Cabaret Finale — Page 3

I saw the 98 revival. I liked that ending a lot!

---

I'm not too fond of the nude-ness in Cabaret as well. I mean, I adore the show ... but there are certain things that should not be added on to it [i.e. nudity]. The costumes alone are just fine as they are, and you don't need to go anywheres further. Let the audience think for themselves. You don't have to be like "Hey look! We're using nudity! We're like, totally being edgy!"

Anyways;

From what I remember of the production I worked on, we had the doorwall open to show the ensemble lined up... sort of like a gas chamber. Just as the cymbal crashed, the Emcee removed his coat to reveal concentration camp attire and the lights flickered.

If I ever get a chance to direct Cabaret, I had the idea for the Emcee to kill himself off, instead of gunning down the ensemble [though it's probably been done before, so this idea isn't very clever, but then again I'm not trying to make it sound that way].

This is how I would go about doing it;
The first refrain of 'Willkommen' on the accordion - when this happens, just as he says "auf wiedersehen", The Emcee takes off one sleeve of his jacket and removes his hat.

The second refrain of 'Willkommen' - just as he says "a bientot", The Emcee removes the other sleeve and disgards the jacket to the ground, but before doing so, takes out a gun [that is keep in a pocket on the inside or the outside of the jacket, depending on how convienent the spot is].

As the drumroll begins - The Emcee turns around, so his back is to the audience. As the tempo picks up, he raises the gun so that by the time the cymbal crashes, he has it pointed to his head. Just as the cymbal crashes, he pulls the trigger and falls to the ground.

And that, is my lame idea for the finale of Cabaret... if I ever direct it.

---

Oh, don't worry, that's just an idea that's been in my head for a while [and really, the only reason why I have him commiting suicide is because he is truly unhappy... or at least that's how I perceive it].

I'm really not *that* dark and scary. More of 'shut the f**k up, I'm going to be emo now!' You of all people should know! :)


If you want to post the picture... go ahead.

---

Perfectly Marvelous, I agree with the overdoing it with the nudity. I enjoyed the London version but I felt like it was too much. Though with it all coming down to them all being nude in the end....I can see it I guess.

I am sorry if I make any mistakes with the details. I saw it a month ago.

The ending was quite shocking I thought. The finale was a bit different than I have seen or heard about before. There are big letters onstage spelling "Cabaret" but backwards and all the characters, while Willkommen is being sung, walk amongst the letters one by one singing a bit from their "song" in the show. Then the nazis come and knock each letter to the ground, one by one(and loudly too) leaving only the "A" which the Emcee knocks down once he is finished singing. Behind him a group of people stand naked. The Emcee unrobes himself and walks back and stands with them. They huddle while shower heads come from the celing and spray "water" on them and then the lights go out.


It was mighty creepy.

---

As I might have said on another thread (ages ago), I like finales that give some hint as to what's coming...but I'm very iffy on portraying the Emcee as another victim of the concentration camps. Until the 1998 revival model came along, I'd always considered the Emcee a *symbol* of the evil permeating Germany, not a *victim* of it. Other productions I'd heard about (and one that I'd seen) subtly changed the Emcee's makeup toward the end, so at the very end his face looked like a death's head.

That same production--my alma mater's, in 1997--had a very chilling ending. The cast was onstage, some of them marked with Stars of David or pink triangles. From the "Cabaret" reprise, they went into a robotic reprise of "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" as the stage filled with smoke. The backdrop flew up to reveal a gigantic swastika. Then, recordins of flames and gunfire echoed, with a steady drumbeat in the foreground. On the wings, slides of Holocaust scenes and victims (Anne Frank among them) were projected, finally dissolving into the words "NEVER FORGET" and "NEVER AGAIN" as the cast robotically walked into the smoke. The stage went dark...except for a spotlight on the Emcee, who grinned through his skull-like makeup as he chirped, "Meine Dammen und Herren...where are your troubles now? Forgotten! I told you so! Here we have no troubles...here life is beautiful!" Then, "Auf Wiedersehen...a bientot...and I wish you all a very good night!" as he snapped a "Heil Hitler" salute, and bowed on the final cymbal crash.

I was in CABARET last fall, as the Emcee.

In the last scene, I came out as the train conductor and collected Cliff's ticket, and said the conductor's dialogue. Then I went upstage and changed some clothing, back into my Emcee tux (yes, we went CABARET traditional and not revival). When Cliff began singing the WIlkommen reprise, I was over looking him.

Then, after the final speech and the chorus coming back in singing Wilkommen, I sang the final "Auf Verdeshein, a bientot" and then, I wiped some black shoe polish from my shoe with 2 fingers, wiped the black under my nose, began to raise my hand Hitleresque, and was then handed a bowler from one of the ensemble people seated at a cabaret table in the audience.

I then wrigled my nose, made like Chaplin, and waddled upstage center, twirling my cane, into a white light.

Updated On: 12/13/06 at 06:48 PM

"If you think Cabaret is really about Sally Bowles, then you've missed the point."

I never thought it was. I always thought it was about this writer who was caught up in the oncoming approach of the Nazi regime.

---

I got a couple of songs from Cabaret sung by Susan Egan on her album called So Far... and I really loved them. In fact I used "Cabaret" for an audition that I will be finding out the results to in a few weeks. Anyway, to get to the point, I didn't know there was nudity! Is like TOTALLY nude or half or what??? LOl It's so weird to think of Belle nude.

"I think what BSo was getting at was that it's sort of become all about the ending in the sense that productions seem to act on the need to out-do each other and come up with the most shocking ending yet. If that happens, the ending loses its theatrical, emotional and dramatic value, because audiences can tell when they're seeing something that is only there to see just how shocking it can be. You want something that's shocking, but not there JUST to shock you. Does that make sense? I think he's getting at the idea that they go overboard. The show is conceptually an allegory, but I don't think that necessitates endings that are too much."


Indeed, it does make sense.

I think sometimes the creepiest endings are the most subtle ones. Especially in Cabaret. It's a type of show that's sort of chilling already and by going overboard on the ending, it messes up that subtle creepiness, y'know? I know I posted my crazy idea for the ending, but that's just a crazy idea. If I saw a production that actually did that sort of ending, I'd more than likely be shocked and then try to analyze why they did that sort of thing.

Part of it also is that the Emcee changes throughout the show [as he is sort of mirror reflection of people in Germany at the time.] You never know what he has up his sleeve, and that's what sort of makes the finale interesting. Because you just don't know what he's going to do next.

[Hopefully that makes a little bit of sense]. :)

---

I just did it in May (the original script with the original songs too. Yay for our poor community theatre not being able to afford rights to a newer version!) I was in the chorus... but anywho after the scene where Cliff boards the train Emcee does his little monologue "Meine Dammen.... No troubles here, blah blah, the girls are beautiful" (the girls enter from various parts on the stage in blood red slips with their hair all ratted out and overly done and smudged makeup) "even the orchestra is beautiful" (screen flies out to reveal the instruments sitting on the music stands) then the chorus starts coming out, because they sing in the original finale. We filed out and walked in a circle, facing the audience (a main concept of our show was that we were part of an actual cabaret, and we did the show every night, so it was very mundane, old hat, routine, and the cabaret performers end up just watching the audience for entertainment, instead of the audience getting entertainment from the performers...) and the main leads say lines from various parts of the show, then, out of nowhere (we slipped Sally in a trenchcoat while she circles) she has on her Life is a Cabaret blood red fringed flapper dress and we raise her up on a chair, then slowly filter off. We put her down, then she goes downstage and she vocally fades off her solo and mouths the words while everyone leaves the stage. Then she just stops, looks at the audience, then goes off because no one ever applauded. Emcee says "aufedersein, a bientot" and then took a puff of his cigar, exhales, and our 20 foot tall mirrored wall panels came down so the audience could see themselves, lights fade from red to white, blackout/cymbal crash.

(I really enjoyed the ending to act one. Everyone ends up singing the nazi theme, and we all did the hitler salute with a red wash on the stage. But the cast stood there, even while the house lights came up. We were to stare the audience down for a good minute or two, hoping they realized what we were all doing. People would just freeze in their seats, or hurriedly go off. I loved it.)

---

I really like hearing all of these endings, and they all seem very effective. I actually like the fact that the ending changes so much; it can be done many ways.

---

No, Sally wouldn't have ended up in a concentration camp...but I think that the script meant to convey that she'd self-destruct, through drugs and drink, perhaps.

After all, what are the lines she repeats at the end?

"I made my mind up back in Chelsea,
When I go, I'm going like Elsie!...

...From cradle to tomb isn't that long a stay..."

The sad part is...Elsie may have been "the happiest corpse she'd ever seen," but she still died unconscionably young. And Sally's basically saying that she doesn't care if she does too.

These are good (and creepy :P), any more interesting Finales?