WELCOME TO BERLIN
THE HISTORICAL WORLD OF CABARET
Lisa Kelly , our Associate Artistic Director ( and Cabaret dramaturg / stage manager / extension of director ’ s brain !) compiled a few facts about the musical Cabaret , the Weimar Republic period in Germany , and the intersections between popular culture and politics happening in the late 1920s and early 1930s .
• Cabaret debuted on November 20 , 1966 with Joel Grey as the Emcee .
• Revived on Broadway in 1987 and in 1998 , with Alan Cumming as the Emcee .
• The 1972 film adaptation directed by Bob Fosse , featuring Liza Minelli and Joel Grey .
• Based on the 1951 play I Am A Camera by John Van Druten . Van Druten ’ s play is based on Christopher Isherwood ’ s 1939 semi-autobiographical novella Goodbye to Berlin which describes his time in Berlin and his friendship with the nightclub performer Jean Ross , upon whom Sally Bowles is based .
• Cabaret takes place in approximately 1929-1930 . This is the end of the Weimar Republic period in Germany ( 1919-1933 ) and the beginning of the rise of the Nazi party .
• During the Weimar Republic period , the Social Democratic party was in power and the constitution championed equality , freedom of expression , freedom of religion , and the right to peacefully protest .
• Cabaret clubs in the 1920s in Berlin were colorful spaces known for freedom and decadence . Performers often created acts with political undertones embedded . The “ Kickline ” number in Cabaret is reminiscent of a politicallythemed cabaret performance . Cabaret clubs were permissive places where patrons and dancers felt free to express their sexuality and gender fluidity , and homosexuals , lesbians , and transvestites were able to move freely . There was backlash against the freedom of these cabarets in the early 1930s .
• The rise of Nazi ideology in Germany did not happen overnight . Adolf Hitler published the first volume of his manifesto Mein Kampf in 1925 . Mein Kampf promoted the purity of German blood and the elimination of Jews . He laid out the terrorist methods needed to achieve these goals .
• The Nazi party rose to power becoming the dominant party in Parliament in 1932 after the Great Depression . In January 1933 , Hitler was appointed Chancellor . By 1935 he had outmaneuvered his political opponents and created a dictatorship .
• Nazi “ work camps ” began just two years after Cabaret takes place .
• The song “ Tomorrow Belongs to Me ” has been taken up by Neo-Nazi alt right groups and has become an anthem for these groups in the 21 st century .
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