Life is, indeed, a Cabaret
April 18th, 2008, 4:10 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Brian
The other day, someone wrote a great letter to the editor of our sister paper, The Northwest Florida Daily News. It was a continuation of the dialog begun by a reader’s dislike of the critically acclaimed, long-running Broadway hit Rent, which recently played at the Mattie Kelly Performing Arts Center.
Frankly, I didn’t much like Rent, though I am proud that having seen it, I now know how many minutes there are in a year (525,600, in case you didn’t know). But what’s great is the NWFDN’s “Letters to the Editor” page is more lately filled with discussions about the performing arts than the usual boring old topics like road repairs, traffic congestion, and how liberals are ruining America.
Last weekend I had the delight of seeing the Crestview High School Theatre Department’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, a thoroughly enjoyable evening of near-professional stage craft, which won its director, part time drama teacher Joe Hernandez a Good NOD Award from the News Bulletin. (NODs are North Okaloosa Deeds.)
In the wings, Shirley Cadle, a retired CHS teacher, is putting together a Crestview theatre organization. Over in DeFuniak Springs, the Florida Chautauqua Theatre produces several enjoyable musicals a year. Live theatre is springing up all around us, and it’s just a joy to see.
This morning I sent to the Daily (as we simply call it up here at the Crestview News Bulletin) a gentle correction to a pair of misconceptions regarding the musical Cabaret in the otherwise excellent letter, “Reverent Rent” (Apr. 17).
I hesitated to do so, but decided I had better on the offchance that a local school might decide to produce this lively, enjoyable and thought-provoking classic of American musical theatre. We all know from bitter experience how witless some ignorant critics can be, as we shamefully observed during a recent attempt by an area school to produce a harmless early 20th-century English drawing room comedy by the celebrated Noël Coward.
I’d hate for some ignoramus to file away the errors in yesterday’s letter as ammo should someone mount a future production of Cabaret in our area.
The original 1966 Broadway musical was produced by the legendary impressario Hal Prince. Originating the lead role of Sally Bowles was then 20-year-old Jill Haworth, not Liza Minnelli, as the letter writer said. The musical was based on John Van Druten’s play “I am a Camera,” which he wrote in collaboration with acclaimed author Christopher Isherwood. The play was based on some of Isherwood’s collection of short stories, Berlin Stories.
(Note to easily ruffled parents: my folks researched Cabaret, then had no qualms taking me to see it at the tender age of 10.)
The multi-award winning 1972 film version was directed by Bob Fosse, who the following year won entertainment’s triple header with an Oscar for Cabaret, a Tony for Pippin and Sweet Charity, and an Emmy for Liza with a Z.
Fosse’s film version of Cabaret starred Liza Minnelli, and was based on more of Isherwood’s “Berlin Stories.” The film and stage versions are quite different, yet central is the carefree yet troubled Sally Bowles, who does not work in a brothel, as the Daily’s correspondent mistakenly said, but, as the title suggests, is a singer in a Berlin cabaret. In the stage version, she’s English. In the film, she’s an American.
The breathtaking 1998 revival of the stage version incorporates elements from the film, including the beautiful Kander & Ebb classic tune “Maybe This Time.” Set against the rise of Nazism in 1930s Germany, both productions–film and stage–address topics relevant today, such as prejudice, anti-Semitism, homophobia and censorship. But overwhelmingly, the optimistic triumph of the human spirit over the evils that flourish under such ignorance is the productions’ central message.
Life is indeed a Cabaret. I eagerly hope a local theatre troupe will bring the delights of this great work to an area stage.
