Cabaret: "Tomorrow Belongs to Me"

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 1:00am

I have seen, and love, the film version of CABARET. But, without excuse, I have yet to see it on stage.

A local, pretigious theatre Company is producing it this summer and I was wondering. How is the song "Tomorrrow Belongs to Me" used in the stage version. I am the correct age for, and the correct range for, the song as it is used in the movie. And if it is used in the same context as in the movie, I was thinking of auditioning for the Nazi boy who sings it.

So, how is the song used in the stage version?

[Paul LW]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 1:04am

Ohhhh good luck!

It goes pretty high when I saw it...but it was sung by a Nazi man in a cool quartet when I saw it...no little boy...which is creepy none-the less.

If you have blonde hair and blue eyes you are set!

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 1:09am

Was this song an actual song before Cabaret?

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 1:10am

From IMDB.com:

"Tomorrow Belongs to Me" was written by John Kander and Fred Ebb in the style of a traditional German song, sung by the Nazi youth in the movie, to stir up patriotism for the "fatherland". It has often been mistaken for a genuine "Nazi anthem" and has led to the songwriters being accused of anti-Semitism. This would be most surprising, as they are, in fact, Jewish. It is also the only song sung outside of the cabaret setting to survive the transition from stage to film.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 1:11am

Cool. Thanks for the info.

[Jon]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 1:31am

In the original, it is first subg by a quartet of waiters at the Kit Kat Club. The Emcee joins them at the end.

It is reprised at Herr Schultz and Fraulein Schneider's engagement party - Ernst starts it, then Frauelin Kost joins him, then other guests join.

Of course, if you only know the movie, you are totally confused, since Schultz and Ernst don't exist in the movie, and Schenieder and Kost have around one line each. They are major characters in the play.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 7:28am

in the revival, the emcee holds a record player and plays the song for the audience. it is prerecorded.

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 8:39am

actually, in this past revival, Fraulein Kost begins the song in an attempt to keep Ernst from leaving the engagement party...

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 8:41am

actually, that is the reprise of the song at the end of act one. it appears before that, preceeding the money song.

[mominator]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 8:45am

Love the show and the movie. But that song always gives me the chills.

[Nina]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 10:14am

On stage, the way this song is done is somewhat open to the desires of the director. The orignal book calls for the Kit Kat Club waiters to do it in a four part harmony with the Emcee joining on the last line. I ahve seen it done with a single tenor starting off then four men joining after the first verse. The most recent BW revival had the Emcee playing a record of a single voice and joining in at the end. It is also sung at the engagement party by Frauline Kost with Ernst joining in after the first verse and the rest of the company coming in afterward.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 12:37pm

When I first listened to "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" (not reprise) in its whole on the 1998 revival, I was expecting the boy to finish the last sentence. The boy said, "Tommorrow belongs..." and then there was a pause. Okay... then all of a sudden the Emcee says in this freaky whisper, "To me!" and it scared the crap out of me, lol.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/30/04 at 10:18pm

For the sake of discussion, which staging of this song do you prefer more, and why?