Cabaret
Book by Joe Masteroff
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Music by John Kander
Directed by Don Mays
Musical Director, Andrew Hertz
Choreographer, Dante Sciarra
February 26-March 1 and March 5-8, 2009
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 PM; and Sunday at 2 PM
Stuart Theatre
ABOUT THE PLAY
Brown University Theatre proudly presents Cabaret, a popular musical set in 1930’s Berlin just prior to Hitler’s rise to power. The story, based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories and John Van Druten’s I Am A Camera, centers around Sally Bowles, a singer at the Kit Kat Klub, and her intense but brief love affair with an American writer. Set against the backdrop of political and societal upheavals, their romance is doomed to failure.
The world depicted in Cabaret is a world of strongest contests between the individual and the society, different political forces and economic interests. Caught between two world wars, the populace tried to escape the impending doom by enjoying themselves in the growing entertainment industry: it was the heyday of the cinema, musical theater, varietés, and cabarets. Nevertheless, with the increasing economic crisis and political disorder, which culminated in daily outbreaks of violence on the streets of the cities, the awareness of the decline also became a contributing factor to the entertainment experience. This double-awareness is perfectly captured by the contemporary assessment of the times being a “dance on the volcano:” one lived on the edge of ultimate catastrophe and thus lived one’s life to the fullest.
The performance, inside and outside of the Cabaret, is symptomatic of the liminality of identity, gender, sex, class, and race. It negotiates the masks we put on every day; it shatters façades and protects illusions at the same time. Each character has to resolve his or her performativity in the light of impending doom. The concerns depicted in Cabaret are not exclusive to the historic moment of the emerging Third Reich but speak to the way in which the individual is always responsible for the shaping of society. In this way, the world itself becomes a theater through which a new order is formed.
Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!