Cabaret and America's future

“It’s just politics, what does it have to do with us?”

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been seeing a lot of discourse about what’s going on in America currently. Tr*mp is becoming the president, M*sk did the Nazi salute on live television, the whole country is burning and all we can do from across the sea is sit and watch. As Christopher Isherwood wrote in his semi-bibliographical book I am a camera; ‘I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.’ We are the quiet observer, the bystander - out of the picture and yet still affected by its image. 

Isherwood wrote the previously mentioned quote as a part of his goodbye to Berlin, as the city he came to appreciate became overrun with Nazism in the 1930s. The book he wrote went on to be adapted into a play, then a musical, then a movie, constantly flickering in and out of public consciousness. It seems only appropriate to bring it back now, and to look closely at its portrayals of the hoi polloi of Germany, and the rise of fascism as seen through a common person’s eyes.

The desperate will always follow those who offer a way out of their current situation. This gives those who own food, housing, and most of all, money an unquantifiable amount of power. By targeting the vulnerable, these people build a following fuelled by hope, which then gives way to excusing any incomprehensible monstrous action. It’s easier to say something was a mistake, or that someone misspoke, or that maybe they were actually making a good point all along, rather than confront the idea that you have been manipulated by someone feeding you falsehoods and intentionally stealing your time and resources for their own betterment. 

The characters of Cabaret are not wealthy. They are the underdogs, the struggling artists, ready to sacrifice their morals in the name of survival. For the character of Sally Bowles, a struggling nightclub singer, it's easiest to close her eyes to the growing deterioration of her beloved city. She prides herself on being independent, never tied down by a man or a family. She’s young and wild, far too preoccupied by fulfilling her ‘struggling artist’ role to bother acknowledging that the life of people around her is becoming more and more endangered. Her attitude is in contrast to one Clifford Bradshaw, an aspiring American writer who moves to Berlin to work on his novel. Cliff’s character is an entry point for the viewers, and we learn things about the city alongside him. Unlike the other characters, Cliff is both aware of the growing danger, and seems ready to confront it. And yet, he doesn’t. When things get too scary he retreats, gets on a train, and leaves for Paris. On the train, he writes his novel; “There was a cabaret, and there was a master of ceremonies ... and there was a city called Berlin, in a country called Germany – and it was the end of the world and I was dancing with Sally Bowles”.

When you see and hear things on the news, on the internet, or anywhere around you, I beg you, don’t be the quiet observer. Talk to people, organise, sign petitions, protest, yell as loud as you can. We are the majority, and no matter how much power they may hold it is not enough to stop a country’s worth of angry people.

"First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me"

-  First They Came by Pastor Martin Niemöller

If you’re interested in other musicals about fascism, there are more than just Cabaret. The most obvious comparison to draw here is The Sound Of Music, in which the threat of the Nazis sneaks up on the viewer in a similar way. However, the two musicals portray the conflict from different sides - Cabaret zooms in on the everyday people of Berlin, and The Sound Of Music focuses on the wealthy, and how they were getting enticed into joining H*ter’s party through promises of wealth (on how they overcome the problem they are presented with, check out this page). 

Wicked explores both the people who suffer under fascism, and those who benefit from it (check out this blog for more on Wicked Act 1). Both are very interesting, but I strongly recommend everyone check out Cabaret. 

Thanks for reading. Please share your thoughts in the replies!