Cabaret (musical)
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Cabaret is a 1966 Broadway musical set in Berlin in 1929 through 1930 during the Nazis' ascent to power under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. The musical comprises the book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander. It was adapted into an Academy Award winning film (also called Cabaret) by director Bob Fosse.
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[edit] History
It is based on John Van Druten's play I Am a Camera, which was in turn based on the novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. Its initial run was produced and directed by Hal Prince and starred Bert Convy, Jack Gilford, Jill Haworth, Lotte Lenya, Joel Grey, Peg Murray, and Edward Winter.
Its original New York run was from 1966 to 1969, winning Tony Awards in 1967 for Best Musical, Best Composer and Lyricist, Best Supporting Actor in a Musical (Grey), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Murray), Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design, Best Choreography, and Best Direction of a Musical. Jack Gilford, Winter, and Lenya were all nominated for Tonys as well. The musical has been revived twice to date, in 1987 and 1998.
The 1987 revival starred Joel Grey in a return to the role as the Emcee, which he originated in 1966. Co-starring with him were Werner Klemperer, Gregg Edelman, Alyson Reid and Regina Resnik.
The 1998 revival, produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, directed by Sam Mendes, and co-directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall, was the third longest-running revival in Broadway musical history, behind only Oh! Calcutta! and Chicago, which is still playing. Cabaret ran for a total of 2377 performances and 37 previews before it closed on 4 January 2004. The original cast featured Natasha Richardson (Sally), Alan Cumming (the Emcee), John Benjamin Hickey (Clifford Bradshaw), Ron Rifkin (Herr Schultz), Mary Louise Wilson (Fräulein Schneider), and Denis O'Hare (Ernst Ludwig).
The production, nominated for ten 1998 Tony Awards, won four: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Actor in a Musical (Alan Cumming), Best Actress in a Musical (Natasha Richardson), and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Ron Rifkin).
The other nominations were:
- Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Mary Louise Wilson),
- Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long),
- Best Lighting Design (Peggy Eisenhauer, Mike Baldassari),
- Best Choreography (Rob Marshall),
- Best Direction of a Musical (Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall),
- Best Orchestrations (Michael Gibson),
Cabaret is also a 1972 film based on the musical.
Cabaret (Kabaret) premiered in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 19 and 20 September 2006, in MGL.
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Act One
The action opens in the Kit Kat Klub, a decadent, seedy cabaret in 1930s Berlin. A neon sign reading "Cabaret" lights up. The Klub's Master of Ceremonies, or Emcee, together with the cabaret girls and waiters, welcomes the audience to the club ("Willkommen"). The action then cuts to a train station downtown, where Clifford Bradshaw, a young American writer come to Berlin in the hopes of finding inspiration for his new novel, is arriving on the evening train. On the train, he meets Ernst Ludwig, a German who offers Cliff work if he ever needs it. He also recommends a boardinghouse for Cliff to live in.
Cliff arrives at the boardinghouse, run by Fräulein Schneider. She charges Cliff one hundred marks for the room; he can only pay fifty. After a brief argument, she relents and lets Cliff live there for fifty marks. Fräulein Schneider then says that she has learned to take whatever life offers ("So What?"). Afterward, Cliff remembers that Ernst mentioned a cabaret—the Kit Kat Klub— and decides to visit it.
At the Klub, the Emcee introduces a (not-very-talented) British singer, Sally Bowles, who then performs for the cabaret's audience ("Don't Tell Mama"). Afterward, she calls Cliff on the phone and talks to him. She asks him to recite poetry for her; he recites "Casey at the Bat." Cliff offers to take Sally home, but she says that her boyfriend Max (the club's owner) is too jealous. The cabaret ensemble then performs a song and dance, calling each other on inter-table phones and inviting each other for dances and drinks ("The Telephone Song").
The next day, the scene is at Cliff's apartment. Cliff is working on his book when Sally arrives; she tells him that Max has thrown her out and she has no place to live, asking him if she can live in his room. At first he resists, saying she would be "much too distracting," but she convinces him (and Fräulein Schneider) to take her in ("Perfectly Marvelous"). Directly after this scene, the Emcee and two female companions sing a song ("Two Ladies") that comments on Cliff and Sally's unusual living conditions.
The action moves to Fräulein Schneider's apartment. Herr Schultz, an elderly Jewish fruit-shop owner who lives in the boardinghouse, has given Fräulein Schneider a pineapple as a gift ("It Couldn't Please Me More"). This scene is the beginning of Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz's romance.
The next scene takes place in a beer garden. A youth begins singing a hymn to the Fatherland ("Tomorrow Belongs to Me") a capella, with others joining him, including the Emcee (at the last line).
Months later, Cliff and Sally have fallen in love. Cliff knows that he is in a "dream," ignoring the reality of life on the outside, but he enjoys living with Sally too much to come to his senses ("Why Should I Wake Up?"). Sally reveals that she is pregnant, but she does not know with whose child. She reluctantly decides to get an abortion, though she dreads going back to "that greedy doctor." Cliff reminds her that it could be his child, and convinces her to have the baby. Ernst then enters and offers Cliff a job--delivering a suitcase to his "client"--which Cliff accepts; he thinks it is easy money. The Emcee and the cabaret girls comment on this with a song praising money ("Sitting Pretty", or in later versions "Money") and a dance routine based on the currencies of different countries.
Meanwhile, Fräulein Schneider has caught one of her boarders, Fräulein Kost, bringing sailors into her room. Fräulein Schneider forbids her from doing it again, but Fräulein Kost threatens to leave. She also mentions that she has seen Fräulein Schneider with Herr Schultz in her room. Herr Schultz saves Frau Schneider's reputation by telling Frau Kost that he and Frau Schneider are to be married in three weeks. After Kost leaves, Frau Schneider thanks Herr Schultz for lying to Kost. Herr Schultz, however, says that he was serious, and proposes to Frau Schneider ("Married").
The next scene is Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz's engagement party, at Herr Schultz's fruit shop. After Cliff arrives and delivers the suitcase to Ernst, Herr Schultz sings "Meeskite" (Meeskite, he explains, is Yiddish for ugly or funny-looking) a song with a moral ("Though you're not a beauty it is nevertheless quite true,/there may be beautiful things in you..."). Afterward, looking for revenge on Fräulein Schneider, Fräulein Kost tells Ernst, who now sports a Nazi armband, that Herr Schultz is a Jew. Ernst warns Fräulein Schneider that marrying a Jew may not be wise. The act ends with a reprisal of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," led by Fräulein Kost and sung by the whole cast save Cliff, Sally, Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz.
[edit] Act Two
After the cabaret's band plays the "Entr'acte," the cabaret girls, along with the Emcee in drag, perform a kick line routine which eventually becomes a goose-step.
Fräulein Schneider expresses her concerns about their union to Herr Schultz, who assures her that everything will be all right. They then reprise "Married", but the song is interrupted by the crash of a brick being thrown through the window of Herr Schultz's fruit shop. Fräulein Schneider is afraid that the gesture might represent malicious intent, but Schultz assures her that it is just children making trouble.
Fräulein Schneider then goes to Cliff and Sally's room and returns their engagement present, explaining that her marriage has been called off. When Cliff protests, saying that she can't give her fiancé up, she asks him what other choice she has ("What Would You Do?").
Back at the Kit Kat Klub, the Emcee performs a song-and-dance routine with a girl in a gorilla suit ("If You Could See Her") and sings of how their love has been met with universal disapproval. Encouraging the audience to be more open-minded, he defends his ape-woman with the last line "if you could see her through my eyes,/ she wouldn't look Jewish at all," a statement which is met with much laughter and applause from the patrons.
Meanwhile, Cliff informs Sally that he is taking her back to his home in America so that they can raise their baby together. When Sally protests, declaring how wonderful their life in Berlin is, Cliff angrily tells her to "wake up" and take notice of the growing unrest around them, to which Sally retorts that politics have nothing to do with them or their affairs. Following their heated argument, Sally returns to the club to perform again, this time singing the song "Cabaret", which, though often performed as a show-stopping number, is imbued in its original context with a heavy irony and desperation bordering on hysteria. As Sally finishes the song, she breaks down and hurls her microphone to the ground.
When Sally goes back to her and Cliff's room, Cliff asks where her fur coat is. She answers, evasively, that she left it at the doctor's. He asks her if she's sick, but she says she is not— and then mentions how much she hates "that greedy doctor": She has had an abortion. Cliff slaps her. Sally, devastated, says that she had hoped their relationship wouldn't end like this, because it is the first time she has really cared about anyone. Cliff says that he is leaving for Paris in the morning, still hoping that she will join him. But Sally says that she's "always hated Paris." Cliff leaves, heartbroken.
The next scene switches to Cliff on the train to Paris. He begins to write his novel, reflecting on his experiences: "There was a city called Berlin, in a country called Germany. There was a cabaret, and there was a master of ceremonies. It was the end of the world, and I was dancing with Sally Bowles— and we were both fast asleep." He then begins to sing "Willkommen". The Emcee joins him and then overtakes him, as the scene shifts from the train car to the Kit Kat Klub. The Emcee continues the song, but the scene is now lit more darkly and it is revealed that the Emcee is dressed in Nazi regalia. The cabaret ensemble reprises the tune as before, but it is now harsh and violent instead of extroverted and sleazy. "Willkommen" is interrupeted three times by other songs from the show— first a ghostly "Meeskite", as Herr Schultz's reasurring comments from before echo and fade, then "So What", in which Fräulein Schneider rationalizes her breakup with Herr Schultz ("After all, what am I? A German."), and finally "Cabaret," as Sally appears beside the Emcee. However, her song soon fades away as well. The Emcee slowly sings, "Auf Wiedersehen, a bientot," then the final, spoken "Good night." The lights go out, while the "Cabaret" sign lights up.
[edit] Orchestration
[edit] 1966 (original)
- Woodwind: 2 piccolos (II optional), 2 flutes (II optional), oboe (optional) (doubles on English horn), 4 B-flat clarinets (I doubles E-flat clarinet, IV doubles bass clarinet), 2 soprano saxophones, 2 alto saxophones, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, bassoon (optional)
- Brass: Horn in F, 2 trumpets (I doubles flugelhorn), tenor trombone, baritone horn (optional, part doubles tenor trombone), bass trombone
- Percussion (1 player): timpani, bass drum, snare drum, tom toms, bongos, military field drum, suspended cymbal, choke cymbal, hi-hat, wood blocks, cowbell, triangle, rachet, bird whistle, tambourine, Chinese gong, temple blocks, castanets, xylophone, and glockenspiel
- Accordion
- Celeste
- Piano
- Strings: Guitar, Banjo, 3 violins, Viola, Cello, Bass
It also requires an onstage band consisting of:
- Tenor saxophone
- Trombone
- Drumset
- Piano
[edit] 1998 revision
- Woodwind: 2 flutes (opt. II replaced by clarinet), 2 piccolos (opt. II replaced by clarinet), oboe (doubles on English horn), 4 B-flat clarinets (I doubles E-flat clarinet, II doubles bass clarinet), 3 soprano saxophones, 2 alto saxophones, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, bassoon (opt. replaced by bass clarinet)
- Brass: Horn in F, 2 trumpets (I doubles on flugelhorn), tenor trombone (doubles on euphonium), bass trombone
- Percussion (1 player): Bass Drum, snare Drum, 2 tom-toms, floor tom, high bongo, hi-hat, suspended cymbals (small, chinese, top, crash, ride), cow bell, 2 wood blocks, 2 temple blocks, timpani, bells, xylophone, triangle, ratchet, bird whistle, siren whistle
- Piano
- Synthesizer (with registrations for accordion, celeste, string pad, harp, pipe organ, pedal steel guitar, cash register sound effect)
- Strings: Guitar, Banjo, 3 violins, Viola, Cello, Bass
Onstage band requires:
- Tenor saxophone
- Trombone
- Drumset (bass drum, snare drum, tom-tom, hi-hat, suspended cymbal, cowbell, wood block)
- Piano
[edit] Musical analysis
Cabaret, which has no overture, opens with a drum roll and cymbal crash played onstage. The orchestra then plays an ostinato rhythm which runs throughout the entire musical:
Image:Cabaret, opening bars (2).jpg
over which the Emcee begins to sing "Willkommen". At the spoken line "even the orchestra is beautiful", the stage drummer plays a solo which leads into a rendition of the "Willkommen" tune by the stage band. When the waiters are introduced, the orchestra plays a seemingly new melody, which is actually a variation on the first half of the main tune.
Sally's first cabaret song, "Don't Tell Mama", also opens with the drum roll/cymbal crash, followed by the ostinato rhythm played on different chords. The rhythm also runs through the main body of the song.
The "Telephone Song" is marked as a polka. It opens with a repeating sequence of three notes, which become rhythmically displaced as repeated in 4/4 time. This sequence provides part of the melody of the song, and is often repeated in interludes of several bars. A variation of both the repeated sequence and the melody forms the first couple's dance, marked "Orientale". The three notes also dominate the main dance in the middle of the song.
"Perfectly Marvelous" is introduced by a version of a melody from "Don't Tell Mama" which also twice interrupts the main Allegretto melody.
"Two Ladies", sung in an Allegretto cut-time, continually alternates between the keys of D-flat and D. The cheekily raunchy lyrics of the song are periodically punctuated by the nonsense lyric "Beedelee-deedelee-dee".
"It Couldn't Please Me More" is introduced by a whole-tone scale on the celesta. It also features an effect that is something of an anachronism, in the form of a glissando on the electric guitar (which did not exist in the 1930s). This effect is often associated with beaches or the ocean.
"Tomorrow Belongs to Me" opens with the melody sung by a solo tenor, and then in four-part harmony by a men's chorus. The orchestra enters at the line "Oh Fatherland, Fatherland, show us the sign", then drops out again as the chorus and Emcee finish the song.
"Why Should I Wake Up?" is introduced by a version of the melody of "Perfectly Marvelous". The lyrics, involving a "dream", are reflected by the orchestration, which includes rolled chords on the piano and celeste and tremolos in the woodwind and strings.
"Sitting Pretty" is in theme and variations form, with the variations being based on the clichés of the music of various countries. The "Russian" variation is a fast dance with fifth chords as accompaniment, and which also includes the tambourine and a "quasi cadenza" violin solo. The "Japanese" variation is played in parallel fourths with accompanying fifth chords, and the orchestration makes use of the gong, xylophone and temple blocks. The "French" variation is in the style of a can-can, while the "American" one is a Sousa-style march. The "German" variation is not a variation on the tune but a version of the "Ride of the Valkyries" from Wagner's Die Walküre.
"Married" is introduced by a fragment of melody from "It Couldn't Please Me More". The song itself is a slow waltz tune.
Herr Schultz's and Fräulein Schneider's dance in the fruit shop consists of variations on "It Couldn't Please Me More".
The reprisal of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" begins with Fräulein Kost singing the melody more or less as before; however, the accompaniment soon becomes that of a waltz. When all the party guests (except Sally, Cliff, Frau Scheider and Herr Schultz) enter, the tune is accompanied with piercing dissonances in the flutes (the composer's Berlioz-like note in the score reads "Flutes intentionally discordant"). Right before the curtain, the trumpets echo the theme of "Meeskite".
The Entr'acte consists of several tunes from the show played cabaret-style by the stage band. The segment opens with a short introduction based on "Willkommen", then cycles through "Sitting Pretty", "I Don't Care Much" (a song which was cut from the original production but later restored), "Two Ladies", "Why Should I Wake Up?", and "Cabaret" (which has not yet been sung). Near the end of the piece, the tenor saxophone and trombone play "Cabaret" while the piano plays the second theme of "Two Ladies".
The first "Kick Line" is based on "If You Could See Her", which is also yet to come in the show, and (briefly) "Why Should I Wake Up?" Eventually it overlaps with a drum tape, then segues into the second Kick Line, a march based on "Tomorrow Belongs to Me".
"If You Could See Her" has the same introduction (though in a different key) as the fruit shop dance. In the middle section the tune is changed to a waltz as the Emcee dances with the gorilla. After the final line, the orchestra ends the song with a jazzier version of the tune.
"What Would You Do" contains elements of the second theme of "Meeskite" in its accompaniment. The song also contains the unusually large vocal leap of a major ninth.
"Cabaret" is once again introduced by a drum roll/cymbal crash and the ostinato rhythm. The second part of the famous melody ("Come taste the wine") is also accompanied by the ostinato. After the central section, the melody of the song appears in a disjointed, slow cut-time accompanied by piano, banjo, xylophone and string pizzicatos. It soon accelerates back to the original tempo, but at the line "I made my mind up back in Chelsea" the tempo slows down once again. The final repetition of the tune starts as a slow "cakewalk," but then once again accelerates back to the first tempo. However, this time the accelerando does not stop, and the song continues to speed up, racing to the hysterical finish.
At the first repetition of "Wilkommen" in the Finale the tune is played more or less as the original. However, when it repeats the melody is disfigured with violent dissonances which approach bitonality. At the first repetition, the melody and accompaniment are in E-flat while the violins hold an A-natural tremolo, creating a tritone dissonance. This repetition also includes the three-note sequence from "Telephone Song". When the cabaret ensemble enters, the melody, along with the figure first heard at the waiter's dance, are played in C with the accompaniment still in E-flat: Image:Cabaret bitonality (2).jpg
The ghostly version of "Meeskite", this time in a minor key, is played with glissandos on the violins in harmonics, creating a whistling sound. "Willkommen" returns again, this time sung in B-flat with a countermelody based on "Sitting Pretty" and an accompaniment in C minor. "So What" returns, now sounding like a carousel waltz. "Willkommen" returns for the last time, this time with both melody and accompaniment in B but with brass, imitating a German band, play half-note triplets against the quarter- and half-note melody. Sally appears, singing "Cabaret," but the song fades on the line "Life is a cabaret". After the Emcee delivers his last "Good night", the show ends with the same drum roll and cymbal crash with which it opened.
[edit] Differences in film version
The film version of Cabaret was made in 1972 and directed by Bob Fosse. The movie once again starred Grey as the Emcee, with Liza Minelli portraying an Americanized Sally Bowles with far more talent than the original character possessed. To make the action more realistic and believable when removed from the stage, Fosse cut out all the book songs (songs which advance the plot), leaving only the songs that would realistically be sung in the Kit Kat Klub. (The one exception to this was "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," which was sung in a beer garden.) Kander and Ebb wrote several new songs for the movie and removed others: "Don't Tell Mama" was replaced by "Mein Herr" and "Sitting Pretty" (retained in various instrumental versions) by "Money, Money" (better known as "Money Makes the World Go Round"). Several characters were cut (including Herr Schultz, with Fraulein Schneider's part part cut down) and several from Isherwood's original stories put back in. The entire score was reorchestrated, all the numbers being accompanied by the stage band, and the original last line to "If You Could See Her" was restored (having been changed for the original production to "She isn't a meeskite at all" as to not offend audiences with the appearance of antisemitism).
[edit] 1987 version
This version is the one most often performed today. "Mein Herr" was retained from the movie version even though "Don't Tell Mama" was restored from the original, and "Sitting Pretty" was combined with "Money". "I Don't Care Much" (See "The Berlin Songs" below) was placed back in the show, sung by the Emcee, and "Why Should I Wake Up?" was replaced by the entirely new "Don't Go". "Meeskite" was cut, although it is restored in some performances of the work, and the restored last line of "If You Could See Her" was retained.
[edit] 1998 version
For Sam Mendes's Broadway revival in 1998, more changes were made to the musical than ever before. Possibly the most significant was the character of the Emcee (played by Alan Cumming): where the original Emcee is a stiff, marrionette-like, tuxedoed character with rouged cheeks, the 1998 Emcee is far more sexualized, wearing suspenders around his crotch and red paint on his nipples. Other aspects were more sexualized, such as "Two Ladies," which was now staged with the Emcee, a cabaret girl, and a cabaret boy in drag, and which included a shadow play simulating various sexual positions. The score was entirely reorchestrated, utilizing synthesizer effects and expanding the stage band (all the instruments now being played by the cabaret girls and boys). "Sitting Pretty" was eliminated entirely and replaced with "Money." Staging details differed as well: Instead of "Tommorow Belongs To Me" being sung by male choir, the Emcee plays a recording of a boy soprano singing it, cutting it off at the last second and whispering "To me."
[edit] Cut songs
[edit] The Berlin Songs
Several songs written for Cabaret were cut even before the original production. Originally, Kander and Ebb had planned to have five "Berlin Songs" in the musical, which would appear in snippets throughout. The idea was eventually rejected, but one of these songs, "I Don't Care Much", was restored for the movie version and for subsequent revisions. Kander and Ebb originally planned to have the song sung by a Berlin streetwalker, but when it was restored it was sung by the Emcee. It occurs between Cliff and Sally's fight and the title song, and in it the Emcee (dressed as Sally) reflects on Sally's feelings towards Cliff at the moment ("I don't care much,/go or stay/I don't care/very much/either way..."). Kander and Ebb's voice-and-piano recording of the song was added to the original cast album as filler material.
[edit] Other songs
Three songs were cut from the work and never restored: "Roomates," "Good Time Charlie," and "It'll All Blow Over." "Roomates" was eventually replaced by "Perfectly Marvelous", but serves largely the same purpose: Sally comes to Cliff's apartment and convinces him to let her live there. "Good Time Charlie," was to be sung by Sally to Cliff while they are on their way to Frau Schneider's engagement party. Sally finds Cliff overly dour and pessimistic, so she teases him with this song ("You're such a good time Charlie,/What'll we do with you?/You're such a good time Charlie,/frolicking all the time..."). "It'll All Blow Over" was planned for the end of the first act: Frau Schneider is worried about Ernst's comment to her that marrying a Jew might not be wise, and Cliff too is concerned about the city's growing Nazism. In the song, Sally tells them both that they have nothing to worry about and that it will all turn out well in the end. She eventually convinces Cliff and Frau Schneider to sing the song with her. (Both this song and "Roomates" are occasionally underscored by the ostinato rhthym of the piece.) These three songs were also recorded by Kander and Ebb, and the sheet music for the songs was included in "The Complete Cabaret Collection" (a book of vocal selections from the musical).
[edit] Recordings
The first recording of Cabaret was the original cast album, though with many of the songs (especially "Sitting Pretty") heavily edited and several cut to save disk space. When this album was released on compact disc, Kander and Ebb's voice-and-piano recording of songs cut from the musical was added as bonus material. The 1972 movie soundtrack is perhaps the best-known of the recordings. 1986 London revival recording featured Wayne Sleep as the Emcee and Kelly Hunter as Sally. The 1998 revival cast (with Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson) was also recorded (this time directly onto CD, containing more of the music.) A two-CD studio recording of Cabaret was made in 1999, which contains more or less the entire score (including songs written for the movie or for later productions, and many incidentals and instrumentals not usually recorded). This recording stars Jonathan Pryce as the Emcee, Maria Friedman as Sally, Gregg Edelman as Cliff, Judi Dench as Frau Schneider, and Fred Ebb himself as Herr Schultz.
[edit] Colombian version
By late 2006 Cabaret was staged in a Colombian version very similar to the Broadway montage and directed by Jorge Ali Triana with all the songs adapted to Spanish. The orchestra was directed by Cesar Escola and the cast included María C. Sanchez (Sally), Sebastián Martínez (the Emcee), Yolanda Rayo (Fraulein Schneider), and Victor Hugo Morant (Herr Schultz).
[edit] References
- Cabaret vocal score, with piano reduction by Robert H. Noeltner. Published 1968 by the New York Times Music Corp., Sunbeam Music Division.
[edit] External links
- Cabaret at the Internet Broadway Database
- Theatre Cedar Rapids Photo Gallery of Cabaret! - The whole show, in pictures
- Willkommen A comprehensive website dedicated to the '98 revival production.
