Cabaret as a musical film was released in 1972 and it was a huge hit. It starred Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles and Michael York as Brian. Apart from one scene featuring a song sung by the Hitler Youth, all the songs in the film are presented as part of a cabaret show at the Kit Kat Club.
The stage musical is also based on the play by John Van Druten titled I Am a Camera, which itself is adapted from the book Goodbye to Berlin by the openly gay author Christopher Isherwood.
Isherwood lived in Berlin during the Weimar Republic, immersing himself in a Bohemian lifestyle and engaging with young male prostitutes.
The story revolves around the relationships of characters also living the Bohemian life in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. American Sally Bowles performs at the Kit Kat Club. She is based on a real person Isherwood shared lodgings with in Berlin, Jean Ross, a promiscuous 19-year-old who sang in lesbian bars and second-rate cabaret shows. In the novel, Brian moves into the same lodgings as Sally Bowles; he makes a living teaching English while pursuing his doctorate. They become friends and then lovers, and their lives become intertwined with that of the playboy Baron Maximilian von Heune, complicating their relationships.
The story unfolds in Berlin during the rise of the Nazi Party, whose rise to power ultimately leads to the closure of the city’s decadent clubs.
Without revealing too much of the story, for those unfamiliar with it, there is a subplot centering on Jewish characters that has tragic consequences. Overseeing all the action is the Emcee, the Master of Ceremonies at The Kit Kat Club.
The West End production of Cabaret at The Playhouse has received much critical acclaim
Its staging offers a unique, immersive experience of the Kit Kat Club, allowing audiences to feel as though they are experiencing a Berlin cabaret club during the Weimar era.
At the end of January, we will have the added pleasure of seeing Emmy Award-winning actor Billy Porter as Emcee. Joining him will be Marisha Wallace as Sally Bowles.
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