Cabaret Finale- Page 2

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 1:55pm

Queens: It's not meant to be presented in "real time." The Emcee doesn't sing his final words IN the concentration camp, or as the Nazis are coming to arrest them. It's meant just emcompass and symbolize what WILL happen. It's like "Here...you met these characters. Do you like them? Well, to bad - cause look:"

[Paulyd]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 2:56pm

I saw the new London version last week.In my opinion it still needs a hell of a lot of work. In the ending all the chorus members and the emcee are totally nude and huddle outside the gas chambers with fake ash dropping onto the stage. As the curtain falls down a huge yellow swostika is beamed onto the stage.

Quite effective, but by that time i had had enough. It opens officially tonight so it will be interesting to see what the London critics think.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 2:57pm

Wow.

[Paulyd]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 3:06pm

i'd hold that thought until you see the rest of the show. Its directed by Rufus Thomas who bought his amazing version of Festen to Broadway recently. He also directed another play over here called Marketboy at the National Theatre which is one of the best plays i've ever seen.

His version of Cabaret left me cold. The acting and singing left alot to be desired

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 3:08pm

I won't be able to see it, and from what I've head it is a pretty big disappointment, but that's quite a shocking ending nonetheless.

Updated On: 10/10/06 at 03:08 PM

[QueenS]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 3:14pm

They're huddling outside the chambers? I guess that's one way to keep warm.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 3:15pm

.... um, or out of shame, more likely to be historically accurate.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 3:16pm

That sounds really shocking.

[OpenDoors]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 4:41pm

Oh Jesus.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 1:09am

There's a local theater group putting on Carabet and I saw it for the second time last night. There's a twofold reason for that: I really liked it and wanted to see it again, and I'm still trying to understand some of the intricacies.

Their finale goes like this: After Cliff and the Emcee have their scene, the Emcee goes upstage and opens a door. All the principals come out (Herr Shultz has a star on his coat). They take their marks and the Emcee does his "Here life is beautiful" bit and the male chorus boys, dressed as Nazis, move the back wall away to reveal a blank scrim with a rickety staircase.

The female chorus, wearing overcoats and clearly meant to be Jews, come out and join the rest of the cast. One of the Nazi men takes the Emcee's coat to reveal that he's wearing a camp uniform, with an inverted triangle pinned to his shirt. He turns to the audience and does the "Auf wiedersehn" bit. After "au bientot" the lights begin to go down, showing the cast only in silhouette. As it gets darker, gas can be seen blanketing the stage and the Emcee whispers "Goodbye." What do you think of that?

The London ending sounds like it's trying to bludgeon the audience with its point, which always makes me mad. It shows a lack of trust from the director: They don't believe you'll get it on your own and have to beat you senseless with the message.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 1:13am

The London Ending sounds a little...strong

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 1:40am

It sounds a little "much." Like I said, I hate it when a play tries to hammer the point home so there's no way you can intrepret except for one. I lose respect for directors who have to resort to that tactic.

[LuvUrBatBoy]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 9:20am

I just finished doing a production of this as Victor and our director added Victor and Bobby to the finale, having us enter stage right being chased by a soldier. Another nazi soldier enters stage left and the two trap us in the middle. As the soldiers were about to grab us, we embraced then they threw us on the ground, beat us with their guns then dragged us off opposite sides of the stage.

You could here the gasps from the audience

[teh_pretty]

Posted: 10/14/06 at 8:43pm

Amen Rose_MacShane.

Audience members aren't given enough credit. They know what's happening.

[Emcee4ever]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 8:42pm

LuvUrBatboy's finale ending sounds interesting!

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 8:51pm

It really does.

[James2]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 9:13pm

The ending in the Arena Stage version from two months ago was exemplary. I don't remember the full thing, but the very last detail was so powerful that no one made a sound until the curtain call lights came up.

After "Wilkommen," a miniature train went around the stage so the audience would know that the next scene was set in a train car. At the end, after "auf wiedersien, abientot," the Emcee does not say "good night". Instead, the lights go out except for a small spotlight that follows the train on another trip, now resembling a train heading for a camp.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 9:18pm

Here are two of the ending I saw that stood out the most.

1) The Emcee turns around and shoots all the cast memebers and then shoots himself, the show blacks out with them all laying on the floor dead.

2) The Emcee resembles a broken puppet being controlled and then finally collapses.


How did the recent revival end?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 9:21pm

The version I saw that was really awesome had a simple set, with a walkway at the top of the set, and the train car tracked there. And through the course of the show these two German flags were slowly turning into Nazi Flags. And they had the cast doing their moments on varying portions of the set, with Sally on a table, and as the Emcee began his final bit, the Nazi flags started to glow really bright, and the lights came up fuller and all the men and women were wearing swastikas, and then black out.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 10:53pm

Can I just say, that I did a presentation the other day on Cabaret in my writing class and at the end I told about all the different endings different productions have done. Yeah. My professor was quite impressed.

[justagirl2]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 10:55pm

When I did Cabaret at the end of the summer, we ended the show with a recap of lines, of course, as the Kit Kat girls reenacted their dance to "Wilkommen" in slow motion. As this ended, we blacked out the stage, where two men came out with guns. The audience was left in darkness, until the lights flashed, and the men fired and killed the Kit Kat girls, who collapsed onto their chairs. We blackened the stage again, and the audience was left with the Emcee in a red spotlight, showing his Nazi armband, whispering "goodbye."

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:15pm

Shooting or beating anyone to death at the end of this show would come under the heading of 'Heavy Handed'.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:16pm

I don't get the Emcee-shooting-everyone-then-himself ending... I'm not really that familiar with the show, but why would he shoot anyone around him?

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:28pm

COOOOLkid- I'm guessing that the emcee in those productions is supposed to represent Hitler, or the Nazi regime in general.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 12/11/06 at 12:28am

My sister just auditioned for the show at her college and she had to sign a release saying that she is comfortable appearing nude. I am assuming that they are doing the naked finale. Seems a little much to me.