Season 7: Cabaret!

The Gospel of Musical Theatre

What would you do? What will you do?

In the election run-up, Peter & Nathan are talking about musicals that deal with political unrest and social change (don't worry, it's still fun!). We begin with the 1966 Broadway classic Cabaret, one of the darkest, kinkiest, and most-enduring musicals of all time.

We talk about:

– Willkommen / Two Ladies / The Money Song: The "decadence" depicted by the emcee and the performers of the Kit Kat Klub (KKK, anyone?) in 1930s Berlin on the eve of Nazism. Does Cabaret hold this very queer decadence as responsible for the rise of fascism, or is there something deeper at work?

– Married / So What / What Would You Do? Bob Fosse’s 1972 film version of Cabaret eliminates most of the traditional musical theatre story exemplified in the romance between Fraulein Schneider & Herr Schultz. But these two characters—and the songs that Kander & Ebb wrote for them—carry much of the show’s political weight – and its emotional heart. Is Fraulein Schneider secretly Cabaret’s protagonist?

– Don’t Tell Mama & Cabaret: We talk about one of Cabaret’s most well-known characters, Sally Bowles. What does she mean when she sings that "life is a cabaret?"

– Tomorrow Belongs to Me: The incredible music of Cabaret – hymns, patriotic anthems, folk songs and music hall ditties – raises provocative questions about entertainment, pleasure, emotional release, and the rise of demonic ideologies. Religion traffics in some of the same territory. Is good music morally neutral... or not?

You’ll hear Joel Grey, Jill Haworth, Lotte Lenya, Jack Gilford and the cast of the 1966 Original Broadway Cast – as well as Mark Lambert on the 1972 film soundtrack singing “Tomorrow Belongs to Me”.