Cabaret in a War-Zone

The Danish Royal Theatre have set up an impressive performance of Cabaret with extravagant costumes one minute and grey and minimalistic settings the next. It runs until end of May and you can get tickets on the Theatre's website. You can also read more about it in Danish.

It shows the contrast between the bone chilling politics, which started showing their faces in Berlin in the 1930'ies and the glamour that existed in the nightclubs of that time.

The music expressed less variation. It tells us the story of the time and the place, but there is nothing light-hearted about the music in the club compared to the world outside. It makes the life of the entertainers seem like they were part of the evil scheme to cover up what really went on in Germany in those years.

This becomes very explicit in one scene, where Nazi-soldiers are violent to one of the characters while the Conférencier dances in front of them in a very sparkly suit. It reminds me of the musical Chicago, where a lawyer makes his living from having murderesses acquitted through use of "Razzle Dazzle".

With more focus on the darkness and cruelty of Nazism, this performance is very different to the show I remember seeing many years ago. It is more like a horror story. Shivers are sent down the spine when a blond Hitler Jugend boy sings "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" with his voice of an innocent child.

This Sally Bowles character is not an attempt to copy Liza Minnelli's version from the film and her role is much smaller in this rendition. Two songs that reveal the character in the film: "Mein Herr" and "Maybe This Time" have been taken out of this performance and she is not as charming as Liza Minnelli was. She simply comes across very careless.

It is unclear to me why the Clifford Bradshaw character lets Sally stay in his room. She is pushy and obnoxious and Clifford is not even straight. But I suppose it is just one of those cases where love makes no sense.

I find the other love story of the play between the widowed gentleman and the spinster landlady more engaging. The duets are very sweet and their voices suit each other. When that romance starts to become difficult because he is Jewish, it is heartbreaking.

Not all the songs are translated and even some lines are in German or English. If you don't understand one (or more) of these languages at all, I would recommend you read the story before you watch the show.

If you go to see it, expect the darkness of the nineteen thirties and not the light-heartedness of the Cabarets of the time.