While Cabaret originally started it´s production in 1966, almost 60 years ago, the show´s message is still very important today. Cabaret acts as a reminder of our world’s history, that we must learn from our previous mistakes to not repeat them. While the correlation to our modern politics may not be right on the nose, there are still strong repeating patterns from Cabaret and our current political climate.
Cabaret tells the story of Germany mere months before the Nazi’s take control over the country. Cabaret on its own creates a powerful portrayal of the personal affects the Nazi power had. The musical is able to create such a powerful show by connecting the audience with the characters. Each in their own way has a relatability to them, they feel like real people, which makes for such a strong show.
A common theme in Cabaret is downplaying the threat of Nazi power coming to rise. We see this through characters routinely acting as bystanders, even though the problem is right outside their doors. In some cases literally. For example, after a crashed wedding reception, Fraulein Scneider and fiance Herr Schultz have a brick thrown through their inn´s window. Herr Schultz brushes off the obvious hate crime as children messing around, and not due to Herr Schultz´s Jewish heritage. This is also seen in Sally Bowles character, she´s quoted saying, ¨It’s only politics. And what has that got to do with us?¨ and ¨It will all work itself out¨. Although Sally Bowles is not a prime target in the way Fraulein Scneider and Herr Schultz are, Sally is still threatened by the rising Nazi power. But she’s a young woman, never needing to be active in the political scene, so she stays a bystander until the inevitable fate of Germany happens.
The only character that seems anxious to do something about the worrying politics is Clifford Bradshaw. Bradshaw says ¨If you’re not against it, you might as well be for it¨. Unlike all other characters, Clifford Bradshaw is an American, and traveling author. There´s no impending threat to him, he’s able to leave whenever he chooses, and does. Which gives Clifford a tooth in the fight, there’s no real danger or threat towards him. But for everyone who lives in Germany, fighting back is too dangerous or too overwhelming of a thought.
But like Sally Bowles says, what does this have to do with us? It seems some aspect of the world is constantly in some political unrest. The constant chaos of the world almost forces us to forget about how scary it all is, something that drifts to the back of our mind. Which is exactly the point of Cabaret, MC (the main character) creates a beautiful distraction from the political unrest in the play. He regularly will ask the audience where their troubles are, reminding them that they are forgotten. Our political world now is not much different. We find entertainment to distract us from urgent issues, often brushing it off, because ¨what does this have to do with us?¨. But it’s urgent that we are politically aware. Maybe not as drastic means as Cabaret with the rising threat of Nazi´s and World War 2. But we still experience much political unrest, and it is vital that we do not turn a blind eye, but face the problem head on. On top of this, we see parallels to the Nazi parties fascism, to fascism we experience today. While it may not be to the same extreme, it’s still incredibly dangerous to any minority. In the same way the Nazi party threatened many of Cabaret´s characters, Sally Bowle´s as sex worker, Herr Schultz as a Jew, and MC as a theorized queer person. It’s vital that we recognize repeating patterns of our history, and stop them from repeating themselves. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend watching Cabaret (it’s available for free on YouTube), as well as reading banned books, and most importantly educate yourself. Not only on your history, but our history. It has everything to do with you, even if it doesn’t seem like it.
