Cabaret ending..

[fiyero8132]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 10:16am

I saw a fabulous community production of Cabaret last night. Can someone explain the ending to me? The cast stood in a line with Sally in the middle. On the left side was Fraulein Schneider, who repeated a couple of lines she had said throughout the show about calling off the wedding between her and Herr Schultz. Then Herr Schultz on the right side of the stage did the same. Then Fraulein Kost appeared and said her line about the Jews having all the money. Then Sally was lifted up by a few men and she sang the line from Cabaret that went something like "when I'm gone, I'll go like Elsie did..." then she screamed and fell backwards. The rest of the cast and her were pushed off stage by Nazi men as the stage filled with smoke. The Emcee assumed his opening position (or facial expression!) and the lights went down...
In my copy of the revival's script none of this happens. The Emcee just sits with Cliff until he finishes speaking his "there was a Cabaret..and an Emcee.." and stuff. Then it says that the Emcee drops his coat to reveal a concentration camp prisoner's outfit. Can anyone explain both my mysteries?!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 10:24am

It very much depends on what version you see, but this sounds similar to (but less sublte than) the '98 revival, which I saw, so...

The real Sally Bowles died in a concentration camp. In the revival, it was staged a little bit differently, and done in a way that you'd have to use a bit more of your imagination rather then see them being carried away or something, but the characters went to a concentration camp. Many, assumedly, were killed.

In the revival, you saw the following: Emcee stood behind Cliff while he spoke, and then a reprise of Willkommen played while he did. As it played, lights came up on Kost, Schultz, Schneider, etc, who were standing on the catwalk. You didn't know where they were... probably on a train. Then, "even the orchestra is beautiful," and the curtain came up, revealing Sally standin in front of empty orchestra seats. That's when the music went out of tune, and the stage curtain went up - all you saw was a HUGE bright white light, and someting that looked like a huge fan. There was a loud noise that sounded like a train. Emcee started walking toward the line of chorus girls - supposed to be a concentration camp - and he spoke - "Auf Wiedersehen. A bientot. Goodbye." He took off his coat, like in yours, under it he had a prisoner's outfit on under it. He bows, and there's this awful noise. I always assumed he was shot.

Your ending sounds like a differently staged version of the same concept, though.

Updated On: 5/1/05 at 10:24 AM

[hannahshule]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 10:28am

Both of those posts ahve made me incredibly sad...
I never knew the ending was so dark.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 10:33am

Like I said, it totally depends on the production.

This thread makes me sad because I want it back.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 10:38am

"Start by admitting from cradle to tomb isn't that long a stay. Life is a cabaret, old chum, only a cabaret old cum, and I love a cabaret."

My favorite show. Ever.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 11:04am

Caberet is such a tremendously great show and I love how dark the revival seems to be. I'm just jealous you got to see it at all Emcee, I want to so badly but alas it is gone. This staging sounds profoundly effective.

[hannahshule]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 11:07am

I heart Cabaret!

[Whatchmacallit]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 12:02pm

The ending you saw, with Sally singing "When I go..." is the original ending to Cabaret. It was changed for the revival.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 12:04pm

I am SO tempted to bring back the original avatar. SO tempted. But I don't think plaid man can go away!

sad, smartpenguin!

ETA, just for now...
<------

Updated On: 5/1/05 at 12:04 PM

[MusicalDirector109]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 12:13pm

I,too, miss this show very much. It is a great piece of musical theatre. When I finish directing musicals, I put the CD away for a very long time. "Cabaret" still continues to haunt me after having done the show almost a year and a half ago. I want another revival!!!

[PJ]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 12:57pm

The '98 Revival's ending was very emotional. However, many sitting around me didn't understand what had happened and thought it was a poor way to end the show. Perhaps they just didn't get the whole concentration camp idea.

I only got to see this production once, and I'm truly disappointed. But I do have my fond memories of seeing Raul as the Emcee. :)

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:00pm

However, many sitting around me didn't understand what had happened

That's pretty understandable, PJ. To be completely honest, the first time I went, the show ended and I was in a bit of shock. I looked at my mom and was like "wait it's just.... over?" It didn't take that long for me to grasp what had happened, but it didn't make sense right away. I just sort of stared into space for a really long time, completely silent.

Rauuuuul.
<-------

Updated On: 5/1/05 at 01:00 PM

[apdarcey]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:00pm

the ending is so up to interpretation. it's one of the most varied things in theatre. i've been in one where it was awful and one where it was great.

[PJ]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:03pm

This thread has inspired me to bust out the old school Molly as Sally pictures!

[apdarcey]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:06pm

but pj. i liked carrie underwood soooooo much!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:08pm

I was shocked to recently read what Sally's subtext is during the song "Cabaret". Years and years of hearing that song, I never knew she decides to have an abortion halfway through. Now the song takes on a meatier meaning for me.
Updated On: 5/1/05 at 01:08 PM

[PJ]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:11pm

Carrie will be back. She's taking a vacaton.

[Whatchmacallit]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:13pm

When I first saw the revival, there was a woman at a table on the other side of the orchestra who got quite drunk by the end of act 2, and when the Emcee started taking off his overcoat in the finale she stood up and yelled: "Woo-hooooo!!!". This was after a couple of other poorly timed and rude comments, most especially when Cliff slapped Sally.(He went to slap her, and the two weren't in sync, because he wasn't very close to her so when hewent to slap her he didn't come ANYWHERE near her face, and she had a very delayed reaction to it. Literally his hand was long past her face, when she moved her head) Everyone noticed it, but let it go. The drunk lady guffawed, and yelled out "yeah, right!).

[noahrp3]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:14pm

what was the original ending to the show??? (not the revival)

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:14pm

Oh dear.

Who played Emcee, and did he react? Would've made a better ad-lib story had it been anywhere BUT the finale, I guess.

[Whatchmacallit]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:24pm

It was Michael Hall. No he didn't react. But you should have seen the groups of people yelling at the ushers afterwards, complaining that the woman wasn't removed. I ended up seeing the revival a lot, and I had seen some other rowdy drunk people, but none were ever as bad as that.

[Tirso de Molina]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:32pm

I was startled to read in the above post that the real-life Sally Bowles died in a concentration camp; this must mean that there was more than one model for the character. Christopher Isherwood, who created the character of Sally Bowles in one of his Berlin Stories (which would be the basis for John van Druten's play "I Am A Camera," which was in turn the basis for "Cabaret") always maintained that he'd based Sally on his friend Jean Ross, a "free-spirited" British girl who stayed in the same rooming house he did in pre-war Berlin -- and who did end up having a near-disastrous abortion; a doctor left a swab in her, and she came close to dying. Ross left Berlin before England went to war against Germany and she lived until the early 1970s; one of her daughters was the thoroughly excellent mystery novelist Sarah Caudwell, who died a few years back at a very young age. Isherwood's various biographies, including Peter Parker's very recent one, all follow Isherwood in identifying Ross as the only model for Sally, but I'd be very interested about others who have also been proposed.

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:32pm

I'm trying to remember, but I don't think the movie ending was nearly as dark? It's been a while since I saw the movie...but dammit, I wish I had seen Adam in the last production, because now it doesn't seem like it will be back on Broadway anytime soon ::sigh::

And, uh, I had no idea the song "Cabaret" was about Sallys abortion. Wow!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:34pm

I actually (yes, I know) have never seen the movie. Baaad me. Anyway, I think the premise was more that Emcee was a represnation of Hitler, rather than one of what Hitler would come to destroy. I don't think it was ask dark, but the revival production as a whole was VERY dirty.

The day they cast Adam was one of my happiest (and most confusing) days.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 1:37pm

The movie ending was Cliff leaving Berlin and Sally staying. They never showed what her fate turned out ot be. But we go back to the Cabaret for a reprise of "Wilkommen", where the mood isn't right. No one is as happy, free-spirited, raunchy, and everything is just off. The emcee sings his final line and walks off, and the camera pans over to the mirror where we see a reflection of the audience-which is 80% Nazis. As opposed to the beginning and middle of the movie when the audience was filled with Jews, and now there isn't one in sight. Not as dark as the two versions in the show, but not exactly a hopeful ending either.

Updated On: 5/1/05 at 01:37 PM