movie. The 2012 London production was a revival of an earlier 2006 London production which produced a tour featuring Samantha Barks as Sally and Wayne Sleep as Emcee. Sleep had played the role in the 80s revival. Just prior to the pandemic this production was revived for another UK tour and featured further revisions in its staging. This production integrated the music throughout and its final moment had the Kit Kat Klub ensemble appear naked as if in concentration camp showers and rather than the famous final drum roll the only sound heard was the hiss of the gas. Utterly chilling and a really powerful production. Hal Prince had delineated three spaces in his production: the 'real' world of the book scenes, the 'cabaret' world and the 'limbo' area. I always considered the Mendes version as set throughout in the cabaret world whilst the 2006 + London production was in a limbo world all its own which made it beautifully haunting in its own way.
Contrary to the statement made in the narrative, "Cabaret" was NOT "the first concept musical. "Lady in the Dark" (all the songs occur only in therapy sessions experienced by the titular heroine under hypnosis) and "Love Life" (following the marriage of a couple over the course of two centuries, during which neither of them age beyond their mid-to-late 20s) both shows with music by Kurt Weill, can lay claim to that distinction. One might even include another show with his music, "Street Scene." Rodgers' & Hammerstein's "Allegro" also qualifies, its plot concerning the life of a single protagonist from his birth through his early 40s. Hammerstein's original intent was to carry his hero all the way to his death, but that proved too much to handle in a single evening. Other musicals could possibly qualify, Hammerstein & Kern's "Show Boat" being one, but those three in particular are undoubtedly in the category.
"Often contested"... is a great way for the narrative to not engage in the hellfire of this conversation which would surely push the video into a miniseries. I had a lot of trouble digesting research that regarded "Cabaret" as the first, so I threw in 'often contested"... Just so you know... X
Being a lover of all things Caberet and especially found of Alan Cummings pivotal role, I found this video so fascinating. Watching how the story morphed from book to stage to movie. Learning how much thought was put into central roles, how they should be played and who should play them,was so educational. I liked learning what the author meant to portray and then how each director and musical director tweaked their versions but held true to the original theme. The story is shocking, it’s meant to be considering how shocking the subject was. Least none of us ever forget the ramifications of Hitler’s Germany we must watch and understand Caberet.
I had the opportunity to play Herr Schultz in the St. Leo College production back in 1974. We had a great cast and it was one of the highlights of my life. I was only 19 then. Now I’m older than the character was!
Such a great video my dear. A lot of very interesting informations about the history and the various incarnations. Thank you ! I saw the movie 1st on german tv as a young teenager and it was an epiphany for me. Still my favourite movie of all time. I became a lifelong Liza fan. I also saw 2 different german stage productions. It's fantastic & important that it has developed over the decades and stayed relevant.
I've seen the current west end show and it's one of the best things I've had the fortune to see, I feel blessed to have had the chance twice and another coming up
I have an okay singing voice at best, but I still love to sing, especially musical theater songs. I auditioned for every musical my high school put on while I was there, but was only cast when I auditioned with “Maybe This Time.” That probably worked for me because I knew it so well, having grown up listening to the “Liza with a Z” album countless times. (It got me into the chorus for The Pajama Game. In rehearsals, the director was impressed with how low my alto voice was. Being completely untrained-I was in the band, not the choir-I was just flailing throughout rehearsals!) Anyway, that’s my favorite song in Cabaret!
I'm here to thank you for your whole body of theatre review work. #21 helped me appreciate Cabaret as part of my growing ❤ of musical theatre. It's led to a fascinating deeper dive through all your commentary. I hope you continue many more episodes of similar quality! This is what RUclips is made for, IMHO. Monetization be damned, creative quality is king. 😊 Be well....🎉
Watching this and hearing you say “I wonder how audiences will respond to this current revival of Cabaret” post Tony’s is so funny cuz for the past week twitter has been arguing whether or not Eddie Redmayne’s emcee is good or not
Thank you for taking the time to make an insightful deep dive.......I watched it in prep for helping to paint scenes in my college's stage production of Cabaret.
Outstanding documentary! I've taught the history of Cabaret for years and you've done a spectacular job of compiling clips and telling the story clearly in your script.
Excellent video! Thank you so much for talking about the creation of the emcee, I found it very interesting! Another thing: 42:30 isn't the point of Cabaret to shock the audience? I mean just this scene alone 42:05 always scares me. I'm not a big fan of disturbing films/series, etc. for example I don't like horror movies where it's so obvious the creators are trying to make disgusting, instead of scary, scenery just to get any form of reaction. Still, I think the Mendes production did a great job, with a show that's already meant to shock its audience and make them reflect on themselves and their actions.
I remember when I saw Cabaret during the UK tour in 2019, I was conflicted on whether or not to applause after "Tomorrow belongs to me" because on one hand, it was a good performance, but on the other, it's like yay, facism?
Lost in all this discussion of the various versions of I AM A CAMERA and CABARET is the fact that both of these works are based on only a tiny sliver of Isherwood's BERLIN STORIES. I'd love to see someone adapt the rest of the material..
A playwright friend told me Christopher Isherwood, upon whose stories the musical is based, said the real Sally was a hot mess, and if she were as talented as Liza's portayal, she would've been the toast of Paris and not struggling in a dive cabaret.
Fantastic job! I am a movie/Broadway buff and, while I know most of the material covered, you put it in a very cohesive and clear way. Your opinions are there, but not in an overbearing manner. You tell the story - with a few asides. I think Fosse is a true genius; his name has become an adjective, like Hitchcock. The greatest problem with the movie is - ironically - also the greatest asset: Liza. You gain a riveting performance by a great singer that is dramatically wrong for the role. She is, quite simply, too talented. Sally/Liza COULD be discovered and be a star. But the point of the story is that Sally is deluding herself and the final song is her deep dive into that delusion. Anyway, great work. Congratulations.
I saw the Sam Mendes production of Cabaret on tour four times, Rufus Norris production in London, and a local production in Minneapolis from Theater Latte Da. It's safe to say Cabaret is my favorite musical. I remember seeing it for the first time and being completely seduced by the spectacle and then punched in the gut for enjoying it. It was true theatrical catharsis. I think you presented the history of the show and what makes it so captivating very well and the research you did was excellent. Thanks much for creating this "perfectly marvelous" video. Cabaret is a musical that will always be a tilted mirror showing a reflection of society, something we need today more than ever. I only wish I had the money to see the new production. Maybe when it comes on tour in 3 year or so. 🙂
Imagine being Jean Ross and being someone who is socially and politically aware and struggling to make the best of life just for your friend who is Actually politically unaware to make you into a caricature. Then to have everyone associate that with being the real you ALONGSIDE also having your real trauma be one of the first things people know about you. I think Sally Bowles is a great character in the sense that the actresses who have portrayed her brought a lot to her character, but I can’t imagine how frustrating it must have been to realize your friend viewed you like that while they themselves were apathetic to politics and social justice.
I am finishing the Berlin stories by Mr Isherwood. I wonder why he wrote it in the manner of diaries? He wrote well descriptively and vividly of his characters. And he was a camera figuratively! He caught the bar cafe entertainment as well as telling the scenes on the streets. And his works endures because of how it was written Christopher Isherwood goes into the Chronicles of time ageless. His work can have countless interpretations, funny, sensitive and all to sobering. It begins with a myth to end tragically.
People underestimate or ignore the amount of work that is involved in producing things. I call it "vending machine" mentality. You pop in your money, push a button, and out comes the product. Consume and enjoy. Another metaphor would be eating in a restaurant. The ingredients had to be sourced, shipped, selected, prepared, served. And the diner just Instagrams it, eats, burps, pays, and leaves. "Wasn't that great? Next..." This video also highlights the problems of authorship and control, which is so wracked with controversy in this day of social media and Photoshop.
In general any time people complain about “this song/character/line of dialogue from a bad character or set in a bad time is racist!” and can’t realize that YES! That is Literally The Entire Point! Sometimes, bad people exist, and sometimes we want to make bad people exist in media and the entire point is to make you feel shock and outraged. By realizing that Bad Guy Bad, you might go into the world and think “hey, this guy Bad like Bad Guy Bad!” And change your world, or at least know it when you see it.
i met mr isherwood once, we were taken to his lovely home in santa monica, don was there.....both such delightful creative souls.....my how time flys, but not at the kit kat klub.....
In the late 1980s I was a stagehand (and "pineapple wrangler") for a version performed in a small dinner theater in mid-Florida (read: really conservative time and area; they were still kicking kids with AIDS out of schools). It had a profound effect on me and how I conceptualized right and wrong and action and inaction. Thank you for this compact and intense overview.
I saw the 1998 revival in Cleveland at Playhouse Square in 2002 with my then wife, my mother, and my uncle. My uncle was in from NYC visiting my parents while he took a break from acting parts he was seeking. He had seen the show in NYC and since my mother loved the movie version he treated us to seeing it. I hadn't watched the movie before this and let alone listened to the soundtrack. My favorite musical I must say. After the show my ex wife and I explored the original Broadway recording and watched the movie.
oh my gosh thank you so much for this video! cabaret and inside have been my niche interests for a while, and i even drew a passive connection how "money" in the 1993 version very much reminds me of "welcome to the internet" - again, thank you for this video and your insight.
In 2001, I saw a Broadway reiteration of "Cabaret" with Brooke Shields as Sally. It was also held at Studio 54 staged as a night club. I was so thrilled to see Brooke Shields in person!
I saw the Donmar version with Alan Cummings, it was excellent, I’ve always loved the film, and earlier this year I saw the new version at The Playhouse, it too was excellent. I wouldn’t put any one of these above the other, each one is a version for its time and each one brought out different elements of the story.
I had seen the 1966 Broadway production and later I directed what I believe was the first ever production of the stage version of "Cabaret" in Germany at the community theater on the American Army base at Augsburg, Germany in 1973. All of the actors were active American Army soldiers, their spouses and their children. I will never forget one dependent woman who had watched the movie multiple times, showed up at the auditions in full Liza Minnelli "drag" and was totally confused when she saw the play's script and it didn't match the Fosse/Minnelli abortion of a film. Many of our audience members were local Germans and we got great reviews in the local German newspapers. We had to add three more performances to the planned nine performances due to exceptional ticket sales. I wish someone would actually make a movie version of the Broadway musical someday.
I am a huge fan of theatre, especially musical theatre! I too love Cabaret. I was lucky enough to do this play I while studying the Theatre Production. Now I can indulge in the history and totally geek out!
An excellent rabbit-hole, although maybe Jane Horrocks deserves a tad more credit for originating the "revamped" Sally Bowles. It takes a lot of guts for a trained performer to stand in front of an West End audience and deliberately sing out of tune, especially if that audience has been conditioned by media to expect Liza Minelli :)
I've watched nearly all of your video essays, and this is your BEST BY FAR--so meticulously researched, brilliantly presented, and endlessly fascinating. I was extremely underwhelmed by the 1955 "I Am A Camera" after being exposed to "CABARET" (1972 and 1998). Interesting how the 1972 film subverts the original 1966 production, and the 1998 revival tends to overshadow them both. It's anybody guess what impact Frecknell's imported production will have in 2024. I want to watch your segment on Jill Haworth again. The 1998 production with Alan Cumming will always be the definitive "CABARET" for me. Bravo, Excellent video!!
Great deep dive, thank you. There was a 2014 Broadway revival. It seemed to be an extension of the 1998 Mendes' revival; Mendes was director, again. The Tony awards decided this production was ineligible for nominations.
I’ve seen the newest west end production and it was PHENOMENAL. I knew nothing about cabaret going in, so it was a totally unforgettable first time experience. My favourite part was actually John Maclean’s Emcee, which (to me) runs away from humanising him. I took him as this sort of ghostly timeless clown figure, not a grounded character at all but a living metaphor. It was absolutely haunting. To me, it hit hard as a reflection of the conservative backlash we’re living through. The Emcee/Ape song spoke to me specifically about rising transphobia - how we, as trans people, are made out to be dangerous and undesirable beasts. Having the production lean into its queerness increased this. The whole thing hit so hard. Sally Bowles’ brown suit crushed me - the complete removal of identity. This ill-fitting, boring, sad mask over her life, imposed upon us by people who want conformity and power. I’d love to say more, but can’t fit it all in a comment. I will say, having seen it at the west end, it was a bit strange to be surrounded by people who clearly did not have the same emotional connection to the material that I did. My friend and I were in tears by the end, but everyone else just got up and left. If I can see it on broadway, maybe it’ll feel different with an American crowd. I’d also like to say that I was NOT offered a drink at the Kit Kat Club!!!!! I shall be writing a strongly worded letter and will request my missing drink be shipped to me!!!
I find it so interesting how art can be interpreted. I think cabaret is a great example of not only political apathy- but outside of that, as a play in general, it demonstrates how art can be perceived and interpreted in so many ways, yet still bring across the same message. I absolutely adore cabaret, and I think on some level, all versions of it are valid to their own right. They are all a demonstration of comprehension: how humans understand world events such as WWII, and how that affects people not only then, but today.
I saw the Studio 54 version of Cabaret, but I don't remember who played the Emcee. It was well after Alan Cummings' original run. It's a fantastic show. And i love Schmicago's Jenny Banks. Kaput is a brilliant send up of Mein Herr...
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I saw Cabaret with Joel Grey and Lotte Lenya when I was about 12. That bit when you walk in the theater and see the audience reflected in a mirror, and then you see yourselves again when the MC says see, you forgot your troubles, you had a good time, knowing the horrible things you'd just watched was one of the most striking I've had in theater.
I’ve never been fortunate enough to have seen a stage version of this, but I grew up on Fosse’s film. Liza is so iconic in the part of Sally-her vulnerability breaks your heart, even as her deliberate obliviousness to everything going on around her infuriates you. “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” just chills me to the bone, made even worse by the fact that it is a great song turned into a monstrous anthem by who sings it. I have made up entire backstories to the one elderly man in that beer garden who does NOT join in the singing.
Re "elderly man": I have too! Such an interesting choice to focus on that...
Sadly, neo-nazis in the US have adopted the song to sing without irony at their rallies
I was lucky to see a touring production with Joel Grey, but I was so young and swoony/overwhelmed being so near him that the depth of the play didn’t fully penetrate… years later when I watched the movie and understood it, I wanted so bad to experience the stage show again!
Do try and see it live.
It’s almost totally different from the film. If you think that Sally Bowles is heartbreaking ,(she gets on my nerves) then you’ll be an emotional wreck at seeing the main two characters (IMHO) the elderly couple being ripped apart. The stage musical doesn’t belong to the younger characters but the older ones!
The love story between Fräulein Schneider and Herr Shultz is sweet but doomed to end in horror 😢
It was criminal how the film moved the emphasis away from the elderly couples love story to the Ménage à trois going on between the three younger people. It took away the heart of the musical! 🎵 🎵🎵🎵BUT SO WHAT🎵🎵🎵
I’ve worked on a couple of professional rep theatre runs of Cabaret, every night being back stage working on the next production, with the tannoy on, so that I heard the whole show through every night. Even now, 20 years later, I know that script by heart! (And also the show Guys and Dolls) Cabaret’s a great musical, but any cast needs plenty of charisma… or the show’s a stinker, because then you don’t care what happens to them!
This is one of my favorite theater productions I’ve seen live.
I wish I could have seen Alan Cummings performances.
I saw him on the second go-round of that version. It was truly brilliant.
@@Blaize24 I saw him in High School for an after school trip, it was my first Broadway Show and remains one of my favorite Broadway productions. He was so engaging with the audience. Emma Stone was supposed to play Sally but people were upset when her understudy played her instead. I actually liked it more because the understudy was British, and even more because it really allowed Alan Cumming to shine without the celebrity part taking over (he of course is a celebrity, but it takes a back seat to his actual talent.) It felt like the right amount of gritty and in some ways felt like it really took us back in time not as much to Pre War Berlin, as Broadway in 1966, the original Broadway production. It felt like you were watching something truly monumental.
@@matthewcole4753 It was Michelle Williams when I saw it but was absolutely a time machine kind of experience. And Alan Cumming was, of course, simply brilliant. I love Joel Grey's Emcee, but Alan's is the one that speaks the most to me.
Alan was born to play the part!I wish I could have seen it.😊
Me too, Alan Cummins is so hot ❤❤❤❤
Cabaret is my favorite musical ever. I was in the pit of it for my high school's production in early 2020. We did the 1993 version and did not censor anything and I know the drama teacher got quite a few angry emails but I'm so glad we (in my opinion) did it justice and respected the work. It was a great experience for me and due to both that and the excellence of the show's themes I will always love it.
I’m glad hear high school students got the opportunity to do something like that. I was a theater kid stuck in a football centric high school in the south, and we got in trouble for suggestions projects like Cabaret and Rent.
i got to work on a production of cabaret in 2018 in a theater that could fit maybe 60 people. to me, that's always going to be the definitive cabaret - tiny theater, grand piano on the stage that we could not move, no orchestra, instruments played by the actors and cobbled together from the cast's own collections. the piano became cliff's typewriter and the light booth became our backstage area. i couldnt tell you if the production was incredible or not, but im definitely not going to forget the experience nor the chills i got every time the lights went out after ludwig slammed the audience door in the finale
I saw the new production in London with Amy Lennox as Sally. The entire immersive experience , the audience/cast interactions were just brilliant. It's not just seeing a musical, it was an evening out at a club with a performance. As much as I love the movie, I prefer the darker, grittier verson. It's just an incredible experience.
While I do not consider myself a fan of musicals , I have been fortunate enough to catch a touring performance of “Cabaret “ and it truly is a remarkable piece of theatre/art. I left the performance in silence at the end. It’s sad to see the world repeating its hideous history.
It terrifies me.
@@jenjen52982
Well, it's basically historical horror, so it's reasonable to feel that way.
I think the problem is that people seem to take this behavior as a guide instead of a warning@@purplepedantry
Another great documentary from you. I was in the Prince production of Cabaret on Broadway and tour with Joel Gray for three years and you listed facts even we did not know. Thank you.
Oh wow. How amazing!
Lucky you!❤
Virtual bow to you. ☺
This is a wonderful exploration of one of my all-time favorite musicals. It's exciting to see how modern productions continue to find new magic in Cabaret, but it's also good to reflect on what's been lost along the way. We've become so focused on celebrating the queer elegance of the Kit Kat Klub that we've forgotten it was originally an indictment of a mostly middle-class audience watching it in 1966. Kander and Ebb's "What Would You Do?" is as relevant now as it was then. Thank you also for giving Jean Ross her due. I've often suspected that "Sally Bowles" was mainly a self-portrait. In real life, it was Jean Ross who had the good sense to get out and Isherwood who was living in denial.
By the way, let's not forget one of the best Isherwood stories about Cabaret (maybe apocryphal, but fun anyway): he was somehow dragged to see the musical and was asked if it was accurate. "Not in the least," he said. "I've never f****d a woman in my life."
This channel deserves an audience. Thank you so much.
I have seen the new West End production twice and it was FANTASTIC. I'm already set to see the Broadway production the first week it opens.
Hopefully it will be running when I visit home and family later this year.
Another rehash of CABARET ... 🤮
Very well researched and presented-I’m currently in a production of cabaret and have fallen down an absolute rabbit hole in the best of ways
In 2012 I directed the play 'I Am A Camera'. It's a really good play and I had a wonderful cast. I read Isherwood's books and researched his life. He was a fascinating man indeed. Our production won several awards and it remains one of the plays of which I'm most proud.
That trapezoidal mirror at 10:32 also appears in “Springtime for Hitler” from the Mel Brooks musical, The Producers. And it just helped me realize the multiple layers of satire.😮🤯😂
Like all great theatre, Cabaret´s themes are universal enough to be reimagined a 1000 times. yet keep fascinating each new generation. And this little documentary brilliantly explores how and why. Well done, sir.
Excellent summation. I was 8 when the movie "Cabaret" opened, and the ads on TV and in the newspaper had me transfixed! I knew it was 'naughty' and I knew I wanted to be a part of it!
I was lucky enough to see the west end production in March 2023 and have not stopped thinking about it since. This is a crazy good show, literally life-changing.
My father told me about this when I was a kid. He saw it in Boston and again when it came to New York, and he said they had changed that line (from If You Could See Her), apparently it was too much. I was always glad they put it back into the film. It’s so powerful.
Thanks for this fascinating history of such an iconic classic. I would love to have seen the various stage revivals - but I was lucky to see Joel Grey in a touring revival in the 90s.
Me too! Boston Colonial!❤🎉🥂
Words cannot express how much I want to see the current West End production. I will just have to spend all my wages on it one day, I think it’s worth it.
I’ve watched it a year and a half ago… it was amazing 😊
@@vegamagallanes ah cool, I’m so hoping to see it this year
Do it!!!!
This was a fabulous video! Thank you for all the detailed information of the various versions! I’ve only seen the movie, and the portrayal of the rise of the Nazis shakes me to my core every time I see it. The version where the emcee is in concentration camp clothes at the end really struck me as what would happen to the character irl.
I saw Mason Alexander Park in Cabaret in London and they were exceptional. From the other clips of actors I've seen performing as the Emcee, none of them have captured the androgyny of the Emcee as well as them.
It always irritates me when people say that Liza Minelli's Sally was way too talented and would never have ended up in a sleazy club singing for pay, or "slumming" as you put it here. All you have to do is watch any reality singing show like American Idol or The Voice to see that sooooo many really talented people never make it big. Even the winners of those contests most often never get big or famous. I've always felt Liza's Sally is so self-destructed, childish, and deluded that she'd never hit the big time without totally screwing it up. And Liza's so perfectly wonderful in the role, singing/acting-wise, that I've always felt she's meant to embody the spirit of an age more than a real person, if that makes any sense, any more so than the Emcee is a "real" person. All that's to say, for all those Liza nay-sayers (including Hal Prince, who put the kibosh on her getting cast in the original stage play)--give it a rest! Liza is wonderful in the role in what is, for me, a perfect movie.
I was thinking this too. You need a lot of luck to get famous and that’s why lots of great performers never get their big break. So in that way I think it works to have good singers play sally and even more sad because in that context she knows she has the chops for stardom and that’s why she stays in Berlin
@@theresaegan3129 AaHAA! Finally, someone who agrees with me!
Yeah, that's how I always interpreted it when someone brings up the criticism that Liza was miscast as Sally. Film Cabaret is practically a reinterpretation of the stage version and Liza's Sally is merely another interpretation of her.
Another interesting interpretation I've heard about film Sally is that her incredible singing is merely how she thinks she sounds in her head
@@bemiatto67 That's a seriously interesting interpretation... Thanks! Kind of like Renee Zellwegger in "Chicago" living inside her head
The movie is Fabulous! Liza and Joel! What a TEAM!
What an illuminating and entertaining investigation of the cultural phenomenon we call Cabaret. The way that it has undergone so many alterations and reinterpretations, from the original source material created by Isherwood in his stories about Weimar Berlin, is a truly fascinating story in itself, and also illustrates the way that art is continually adapting to the times in which it is made. I loved Isherwood's stories, which were in themselves adapted from reality, not least in the way he presented himself. That 'I am a camera' business was a pretence, an attempt to give his stories a journalistic, objective quality; in truth, he vigorously engaged with the opportunities that the city offered to people of 'his kind'.
As a young gay man. the atmosphere in Britain at that time for the generation that had just missed being slaughtered in the Great War was dour and oppressive, without any possibility of sexual liberation. Berlin, on the other hand, was then probably the most sexually permissive place in the entire world, a reputation that drew Isherwood like a moth, to go there, and enjoy, at least for a period, a life of sexual hedonism, without constant fear of being exposed, stigmatized or criminalized. That didn't last, sadly, as National Socialism viewed any kind of non-traditional sexual expression as a corruption of the Aaryan ideal to which Hitler was enslaved. His gay adventures were too much for publication in the 30s, however, and had to go. He knew about the demands of censors, so it's a little odd that he was so unsympathetic to the dilemmas faced by his adapters. And it is a pity that he was so set against Cabaret in any of its incarnations, and failed to see what a powerful work of art it is. To grumble about its success, all the way to the banks is a little disingenuous.
Brilliantly accurate, full and nuanced. It's a complex story, with so many (complicated, sophisticated) versions and authors along the way, representing numerous transmutations. Told and illustrated beautifully here. With tons of fascinating information about Hal Prince and Lotte Kenya! Plus the key gay/queer content finally traced honestly and clearly.
Cabaret is one of my favourite musicals ever. I remember going to see a local version with my cousins and we got to "if you could see her" number. Then the last line happened, my cousins both went "WTF". I don't think they had quite realized what the musical was about.
and I ADORE the movie version. It's such a good adaptation of a musical.
I saw this when my university did it- ramping off the Alan Cumming version, with a queer cast. Watching a MAGA guy stand up and "Roman Salute" while shouting "Trump for President" at a haunted cirque/ burlesque in my town a few months later was surreal
Wow, foreshadowing?
The Crucible and Cabaret. Two shows that are always painfully relevant, but the world would be a much better place if they weren't.
@fmcgucket3076 THE Crucible is one of my favourites. Group think is so dangerous
I feel its so important to speak up against injustice when we meet it, see it, even if it is not the easiest path.But there are lots of good people in the world too.Personally trying to focus on even the little things to be grateful for works.Sounds all warm and fuzzy, yet along with activism, works best for me.Looking around the world it can feel very overwhelming. So we do what we can.Kindness is very powerful!
@@morganniciomhair8284 too true. To pull at any thread of fascism is to damage the whole cloth. It's all connected. So I do what I can, where I can, and we all keep pushing forward
@fmcgucket3076 YES. It's important not to be overwhelmed.And remember we are always being bombarded with bad news from all over the world.When my daughter was little she asked me" Mum why can't there be news that is all about the good things and good people being kind.Who decides on the news?Can I write to the President and ask please?I encouraged her ( we are Irish)
She got a sweet letter back.I thought it was a good lesson for a little girl (8) to do something and adress what she felt strongly about.(I was glad she got a letter back and I wouldn't have to make one up!
Your research is always top notch. I always end up learning new facts from your videos about shows that are near and dear to my heart!
Hey, thank you. I've seen both stage production in the movie and I love them. This video brings back a lot of memories. Cabaret was the first my first adult movie I was. 14 and my mother took me because she wanted to see the movie. And I believe that she thought I would not understand what was going on on the screen. We never talked about it. I'm now 67. And she is still alive and to this day. She does not know that I knew. 😊
There was a London revival directed by Gillian Lynne in the mid-eighties which was described as an agit-prop production. It was also the first major production to incorporate songs from the movie.
The 2012 London production was a revival of an earlier 2006 London production which produced a tour featuring Samantha Barks as Sally and Wayne Sleep as Emcee. Sleep had played the role in the 80s revival.
Just prior to the pandemic this production was revived for another UK tour and featured further revisions in its staging. This production integrated the music throughout and its final moment had the Kit Kat Klub ensemble appear naked as if in concentration camp showers and rather than the famous final drum roll the only sound heard was the hiss of the gas. Utterly chilling and a really powerful production.
Hal Prince had delineated three spaces in his production: the 'real' world of the book scenes, the 'cabaret' world and the 'limbo' area. I always considered the Mendes version as set throughout in the cabaret world whilst the 2006 + London production was in a limbo world all its own which made it beautifully haunting in its own way.
Contrary to the statement made in the narrative, "Cabaret" was NOT "the first concept musical. "Lady in the Dark" (all the songs occur only in therapy sessions experienced by the titular heroine under hypnosis) and "Love Life" (following the marriage of a couple over the course of two centuries, during which neither of them age beyond their mid-to-late 20s) both shows with music by Kurt Weill, can lay claim to that distinction. One might even include another show with his music, "Street Scene." Rodgers' & Hammerstein's "Allegro" also qualifies, its plot concerning the life of a single protagonist from his birth through his early 40s. Hammerstein's original intent was to carry his hero all the way to his death, but that proved too much to handle in a single evening. Other musicals could possibly qualify, Hammerstein & Kern's "Show Boat" being one, but those three in particular are undoubtedly in the category.
"Often contested"... is a great way for the narrative to not engage in the hellfire of this conversation which would surely push the video into a miniseries. I had a lot of trouble digesting research that regarded "Cabaret" as the first, so I threw in 'often contested"...
Just so you know... X
There's also Rodgers and Hart's "Pal Joey."
Cogent observations, particularly about LADY IN THE DARK, LOVE LIFE, and ALLEGRO.
Rarely does one find this combination of serious research, sharp analysis and historical accuracy on RUclips. Well done!
My ex wife and I saw the roundabout theatre production on Broadway in the early 2,000s. It starred Gina Gershon as Sally. It was incredible.
Being a lover of all things Caberet and especially found of Alan Cummings pivotal role, I found this video so fascinating. Watching how the story morphed from book to stage to movie. Learning how much thought was put into central roles, how they should be played and who should play them,was so educational. I liked learning what the author meant to portray and then how each director and musical director tweaked their versions but held true to the original theme. The story is shocking, it’s meant to be considering how shocking the subject was. Least none of us ever forget the ramifications of Hitler’s Germany we must watch and understand Caberet.
I had the opportunity to play Herr Schultz in the St. Leo College production back in 1974. We had a great cast and it was one of the highlights of my life. I was only 19 then. Now I’m older than the character was!
Ooooo I just love your work. This is wonderful, thank you for these deep dives!! This channel deserves so much more attention.
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!! It’s very insightful and the little facts weaved in like gems make the entire video stellar!
Such a great video my dear. A lot of very interesting informations about the history and the various incarnations. Thank you ! I saw the movie 1st on german tv as a young teenager and it was an epiphany for me. Still my favourite movie of all time. I became a lifelong Liza fan. I also saw 2 different german stage productions. It's fantastic & important that it has developed over the decades and stayed relevant.
Saw Mason Alexander Park in the role of MC at a regional theatre. It was exceptional
I've seen the current west end show and it's one of the best things I've had the fortune to see, I feel blessed to have had the chance twice and another coming up
I have an okay singing voice at best, but I still love to sing, especially musical theater songs. I auditioned for every musical my high school put on while I was there, but was only cast when I auditioned with “Maybe This Time.” That probably worked for me because I knew it so well, having grown up listening to the “Liza with a Z” album countless times. (It got me into the chorus for The Pajama Game. In rehearsals, the director was impressed with how low my alto voice was. Being completely untrained-I was in the band, not the choir-I was just flailing throughout rehearsals!)
Anyway, that’s my favorite song in Cabaret!
My parents saw Judi Dench as Sally in London. They said it was wonderful.
I'm here to thank you for your whole body of theatre review work. #21 helped me appreciate Cabaret as part of my growing ❤ of musical theatre. It's led to a fascinating deeper dive through all your commentary. I hope you continue many more episodes of similar quality! This is what RUclips is made for, IMHO. Monetization be damned, creative quality is king. 😊
Be well....🎉
In the late 1990s, I went with a friend to an MCC production in San Francisco. It was chilling as hell.
Watching this and hearing you say “I wonder how audiences will respond to this current revival of Cabaret” post Tony’s is so funny cuz for the past week twitter has been arguing whether or not Eddie Redmayne’s emcee is good or not
What would I do? What ARE we doing? Not enough.
Exactly!
Excellent observations and analysis. Loved the book and the movie (Liza version). Shaped my thinking and my artworks.
THANK YOU. Cabaret is one of my all time favourite movies.I wish I could have seen a live show.This was really interesting ❤
Thank you for taking the time to make an insightful deep dive.......I watched it in prep for helping to paint scenes in my college's stage production of Cabaret.
Outstanding documentary! I've taught the history of Cabaret for years and you've done a spectacular job of compiling clips and telling the story clearly in your script.
Excellent video! Thank you so much for talking about the creation of the emcee, I found it very interesting! Another thing: 42:30 isn't the point of Cabaret to shock the audience? I mean just this scene alone 42:05 always scares me. I'm not a big fan of disturbing films/series, etc. for example I don't like horror movies where it's so obvious the creators are trying to make disgusting, instead of scary, scenery just to get any form of reaction. Still, I think the Mendes production did a great job, with a show that's already meant to shock its audience and make them reflect on themselves and their actions.
Very well done, researched, and presented video, my man…great material here!
I remember when I saw Cabaret during the UK tour in 2019, I was conflicted on whether or not to applause after "Tomorrow belongs to me" because on one hand, it was a good performance, but on the other, it's like yay, facism?
This is my Roman Empire
Lost in all this discussion of the various versions of I AM A CAMERA and CABARET is the fact that both of these works are based on only a tiny sliver of Isherwood's BERLIN STORIES. I'd love to see someone adapt the rest of the material..
Excellent history of the visions, versions …
For me, Fosse”s film version is what I know best.
A playwright friend told me Christopher Isherwood, upon whose stories the musical is based, said the real Sally was a hot mess, and if she were as talented as Liza's portayal, she would've been the toast of Paris and not struggling in a dive cabaret.
Fantastic job! I am a movie/Broadway buff and, while I know most of the material covered, you put it in a very cohesive and clear way. Your opinions are there, but not in an overbearing manner. You tell the story - with a few asides.
I think Fosse is a true genius; his name has become an adjective, like Hitchcock. The greatest problem with the movie is - ironically - also the greatest asset: Liza. You gain a riveting performance by a great singer that is dramatically wrong for the role. She is, quite simply, too talented. Sally/Liza COULD be discovered and be a star. But the point of the story is that Sally is deluding herself and the final song is her deep dive into that delusion.
Anyway, great work. Congratulations.
I saw the Sam Mendes production of Cabaret on tour four times, Rufus Norris production in London, and a local production in Minneapolis from Theater Latte Da. It's safe to say Cabaret is my favorite musical. I remember seeing it for the first time and being completely seduced by the spectacle and then punched in the gut for enjoying it. It was true theatrical catharsis.
I think you presented the history of the show and what makes it so captivating very well and the research you did was excellent. Thanks much for creating this "perfectly marvelous" video. Cabaret is a musical that will always be a tilted mirror showing a reflection of society, something we need today more than ever.
I only wish I had the money to see the new production. Maybe when it comes on tour in 3 year or so. 🙂
Imagine being Jean Ross and being someone who is socially and politically aware and struggling to make the best of life just for your friend who is Actually politically unaware to make you into a caricature. Then to have everyone associate that with being the real you ALONGSIDE also having your real trauma be one of the first things people know about you. I think Sally Bowles is a great character in the sense that the actresses who have portrayed her brought a lot to her character, but I can’t imagine how frustrating it must have been to realize your friend viewed you like that while they themselves were apathetic to politics and social justice.
Give it a break.
Very interesting and well-made. Thanks so much.
Excellent dramaturgy!
I am finishing the Berlin stories by Mr Isherwood. I wonder why he wrote it in the manner of diaries? He wrote well descriptively and vividly of his characters. And he was a camera figuratively! He caught the bar cafe entertainment as well as telling the scenes on the streets. And his works endures because of how it was written Christopher Isherwood goes into the Chronicles of time ageless. His work can have countless interpretations, funny, sensitive and all to sobering. It begins with a myth to end tragically.
People underestimate or ignore the amount of work that is involved in producing things. I call it "vending machine" mentality. You pop in your money, push a button, and out comes the product. Consume and enjoy. Another metaphor would be eating in a restaurant. The ingredients had to be sourced, shipped, selected, prepared, served. And the diner just Instagrams it, eats, burps, pays, and leaves. "Wasn't that great? Next..."
This video also highlights the problems of authorship and control, which is so wracked with controversy in this day of social media and Photoshop.
In general any time people complain about “this song/character/line of dialogue from a bad character or set in a bad time is racist!” and can’t realize that YES! That is Literally The Entire Point! Sometimes, bad people exist, and sometimes we want to make bad people exist in media and the entire point is to make you feel shock and outraged. By realizing that Bad Guy Bad, you might go into the world and think “hey, this guy Bad like Bad Guy Bad!” And change your world, or at least know it when you see it.
My God that was riveting!!! Thank you so much for this fascinating and smart narrative about an iconic and beloved piece of our shared culture. ❤❤❤
i met mr isherwood once, we were taken to his lovely home in santa monica, don was there.....both such delightful creative souls.....my how time flys, but not at the kit kat klub.....
Thanks for this deep dive into the iterations of Cabaret! Must have been a lot of work, it's so rounded and thorough.
Just want to say thanks for another great video.
Wonderfully researched and engaging 👏🏼
In the late 1980s I was a stagehand (and "pineapple wrangler") for a version performed in a small dinner theater in mid-Florida (read: really conservative time and area; they were still kicking kids with AIDS out of schools). It had a profound effect on me and how I conceptualized right and wrong and action and inaction. Thank you for this compact and intense overview.
Like they're kicking out the unvaccinated now?
sweetheart people were getting kicked out of school over having aids all over the country not just florida. Why don't you stop talking.
I am Swedish🇸🇪
I saw a recent Production in Stockholm in 2021.
Great exposition. Thanks a lot.
I saw the 1998 revival in Cleveland at Playhouse Square in 2002 with my then wife, my mother, and my uncle. My uncle was in from NYC visiting my parents while he took a break from acting parts he was seeking. He had seen the show in NYC and since my mother loved the movie version he treated us to seeing it. I hadn't watched the movie before this and let alone listened to the soundtrack. My favorite musical I must say. After the show my ex wife and I explored the original Broadway recording and watched the movie.
Just outstanding !!! BRAVO!!! Fascinating story !!
oh my gosh thank you so much for this video! cabaret and inside have been my niche interests for a while, and i even drew a passive connection how "money" in the 1993 version very much reminds me of "welcome to the internet" - again, thank you for this video and your insight.
Spectacular ! Well done ! Deep, mindful, diligently researched. WOW !
Thank you for explaining Cabaret so clearly...I never really 'got it'...which probably stems from living in the South Pacific...vinaka vakalevu
The real Sally, Jean Ross, was NOT happy with the way Isherwood portrayed her in the original story.
In 2001, I saw a Broadway reiteration of "Cabaret" with Brooke Shields as Sally. It was also held at Studio 54 staged as a night club. I was so thrilled to see Brooke Shields in person!
did she eat?
I saw the Donmar version with Alan Cummings, it was excellent, I’ve always loved the film, and earlier this year I saw the new version at The Playhouse, it too was excellent. I wouldn’t put any one of these above the other, each one is a version for its time and each one brought out different elements of the story.
Wonderful work - thank you so much! I'm preparing Herr Schultz for a production this summer in central Pennsylvania.
I had seen the 1966 Broadway production and later I directed what I believe was the first ever production of the stage version of "Cabaret" in Germany at the community theater on the American Army base at Augsburg, Germany in 1973. All of the actors were active American Army soldiers, their spouses and their children. I will never forget one dependent woman who had watched the movie multiple times, showed up at the auditions in full Liza Minnelli "drag" and was totally confused when she saw the play's script and it didn't match the Fosse/Minnelli abortion of a film.
Many of our audience members were local Germans and we got great reviews in the local German newspapers. We had to add three more performances to the planned nine performances due to exceptional ticket sales.
I wish someone would actually make a movie version of the Broadway musical someday.
I am a huge fan of theatre, especially musical theatre!
I too love Cabaret. I was lucky enough to do this play I while studying the Theatre Production.
Now I can indulge in the history and totally geek out!
An excellent rabbit-hole, although maybe Jane Horrocks deserves a tad more credit for originating the "revamped" Sally Bowles. It takes a lot of guts for a trained performer to stand in front of an West End audience and deliberately sing out of tune, especially if that audience has been conditioned by media to expect Liza Minelli :)
I've watched nearly all of your video essays, and this is your BEST BY FAR--so meticulously researched, brilliantly presented, and endlessly fascinating. I was extremely underwhelmed by the 1955 "I Am A Camera" after being exposed to "CABARET" (1972 and 1998). Interesting how the 1972 film subverts the original 1966 production, and the 1998 revival tends to overshadow them both. It's anybody guess what impact Frecknell's imported production will have in 2024. I want to watch your segment on Jill Haworth again. The 1998 production with Alan Cumming will always be the definitive "CABARET" for me. Bravo, Excellent video!!
Great deep dive, thank you.
There was a 2014 Broadway revival. It seemed to be an extension of the 1998 Mendes' revival; Mendes was director, again. The Tony awards decided this production was ineligible for nominations.
Mason Alexander as the M.C. is excellent.
i loveeeee jane horrock’s sally
Jake Shears was transcendent as the emcee in the Fall 2023 London production. Thank you for creating such a thorough video!
Can't beat the original stage version with Joel and then the movie version with Liza & Joel!!!!
Seen both , stage and movie . Love the movie .
Good documentary here . Thank you
I’ve seen the newest west end production and it was PHENOMENAL. I knew nothing about cabaret going in, so it was a totally unforgettable first time experience. My favourite part was actually John Maclean’s Emcee, which (to me) runs away from humanising him. I took him as this sort of ghostly timeless clown figure, not a grounded character at all but a living metaphor. It was absolutely haunting. To me, it hit hard as a reflection of the conservative backlash we’re living through. The Emcee/Ape song spoke to me specifically about rising transphobia - how we, as trans people, are made out to be dangerous and undesirable beasts. Having the production lean into its queerness increased this. The whole thing hit so hard. Sally Bowles’ brown suit crushed me - the complete removal of identity. This ill-fitting, boring, sad mask over her life, imposed upon us by people who want conformity and power. I’d love to say more, but can’t fit it all in a comment.
I will say, having seen it at the west end, it was a bit strange to be surrounded by people who clearly did not have the same emotional connection to the material that I did. My friend and I were in tears by the end, but everyone else just got up and left. If I can see it on broadway, maybe it’ll feel different with an American crowd. I’d also like to say that I was NOT offered a drink at the Kit Kat Club!!!!! I shall be writing a strongly worded letter and will request my missing drink be shipped to me!!!
Also, you use a clip from a show at 53:17 - which production is this?
1993 Sam Mendes version taped for TV.
I've seen. Joel Grey his last tour in Boston. Also Molly Ringwald at Studio 54.❤🎉
I find it so interesting how art can be interpreted. I think cabaret is a great example of not only political apathy- but outside of that, as a play in general, it demonstrates how art can be perceived and interpreted in so many ways, yet still bring across the same message. I absolutely adore cabaret, and I think on some level, all versions of it are valid to their own right. They are all a demonstration of comprehension: how humans understand world events such as WWII, and how that affects people not only then, but today.
These videos are amazing!!
The 1965 Kander and Ebb musical is "Flora the Red Menance", not "Flora and the Red Menance".
And the spelling is "Flora, the Red Menace". 🤗
@@marthawelch4289 thank you.
@@jamesbusjahn6962 Thanks for being kind in your response! Hope you have a happy and healthy 2024!
Stage more powerful than film.
I saw the Studio 54 version of Cabaret, but I don't remember who played the Emcee. It was well after Alan Cummings' original run. It's a fantastic show.
And i love Schmicago's Jenny Banks. Kaput is a brilliant send up of Mein Herr...
where did you get the video from at 43:41? its rare to see videos of natasha performing as sally, let alone just acting!
ruclips.net/video/8C1Ja63dWHA/видео.htmlsi=DkkYExrUkgWzn0_K