"I Don't Care Much" from CABARET

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 4/3/06 at 11:08pm

I'm auditioning for the Emcee CABARET and for one of my audition pieces I'm considering "I Don't Care Much." This will be the 1998 version as opposed to the track attached to the 1966 OBCR. I was looking for some input regarding the analysis of this piece, as I am interested in conducting an in depth a critical analysis of the show as well as hopefully participating.

Through my analysis of the piece (which has not yet been very in-depth) I concluded that this is piece an agent of criticizing society (both of the text and currently). The character "does not care" because he is raised in a culture that does not allow feeling which, in turn promotes blindness to the world around them. Like in The Good Person if Setzuan (sp), the character comes to the realization that, in order to survive in their culture, feeling can not take precedence over worldly necessities. Feeling, in fact, must become fully suppressed. Thus the lower class culture reacts as if it were numb and turns the other way as the Nazis take control of the country through disgusting means. As a result of their blindness they cannot even see what is to become of their own future (extermination by the party). In this specific scenario the feelings to which the character is becoming numb take place in relationships. Being a prostitute, sex has become a means of money, not expression, and relationships have become unmanageable because it does not allow for a means of living. In current culture, we are all too aware of the numbness that has become integrated into our lives. How many young men make masturbation routine? Who thinks twice about where the meat they are eating came from? What, besides the money out of our pockets, is the full price for oil? How did we acquire the land we walk upon?

Hopefully I'll receive some feedback and on this then I'll address the acting choices I have made in performing this piece as a result of this analysis and its feedback.

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 4/3/06 at 11:37pm

This is a great song and seeing Raul Esparza perform it was among the most amazing theatre experiences I've ever had.

You've clearly put much thought into this and I think you have a very interesting take on the song in general--the "impressionistic view." There's much to be found, though, by breaking down the lyrics and examining the song's placement near the end of the (revival's) score. A major theme of Cabaret is the end of the decadence that could be found in pre-war Berlin. This hedonistic world, represented by the Kit Kat, is peeling away as the Nazis come to power. The "party is over," or at least ending, for most of the characters: Herr Schultz is being threatened and harassed, Sally has hit a pathetic bottom, Cliff is disillusioned and ready to return home, etc.

When I saw the show, I took the song to be partly a comment on this turning point in the character’s and Berlin’s history. The Emcee, perhaps, is saying, “The party’s over folks. It was fun, but don’t expect fun and dancing anymore. I don’t care if you kiss or touch me. Get real, we’re all about to either be out in the street or dead.”


Hearts grow hard
On a windy street.
Lips grow cold
With the rent to meet
…
Words sound false
When your coat’s too thin.
Feet don’t waltz
When the roof caves in.


People are now, or will soon be, fighting for their most basic needs, as you mentioned. No one will be dancing or pursuing recreation if they have no safety or shelter. My take might be a bit different from yours in that I think the Emcee is aware, even astute in his observations, about what it happening in the country and in what the future holds (at least in the lyrics of this particular song).

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/3/06 at 11:38pm

What's the Emcee Cabaret? And is there a Sally Cabaret?

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 4/3/06 at 11:51pm

I meant to say that the Emcee is, in fact, aware of this stripping of feeling. In my performance of the cut (which will be the last verse) I'm considering singing it somewhat as follows...

Words sound false
When your coat's too thin (all before sung somewhat sweetly, lacking clear and apparent emotion mostly)
Feet don't waltz
When the roof caves in (a bit of a swell, emotion almost breaking through)
So if you kiss me, (sweetly sung, head voice, almost mocking)
If we touch, (total outburst of spite for position in society, disgusting in vocal technique terms. the audience must become fully exposed to feeling)
Warning's fair,(reflecting upon the desperation of the situation)
I don't care very much.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/3/06 at 11:58pm

That's very in depth examination... but... um... there is such a thing as too much. I'm not sure this song is as intelluctual as you are attempting to make it. Sometimes, there is a lot to be said for just feeling things.

kmc

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/3/06 at 11:59pm

I - am weird - and always think of that verse (what Necro just posted) to refer to the Nazis.

"Words sound false" - what with the Nazi's lying to the Jews and everybody else about what was going on. These people have been in ghettos, starving, their "coats [are] too thin" and their shelter and protection is caving in on them.

Then the next time we really see the Emcee (after he annoucnes Sally all distraught) is in the "concentration camp" with the star and triangle.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:03am

Also, this song wasn't written for the Emecee at all. If I'm not mistaken it was written for a streetwalker... and it didn't make it into the original production. So. All the meaning you are applying is yours.

kmc

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:05am

Well...isn't the meaning always "yours"

If it weren't...every production of Cabaret would resemble Hal Prince's, no?

There is a reason Mendes worked it into the end of the show and gave it to the Cabaret at the precise moment after he alienates his antics from the audience.
Updated On: 4/4/06 at 12:05 AM

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:07am

"alienates his antics from the auidience"
What does that mean?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:10am

Hmmm...Well.

To me we are sort of "on" the Emcee's side throughout the show. He's creepy, yes. But we laugh at what he does.

Then he has the line, "If you could see her through my eyes, she wouldn't look Jewish at all" and suddenly the action becomes very real. Also, before Schneider and Schultz split up, Emcee drops the "brick," which I always took to mean the Emcee threw it - and that the Emcee was helping the Nazis (to save himself).

When the Emcee says that line it pulls us out of the "joke" (him dancing with the gorilla) and slaps us into the face. It's when we realize that the joke is on us.

Then he sings "I Don't Care Much" which I took, in this path, to mean that the Nazis sort of turned on him. When he presents Sally for the last time, he knows he will be going off to the camps soon...or that he has an even worse fate in store.
Updated On: 4/4/06 at 12:10 AM

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:13am

KJ.. I said I'm doing the 1998 version (in which the Emcee sang this song), not the pre- 1966production version. This is why we're discussing the Emcee in the first place.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:14am

Actually, this song was not written for a show at all. The story behind "I Don't Care Much" is almost legendary to Kander & Ebb fans because it shows their brilliance. According to Fred Ebb,he was at a party with John Kander and they were bragging about how they could write a song in something like 5 minutes (I don't remember the exact time they bragged about) as long as they had a piano for John to improvise. So the people at the party challenged them to write the song. When John sat on the piano he asked Fred what he wanted the song to be about, Fred's reply was "I don't care much," and that's how this song was born. I will post the interview in which Fred Ebb told the story if I can actually find it.

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:15am

BSoB... I feel as if our interpretations are similar in the fact that it provides a stunning contrast with the message in "Cabaret," which is the song to follow.

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:16am

Wow, interesting, Foscas.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:18am

That's a totally interesting and valid read I guess... but to me... the coupla times I saw it... It seemed like he'd been victimized... like he'd just been beaten by Nazis or something... or he was so completely falling down drunk... but desperate drunk though... the sad kind... like at the end of a party. It was honestly the only moment where I had sympathy for the Emcee... it was like... he was saying I don't care... but he OBVIOUSLY did care... and was trying desperately to pretend like he didn't... and his foundation had cracked...
which is really the opposite of your view. I mean... at this point the Emcee has become a victim...of the Nazis? or himself? from what I can tell... I don't fear him... I pity him.

kmc

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:18am

I certainly think the message of "Life is a Cabaret" is somewhat apparent even in "I Don't Care Much."

I mean, the whole show - who runs the "cabaret?" The Emcee. But his being an Emcee is a façade put on to protect himself...such as to help the Nazis and turn people in to save himself.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:20am

I agree with it being about not caring, in terms of becoming numb -- whether it be forcing yourself to do so, or by what's being done to you by others, or with the situation you're stuck in.

I think it's really important not to forget that Emcee is the narrator here more than he is a key character as a player in the story. Everything he does is not so much what "happens" but what is said as his own commentary on what he watches.

I also think it's important to think about how he's being played in your production -- sinister and evil, or vulnerable and more innocent than he seems? Whether you fear him, pity him, or hate him is basically up to the interpretation -- look at the differences between the original and the Mendes production. Much of it lies in whether he represents the Nazis or what is to be *destroyed* by the Nazis. Is he falling apart, analogous with his world, with his previously perfect decadent party? I guess that would dictate the level of sincerity that goes into the tone of the song, if that makes sense; some of it could potentially be given a sarcastic spin, I think. He is, no matter how vulnerable, still something of a jokester, though personally, I never saw I Don't Care Much in particular as a joke at all. He's falling apart.

I think in the revival, it worked being the Emcee's song because of the omniscent quality they gave him, and how "representative" he was of whatever commonalities there were in this society. He was without concrete identity.

Anyway, off of *that* tangent, I think Emcee is fairly self-aware -- someone said he's aware of how stripped-down he is, at this moment. I agree; he's displaying a lot of painful emotion, and this is the first time in the show we see that from him. He's not just some horny boy in a club, but much more than that. In the revival, at least, I think his visceral emotions were pretty evident in the physicality of the character at that point, and I think he was saying that the party *was* over -- he wasn't going to care about the party anymore, but he had to turn off and face the reality -- harsh and ugly and black and sad as it was.

... hopefully some of the ramblings are useful to you!

Updated On: 4/4/06 at 12:20 AM

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:25am

Well, that's what I meant.

During "I Don't Care Much" he has been victimized.

But before that - he is helping the Nazis before they turn on him.
What I meant for "If You Could See Her" was that he suddenly slaps us in the face saying, "You were laughing about me and a gorilla...but you can't laugh at me and a jew? Why not?"

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:29am

A tangeant, but in the 1998 version did the Emcee dress in drag for this song? I saw a production where the Emcee was dressed as a prostitute diring this piece.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:29am

See, I don't think I agree with that, if you're talking about the brick as him helping the Nazis. I think he's too representative, and I'm not sure I think it's *him* throwing the block, whoever he is. Does that make sense? I think there, he's a pawn of the story, a random, nameless, faceless character, just throwing a prop. Certainly it says someting that Emcee throws the block and not... I don't know, Bobby, but it's because while he is obviously one being, he stands for a lot more than just one individual.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:30am

Well in the dover(i think) biography of Hal Prince that I own... they say it was written for Cabaret... I don't care much either way... my point being that it wasn't written in any specific context... so that any context you tried to put it in would just be fictional anyway. So. Really you have free reign.

And I'm not trying to get into a he said he said or whatever... but you said he alienated the auidience... and I don't think that that's what I Don't Care Much does at all in the Mendes production... it does the opposite. It attempts to make you forgive his former transgressions... or at the very least make you pity the fact that he is pretty much a lost cause. That isn't alienating at all.


kmc

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:30am

Yes, full drag in the Mendes production. I'll post a photo for you in a moment...

Updated On: 4/4/06 at 12:30 AM

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:32am

I agree with luvtheemcee... i really don't think you can blame him for throwing the brick... to me... he's playing... like he's playing a part... manipulating the story... that's why I think it's SO devastating at the end... cause he's above the story but he still can't escape victimization.

He wore like a too big glittery house dress with earings.

kmc

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:32am

I Don't Care Much, 1998 revival:



(That's Adam Pascal.)

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:33am

Em - at the root of it, I don't think the Emcee is a real person, per se. I think he is a conglomerate of different people. He's sort of a spirit of the piece, but represents some group of people...

Sorry, let me clarify:

He alienates us from the "joke" he's been playing with the line, "She wouldn't look Jewish at all." It's the moment we step back and say, "Hold on! What's been going on!"

THEN he sings "I DON'T CARE MUCH" as almost a completely different creature...