A red, hazy glow settles over the chattering audience as they take their seats around a circular stage to watch the new Broadway revival of Cabaret. Seductive melodies pour in from balconies where an orchestra puppeteers dancers who saunter into the light, their clownish yet sensual outfits and vivacious makeup juxtaposing the dull crowds.
As the overture fades and viewers settle, the Emcee, the host of your show, welcomes you in. Soon, a new, cheery tune plays and he shouts greetings in French, German, and English. “So, life is disappointing? Err?” he asks as the audience giggles. “Leave your troubles outside! Forget it!” he commands, because “We have no troubles here!” As the audience laughs at the overly theatrical introduction, they remain unaware of the sinister implications. Encapsulating the lifestyle of those in the cabaret, the Emcee’s words symbolize how he, the characters, and even you as a willing audience member, utilize the cabaret for escapism, fostering ignorance to preserve a carefree lifestyle.
As the show progresses through explosive dance numbers, emotional vocal performances, and fourth wall breaks which create unique and personalized humor, the audience comes to adapt the same way of life, partaking in the cabaret’s joyous performances however oblivious they may be. However, you must “pay attention,” as Adam Lambert’s rendition of Emcee said in a recent performance, because “No, this is not a comedy.” As the show progresses, vibrant costumes fade into dull monotones, dance numbers dissolve into lonesome solos, and characters become paranoid and unsettled as violence and tragedy seep into their once joyous lives.
Despite its alluring facade, Cabaret sends a haunting message to its audience. Taking place during the 1920s-1930s, the show follows a cast of cabaret actors at the Kit Kat Club, a nightclub in Berlin, Germany. As the Nazis rise to power, the cabaret, once an enjoyable nightlife, now becomes a maladaptive escape that the characters rely on to preserve their carefree lifestyle. While the Kit Kat Club enables them to experience momentary freedom, their oblivion and complicity in the face of violence allow the Nazi party to strengthen, inevitably leaving them helpless against violence and death at the hands of the oppressive regime.
At the end of Cabaret, the audience is taught that ignorance and complicity, while blissful, are deadly. As bigotry, fascism, and political extremism escalate in America, Cabaret’s message is more urgent than ever.
Sally Bowles is the leading lady at both the Kit Kat Club and in Cabaret, and therefore, best encapsulates the performers’ willful ignorance. During a conversation with Clifford Bradshaw, her love interest and a struggling American writer who recently moved to Berlin, Cliff warns her of the growing Nazi regime, to which she rolls her eyes and states, “It’s just politics. What’s that got to do with us?”
Unfortunately, Sally’s naivety is experienced by a growing number of Americans today. In a study from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, it was found that “up to 43% [of Americans] say they avoid the news,” partially because it “feels irrelevant.”
We live in a time of drastic political change which demands attention. Recently, PBS reported that Donald Trump has attempted to end “constitutionally protected birthright citizenship;” a previous PBSNewsHour/NPR/Marist poll found that one in five Americans believed that violence is necessary to “get the country back on track.” The Human Rights Campaign reported that “1 in 5 of any type of hate crime is now motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ bias” within the past year.
However, coming to this realization is not easy, especially for those who are unaware of the influence of current events. Fortunately, watching Cabaret forces viewers to reflect on their own oblivion and ignorance. When watching Cabaret, the show, you are not only an audience member of a Broadway production but also an audience member at the Kit Kat Club, as the Emcee serves as both your guide through the fictional cabaret in the show and the show of Cabaret itself. In turn, you become a character who utilizes the cabaret as the same fantastical escape that the characters do, becoming complicit with the very violence you condemn onstage. Through this, you are not only forced to recognize but experience the detriments of your willful ignorance, which allowed the Nazis to rise to power and the characters onstage to suffer.
This realization is hammered into you during the final number, “Finale,” where the Emcee breaks the fourth wall to ask you, “Where are your troubles now? Forgotten?” evoking his first lines in the opening number, lyrics once laughed at for their unlikeliness. Here, the band no longer plays the cheery tune that underscored the show, and in the original production of Cabaret, the Emcee follows the statement by taking off his trenchcoat to reveal the same striped uniform and golden star that Jews were forced to wear in concentration camps. He then gives you a sinister grin, and states, “I told you so.”
While the Emcee was aware of both his fictional world and reality, it was his willing participation in it that caused him to be subjected to violence. Given that his position parallels that of the audience, his suffering imparts a harrowing warning on its viewers: understanding socio-political events isn’t sufficient to prevent meeting the same fate of your host. Instead, you must take action against oppression to prevent history from repeating itself.
As Cliff says to Sally after her continued inaction in the face of the Nazi’s growing regime, “If you’re not against all of it, then you’re for it.”
At the show’s end, Cliff shares, “It was the end of the world, and I was dancing with Sally Bowles, and we were both fast asleep.” Today, Americans find themselves at the Kit Kat Club, fast asleep alongside Sally, Cliff, and the Emcee, unaware of the consequences of doing so. That’s why now, more than ever, you must watch Cabaret to reflect on your ignorance and inaction and to change before history repeats itself.
