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Cabaret (Original 1967)

Daring, provocative and exuberantly entertaining, Cabaret explores the dark and heady life of Bohemian Berlin as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich.

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Description

  • Full Length Musical
  • Drama
  • 120 minutes

  • Time Period: 1930s
  • Target Audience: Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
  • Cautions: Alcohol, Mild Adult Themes, Smoking
  • Orchestra Size: Large

  • Performance Group:
  • College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, Professional Theatre

  • Accolades:
  • Winner! 8 Tony Awards (1967) including Best Musical
    Winner! 1967 Outer Critics Circle Award for Production
    Winner! 1967 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical
In a Berlin nightclub, as the 1920's draw to a close, a garish Master of Ceremonies welcomes the audience and assures them they will forget all their troubles at the Cabaret. With the Emcee's bawdy songs as wry commentary, Cabaret explores the dark, heady, and tumultuous life of Berlin's natives and expatriates as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich. Cliff, a young American writer newly arrived in Berlin, is immediately taken with English singer Sally Bowles. Meanwhile, Fräulein Schneider, proprietor of Cliff and Sally's boarding house, tentatively begins a romance with Herr Schultz, a mild-mannered fruit seller who happens to be Jewish.

NOTE: Three Broadway versions of this show (1966, 1987, and 1998) are available for licensing. Though all three follow the same story and share most songs, there are some differences in the script and score for each:

  • Only this Original 1966 version includes “Why Should I Wake Up?” and “Meeskite.”
  • Only the Revised 1987 version includes “Don’t Go.”
  • Only the 1998 version includes “Mein Herr” and “Maybe This Time.”
  • The 1966 and 1987 versions include “The Telephone Song” and “Sitting Pretty.” The 1998 version does not.
  • The 1987 and 1998 versions include “The Money Song” and “I Don’t Care Much.” This Original 1966 version does not.
  • The three versions differ in their treatment of the character of Cliff: In the Original 1966 version, there is no suggestion that he may be gay or bisexual. In the Revised 1987 version his bisexuality is implied, and in the 1998 version, he is clearly gay or bisexual.

All three versions include “Willkommen,” “So What,” “Don’t Tell Mama,” “Perfectly Marvelous,” “Two Ladies,” “It Couldn’t Please Me More (The Pineapple Song),” “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” “Married,” “If You Could See Her” and “Cabaret.”

Premiere Production:

Cabaret opened on Broadway on November 20, 1966, and played for 1,165 performances at the Broadhurst, Imperial, and Broadway Theatres. The London production ran for 336 performances at the Palace Theatre. The show was revised for Broadway, first in 1987, when it played for 261 performances at the Imperial and Minskoff Theatres, and again in 1998 at Studio 54, where it played for 2,377 performances. In 2014, Cabaret returned to Broadway at Studio 54, playing an additional 388 performances.

Characters

  • Casting: 8M, 8F
  • Casting Attributes: Role(s) for Trans Actors(s), Role(s) for Non-Binary Actor(s), Drag Performance, Expandable casting, Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle), Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle)
  • Chorus Size: Large

  • MASTER OF CEREMONIES (EMCEE)
    CLIFFORD BRADSHAW
    ERNST LUDWIG
    CUSTOMS OFFICER
    FRAULEIN SCHNEIDER
    FRAULEIN KOST
    TELEPHONE GIRL
    SALLY BOWLES
    GIRL ORCHESTRA
    TWO LADIES
    MAÎTRE D'
    MAX
    BARTENDER
    GERMAN SAILORS
    FRAU WENDEL
    HERR WENDEL
    FRAU KRUGER
    HERR ERDMANN

    Kit Kat Girls:
    MARIA
    LULU
    ROSIE
    FRITZIE
    TEXAS
    FRENCHIE
    BOBBY
    VICTOR
    GRETA
    FELIX

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