The Official Adam Pascal Love thread — Page 596

http://www.adampascal.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=10

That's a synopsis that I wrote. I haven't read it recently, but I think it's what you're looking for. Scroll down a bit. It's the hideously long post.

The CABARET book has the entire script, and some adorable pictures, and really neat information.

Hold on - the script is online, I believe. Let me get it.

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Nevermind, it's just the song lyrics, not the full script.

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YES! On both accounts.

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wow. i read the cabaret synopsis... that has to be one of the most interesting things i have ever read. the whole time through, i was trying to figure out how all of the different stories, so to speak (sally and cliff, frau s. and the jewish herr, etc) were tied together. i also spent a lot of time trying to figure out the importance of the emcee and why the show was named cabaret. my analysis (thus far): the show is in a cabaret style, and it shows different pieces of different stories. to borrow a line from the show (i think)- "life is a cabaret"
I still haven't quite figured out the emcee, but if it took my only this much time to figure him out, then he wouldn't have been such a (for lack of a better word) great character.

Now I'm off to place the book and CD on my Amazon.com wishlist.

That was a great synopsis, Emcee!! I forgot about some of the details.

Okay, what would be happening on stage at this moment one year ago?

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Thanks. After more thought, the Kit Kat Club does seem like Weimar Germany. Actually, before reading the synopsis, for some reason I thought that all of the stuff in the Kit Kat Club was someone's dream... sort of a caricature of what was going on in the real world.

I also originally thought that the Emcee was less important; that he was pretty much only present in the Kit Kat Club and that his main function, so to speak, was introducing the acts and socializing with the people at the club. Now I see he's clearly much more... still trying to figure him out. But overall, this musical made me think a lot more than I thought it would. (I was actually expecting it to be more like Chicago, what with Fosse choreography and a Kander/Ebb score)

btw, is this (see link) the book you were talking about?
edit... here's the link:
Link

Updated On: 1/4/05 at 09:31 PM

Well, it may in fact be a dream; a nightmare, more likely. I think it's very open to interpretation. Probably more of an allegory than a dream, since it seems pretty clear that these sorts of clubs actually did exist right before everything fell apart in Berlin. Cabaret is based on the play I am a Camera, which is based on Christopher Isherwood's book, The Berlin Stories, and several of his other memoirs and works. In it, he writes a lot of description about a club, and a young man who could excecute perfect splits, dressed in drag, suspenders, glittered nipples and lots of makeup - the man who would become Kander and Ebb's Emcee.

Originally, Emcee was much less important; as the productions changed, he took on a more narrative presence. In the revival, he was almost always on stage somewhere, watching, observing and commenting on what was going on around him. He very rarely interacted with the other characters. Originally, Joel Grey said that he was a representation of Hitler. More recently, he's gone on to be a representation of all that Hitler destroyed - a much less sinister, more vulnerable person, almost without any identity at all.

ETA - Chloe, you and I posted at the same time. It's on my list of books to read, as soon as I can get my hands on a copy. And yes, Sally was real. She was killed in a concentration camp.

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Updated On: 1/4/05 at 09:35 PM

Would ya believe I've never seen the movie? Some day, I will. I was always worried that it would taint my view of the show, because it's so different. I've never been good and convincing myself that two different incarnations of one thing may be best taken as two separate entities.... hence my quandry with the RENT film. Anyway, now that I've decided to see it, of course my local blockbuster doesn't have it.

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I should try that. The libraries where I'm from aren't great, but I'm SURE in the city I'd be able to find it easily. I'll check around when I go back to school.

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Well, adding to the Cabaret-ness...
Does the show take place during the 1930s/1940s? I know it mentions Sally having an abortion; were abortions possible back then? (Meaning did they have the technology?)
I think that the show could be interpreted as not really taking place during a set time period, especially since most of the action, etc. does seem to be symbolic of Weimar Germany. However, the style of the show does suggest the 30s/40s.

I guess this is one of the things I loved so much about Cabaret - it's a show you can pick apart and really talk about, on so many levels. After I saw it, I put myself through a bit of a crash course, and did a lot of reading. I really wanted to understand it, and grasp it.

Seems like with Emcee's costume, they felt like they were able to be more daring in the 90's, and go ahead and portray things how they were... raunchy like that.

ballerina, the show takes place right before Germany fell to the Nazi's. I'm not sure of an exact year, but at the risk of looking like a fool, I think it's around 1939, but possibly even a bit earlier. Anyway, abortions were possible, but they were very dangerous. That's why Sally comes back from the doctor so sick.

ETA, and then edited because I was wrong - Star2b - go to the link in my signature and click about the CD. Scroll through, and you'll find what Adam says about it.

And another ETA - I'm starving. I'll be back to pick more brains in a few minutes.

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Updated On: 1/4/05 at 10:07 PM

*nods*
And that's why I love it.
I'm a big fan of double and triple entendres.

Okay, getting food now. Back shortly.

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