parallels in musicals: featuring the song “cabaret” from cabaret!
as many people know, cabaret is about the rise of naziism in germany. the story follows a cast of characters, all trying to find their way in life pre-war. but in this rant, we will be focusing on a specific character: sally bowles. she had previously decided to have a baby with clifford, to start her life of finally being chosen and loved. but a problem occurs when cliff doesn’t want to tolerate the horribleness of rising naziism and tries to get sally to leave the country with him. she thinks he is being selfish because he knows she was just offered to sing at the kit kat club. she thinks that if she ignores the problem, it won’t damage her life, which she wants to live to the fullest.
this soon leads to the song “cabaret.” as shown earlier in the musical, the cabaret songs are supposed to be a representation of the character’s internal thoughts and flaws. my second favorite example is a tad later and is called “i don’t care much.” it is sung by the emcee and is sung to show the devastating reality that some people would rather ignore the problems in the world, which will ruin more aspects of their lives and their relationships than they may first imagine, depicting them as somewhat unreliable and fake.
a few key things before talking about the song “cabaret” is some background knowledge. it is later revealed that she aborted had the baby before the song, which ties into the desperation and emotion of it all.
she starts the song by singing about how “life is a cabaret” and telling to audience to escape the real world and go there to escape their boring, depressing, imperfect lives. this is a parallel to her thinking she should ignore the rising idea of naziism around her, and thinking she can ignore it if she just “pushes it away.” she seems slightly distraught, which contradicts the happy tone and composition of the song.
as the song goes on, she starts to sing about an old friend of hers, elsie. she sings about how she was a druggie, how her life was out of control and how she was a party animal. but in the end, elsie died happy. sally sings about how that is the driving inspiration for her life, and how when she goes, “she’s going like elsie.” this is her basically admitting, “i want to die ignorant, but happy.”
but then, the mood flips. it’s less obvious in the album, but in most live performances, her facade of happiness breaks. she sings about how you need to admit life is short, and enjoy it while you can, but she is mid-breakdown while singing it. she is likely conflicted, due to her throwing away her potential life with cliff (who she thought would finally be the person to stay with her,) her having the abortion, and the fact that she knows deep down that she is making the insensitive and wrong choice.
she ends the song by belting and straining, “and i love a cabaret!” it’s like she’s trying to convince herself she made the right choice, even during her mental breakdown, as it’s too late for her to turn back now, in her eyes. it’s a scary sight to witness, even in recording, as it means so much in the historical context. so many people ignored the rising issue of naziism for way too long because they thought they wouldn’t go after them or their loved ones. this proved wrong, as the nazis started targeting more and more people, and it became terribly violent and devastating worldwide, as everyone knows now.
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