How many versions of Cabaret are there?

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 1:57am

I saw a production tonight that did not use Meeskite or Why Should I Wake Up, and used the Money makes the World Go 'Round version (not Sitting Pretty). I know the original version uses the first two songs.

Is there a version somewhere in between the original and the revival? Is there a specific cast album for that version?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 2:10am

There are three, the original, the 1987 and the Roundabout/Donmar.

The 87 replaced "Why Should I Wake Up?" with "Don't Go," used a hybrid of "The Money Song" and "Sitting Pretty" and added "I Don't Care Much" and a reprise of "If You Could See Her" for Bobby and the Emcee.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 2:15am

Three not including the film. Only two are able to be licensed, it is the most recent revival that can be performed yet.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 7:22am

^ Well, really, there are more. Every major revival has a different song stack. Both the 1988ish London revival with Wayne Sleep and the 2006ish revival had very different song stacks, and then subsequent tour changed it again.

But I wanna say the Roundabout/Donmar one is available to be done.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 7:51am

"But I wanna say the Roundabout/Donmar one is available to be done."

Well no one can stop you from saying it, my sweet Georgia peach who charms the husk right off of the corn, but the last I heard only the original version and the 1987 version were officially licensed. And that's what it says on the Tams website.

http://www.tamswitmark.com/musicals/cabaret.html

(Admittedly, the Tams website may not be the most reliable for source for info about anything, not even the shows licensed by Tams.)

Of course, companies do more or less the Roundabout/Donmar vesion all fhe time and no one stops them or seems to get upset.

For that matter, even before the Roundabout/Donmar production and even before the 1987 production, productions were adding in the movie songs without permission and no one stopped them.

I wonder if the Roundabout/Donmar version would be licensed if, say, MTI were the licensing agent.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 9:48am

Officially the Roundabout/Donmar production is not licensed yet (for some odd reason). However, every local production I've seen in recent memory has attempted to replicate that staging. It seems similar to the situation with Joseph..., where officially and legally, you can't perform the mega-mix, but everyone does anyway.

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 10:12am

So weird then, because I SAW the Roundabout version (and I've seen a video of the Donmar), but what I saw last night had some differences. For example, the MC said at the start "The girls are beautiful -- even the BOYS are beautiful" -- it was "the orchestra" before....

They made a bigger deal of Cliff being gay in this version than I remember. Maybe just a faulty memory, but I remembered it being much more ambiguous, but the script they used had him essentially saying he's gay rather than just hinting at it. It had a scene with Bobby calling him...

There was nothing where Why Should I Wake Up went. The whole song was just completely eliminated - no Don't Go, nothing.

Another difference - I remember the brick being thrown through Herr Schulz's store during the Act One finale before they sing Tomorrow Belongs to Me, during Married. In this, it came in act two during a reprise of Married.

Finally, the end had the MC reveal himself to be in concentration camp clothing - which I remembered - but I also remembered the entire cast wearing the striped pajamas as well - here it was JUST him.

Could this stuff have been director choice or just my faulty memory mixing up versions I've seen?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 10:43am

The brick has always happened during the "Married" reprise towards the top of Act II, at least in all the major productions.

Cliff's homosexuality has been beefed up with each major production that the original creators were involved with. He was pretty ambiguous in the original, became openly bi for the movie, and by the Roundabout revival he was gay (this may have happened by the time of the 87 revival, but I don't remember for sure). The Roundabout script did indeed have Bobby calling Cliff from the club's table phone, as well as a scene with him finding Cliff alone in Sally's dressing room. There wasn't much question as to how they previously knew each other.

Cliff was pretty much a non-singing role in the Roundabout revival. He had the few lines in "Perfectly Marvelous" and the "Finale/Wilkommen reprise," but that was it. "Maybe This Time" was put into the spot where "Why Should I Wake Up" and "Don't Go" had previously been.

The ending, in terms of people being revealed to be in a concentration camp, is entirely director's choice. I've seen it range from the full cast to just the MC. Some make it clear by using costumes, the pajamas type uniform, for instance, whereas I've seen it done just by having the entire cast suddenly appear in very heavy, stylized makeup.

As others have stated, officially Tams only licenses the original and the 87 revival, with the option to also license and insert "Mein Herr." However, for whatever reason, they seem to turn a fairly blind eye to companies acquiring the rights for the 87 script and then actually performing the Roundabout script, which is readily available in a coffee table book that was published during the revival's run.

I would guess that Cabaret is probably one of the most heavily and often tinkered with scripts on the regional, community, and educational level. Probably because there are so many versions floating around out there, it seems that this show more than others falls victim to the mentality of "I'm going to combine elements from this script, and this song from that version and drop this song I don't like."

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 11:11am

That's really interesting. I guess it makes the show that much more interesting to see, then, since who knows what version you're getting.

The production we saw last night had Bobby making the call, but no scene with him and Cliff in the dressing room. Mein Herr was in he show.

I don't know why I remember the brick being different, but I'll take your word for it.

I'm not sure how I feel about Cliff being gay. For me, Cliff is supposed to be the one solid voice in the show - the person who in unquestionably against the Nazis. His resolve is his strongest characteristic, and I think the most important. His homosexuality, but still being with Sally, makes his character much more ambiguous. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that as a character, but I think it makes him less knowable and therefore less accessible to the audience. Additionally, the fact of Berlin being so open about sexuality at the start of the show and his reluctance seems so jarring when you find out he is gay. It seems to pull focus from the contrast of him with Berlin, as well as add tension to the Sally story which doesn't need to be there.

Maybe someone has a different view on it. Please don't take any of this as homophobic or anything - it's totally not - I'm just not sure that choice serves the greater picture of the show that well.