Cabaret at Northwestern U

Posted: 2/25/14 at 3:09pm

If anyone is in the Midwest I would strongly recommend a trip to Evanston to see Northwestern's Cabaret. We saw their production of "Spring Awakening" a coupe years ago and were struck by the overall quality as well as the desire to take risks with the material and put their own spin on it- not just copy the Broadway production as a couple college productions seemed to do. They did the same with Cabaret and it worked VERY well.

The opening sequence was completely re-written with all ew jokes to introduce the Boys & Girls for example. They interpolated some of the movie songs well and "Money" was just jaw-dropping. The scene starts with the Emcee up on a area of the stage that had been used to represent the street in front of he club. He was on his knees in front of a well-dressed man and the man eventually pulls away, tossed down some money and walks away, zipping his pants. The Emcee wipes his mouth on his sleeve and gathers up the money. He looks out at the audience and snaps out, full of rage "Money makes he world go 'round!" He steps into the club and onto the stage and gives a bitter, angry version of the song. It went from a light-hearted romp to a really effective number. One of the best moments I've seen n a stage.

Anyway, go see if it you can- net weekend is the end of the run and tickets are very reasonable.
Cabaret

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/25/14 at 3:34pm

I'm so glad you posted about this. I saw it come up on Hottix this week and totally glossed over it, but then I saw this post and looked at the info to find that Nick Bowling directed it! I would love to see him tackle this show. Will definitely try to get up there this weekend.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/25/14 at 4:02pm

Just bought tickets for Saturday. Hooray!

Posted: 2/25/14 at 4:02pm

YAY~ I can't wait to hear your thoughts There was only one number I felt they weakened but the direction overall was great!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/25/14 at 4:09pm

We'll compare notes.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 2/25/14 at 5:50pm

I wonder if Joe Masteroff approves of the opening sequence bring "completely rewritten with all new jokes".

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 2/25/14 at 5:53pm

Did they have approval to add in new dialogue and change up the musical numbers (the order, adding in movie songs, etc.)? I would be shocked if the licensing agency gave them approval to do all of that and strongly recommend you delete it from your original post or someone might forward this thread to the school department's licensing rep.

ETA: Oops. Matt Rogers beat me to it. Updated On: 2/25/14 at 05:53 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 2/25/14 at 6:51pm

I know there are options to license and interpolate some of the movie songs. As for the other changes, well, there may be some rights issues being skirted there.

I must admit I'm growing a bit weary of directors turning Cabaret into a "who can make it the dirtiest" kind of contest.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/25/14 at 7:12pm

The 1980's revival version (Hal Prince) is one of the versions available for licensing. It combines the Money Song from the movie with Sitting Pretty. It eliminates Meeskite, substitutes "Don't Go" for "Why Should I Wake Up", and adds "I Don't Care Much", sung by the Emcee.

the 1990's revival version (Sam Mendes/Rob Marshall)recently became available as well. It uses the Money Song withoput Sitting Pretty. It adds Mein Herr and Maybe This Time from the movie, and cuts The Telephone Song and Cliff's solo.

[darquegk]

Posted: 2/25/14 at 7:26pm

In the most recent revival those jokes are marked as camp and improv bits.

Posted: 2/26/14 at 10:06am

I have never seen two productions of Cabaret that are alike- or even seem to be using the same script. This one dropped "Meeskite" and the Telephone number and used Money and Maybe This Time from the film.

I hesitated to mention the dialogue changes for fear of the reaction above but I can't imagine as school as internationally known and respected as Northwestern getting busted for changing lines in a musical.

[darquegk]

Posted: 2/26/14 at 10:24am

Even on Broadway those lines were constantly changing.

[BewareTheUndertoad]

Posted: 2/26/14 at 12:10pm

The licensed libretto for both revival versions just indicate that the Emcee introduces the girls, there are no written lines.

There are no issues here from a legal standpoint.