Two Sundays ago, I saw Cabaret at my usual local theatre, and I have struggled to write about it. It’s not because there was anything bad about the production, it was pretty amazing. The problem is that given everything going on in the USA right now, and the world at large honestly, Cabaret is a particularly HEAVY show to sit through.
“Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome…” has been playing in my head pretty often since I saw it, but it’s not the sort of song I feel like busting out and singing. At the end of the day, I feel like that’s the whole point of the show. The songs are quite catchy and easily become earworms, but they would subvert your expectations of what the show is going to be like if you went in only knowing the songs. I feel grateful that I’d already seen the movie years ago, so I already knew to expect things to get darker, however as always, live theatre hits even harder than a movie ever could.
We actually went to a tech rehearsal for the show a couple of weeks prior, and got to hear some compelling tidbits from the Creative Director who usually stops in for a few minutes. One thing that really stuck with me was when he mentioned that the back panels on the stage that also double as the doors for the apartments were designed to look like the outer walls of the trains that carted people off to the camps, and they were covered with the names of victims of the Holocaust. Since this is the only production of Cabaret that I’ve seen, I don’t know if that’s standard set design, or if this was his own interpretation, but man did it imbue the whole production with so much emotional weight, having that visual reminder of what’s going to happen up there on the stage all the time.
There were several Palace regulars in the cast, and they all did a wonderful job as usual. I’d not seen the guy playing the Master of Ceremonies before, but he did a great job finding that balance between being charismatic, and sinister. One of my favorite kids from the summer series was in this production, but unfortunately he was mostly relegated to playing imposing Germans because he’s tall. I really hope one day I get to see him playing a comedic role, because he’s absolutely made for comedy.
The dancing was excellent, with so many talented people up on that stage. As always, the quality of productions at this place never fails.
I’m finding it hard to gush about specific things though, because the slow descent as you watch the threat of facism growing ever greater makes it impossible to get swept up into the joy of the singing and dancing like you would in a silly musical like Mamma Mia. The singing and dancing is amazing, but when you’re tense and near to tears, and uncomfortable (rightfully so) through so much of the show, it’s just an entirely different experience.
I am happy that I saw it, and I hope they’re proud of the production that they put on, but I don’t think I’d want to see Cabaret again. While I appreciate the art of musicals in all forms, I’m definitely a person who mostly goes to a musical to experience a few hours of concentrated joy. Cabaret is thought-provoking, meaningful, upsetting, and an extremely important piece of art, but it’s definitely not concentrated joy.
Even though I was anticipating the bit with the gorilla, and the reveal of the whole number being antisemitic, it still hits like a gut punch. I was horrified to hear that someone in the audience did laugh, but I’m hoping that was knee-jerk nervous laughter.
Everyone coming out wearing uniforms and pink triangles at the end was too much for my mother and she started crying. I had sort of been emotionally preparing myself for the entire show, and the bit that teared me up the most was actually when Herr Schultz was dismissing everything going on around him, absolutely sure that it wouldn’t go any further. It’s such a painful scene when you know exactly what would be happening to this character in another few years, if this weren’t fictional. And it wasn’t fictional for so many.
It was an incredible show, but I was left feeling so sad and disturbed by the end of it. We absolutely gave the cast the standing ovation they deserved, but even applauding felt weird. I knew it would be a heavy show, and not a feel good show, but it hit me a lot harder than I was anticipating.
Thankfully after the show we went out to dinner, and we unexpectedly got dinner and another show. The place we went to is odd in that they only have three single occupant bathrooms in the place. Unbeknownst to us, directly behind our table was a single occupant unisex bathroom. About halfway through our entrees, I started to hear knocking. I was confused because there was an emergency exit across from our table, but I could see through the glass that there was nobody there. The knocking got more insistent, so I went investigating and found the bathroom and realized somebody was locked inside of it and couldn’t get out. I wound up getting some help, but even the front desk guy could not get this bathroom door open. The fire department wound up getting called, and it gave us a much-needed boost of hilarity to see this silly situation unfold. My sister made me take a photo of her with the hunky firefighters in the background, and the look on her face is priceless. The head firefighter jokingly talked about ordering dessert with us because it took them AGES to figure out how to get the guy out with minimal damage to the door.
Thankfully the guy’s companion confirmed that he wasn’t claustrophobic, so we didn’t feel bad having a good laugh at the whole situation. When they were finally able to hammer the lock out and set the guy free, the whole restaurant applauded while he sheepishly went back to his table. His companion said he was NEVER going to let him live this down, because apparently someone else in their group wouldn’t go in that bathroom because they thought, “the lock looked weird,” but he went, “Oh it’s fine,” and LOOK WHAT HAPPENED. So at least that whole situation definitely lightened up the evening!
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