I’ve been really busy the last few weekends playing in the orchestra for a production of “Cabaret.” While never seen the stage production and only bits and pieces of the movie, still in my mind I’d felt comfortable dismissing it as some Liza Minelli sequins-and-eyeshadow star vehicle. Wouldn’t you know, that’s not the case.
The Wikipedia entry on it lays out a lot of fundamental differences between the film and the show, and it looks as though many of them conspire to make the movie less effective. For example there’s an entire subplot involving the landlady and the elderly Jewish widower and how their autumnal relationship — like the lives of so many of the characters — is doomed by the coming Nazi regime.
The scenes involving them are very sad indeed. It broadens the tragic nature of the story beyond being just about the somewhat less-sad fate of Sally, who let’s face it is a pretty shallow customer. Her showstopper in Act II is of course “Cabaret.” But just like how “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” in “Gypsy” is really about how everything is decidedly not coming up roses, by this point in the show life is most decidedly not a cabaret. It’s a bona fide musical tragedy.
Around here, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone who’s a really good singer and/or actor. So it’s no longer surprising to me that the cast is really talented. But there are also a lot of people with a flair for lighting and stage design. There are a couple of scenes where, using the minimal amount of props and decor, they pull of some remarkable effects.
In the scene in their room where Sally tells Cliff she’s pregnant, and he tries to convince her to keep the baby, the MC silently moves the microphone to center stage, the lighting shifts, she takes a few stops over, and the song “Maybe This Time” is part of her Kit Kat Klub act.
And the final scene is actually shocking. A drum roll and a cymbal crash (ladeeez and gentlemen!), and the MC throws off his cape to reveal … a black-and-grey striped concentration camp uniform. Freeze frame for ten beats, he bows, and lights out.
Wow! I had that same impression about Cabaret. Which was’t fair because i’d never seen the movie or the stage version. And had absolutely no idea what the story line was. Now it seems like something to click on. Something with some substance.
Tonight’s performance really nailed it. I’ve got to see if there’s a stage version available through Netflix or something.