Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions.

It is based on John Van Druten's 1951 play I Am a Camera, which in turn was adapted from the 1939 short novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. Set in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis are rising to power, it focuses on nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around the 19-year-old English cabaret performer Sally Bowles and her relationship with the young American writer Cliff Bradshaw.

A sub-plot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor. Overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub which serves as a constant metaphor for the tenuous and threatening state of late Weimar Germany throughout the show.

Background[link]

Sandy Wilson, who had achieved success with The Boy Friend in the 1950s, had completed the book and most of the score for Goodbye to Berlin, his musicalization of I Am a Camera, when he discovered producer David Black's option on both the 1951 Van Druten play and its source material by Christopher Isherwood had lapsed and been acquired by Harold Prince. Prince commissioned Joe Masteroff to work on the book, and when the two men agreed Wilson's score failed to capture the essence of late-1920s Berlin, John Kander and Fred Ebb were invited to join the project. The new version was initially a dramatic play preceded by a prologue of songs describing the Berlin atmosphere from various points of view. As the composers began to distribute the songs between scenes, they realized the story could be told in the structure of a more traditional book musical, and they replaced some of the songs with tunes more relevant to the plot. Isherwood's original characters began to change as well. The male lead became an American writer who teaches English; the anti-Semitic landlady was transformed into a tolerant woman with a Jewish beau, Herr Schultz, who owned a fruit store; two language students were eliminated; and two loathsome but integral characters - prostitute Fräulein Kost and Nazi Ernst Ludwig - were added to the mix. The musical ultimately became two separate stories in one, the first a revue centered on the decadence of the seedy Kit Kat Klub, the second a story set in the real world in which the club existed.^[1]

After seeing one of the last rehearsals before the company headed to Boston for the pre-Broadway run, Jerome Robbins suggested the musical sequences outside the cabaret be eliminated. Prince ignored his advice, as did Bob Fosse when he directed the film adaptation. In Boston, Jill Haworth struggled with her characterization of cabaret performer Sally Bowles. She was a blonde dressed in a white dress that suggested senior prom more than tawdry nightclub. Prince's staging was unusual for the time. As the audience filled the theater, the curtain was already up, revealing a stage containing nothing but a large mirror reflecting the auditorium. There was no overture; instead, a drum roll and cymbal crash led into the opening number. The juxtaposition of dialogue scenes with songs used as exposition and separate cabaret numbers providing social commentary was a novel concept that initially startled the audience, but as they gradually came to understand the difference between the two, they were able to accept the reasoning behind them.^[2]

Productions[link]

Original Broadway Production[link]

After 21 previews, the original Broadway production, directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Ron Field, opened on November 20, 1966 at the Broadhurst Theatre, eventually transferring first to the Imperial and then the Broadway before finally completing its 1,165-performance run. The cast included Jill Haworth as Sally, Bert Convy as Cliff, Lotte Lenya as Fräulein Schneider, Jack Gilford as Herr Schultz, Joel Grey as the Emcee, Edward Winter as Ernst and Peg Murray as Fräulein Kost. Replacements later in the run included Anita Gillette and Melissa Hart as Sally, Ken Kercheval and Larry Kert as Cliff, and Martin Ross as the Emcee.

Original London Production[link]

The first West End production opened on February 28, 1968 at the Palace Theatre with Judi Dench as Sally, Barry Dennen as the Emcee, Lila Kedrova as Fräulein Schneider and Peter Sallis as Herr Schultz. It ran for 336 performances.^[3]

1986 London Revival[link]

In 1986, the show was revived in London at the Strand Theatre starring Kelly Hunter as Sally, Peter Land as Cliff and Wayne Sleep as the Emcee directed and choreographed by Gillian Lynne.

1987 Broadway Revival[link]

The first Broadway revival opened on October 22, 1987, with direction and choreography once again by Prince and Field. The revival opened at the Imperial Theatre, eventually transferring to the Minskoff to complete its 261-performance run. Joel Grey received star billing as the Emcee, with Alyson Reed as Sally, Gregg Edelman as Cliff, Regina Resnik as Fräulein Schneider, Werner Klemperer as Herr Schultz. and David Staller as Ernst Ludwig. The song "Don't Go" was added for Cliff's character.

1993 London revival[link]

In 1993, Sam Mendes directed a new production of the show for the Donmar Warehouse in London's West End. It starred Jane Horrocks as Sally, Adam Godley as Cliff, Alan Cumming as the Emcee and Sara Kestelman as Frau Schneider. Cumming received an Olivier Award nomination for his performance and Kestelman won the Olivier for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical. Mendes' conception was a very different show from either the original production or the rather conventional first revival. The most significant change was the character of the Emcee. The role, as played by Joel Grey, in both prior incarnations, was an asexual, malevolent character in a tuxedo with rouged cheeks. Alan Cumming's portrayal was highly sexualized, wearing suspenders (i.e. braces) around his crotch and red paint on his nipples.^[4] The cabaret number "Two Ladies" was staged with the Emcee, a cabaret girl, and a cabaret boy in drag and included a shadow play simulating various sexual positions.^[5] The score was entirely re-orchestrated, utilizing synthesizer effects and expanding the stage band, with all the instruments now being played by the cabaret girls and boys. The brutally satiric "Sitting Pretty", with its mocking references to deprivation, despair and hunger, was eliminated entirely, as it had been in the film version, and replaced with "Money". "I Don't Care Much", which was cut from the original production, was reinstated, and "Mein Herr" and "Maybe This Time", from the film adaptation, were added to the score.^[5] Staging details differed as well; instead of "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" being performed by a male choir, the Emcee plays a recording of a boy soprano singing it. Most dramatic of all was in the final scene in which the Emcee removes his outer clothes to reveal a striped suit of the type worn by the internees in concentration camps on which were pinned a yellow badge (identifying a Jewish prisoner) and a pink triangle (denoting a homosexual prisoner). Other changes included added references to Cliff's bisexuality, including a brief scene where he kisses one of the Cabaret boys.^[5]

1998 Broadway revival[link]

The second Broadway revival was based on the 1993 Mendes-Donmar Warehouse production. For the Broadway transfer, Rob Marshall was brought on board as co-director and choreographer. The production opened after 37 previews on March 19, 1998 at the Kit Kat Klub, housed in what previously had been known as Henry Miller's Theatre. Later that year it transferred to Studio 54, where it remained for the rest of its 2,377-performance run, becoming the third longest-running revival in Broadway musical history, third only to Oh! Calcutta! and Chicago. For the Broadway production, Cumming reprised his role as the Emcee, opposite newcomers Natasha Richardson as Sally, John Benjamin Hickey as Cliff, Ron Rifkin as Herr Schultz, Michelle Pawk as Fräulein Kost, and Mary Louise Wilson as Fräulein Schneider along with Joyce Chittick, Leenya Rideout, Erin Hill, Christina Pawl, Kristen Olness, Michael O'Donnell, Bill Szobody and Fred Rose. The Broadway production was nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning four for Cumming, Richardson and Rifkin as well as the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. This production featured a number of notable replacements later in the run: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Susan Egan, Joely Fisher, Gina Gershon, Deborah Gibson, Teri Hatcher, Melina Kanakaredes, Jane Leeves, Molly Ringwald, Brooke Shields, and Lea Thompson as Sally; Michael C. Hall, Raúl Esparza, Neil Patrick Harris, Adam Pascal, Jon Secada, Norbert Leo Butz and John Stamos as the Emcee; Boyd Gaines and Michael Hayden as Cliff; Tom Bosley, Dick Latessa, Hal Linden, Laurence Luckinbill, and Tony Roberts as Herr Schultz; and Blair Brown, Polly Bergen, Mariette Hartley and Carole Shelley as Fräulein Schneider.

2006 London Revival[link]

In September 2006, a new production of the show opened at the Lyric Theatre, directed by Rufus Norris,^[6] and starring Anna Maxwell Martin as Sally, James Dreyfus as the Emcee, Harriet Thorpe as Fräulein Kost and Sheila Hancock as Fräulein Schneider. Hancock won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical. Replacements later in the run included Kim Medcalf and Amy Nuttall as Sally, Honor Blackman and Angela Richards as Fräulein Schneider, and Julian Clary and Alistair McGowan as the Emcee. This production closed in June 2008 and toured nationally for two years with a cast that included Wayne Sleep as the Emcee and Samantha Barks and Siobhan Dillon as Sally.

2012 West End Revival[link]

A revival is set to open in the West End at the Savoy Theatre on the 3rd October, 2012. Will Young is to play the Emcee and Michelle Ryan will portray Sally Bowles

Other productions[link]

There was a BBC Radio 2 radio broadcast in 1996 at the Golders Green Hippodrome that starred Claire Burt (Sally Bowles), Steven Berkoff (Emcee), Alex Hanson (Clifford Bradshaw), Keith Michell (Herr Schultz), and Rosemary Leach (Fraulein Schneider).

Since 2003, there have been successful international stagings of the show (many of which have been influenced by Mendes' concept), including productions in Texas, Colombia, Canada, Malaysia, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Melbourne, Peru, France, Venezuela, Serbia, Argentina and Spain.

Synopsis[link]

Act I

At the dawn of the 1930s in Berlin, the Nazi party quietly grows stronger. The Kit Kat Klub is a seedy cabaret, a place of decadent celebration set against the backdrop of growing Nazi terror. The Klub's Master of Ceremonies, or Emcee, together with the cabaret girls and waiters, warm up the audience ("Willkommen"). In a train station, Clifford Bradshaw, a young American writer coming to Berlin in the hopes of finding inspiration for his new novel, arrives. He meets Ernst Ludwig, a German who offers Cliff work and recommends a boardinghouse. At the boardinghouse, Fräulein Schneider offers Cliff a room for one hundred marks; he can only pay fifty. After a brief debate, she relents and lets Cliff live there for fifty marks. Fräulein Schneider observes that she has learned to take whatever life offers ("So What?").

As Cliff visits the Kit Kat Klub, the Emcee introduces a British singer, Sally Bowles, who performs a racy, flirtatious number ("Don't Tell Mama"). Afterward, she asks Cliff to recite poetry for her; he recites "Casey at the Bat". Cliff offers to take Sally home, but she says that her boyfriend Max, the club's owner, is too jealous. Sally then performs her final number at the Kit Kat Club aided by the female ensemble ("Mein Herr"). The cabaret ensemble then performs a song and dance, calling each other on inter-table phones and inviting each other for dances and drinks ("The Telephone Song").

The next day, Cliff has just finished giving Ernst an English lesson when Sally arrives. Max has fired her and thrown her out, and now she has no place to live, and so she asks him if she can live in his room. At first he resists, but she convinces him (and Fräulein Schneider) to take her in ("Perfectly Marvelous"). The Emcee and two female companions sing a song ("Two Ladies") that comments on Cliff and Sally's unusual living conditions. Herr Schultz, an elderly Jewish fruit-shop owner who lives in her boardinghouse, has given Fräulein Schneider a pineapple as a gift ("It Couldn't Please Me More"). However, in the Kit Kat Klub, a young waiter begins singing a song that begins as a patriotic anthem to the Fatherland but slowly descends into a darker, Nazi inspired march song ("Tomorrow Belongs to Me") initially a cappella, but soon accompanied by the rest of the customers and the band.

Months later, Cliff and Sally are still living together and have fallen in love. Cliff knows that he is in a "dream," but he enjoys living with Sally too much to come to his senses ("Why Should I Wake Up?"). Sally reveals that she is pregnant, but she does not know the father and reluctantly decides to get an abortion. Cliff reminds her that it could be his child, and seems to convince her to have the baby. Ernst then enters and offers Cliff a job—picking up a suitcase in Paris and delivering it to his "client" in Berlin—easy money. The Emcee comments on this ("Sitting Pretty", or, in later versions, "Money").

Meanwhile, Fräulein Schneider has caught one of her boarders, Fräulein Kost, bringing sailors into her room. Fräulein Schneider forbids her from doing it again, but Fräulein Kost threatens to leave. She also mentions that she has seen Fräulein Schneider with Herr Schultz in her room. Herr Schultz saves Fräulein Schneider's reputation by telling Fräulein Kost that he and Fräulein Schneider are to be married in three weeks. After Kost leaves, Fräulein Schneider thanks Herr Schultz for lying to Kost. Schultz, however, says that he was serious, and proposes to Fräulein Schneider ("Married").

At Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz's engagement party, Cliff arrives and delivers the suitcase to Ernst. A "tipsy" Herr Schultz sings "Meeskite" (Meeskite, he explains, is Yiddish for ugly or funny-looking) a song with a moral ("Anyone responsible for loveliness, large or small/Is not a meeskite at all"). Afterward, looking for revenge on Fräulein Schneider, Fräulein Kost tells Ernst, who now sports a Nazi armband, that Schultz is a Jew. Ernst warns Fräulein Schneider that marrying a Jew may not be wise. Fräulein Kost and company reprise "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", this time with even more overtly disturbing Nazi overtones, as Cliff, Sally, Fräulein Schneider, Herr Schultz and the Emcee look on.

Act II

The cabaret girls, along with the Emcee in drag, perform a kick line routine which eventually becomes a goose-step. Fräulein Schneider expresses her concerns about her union to Herr Schultz, who assures her that everything will be all right ("Married" (Reprise)), but they are interrupted by the crash of a brick being thrown through the window of Herr Schultz's fruit shop. Fräulein Schneider is afraid that the gesture might represent malicious intent, but Schultz tries to reassure her that it is just children making trouble.

Back at the Kit Kat Klub, the Emcee performs a song-and-dance routine with a girl in a gorilla suit about how their love has been met with universal disapproval ("If You Could See Her"). Encouraging the audience to be more open-minded, he defends his ape-woman, concluding with, "if you could see her through my eyes... she wouldn't look Jewish at all." (The line was intended to shock the audience and make them consider how easily and unthinkingly they accepted prejudice, but protests and boycott threats from Jewish leaders in Boston led Ebb to reluctantly write an alternate final line, "She isn't a Meeskite at all."^[7]) Fräulein Schneider then goes to Cliff and Sally's room and returns their engagement present, explaining that her marriage has been called off. When Cliff protests, saying that she can't just give up this way, she asks him what other choice she has ("What Would You Do?").

Cliff tells Sally that he is taking her back to his home in America so that they can raise their baby together. Sally protests, declaring how wonderful their life in Berlin is, and Cliff sharply tells her to "wake up" and take notice of the growing unrest around them; Sally retorts that politics have nothing to do with them or their affairs. Following their heated argument, Sally returns to the club. Cliff is accosted by Ernst, who has another delivery job for him. Cliff tries to brush him off, but when Ernst asks if Cliff's attitude towards him is because of "that Jew at the party", Cliff attacks him – only to be badly beaten up by Ernst and his Nazi bodyguards and dragged out of the club. . Back at the Kit Kat Klub ("I Don't Care Much"), the Emcee introduces Sally, who enters to perform again, singing that "life is a cabaret, old chum" ("Cabaret").

The next morning, the bruised Cliff is packing, when Herr Schultz, who tells Cliff that he is moving to another boardinghouse, visits him but he is confident that the bad times will soon pass. He understands the German people, he says, because he is a German, too. When Sally returns, she reveals that she has had an abortion; Cliff slaps her. Cliff still hopes that she will join him, but Sally says that she has "always hated Paris" and hopes that when Cliff finally writes his novel, he will dedicate it to her. Cliff leaves, heartbroken.

On the train to Paris, Cliff begins to write his novel, reflecting on his experiences: "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." ("Willkommen" Reprise). In the Kit Kat Klub, the Emcee once again welcomes us (in the 1998 revival, he strips off his overcoat to reveal a concentration camp prisoner's uniform marked with a yellow Star of David and a pink triangle). The cabaret ensemble reprises "Willkommen", but it is now harsh and violent as the Emcee sings, "Auf Wiedersehen...à bientôt..." followed by a crescendo drum roll and a cymbal crash.

Character list[link]

• The Emcee – The Emcee of the Kit Kat Klub, a leering, ghoulish, flamboyant, figure
• Sally Bowles – The headlining British singer at the Kit Kat Klub
• Clifford "Cliff" Bradshaw – An American writer traveling through Berlin
• Fräulein Schneider – An older woman who runs the boarding house that Cliff and Sally live in
• Herr Schultz – An elderly Jewish fruit shop owner who falls in love with Fraulein Schneider
• Ernst Ludwig – A German man who befriends Cliff when he arrives in Berlin, later revealed to be a Nazi
• Fräulein Kost – A prostitute who rents in Fraulein Schneider's boarding house
• Rosie, LuLu, Frenchy, Texas, Fritzy, and Helga – Girls who perform alongside Sally at the Kit Kat Klub
• Bobby, Victor, Hans, and Herman – The Cabaret boys of the Kit Kat Klub (Bobby and Victor are twins)
• The Nazi Youth – A young boy in the Nazi's
• Sailors #1 and #2 – Fraulein Kost's sailors
• Nazi Guard – Ernst's bodyguard at the Kit Kat Klub
• Max - Owner of the Kit Kat Club

Songs[link]

Notes on the music

Of the prologue of songs originally planned, only "Willkommen" remained. One of the dropped numbers, "I Don't Care Much," was eventually restored to the 1987 production. "Roommates" was replaced by "Perfectly Marvelous," but largely serves the same purpose, for Sally to convince Cliff to let her move in with him. "Good Time Charlie" was to be sung by Sally to Cliff while they are on their way to Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz's engagement party, with Sally mocking the overly dour and pessimistic Cliff with the lines "You're such a Good Time Charlie/What'll we do with you?/You're such a Good Time Charlie/frolicking all the time..."). "It'll All Blow Over" was planned for the end of the first act: Fräulein Schneider is concerned that marrying a Jew might not be wise, and Cliff is concerned about the city's growing Nazism. In the song, Sally tells them both that they have nothing to worry about and that all will turn out well in the end. She eventually convinces Cliff and Fräulein Schneider to sing the song with her. (Both this song and "Roommates" are occasionally underscored by the ostinato rhythm of the piece.) These three deleted songs were recorded by Kander and Ebb, and the sheet music for the songs was included in The Complete Cabaret Collection, a book of vocal selections from the musical.

The song "Mein Herr," which was written for the 1972 film, and "Maybe This Time" (an earlier song of Kander and Ebb's, written for Kaye Ballard) were included in the 1998 revival. In this revival, "Mein Herr" would replace "The Telephone Song", which already had a small appearance before "Don't Tell Mama." "Maybe This Time" replaced "Why Should I Wake Up?", and was sung by Sally in her own personal reflection. Previously, in the 1987 revival, a new song was written for Cliff entitled "Don't Go".

In addition, there were two "Money" songs. Originally, the song "Sitting Pretty" was sung by the Emcee and backed up by the Cabaret girls in international costumes and their units of currency (representing Russian rubles, Japanese yen, French francs, American dollars, and German Deutschmarks). For the movie, this number was then replaced by "Money, Money", and sung by the Emcee and Sally Bowles. However, "Sitting Pretty" was still heard briefly in the film. For the 1987 revival, there was a special version comprising a medley of both money songs, and motifs from the later song were incorporated into the "international" dance that had "Sitting Pretty". For the 1998 revival, only the later song written for the movie was used. This version added the Cabaret Girls, and had a darker and raunchier edge to it.

Recordings[link]

The first recording of Cabaret was the original cast album, with some of the songs (especially "Sitting Pretty"/"The Money Song") heavily edited to save disk space, and others (especially "Telephone Song") taken at a faster tempo.^{[citation needed]} When this album was released on compact disc, Kander and Ebb's voice-and-piano recording of songs cut from the musical was added as bonus material.

The 1972 movie soundtrack with Liza Minnelli is perhaps the best-known of the recordings, although the movie is much re-written and eliminates all but six of the original songs from the stage production.

The original London cast recording (1968) was released in the UK and reissued on the CBS Embassy label in 1973. Both the 1986 London and 1998 Broadway revival casts were recorded.

A 1999 two-CD studio recording contains more or less the entire score, including songs written for the movie or for later productions, and many incidentals and instrumentals not usually recorded. This recording features Jonathan Pryce as the Emcee, Maria Friedman as Sally, Gregg Edelman as Cliff, Judi Dench as Fräulein Schneider, and Fred Ebb as Herr Schultz.

The most recent recording of cabaret is the cast recording of the 2006/2007 London revival at the Lyric Theatre. The recording includes James Dreyfus as emcee and Anna Maxwell Martin as Sally Bowles

In addition to these recordings, cast albums for the French, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Austrian, Dutch, and two German productions have been released.^[8]

Awards and nominations[link]

Original Broadway production[link]

1986 Broadway revival[link]

1993 London revival[link]

1998 Broadway revival[link]

2006 London revival[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Cabaret at the Internet Broadway Database
• Plot and production information at nodanw.com^{[dead link]}
• Floormic.com Page

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2010)

1896 advertisement for a tour of the first French cabaret show, Le Chat Noir.

Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables (often dining or drinking) watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or emcee (MC).

Cabaret also refers to a Mediterranean-style brothel—a bar with tables and women who mingle with and entertain the clientele. Traditionally these establishments can also feature some form of stage entertainment, often singers and dancers.

By country[link]

French cabaret (from 1881)[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The first cabaret was opened in 1881 in Montmartre, Paris: Rodolphe Salis' "cabaret artistique." Shortly after it was founded, it was renamed Le Chat Noir (The Black Cat). It became a locale in which up-and-coming cabaret artists could try their new acts.

The Moulin Rouge, starring Dominique Barclay built in 1889 in the red-light district of Pigalle, near Montmartre, is famous for the large red imitation windmill on its roof. It was a key venue in the careers of La Goulue, Edith Piaf and Toulouse-Lautrec.

The Folies Bergère continued to attract a large number of people even though it was more expensive than other cabarets. People felt comfortable at the cabaret: They did not have to take off their hat, could talk, eat, and smoke when they wanted to, etc. They did not have to stick to the usual rules of society.

At the Folies Bergère, as in many cafés-concerts, there were a variety of acts: singers, dancers, jugglers, and clowns.

Le Lido, on the Champs-Élysées has been a venue of the finest shows with the most famous names since 1946 including Édith Piaf, Laurel & Hardy, Shirley MacLaine, Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, and Noël Coward among them.

Dutch cabaret (from 1885)[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2011)

In the Netherlands, cabaret or kleinkunst is a popular form of entertainment, usually performed in theatres. The birth date of Dutch cabaret is usually set at August 19, 1895.^[1] In Amsterdam, there is the Kleinkunstacademie (English: Cabaret Academy). It is often a mixture of (stand-up) comedy, theatre, and music and often includes social themes and political satire.

In the twentieth century, "the big three" were Wim Sonneveld, Wim Kan, and Toon Hermans. Other popular artists are Youp van 't Hek, Freek de Jonge, Herman Finkers, Brigitte Kaandorp, Bert Visscher, Najib Amhali, Hans Liberg, Hans Teeuwen, Theo Maassen, Javier Guzman, Jochem Myjer, Herman van Veen, and Paul van Vliet.

German cabaret (from 1901)[link]

German Kabarett developed from 1901, with the creation of the Überbrettl (Superstage) venue, and by the Weimar era in the mid 1920s, the Kabarett performances were characterized by political satire and gallows humor.^[2] It shared the characteristic atmosphere of intimacy with the French cabaret from which it was imported, but the gallows humor was a distinct German aspect.^[2]

American cabaret (from 1911)[link]

Cast of an American cabaret A Little Tribute Westward with Helena Mattsson and Patrik Hont do "Havana for a Night" at the Blue Moon Bar in Stockholm in 2003.

American cabaret was imported from French cabaret by Jesse Louis Lasky in 1911.^[3][4][5] In the United States, cabaret diverged into several different styles of performance mostly due to the influence of jazz music. Chicago cabaret focused intensely on the larger band ensembles and reached its peak during Roaring Twenties, under the Prohibition Era, where it was featured in the speakeasies and steakhouses.

New York cabaret never developed to feature a great deal of social commentary. When New York cabarets featured jazz, they tended to focus on famous vocalists like Nina Simone, Bette Midler, Eartha Kitt, Peggy Lee, and Hildegarde rather than instrumental musicians.

Cabaret in the United States began to decline in the 1960s, due to the rising popularity of rock concert shows, television variety shows,^{[citation needed]} and general comedy theaters. However, it remained in some Las Vegas style dinner shows, such as the Tropicana, with fewer comedy segments. The art form still survives in various musical formats, as well as in the stand-up comedy format, and in popular drag show performances.

Cabaret is currently undergoing a renaissance of sorts in the United States, particularly in New Orleans, Seattle, Philadelphia, Orlando, Tulsa, Asheville, North Carolina and Portland, Oregon, as new generations of performers reinterpret the old forms in both music and theatre. Many contemporary cabaret groups in the United States and elsewhere feature a combination of original music, burlesque and political satire, as can be found in such groups as Cabaret Red Light and Leviathan: Political Cabaret. In New York City, since 1985, successful, enduring or innovative cabaret acts have been honored by the annual Bistro Awards.^[6]

Polish cabaret[link]

The Ani Mru Mru Polish cabaret group performing in Edinburgh in 2007

The Polish kabaret is a popular form of live or televised entertainment involving a comedy troupe, and consisting mostly of comedy sketches and political satire. It traces its origins to Zielony Balonik, a famous literary cabaret founded in Kraków, by the local poets, writers and artists during the final years of the Partitions of Poland.^[7][8]

Famous cabarets[link]

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Media related to Cabaret at Wikimedia Commons

• "The Cabaret", 1921 painting by Alexander Deyneka

Look up Musical or musical in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Musical is the adjective form of music. It may also refer to:

• MusicAL: Albanian Television channel which broadcasts Albanian folk music
• Musical artist
• Musical composer
• Musical composition, an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music
• Musical ensemble, a group of two or more musicians who perform instrumental or vocal music
• Musical film: musicals on film produced for the cinema
• Musical instrument, a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds
• Musical Instrument Digital Interface, an industry-standard protocol that enables electronic musical instruments, computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other
• Musical keyboard, the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano
• Musical theatre: any dramatic work heavily involving music; often called a "musical"
• Musical Merry-Go-Round, a NBC TV series which aired from 1947 to 1949

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli, circa 1971
Born	Liza May Minnelli (1946-03-12) March 12, 1946 (age 66) Hollywood, California, United States
Occupation	Actress, singer, dancer & choreographer
Years active	1949–present
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]
Spouse	Peter Allen (m. 1967–1974; divorced) Jack Haley, Jr. (m. 1974–1979; divorced) Mark Gero (m. 1979–1992; divorced) David Gest (m. 2002–2007; divorced)
Parents	Vincente Minnelli Judy Garland

Liza May Minnelli (born March 12, 1946) is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli.

Already established as a nightclub singer and musical theatre actress, she first attracted critical acclaim for her dramatic performances in the movies The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), and Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970); Minnelli then rose to international stardom for her appearance as Sally Bowles in the 1972 film version of the Broadway musical Cabaret, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She later made a great star turn in Arthur (1981), co-starring with Dudley Moore (in the title role) and Sir John Gielgud, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Arthur's snobbish but loveable butler.

While film projects such as Lucky Lady, A Matter of Time and New York, New York were less favorably received than her stage roles, Minnelli became one of the most versatile, highly regarded and best-selling entertainers in television, beginning with Liza with a Z in 1972, and on stage in the Broadway productions of Flora the Red Menace, The Act and The Rink. Minnelli also toured internationally and did shows such as Liza Minnelli: At Carnegie Hall, Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event, and Liza Live from Radio City Music Hall.

She starred in Liza's Back in 2002. She had guest appearances in the sitcom Arrested Development and had a small role in the movie The OH in Ohio, while continuing to tour internationally. In 2008/2009, she performed the Broadway show Liza's at The Palace...! which earned a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event.^[2]

Minnelli has won a total of four Tony Awards awards, including a Special Tony Award.^[3] She has also won an Oscar, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globes and a Grammy Legend Award for her contributions and influence in the recording field, along with many other honors and awards. She is among the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.

Early life[link]

Minnelli was born in Hollywood, California, to Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland.^[4] She attended New York City's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and Chadwick School.^[5] Her first performing experience on film was at age three where she appeared in the final scene of the 1949 musical In the Good Old Summertime. The film starred Garland and Van Johnson.

Minnelli's half-sister and brother from Garland's marriage to Sid Luft are Lorna and Joey Luft. She also has another half-sister, Christiane Nina Minnelli (nicknamed Tina Nina), from her father's second marriage.^[6] Minnelli's godparents were Kay Thompson and Ira Gershwin.

Career[link]

Theatre[link]

During the summer of 1961, Minnelli was an apprentice at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis, MA. She appeared in the chorus of Flower Drum Song and played the part of Muriel in Take Me Along. Minnelli began performing professionally at age 17, in 1963, in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward, for which she received the Theatre World Award. The next year, her mother invited Minnelli to perform with her at the London Palladium. She turned to Broadway at 19, and in 1965 she became the youngest woman ever to win a leading actress Tony Award for Flora the Red Menace. It was the first time she worked with the musical duo John Kander and Fred Ebb.

Music[link]

Minnelli began as a nightclub singer as an adolescent, making her professional nightclub debut at the age of 19 at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.. She later appeared in other clubs and on stage in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and New York City. Her success as a live performer led to her recording several albums at Capitol Records: Liza! Liza! (1964), It Amazes Me (1965) and There Is a Time (1966). In her early years, she recorded traditional pop standards as well as show tunes from various musicals that she starred in. Because of this fact, William Ruhlmann named her “Barbra Streisand's little sister”.^[7] The Capitol albums Liza! Liza!, It Amazes Me, and There Is A Time were reissued on the two-CD compilation The Capitol Years in 2001, in their entirety.

Liza Minnelli on Sunset Boulevard 1988.

From 1968 up to the 1970s, she also recorded more contemporary material according to classic pop songs with her albums Liza Minnelli (1968), Come Saturday Morning and New Feelin' (both 1970) from A&M Records. She released The Singer (1973) and Tropical Nights (1977) from Columbia Records.

In 1989 Minnelli collaborated with Pet Shop Boys on Results, an electronic dance-style album. The release hit the top 10 in the UK and also charted in the US, spawning four singles: Losing My Mind; Don't Drop Bombs; So Sorry, I Said; and Love Pains. Initially released on VHS titled Visible Results, the clips were later issued on a bonus DVD included in the 2005 remastered and expanded edition of the album. Later that year she performed Losing My Mind live at the Grammys ceremony before receiving a Grammy Legend Award (the first Grammy Legend Awards were issued in 1990 to Liza Minnelli, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Smokey Robinson and Willie Nelson). With this award, she became one of only 12 other entertainers – in a list that includes Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand and Mel Brooks among others – to win an Emmy, Grammy, Tony Award and Academy Award.^[8]

In April 1992 Minnelli performed We Are The Champions with the surviving members of the rock band Queen at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.

In 1996, Minnelli released a new studio album titled Gently. It was a recording of jazz standards and also included some contemporary songs such as the cover of Does He Love You which she performed as a duet with Donna Summer. This album brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. Minnelli was nominated in 2009 for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her studio recording Liza's at the Palace...!, based on her hit Broadway show.

In May 2010, Playbill.com reported Minnelli would be releasing an album on the Decca Records label entitled Confessions, which was released on September 21, 2010.^[9]

In 2006, Minnelli appeared on My Chemical Romance's album The Black Parade, providing backing vocals and singing a solo part with Gerard Way on the track "Mama".

Film[link]

Her first appearance on film is as the baby in the very last shot of her mother's film, In the Good Old Summertime (1949). Her first credited film role was as the love-interest in Albert Finney's only film as director and star, Charlie Bubbles (1967).

In 1969 she appeared in Alan J. Pakula's first feature film, The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), as “Pookie Adams”, a needy, eccentric teenager. Her performance won her her first Academy Award nomination. She played another eccentric character the following year in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, directed by Otto Preminger.

Liza Minnelli in her 1972 concert special Liza with a 'Z'.

In 1972, Minnelli appeared in perhaps her best-known film role, as Sally Bowles in the movie version of Cabaret. She said that one of the things she did to prepare was to study photographs of classic actresses Louise Glaum and Louise Brooks and the dark-haired ladies of that time.^[10] Minnelli won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance, along with a Golden Globe Award. This made her the only Oscar-winning child of Oscar-winning parents.

Following the success of Cabaret, Bob Fosse and Minnelli teamed up for Liza with a ‘Z’. A Concert for Television, a made-for-television special. The program aired two times on TV and was not seen again until a DVD release in 2006.

Minnelli worked with her father in the 1976 A Matter of Time, costarring Ingrid Bergman. After severe editing and cutting, done by the studio, with no input from Vincente, the film was neither a commercial nor a critical success^{[citation needed]} .

Her appearance opposite Robert De Niro in the 1977 musical drama film, New York, New York however, gave Minnelli her best known signature song. Frank Sinatra released a successful cover version (for his Trilogy: Past Present Future album) two years later and used it as his signature song as well, sometimes even duetting with Minnelli live on stage.

After her performance as leading woman to Dudley Moore in 1981's hit film Arthur, Minnelli made fewer film appearances although she returned to the big screen in 1988 for Arthur 2: On the Rocks and in 1991 for Stepping Out, a musical dramedy.

Most recently she made an appearance in the movie Sex and the City 2 (2010) as herself.

Television[link]

During the early days of television in the 1950s Minnelli appeared as a child guest on Art Linkletter's show and in 1959 sang and danced with Gene Kelly on his first television special. She was a guest star in one episode of the popular Ben Casey television series starring Vince Edwards and was a frequent guest on chat shows of the day including numerous appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Joe Franklin, Dinah Shore and Johnny Carson. During the 1960s she made several guest appearances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh In as well as other variety shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Hollywood Palace, as well as The Judy Garland Show. In 1964 she appeared as Minnie in her first television dramatic role in the episode "Nightingale for Sale" on Craig Stevens's short-lived CBS series, Mr. Broadway.

Recently, Minnelli has made guest appearances on such shows as Arrested Development, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Drop Dead Diva. In the UK she has appeared on the Ruby Wax, Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross shows and in October 2006 participated in a comedy skit on the Charlotte Church Show and was featured on the Michael Parkinson Show. Set to be a guest judge on Australian Idol 2009 on the October 18, 2009. She appeared on The Joy Behar Show of September 1, 2010.

In November 2009, American Public Television aired "Liza's at the Palace", taped from September 30 – October 1, 2009 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre.^[11] The executive producers of the taping, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, previously were involved with the 2005 rerelease of 1972's Emmy and Peabody Award winning "Liza with a 'Z'".^[12]

She is currently scheduled to appear in the hit show Hot in Cleveland.

Later career[link]

Performing Liza's Back live in 2002.

She returned to Broadway in 1997, taking over the title role in the musical Victor/Victoria, replacing Julie Andrews. In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley commented, “her every stage appearance is perceived as a victory of show-business stamina over psychic frailty. She asks for love so nakedly and earnestly, it seems downright vicious not to respond.”

After a serious case of viral encephalitis in 2000, doctors predicted that she would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair and would perhaps not even be able to speak again. However, she refused to accept this and with the help of vocal and dance lessons (most notably Sam Harris, Angela Bacari), which she still takes daily, managed to recover and returned to the stage in 2001 when asked by long time friend Michael Jackson to perform at Madison Square Garden in New York City where she sang "Never Never Land" and the televised "You Are Not Alone" at the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special concert produced by soon to be husband David Gest. Gest was so impressed with her stamina and ability to stun audiences that he produced her in Liza's Back in spring 2002 performing to rave reviews in London and New York City. (Most noted in that tour was a tribute to her mother. After years of declining fans' pleas for her to sing Garland's signature song, "Over The Rainbow", she concluded Act 1 with the final refrain of her mother's famous anthem, to an instant ovation.) Among performing her classic hits, other numbers unreleased in the album version included "I Believe You" by The Carpenters, a rap version of "Liza With A 'Z'", "Yes", and Mary J. Blige's "Family Affair".

In 2004 and 2005 she appeared as a recurring character on the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning TV sitcom Arrested Development as “Lucille Austero”, the lover of both the sexually and socially awkward “Buster Bluth” and Buster's brother “GOB”.

Liza Minnelli at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival premiere of Elizabethtown, photo by Tony Shek.

In September 2006, she made a guest appearance on the long-running NBC drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent, in Masquerade, a Halloween-themed episode, broadcast on Tuesday, October 31, 2006.^[13] She also completed guest vocals on My Chemical Romance's 2006 concept album The Black Parade, portraying “Mother War”, a dark conception of the main character's mother, in the song Mama.

For years, Minnelli had wanted to record a collection of songs that her godmother Kay Thompson had performed in her nightclub act.^{[citation needed]} In 2007, she added some of Thompson's songs to her latest tour to introduce them to audiences.

Minnelli returned to Broadway in a new solo concert at the Palace Theatre called Liza's at The Palace...! which ran from December 3, 2008, through January 4, 2009.^[14][15] In her second act she performed a series of numbers created by Kay Thompson.^[16] The reviews noted that while her voice was ragged at times, and her movements no longer elastic, the old magic was still very much present—from first to last, Minnelli had audiences cheering and applauding and begging for more. The show was subsequently staged at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 30 and October 1, 2009, at which time it was filmed for broadcast on public television and a February 2010 DVD and Blu-ray release.

On January 10, 2009, Minnelli made a rare live TV appearance in a surprise cameo on NBC's Saturday Night Live, playing the best friend of “Penelope” (Kristin Wiig). On January 26, 2009, she made an appearance on The View, singing "I Would Never Leave You" (written by Johnny Rodgers, Billy Stritch, and Brian Lane Green) from her new CD Liza's at The Palace...!. She was also interviewed by the cast of The View.

She was a character in the Australian musical The Boy from Oz starring Hugh Jackman. In the show's Broadway production, she was portrayed by Stephanie J. Block.

In October 2009, Minnelli toured Australia, and appeared on Australian Idol as a mentor and guest judge.

In February 2010, Minnelli appeared in a Snickers commercial along with Aretha Franklin and Betty White.

Minnelli made a cameo appearance in the May 2010 release of Sex and the City 2.

She also made a starring appearance in December 2010 in NBC's The Apprentice.

Personal life[link]

Marriages[link]

Minnelli has been married (and divorced) four times. Her first marriage was to Peter Allen (full name Peter Allen Woolnough) on March 3, 1967.^[17] Australian-born Allen was Judy Garland's protégé in the mid-1960s.^[18] They divorced on July 24, 1974.^[19]

Later that year, she married Jack Haley, Jr., a producer and director, on September 15, 1974.^[20] His father, Jack Haley, was Garland's costar in The Wizard of Oz. They divorced in April 1979.^[21]

Minnelli was married to Mark Gero, a sculptor and stage manager, from December 4, 1979 until their divorce in January 1992.^[22]

She was married to David Gest, a concert promoter, from March 16, 2002, until they divorced in April 2007. (They separated in July 2003.)^[23][24]

Minnelli also had a relationship with Desi Arnaz Jr., the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.^[25][26]

Minnelli has no children; one pregnancy left her with a hiatal hernia as a result of the medical steps taken to try to save the baby.^[6]

Philanthropy[link]

Minnelli has, throughout her lifetime, served various charities and causes which she considers very important. She served on the board of directors of The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) for 20 years, a nonprofit educational organization that introduces parents to the field of child brain development. She has also dedicated much time to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. In 2007, she stated in an interview with Palm Springs Life magazine, “AmfAR is important to me because I’ve lost so many friends that I knew [to AIDS]”.^[27] In 1994, she recorded the Kander & Ebb tune "The Day After That" and donated the proceeds to AIDS research. That same year she performed the song in front of thousands in Central Park at the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

Filmography[link]

Television movies[link]

• The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood (1965)
• The Princess and the Pea (1984, episode of the television anthology Faerie Tale Theatre)
• A Time to Live (1985)
• Sam Found Out: A Triple Play (1988)
• Parallel Lives (1994)
• The West Side Waltz (1995)
• Arrested Development (2003–2005)

Specials[link]

• Judy and Liza at the Palladium (1964, with Judy Garland)
• Liza (1970)
• Liza with a ‘Z’. A Concert for Television (1972)
• Love from A to Z (1974, with Charles Aznavour)
• Goldie and Liza Together (1980, with Goldie Hawn)
• An Evening with Liza Minnelli (1980)
• Liza in London (1986)
• Minnelli on Minnelli: Liza Remembers Vincente (1987, documentary)
• Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event (1989, with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.)
• Liza Live from Radio City Music Hall (1992)
• Liza & Friends: A Tribute to Sammy Davis, Jr. (1993, with Charles Aznavour, Tom Jones, Jerry Lewis, and Cliff Richard)