I saw a local performance of Cabaret and during this song some of the musicians had Yellow Stars, Pink Triangles or both on their costumes. As the song went on cast members dressed in uniform would usher them out, with many giving resistance and trying to continue the song, but ultimately being dragged off. The sounds of notes missing a beat or being interrupted only for the instrument to be silent as the song continued was haunting. At the curtain call the director gave a big thank you to all the musicians who were comfortable enough with their identity to have it presented and to be a part of the show. The fact that the people being taken offstage were actually Jewish or Queer really emphasized the true nature of Nazi Germany and the Shoah, that the treatment was real and that it would have happened to them had they actually been there. It really emphasized how all of this really happened, and that it can happen again.
That sounds heartbreaking... As you say, it could happen again too, so easily. Some people would have us back there now. (And I say that as somebody who'd be wearing the pink triangle)
I saw this with Will Young in it some years ago, and honestly it was one of the best shows I had seen. At the end of their performance, this scene portrayed most of the cast naked, but covering themselves with their hands as they were taken away to their fate. Heart wrenching production.
It's amazing how quickly Alan's expression changes when he takes off his coat. One second he's the same sexy, flirtatious Emcee we all know then as soon as the coat opens his expression drops. It's a little thing, but most other Emcees I've seen stay serious through that whole bit and I think Alan's choice (or the director's) of the Emcee having one last little moment of himself makes the whole thing much sadder.
it also tricks the audience into thinking its gonna be another typical mc moment, revealing some risqué outfit and then it feels like a slap in the face. it’s made even more sudden and shocking because of the juxtaposition
@@glennvader8853 Yes, but why are we seeing it and who is staging the Spectacle so we can all grow a bit, or a lot, perhaps? Major Arcana. Trumps. Trumpkin. Trumpington Cross. And so on. We're living Moliere, basically, and In Living Color
I absolutely love this ending, but one change I would happily also embrace, is when Emcee says "Even the orchestra is BEAUTIFUL", a local theatre had the background unlit until that line. At that moment, the lights flared, suddenly revealing empty chairs. We had been listening to just a recording of music, preselected by people we couldn't see or influence. Loved that touch.
In 1933 once Hitler was chancellor he closed the cabarets and opened Dachau, an abandoned factory, became a detention center for political dissidents. I think trying to emulate this is about the only thing historical about Cabaret. The source material is about the depression and the rise of extremism because of it, not about Nazis and Jews. The prisoner badge system didn't start til 1937. Kristallnacht was 1938. Cabaret shouldn't be considered history.
Bro, why are you under every comment? It’s a musical, in which much of what is in stage is metaphorical. He’s wearing the clearest symbol of the height of the fascist movement, and its ultimate consequences. It isn’t telling the audience “he was sent to a concentration camp the next day”
I was in the pit orchestra when my college did this musical and they literally told us to play our parts after the line “Even the orchestra is beautiful” as out of tune as possible (probably to symbolize the eerie feeling of slowly devolving into fascism). Still gives me chills to this day.
Okay, but at the end when he starts to remove the trench coat you get a laugh from the audience, thinking he's about to reveal some other traditional emcee style outfit, as soon as he drops it it goes dead silent and honestly when I experienced that live for the first time I was speechless myself.
Pedro Sorana it’s what the prisoners wore when they were in concentration camps. The Emcee has 3 badges; yellow star for Jew, pink triangle for homosexual, red star for (I think) communist. Three things the Nazis and Hitler were against. Anyway, he was sent to a concentration camp and died.
what i find chilling is how quickly Alan changes his expression before and after he takes off his coat to reveal the uniform. how can one have such a playful demeanor and make the crowd laugh but a split second later have such a serious change that leaves the audience speechless.
Also when he is listening to the testimonies and he is still being The MC, but you can see on his face as he slowly realizes no one is going to support or save him. 😢
The play reflects eerily accurately what actually happened in real life. Weimar Germany was once famous for its cabarets, which tended to be deeply satirical of modern life, full of gallows humour, and many were openly critical of the Nazis. Naturally, once Hitler gained power, the Nazis utterly destroyed Germany's unique cabaret scene, with many of the actors sent into concentration camps.
The play is based on the works of Christopher Isherwood who lived in Weimar Germany. Check out his "Berlin Stories," which inspired "I Am a Camera," and, ultimately, "Cabaret."
@@esoniaknight6614 And after Hitler there was Stalin who killed millions, Sadam Hussain who killed Kurds, The takeover of Sudan, and right now it is on the internet that China has people in camps (Muslims, and others).
This is what I love about it. It highlights an aspect of Weimar Germany that has been forgotten by so many: the vibrant, thriving underground queer culture there. It's bone-chilling to realize how quickly it was all snuffed out, where we might today be had it not been, and how effective the Nazi book-burning campaigns were in helping erase that history from most people's knowledge.
Don’t look now but it’s now America. The pink triangle on transgender soldiers, the white supremacy murderers as “heroes”, the destruction of the American economy and all its values. A descendant of German immigrants. Fabulous. Oh, Cabaret!
Part of it makes me think he's in on it and is glad for it. We have no troubles HERE (or else!), the girls and the orchestra are beautiful (agree or else!) ..until he takes off the coat.
@@sadiemormon-horn6809communists were the most common political prisoners but basically anyone who fought against the nazi regime was given the red star
@@abbyjpg3832 Cabaret is historically inaccurate Dachau was initially opened for political opponents in 1933 when Hitler was elected/appointed chancellor. He also closed the cabarets in 1933. The badge system started in 1937. Kristallnacht and the attacks on Jewish ghettos started in 1938. Jews and gay people served in the SA and SS until 1940. I always assumed that the Cumming version suggests he was sent to Dachau after the cabaret was closed for being a dissident, adding a bit of historical accuracy. The source material is more about the depression, and the events that led to radicalization, Isherwood left Berlin in 1933. Jean Ross is the real person Sally Bowles character and her family have been fighting the musical inaccuracies for forever.
That was actually significantly less terrifying than the one I saw in theatre. After he's done with the "life is beautiful" he shows the orchestra which is empty, sings the last part on his own, takes off his coat, and walks into a giant room with everyone else where a bright light comes on and you know what happens
Yes - you are correct. The pace of the story accelerates so fast at the end - you don't quite get what's happening until after it happens. The disjointed music.... perfect. I saw in about 1998, right after it moved to Studio 54, with Cummings. The end was strikingly scary - and I knew I had just witnessed history.
That little smirk he gives after "after all what am I? A German" kills me. I've watched this a few times now and that smirk always almost convinces me there's going to be a nazi uniform under the coat, it's just so full of knowing spite. Alan Cumming is truly a gift to the theater world, and this ending haunts me like nothing else does.
The fact so many of us came here. So many of us see the parallels and signs to a real historical event.. to how freedom was stripped away so swiftly... Speaks volumes.
@ STFU with the bs. They’re about to blow your wig off your head with escalating a war. Telling me about read my justify, bitch you’re the one thst needs to raje your asa out of Massa Bidens ass
Alan is so incredible. this ending breaks my heart every single time I see it. he has such an emotional range and watching him embody a character is nothing short of electrifying.
Everyone has their favorite but for me, it’s Alan. He owned this role and made it his own. Phenomenal actor. Every movement, every facial expression is brilliant and done with purpose. Love you always Alan!
This is such a small detail, but I love the part at the very end when sally is singing the last little “life is a cabaret ol’ chum,” and you can see a big smile right before she bows her head. Ugh, I’m tearing up.
I don't know why, but when I first watched Cabaret, I got it in my head that the Kit Kat Club was actually all a metaphor for a Nazi camp and the Emcee and performers were already in there and the audience were Nazis almost watching what actually happened as entertainment. I don't know if I looked a bit deep into it, but I think it came from the idea of how simply he revealed he was wearing the striped pyjamas as if he had always been wearing them and then a lot of people in the cast also join him... Also in the film how when it pans at the end and shows all the red bands
so many little moments where Alan says so much without actual words. his grin when he steps up behind Bradshaw. the paranoid quick glance around when Fraulein Schneider says '...if the Nazis come...' the sardonic chuckle when Herr Schultz insists 'what am i? a German.' the way he drops the 'fun-time-guy' facade at '...no troubles *here*, the air quotes when he says '...happy to see you...', and of course when he drops the coat. and thus the whole act. and the others get their moment: Cliff has become so disillusioned that the novel he was so excited to write is now a bleak shadow of itself. Fraulein Schneider being resigned to her fate. Sally's bit of mania that fades with her death the orchestra being a discordant mess after the EmCee just said it's beautiful.
Same here. And the way the Willkommen vamp starts up after Cliff says it still haunts me. It feels so inappropriate and wrong, and it gives me goosebumps every time.
@@UlangtahunRandu late reply, but the stripped suit and the star is based on the real life suits that the prisoners in concentration camps would wear. So it's referring how the characters, such as the MC, are likely going to be persecuted, tortured and killed by the Nazis.
@@AEE341 Ive not seen a recording of the original, but there is an even older play compared to this one that also has the MC in the stripped suit, so odds are that it was in the original as well.
I saw this production at the Donmar Warehouse in London. It was deeply moving and took a great emotional toll on both Alan Cumming and Jane Horrocks (Sally Bowles). I don’t know how he managed to play the role for so long on Broadway, but I’m very glad he did. A theatrical milestone, for sure. ❤
It totally punches you in the gut. I had only seen the movie version which is not so blunt. when he dropped that coat, it was just such a punch. You're just horrified at the end. But it's good because they do not back off of it - it is about the atrocities of war putting an end to a carefree life - it's supposed to be blunt.
Then you can understand why Isherwood absolutely hated Liza's performance. Sally was a loser, in his words, you could never picture Liza as a loser. Julie Harris's "Sally" was more than perfect, according to Isherwood, she was more Sally than the real Sally. See "I Am a Camera."
when I first saw the show I didnt realize that the ending meant that all the kit kat klub dancers got sent to the concentration camp, this show really makes you think
Alan IS the Emcee. There will be other great actors who have played and will play this role, but none come close to Alan’s portrayal. It’s like Gene Wilder as as Willy Wonka; just iconic.
I went to see a performance of Cabaret when it came to my town (the west end version was touring) and so I already knew this ending but still... In the version I saw it was haunting in a different way. The word 'Kabaret' was backwards on stage with Emcee and the others dancing disjointedly behind the letters as Sally left to safety. Emcee stepped out and the soldier walked by and lightly pushed the letters down. Each one with a loud thud and the Emcee winced each time. Then the Emcee took off his coat and he, and the other dancers, faced the back of the stage. They'd removed all their clothes and hugged each other, the lights dimmed as a smoke effect came down from the ceiling, implying the gas chambers. I was shook.
First production I saw was a community theater production in a rural area. During this final scene, as the Emcee is giving his lines, the rest of the Kit Kat Klub performers stumbled onto stage, costumes torn, faces cut and bruised, limping, crying. On his last two lines, the Emcee rolled out a drum and hit it in a sudden, fast roll as the line of dancers were mowed down by the implied machine gun fire. Then, looking sadly from them to the audience, he gave one more hit on the drum and fell down dead. Lights out. Not bad for community theater.
oh the dramaturgy, Cabaret is not remotely historically accurate. the source material is about the effects of the depression on Germany that gave rise to all sorts of extremism. For historical accuracy when Hitler became chancellor in 33 he closed cabarets and opened Dachau, an abandoned munition factory that became a makeshift prison for political dissidents, mostly communists. The prison badge system didn't start until 1937, Kristallnacht was 1938. Isherwood left Berlin in 33, many of his gay friends died in Germany, but much later. There were Jewish people serving in the SA and SS until 1940.
Your comments also seem to infer that the Nazis were “cool with the Jews” util late in the war. Jews were banned from serving in the SS. The only exceptions were partial Jews who were made “honorary aryans”, when Himmler wanted to expel them. In the most notable case because one of them was already friends with Hitler from before his rise to power. I don’t know your motives but you’re giving a very strange impression
@@Gee-xb7rtthe musical exists outside of a timeline and isn’t meant to be an exact replica of the time. ESPECIALLY emcee, as he exists not as a person but as a concept. the cabaret as well is generally considered both a physical place in the musical but it’s also there to reflect the descent into fascism “under peoples noses” and exists as a concept itself. i dont think you know the purpose of this musical and you should probably stay out of critiquing it
@@astrwolf5507 Of course i know Zionist propaganda when I see it, sorry that bothers you, not my problem. Much like Parade, some people just can't stop lying.
Was listening to this while on the bus ride to school one morning. Right as Emcee says, "Where are your troubles now?", I saw a house with a Trump flag in front of it. Just thought it was worth sharing.
I love how the ending is made for the director to be free to do whatever they want with it. It’s always different. I’ve seen shocking endings, terribly sad endings, and even more light hearted. This one is so magical
Absolutelyyy As an aspiring director, this has quickly become one of my favorite new thought experiments, of, what would I do with the ending of cabaret The concept of an ever changing ending is so fascinating to me and I love it so much
Exactly. Germany was a very grim place even before the Nazis took control. The Cabaret (much like the films of the period) offers a brief respite from the harsh world outside and a faint semblance of glamour but it's all an illusion and a pretence which can't last.
@@OreadNYC I’ve also been fascinated by the nature of the Emcee’s presence in the show. Is he actually a physical character in the same universe as the others, or is he like an outside narrator who simply embodies the internal struggles of the characters within the narrative? For example, in I Don’t Care Much, he dresses like Sally and narrates her internal dialogue. So maybe this ending is geared towards representing not that there was an Emcee killed in a concentration camp, but rather the false sense of security that many Germans had?
I like this ending so much, it has a much more sinister feel to it especially after being so campy for so long. I wonder why they don’t do this ending more often.
@@fluffypuppy1641 there have been a few. Some endings the audience is forced to leave the room, others have the characters sent into a chamber “naked” full of smoke, some end like this. It really depends on the directors decision.
The last touring company revival that I saw was absolutely chilling. The Emcee turns around and walks upstage, the back curtain rises, revealing a line of people in silhouette as all the downstage lights go out, leaving nothing but painfully bright spots at eye level aimed at the audience as a projection of box cars moves across the lights from house right to house left. Words can never describe it, but seeing it in person induces goosebumps and tears. The last sound you hear before the blackout is a shot - and believe me, you feel it in your chest.
@@reneekujawskibauernfeind4523 I just watched a version where they lowered a huge mirror to cover the stage so when the lights when out, what the audience saw was themselves. Geesh! THANKS!
@@MoonPhantom WOW, now THAT is brilliant! If I were still directing, that's what I would do, instead of lowering the curtain on the silhouette of the boxcars, etc.
My daughter and I got to see this when it was at 54 in New York City. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house at the end it was a standing ovation. It was amazing and I had chills. He’s an excellent actor
I had the privilege of seeing Tim Curry play Mozart in Amadeus opposite Ian McKellan and Jane Seymour. Believe me, there is no more complexity than the face, and talent, of Tim Curry. Years later, I worked on an independent film in Louisiana that he was in. When he got to the office, I was to take him to the grocery, then to his apartment. We started talking, and I ended up telling him I loved him in the play. He gasped and said, "Oh! I'm glad you said that show. The other stuff is fun, but that is the work that really matters." He was nominated for a Tony for Amadeus, and lost to Sir Ian, whose performance is seared into my memory for all time.
The performances are quite chilling. The performers put a lot of intensity into their roles. The memories and emotions that this performance evokes are quite striking. The extent to which "Just Politics" can effect everyday life gives one food for thought,
This Donmar Warehouse production by Sam Mendes was groundbreaking and breathtaking. The entire cast was sensational but in particular Jane Horrocks gave a very brave and touching performance. In one fell swoop she obliterated the until-then supposedly definitive Fosse-directed Minelli performance, which had dominated the landscape for more than 20 years, and paved the way for the many truer Sally Bowles interpretations which followed.
What an amazing actor! I adore him completely. Our local theatre group did this last night and they used this remarkable performance as inspiration for theirs. The cabaret girls and mc all went into a gas chamber together. I was so close to crying.
I love all the versions he's performed for this musical, but this is my favorite. Here he appears to represent all people- female, male, predator, victim. ... it's a genius portrayal. Alan Cumming fan fuheva!
@@howtubeableno. The end of the world doesn't always mean "the end of the world", like "happy [quotes] to see you" doesn't mean happy. But it was the end of that world. Stormtroopers. Nazis. Gender conformity that wouldn't break molds for another century, only to face hate again. The atom bomb. The end of samurai and the Japanese Emperor. Fck, all of AUSTRIA.
This is so powerful.... It gives me shivers: Alan Cumming you are remarkable. Your characterisation couldn't be better. This is such a incredible performance BRAVO!!!! I wish....so much that I could've seen this in person.
Julia Day they did that at the production I recently saw but I haven't seen the revival version anywhere, if I were you I'd keep looking it is truely one of the creepiest, most harrowing things I have ever seen
Late but. I've just came back from the UK Tour which I think is based on the London revival and yes. The KABARET letters were knocked over and the Emcee stood in front of the A. He sang the ladies are beautiful, even the men are beautiful in a broken whisper and could barely say even the orchestra. He then knocked the A down and went to the back of the stage. There, the ensemble had their backs turned, after we'd seen them crouching on the floor, fully clothed when the letters were knocked. They were fully naked and the Emcee dropped his coat, naked also, linking arms in a goose step way almost, them all huddling together. The back of the stage, that they were against, a dirty white wall with a copper pipe running across. A hiss. Like a gas chamber. The most harrowing sight to imagine live.
Listen to the Revival Cast Album - it's much more pronounced and dramatic - representing the change from Freedom to repression. In the original revival production - when the curtain opens to show the orchestra - there's no one playing the instruments only the sound of the dissonant orchestra (playing in the pit). The audience is all, like - "what the heck's going on?" - only to be lead into the Concentration Camps with the actors.
I agree. Songs in major key signatures often sound happy and bright, like a warm and sunny day. Comparatively, songs in minor keys sound uncertain, like a dark, and cold night.
I saw this play right after the move to Studio 54 with Cummings and Mary McCormick. I guess is was around 1999. The ending was different then. Where the curtain opens to show the orchestra - there's no one there - just the music playing, and rising to a disjointed cacophony. And the volume kept rising - with very harsh lighting - and the players stood there - with Cummings making a final spin - ripping off his coat - to the striped prisoners outfit and reaching his hands to the harsh spot light - somehow changing his expression into one of a Concentration Camp victim. All at the same time - it was almost like a magic trick - It scared the crap out of me - but was stirring and impactful and beautiful, all at the same time. (listen to the cast album - it's played out there - audio only) It changed my life. I don;'t know why they changed the ending into the one showed in this video. This was much less dramatic.
I saw this in an independent theater it was amazing. The ending depresses me to no end. And I will never look at Alan Cumming the same way again. Haha he's awesome.
Saw the UK tour of this the other day and the end of it was truly harrowing. Cabaret has such an art at being both eccentric and fun while still being so heartbreaking.
This is an entirely creepier version of The Master of Ceremonies character. A whole lot more ghoulish! And I love it that Jane Horrocks’ version of Sally Bowles is totally unlike the famous Liza Minnelli version. This is how each successive musical production should be. Similar because it’s the same story and framework, but different enough to make it a new experience for the punter.
So I just watched CSU’s rendition of this and it was so eerie- when they said the orchestra is beautiful, the orchestra was gone, and a recording was instead being played at that time. Then all the people just came up and started taking of their coats instead of singing and there wasn’t the star and prison wear but there was this ominous rumbling sound and they just lined up at the exit of the stage and stood still for a bit. Very eerie ending, very different than this!!
In the version I saw, the apartments were transformed into gas chambers with everyone walking into them and I've never seen another performance quite so impactful as that one. It was truly a fantastic piece and remains to be a top favorite of mine. Also Alan is just a treat ❤️
What an incredibly powerful ending. Our regional theater group put on this version recently, and when the master of ceremonies took off his coat and revealed the concentration camp uniform underneath, there was an audible gasp from the audience.
I first saw this show the day after Trump was inaugurated. Needless to say, the entire 2nd act had the audience breathless. No laughter, just the occasional gasp and stunned silence. At the end of the show, hardly anyone was clapping because we were all so shocked and moved. That’s the moment I fell in love with musical theater and the power the art form can hold. Cabaret is the best musical of all time.
It's powerful how everything gets more sad as it goes on. Everyone hates eachother and loses hope. Even the orchestra becomes broken. Even the emcee becomes sad
I once went to a stage performance of cabaret in Blackpool grand theatre, with Wayne sleep, thay sang the end song and at the end they slipped off stage, then you saw the curtain rise up and the cast was in a pile on top of each other naked, and someone dressed as a German soldier came on with a gas mask and had tins of cyclon b in a small trolly, as you can guess, the audience was silent except for some people took a sharp intake of breath!
Sam Mendes is an absolute genius and I would watch anything he directed. The Ferryman has a similarly terrifying, abrupt ending as this version of Cabaret, and it works brilliantly.
I saw The Ferryman and I saw this Cabaret production with Natasha Richardson as Sally. Sam Mendes has not only made some of my favorite films, 1917 and Road to Perdition, but also my favorite broadway shows! Bravo, Sam!
I know that the ending is supposed to be chilling no matter which version you’re watching given that we all know what’s coming next but that moment Alan Cumming takes his coat off and sheds the last of himself and is wearing a CC uniform is fucking bone chilling.
@@herrschultz7413 A.) So so awesome that you replied to this all these years later! B.) I kinda forgot i made this comment but i know about the two endings now, yeah! And i absolutely agree with you, this ending is so much more impactful. I know they say "less is more" and that may be true, but the haunting callbacks to earlier lines, the way "Willkomen" sounds even MORE ominous and discordant than in the other ending, the way Emcee's final goodbye sounds more tragic with the higher key...when the cast comes in with "Willkomen, bievenue, welcome!", it feels like such a gut punch..it's genuinely perfection, and I wish more productions did this ending, the shorter one just doesn't have the same effect at all.
@@captainbeamng6581with the reveal at the end that the emcee is jewish himself, i saw that smirk as more bitter and sardonic than anything. like he knew that the nazis would not see it that way, rather than him actually believing it himself
One could interpret that they are in the concentration camp this whole time and singing to cheer themselves up. The Emcee taking off his coat shows the reality of the situation that they are in. His final moments is courageous showing that he'd rather die being himself and mocking the world around him, getting the last laugh against those that overpowered him rather than conform to being something that he is not.
The 1966/1987 version of the ending is so much more powerful and effective than the 1998 ending. I really wish this one was used in more professional productions, the only productions I've seen use this ending are non professional ones.
I am particularly haunted by this- totally breathtaking. Alan and the cast are brilliant. I had just finished Ken Burns US and the Holocaust. I guess this is appropriate
The version that I saw had the scenery part to reveal a stark white wall, which was , I assume, was the shower of a Nazi death camp. It was a disturbing ending.
I saw this musical for the first time today. It’s truly about the tragedy of cowardice and how by ignoring the world’s problems in favor of fun people end up in tragedy.
So I just saw the show on TH-cam for the first time, and I honestly thought I knew what was coming. The emcee went to unbutton his jacket and I thought to myself, ‘It’s going to be a uniform, a Nazi uniform. With everything that I’d seen so far it would’ve made sense. I was proved wrong pretty quickly.
I saw the show. When I saw it at the end was silence, and in the background all you heard was the Furnaces burning where the nazis burned the bodies. It chilled you to the bone.
When I saw Cabaret in DC in 2002, there was a blackout after Sally's reprise, then a scrim rose to show Auschwitz and you could hear the roar of the crematoria as the Emcee reveals himself as a gay, Jewish prisoner. That broke me.
this is by far my favorite production of cabaret, but i always get a little ticked at 1:05, know i know it’s difficult to line that up, but it still frustrates me
Maybe This Time its interesting because my school actually produced this play a couple months ago and I really think it was picked because of the election.
I only think so because we were all laughing at trump until because we didn't think he'd win and when he did it was a huge shock like when the emcee took his coat off
He put babies in cages because America is moral exhausted, greedy, and/ or filled with displaced hate. He is a prophet of doom ad history repeats itself.
I don’t think Cliffs character is talked about nearly enough. Mind you he has dealt with and witnessed: His first friend in Germany, a man he trusted, turn out to be a Nazi, his other friends lose pretty much everything, and his girlfriend completely turning her back on him and ABORTING THEIR CHILD. Dude has been put through the wringer.
I agree throwing In the fact that Cliff and Ernest are somewhat implied to be lovers of a sort. though I can’t fault Sally for the abortion she was right
@S-pw2jh If Cliff and Ernest were lovers, then it’s not a healthy romance for Cliff because Ernest was deceiving Cliff about Ernest’s political affiliations and Ernest was just using Cliff to provide financial support for the Nazis. Cliff would be the victim of an abusive sexual relationship in this case as well as an abusive financial relationship since Ernest was not being honest with Cliff.
Though this is not my favorite cast, it is my favorite ending. The 1998 ending is very abrupt and leaves to much on the mind of the listener, this ending produces closure.
I absolutely agree with you, this ending is so much more impactful. I know they say "less is more" and that may be true, but the haunting callbacks to earlier lines, the way "Willkomen" sounds even MORE ominous and discordant than in the other ending, the way Emcee's final goodbye sounds more tragic with the higher key...when the cast comes in with "Willkomen, bievenue, welcome!", it feels like such a gut punch..it's genuinely perfection, and I wish more productions did this ending, the shorter one just doesn't have the same effect at all.
I have been studying the holocaust and I highly doubt this was intentional but the miserable looks on the orchestra’s faces you can only barely make out and the near ear piercing sounds you begin to hear made this just even more upsetting. I have heard stories of the nazi’s forcing people in concentration camps to perform in order to humiliate them and to drown out sounds of executions. They would beat and torture them if they were even slightly incorrect on how it was performed And hearing the orchestra at the beginning and the general feeling the music puts out just makes it so much more disturbing to me I could just be wrong and it was completely unintentional but i feel like it is horrific either way
I saw a local performance of Cabaret and during this song some of the musicians had Yellow Stars, Pink Triangles or both on their costumes. As the song went on cast members dressed in uniform would usher them out, with many giving resistance and trying to continue the song, but ultimately being dragged off. The sounds of notes missing a beat or being interrupted only for the instrument to be silent as the song continued was haunting.
At the curtain call the director gave a big thank you to all the musicians who were comfortable enough with their identity to have it presented and to be a part of the show.
The fact that the people being taken offstage were actually Jewish or Queer really emphasized the true nature of Nazi Germany and the Shoah, that the treatment was real and that it would have happened to them had they actually been there. It really emphasized how all of this really happened, and that it can happen again.
That's such an incredible directorial choice, but absolutely heartbreaking.
That sounds heartbreaking... As you say, it could happen again too, so easily. Some people would have us back there now. (And I say that as somebody who'd be wearing the pink triangle)
That must have been an incredibly emotional and powerful moment, for the audience and the performers involved.
That’s so enlightening. I wish I could have seen their performance
I saw this with Will Young in it some years ago, and honestly it was one of the best shows I had seen. At the end of their performance, this scene portrayed most of the cast naked, but covering themselves with their hands as they were taken away to their fate. Heart wrenching production.
He utilizes every centimeter of his face. His expressions are haunting and bone-chilling. So glad he won the tony.
He's brilliant, isn't he.
haunting...absolutely
Mesmerising.
Alan Cummings was perfect! I love Joel greys version but Alan’s is hauntingly brilliant.
You nailed it with bone chilling!
It's amazing how quickly Alan's expression changes when he takes off his coat. One second he's the same sexy, flirtatious Emcee we all know then as soon as the coat opens his expression drops. It's a little thing, but most other Emcees I've seen stay serious through that whole bit and I think Alan's choice (or the director's) of the Emcee having one last little moment of himself makes the whole thing much sadder.
it also tricks the audience into thinking its gonna be another typical mc moment, revealing some risqué outfit and then it feels like a slap in the face. it’s made even more sudden and shocking because of the juxtaposition
@@crowteeth420in Brechtian terms it’s called the Verfremdungseffekt or the distancing effect. The more popularised term is ‘the tickle-tickle-slap’
@@cassieosbourne7666 this is very interesting thank you for your comment!
“It’ll all work out. It’s only politics, and what has that got to do with us?”
And here we see where those thoughts lead.
Unfortunately, we have it happening again right now with Trump.
The cabaret this time is the internet.
@@glennvader8853 We pulled through.
We did it.
@@9volt65 the work is only just beginning
@@glennvader8853 Yes, but why are we seeing it and who is staging the Spectacle so we can all grow a bit, or a lot, perhaps? Major Arcana. Trumps. Trumpkin. Trumpington Cross. And so on. We're living Moliere, basically, and In Living Color
I absolutely love this ending, but one change I would happily also embrace, is when Emcee says "Even the orchestra is BEAUTIFUL", a local theatre had the background unlit until that line. At that moment, the lights flared, suddenly revealing empty chairs. We had been listening to just a recording of music, preselected by people we couldn't see or influence. Loved that touch.
In 1933 once Hitler was chancellor he closed the cabarets and opened Dachau, an abandoned factory, became a detention center for political dissidents. I think trying to emulate this is about the only thing historical about Cabaret. The source material is about the depression and the rise of extremism because of it, not about Nazis and Jews. The prisoner badge system didn't start til 1937. Kristallnacht was 1938. Cabaret shouldn't be considered history.
I saw the ending done that way, as well. unbelievably powerful.
Bro, why are you under every comment? It’s a musical, in which much of what is in stage is metaphorical. He’s wearing the clearest symbol of the height of the fascist movement, and its ultimate consequences. It isn’t telling the audience “he was sent to a concentration camp the next day”
Oooo I love that! Sounds chilling
@@Gee-xb7rtwow you must be fun at parties, it’s a piece of theatre not a fucking history documentary, get a life 😂
I was in the pit orchestra when my college did this musical and they literally told us to play our parts after the line “Even the orchestra is beautiful” as out of tune as possible (probably to symbolize the eerie feeling of slowly devolving into fascism). Still gives me chills to this day.
Okay, but at the end when he starts to remove the trench coat you get a laugh from the audience, thinking he's about to reveal some other traditional emcee style outfit, as soon as he drops it it goes dead silent and honestly when I experienced that live for the first time I was speechless myself.
Perhaps, but then maybe the audience knows what's coming.
can someone etell me what that means? Idont understand the part when he took of the coat
bro the first time i saw cabaret, i had NO CONTEXT so as soon as that happened i was soo beyond shocked
Pedro Sorana it’s what the prisoners wore when they were in concentration camps. The Emcee has 3 badges; yellow star for Jew, pink triangle for homosexual, red star for (I think) communist. Three things the Nazis and Hitler were against. Anyway, he was sent to a concentration camp and died.
@@Cotton_Candy.__ Yes, a red star is for Communist.
what i find chilling is how quickly Alan changes his expression before and after he takes off his coat to reveal the uniform. how can one have such a playful demeanor and make the crowd laugh but a split second later have such a serious change that leaves the audience speechless.
Also when he is listening to the testimonies and he is still being The MC, but you can see on his face as he slowly realizes no one is going to support or save him. 😢
The play reflects eerily accurately what actually happened in real life. Weimar Germany was once famous for its cabarets, which tended to be deeply satirical of modern life, full of gallows humour, and many were openly critical of the Nazis. Naturally, once Hitler gained power, the Nazis utterly destroyed Germany's unique cabaret scene, with many of the actors sent into concentration camps.
The play is based on the works of Christopher Isherwood who lived in Weimar Germany. Check out his "Berlin Stories," which inspired "I Am a Camera," and, ultimately, "Cabaret."
I didn't know that. WW2 is so sad and fascinating. I pray it never repeats itself in any country.
@@esoniaknight6614 And after Hitler there was Stalin who killed millions, Sadam Hussain who killed Kurds, The takeover of Sudan, and right now it is on the internet that China has people in camps (Muslims, and others).
This is what I love about it. It highlights an aspect of Weimar Germany that has been forgotten by so many: the vibrant, thriving underground queer culture there.
It's bone-chilling to realize how quickly it was all snuffed out, where we might today be had it not been, and how effective the Nazi book-burning campaigns were in helping erase that history from most people's knowledge.
Don’t look now but it’s now America. The pink triangle on transgender soldiers, the white supremacy murderers as “heroes”, the destruction of the American economy and all its values. A descendant of German immigrants. Fabulous. Oh, Cabaret!
Truly amazing. The bitterness at the end of "We have no troubles HERE." I gasp every time.
Part of it makes me think he's in on it and is glad for it. We have no troubles HERE (or else!), the girls and the orchestra are beautiful (agree or else!) ..until he takes off the coat.
@@bahhumbug9824I’m not gonna lie I thought the twist was gonna be that he was a nazi the whole time so I was like 😨
@@lizgordon5999 Or maybe he was an informer like Mick Jagger's cabaret singer in the movie version of "Bent."
The yellow star symbolized Jewish people, the pink triangle symbolized homosexuals, and the red star symbolized political prisoners/dissenters.
THANK YOU, I think this is very important info, I was so curious what those were.
I thought the red star was for communists. That’s what I read online
@@sadiemormon-horn6809 communists were political prisoners
@@sadiemormon-horn6809communists were the most common political prisoners but basically anyone who fought against the nazi regime was given the red star
@@abbyjpg3832 Cabaret is historically inaccurate Dachau was initially opened for political opponents in 1933 when Hitler was elected/appointed chancellor. He also closed the cabarets in 1933. The badge system started in 1937. Kristallnacht and the attacks on Jewish ghettos started in 1938. Jews and gay people served in the SA and SS until 1940. I always assumed that the Cumming version suggests he was sent to Dachau after the cabaret was closed for being a dissident, adding a bit of historical accuracy. The source material is more about the depression, and the events that led to radicalization, Isherwood left Berlin in 1933. Jean Ross is the real person Sally Bowles character and her family have been fighting the musical inaccuracies for forever.
That was actually significantly less terrifying than the one I saw in theatre. After he's done with the "life is beautiful" he shows the orchestra which is empty, sings the last part on his own, takes off his coat, and walks into a giant room with everyone else where a bright light comes on and you know what happens
+Jamie Jewer Did you see the 2012 London revival???
Mark Badolato That's the ending of the 98/2014 version
Jaime Jewer was this a production at Marshall University?
Yes - you are correct. The pace of the story accelerates so fast at the end - you don't quite get what's happening until after it happens. The disjointed music.... perfect. I saw in about 1998, right after it moved to Studio 54, with Cummings. The end was strikingly scary - and I knew I had just witnessed history.
My school did it like that except later in the song after he shows the orchestra the wall with the doors fam down and you see the ensemble
That little smirk he gives after "after all what am I? A German" kills me. I've watched this a few times now and that smirk always almost convinces me there's going to be a nazi uniform under the coat, it's just so full of knowing spite. Alan Cumming is truly a gift to the theater world, and this ending haunts me like nothing else does.
The fact so many of us came here. So many of us see the parallels and signs to a real historical event.. to how freedom was stripped away so swiftly... Speaks volumes.
Elaborate. Who is losing their freedoms right now?
@@rosiemercury111it’s not everyone at first. It’s group by group. Learn from history. Who will speak for you when there is no one left.
@ STFU with the bs. They’re about to blow your wig off your head with escalating a war. Telling me about read my justify, bitch you’re the one thst needs to raje your asa out of Massa Bidens ass
@@rosiemercury111 Why the hell are you watching the ending to this musical then?
@@girlishgamer1 rage bait. That’s all they ever do, so they have a reason to talk down to people
Alan is so incredible. this ending breaks my heart every single time I see it. he has such an emotional range and watching him embody a character is nothing short of electrifying.
So true, he is utterly compelling.
Wq
Everyone has their favorite but for me, it’s Alan. He owned this role and made it his own. Phenomenal actor. Every movement, every facial expression is brilliant and done with purpose. Love you always Alan!
This is such a small detail, but I love the part at the very end when sally is singing the last little “life is a cabaret ol’ chum,” and you can see a big smile right before she bows her head. Ugh, I’m tearing up.
You can almost physically see the sarcasm dripping when the MC says “beeeuuutiful”
crazy how so many of us had the same thought process
I don't know why, but when I first watched Cabaret, I got it in my head that the Kit Kat Club was actually all a metaphor for a Nazi camp and the Emcee and performers were already in there and the audience were Nazis almost watching what actually happened as entertainment. I don't know if I looked a bit deep into it, but I think it came from the idea of how simply he revealed he was wearing the striped pyjamas as if he had always been wearing them and then a lot of people in the cast also join him... Also in the film how when it pans at the end and shows all the red bands
I want to see a production WITH THIS mentality. This is dark and ugly. You’re a genius
I think your perspective is quite correct..
I know some productions hold up a mirror at the end, so that interpretation is pretty valid
so many little moments where Alan says so much without actual words.
his grin when he steps up behind Bradshaw.
the paranoid quick glance around when Fraulein Schneider says '...if the Nazis come...'
the sardonic chuckle when Herr Schultz insists 'what am i? a German.'
the way he drops the 'fun-time-guy' facade at '...no troubles *here*, the air quotes when he says '...happy to see you...', and of course when he drops the coat. and thus the whole act.
and the others get their moment:
Cliff has become so disillusioned that the novel he was so excited to write is now a bleak shadow of itself.
Fraulein Schneider being resigned to her fate.
Sally's bit of mania that fades with her death
the orchestra being a discordant mess after the EmCee just said it's beautiful.
I love how haunting and broken the Willkommen melody is here. It’s the absolute final warming that the joy of the club is gone and SOMETHING is wrong
I was lucky enough to see Alan this weekend, had no idea this was coming. I have never sobbed that much in public. What. A. Performer.
"and it was the end of the world" always gives me chills
Same here. And the way the Willkommen vamp starts up after Cliff says it still haunts me. It feels so inappropriate and wrong, and it gives me goosebumps every time.
*starts stripping*
Audience: giggles*
*takes off coat*
Audience: Crap.
can you explain what that part means?
@@UlangtahunRandu late reply, but the stripped suit and the star is based on the real life suits that the prisoners in concentration camps would wear. So it's referring how the characters, such as the MC, are likely going to be persecuted, tortured and killed by the Nazis.
Weavile Frost omg 🤭 thankyou for the explanation
@@weavilefrost7034 Do you know if Alan C. started that (the holocaust outfit) or was it in the original?
@@AEE341 Ive not seen a recording of the original, but there is an even older play compared to this one that also has the MC in the stripped suit, so odds are that it was in the original as well.
2024 reporting for duty
I saw this production at the Donmar Warehouse in London. It was deeply moving and took a great emotional toll on both Alan Cumming and Jane Horrocks (Sally Bowles). I don’t know how he managed to play the role for so long on Broadway, but I’m very glad he did. A theatrical milestone, for sure. ❤
I was so unprepared for this ending when I saw the stage production- I wept.
classiclover123 So did I....I sobbed! My daughter said well, Mommie, how did you think it was going to end?
It totally punches you in the gut. I had only seen the movie version which is not so blunt. when he dropped that coat, it was just such a punch. You're just horrified at the end. But it's good because they do not back off of it - it is about the atrocities of war putting an end to a carefree life - it's supposed to be blunt.
Then you can understand why Isherwood absolutely hated Liza's performance. Sally was a loser, in his words, you could never picture Liza as a loser. Julie Harris's "Sally" was more than perfect, according to Isherwood, she was more Sally than the real Sally. See "I Am a Camera."
when I first saw the show I didnt realize that the ending meant that all the kit kat klub dancers got sent to the concentration camp, this show really makes you think
Get ready America, this is your future.
Alan IS the Emcee. There will be other great actors who have played and will play this role, but none come close to Alan’s portrayal. It’s like Gene Wilder as as Willy Wonka; just iconic.
I went to see a performance of Cabaret when it came to my town (the west end version was touring) and so I already knew this ending but still... In the version I saw it was haunting in a different way. The word 'Kabaret' was backwards on stage with Emcee and the others dancing disjointedly behind the letters as Sally left to safety. Emcee stepped out and the soldier walked by and lightly pushed the letters down. Each one with a loud thud and the Emcee winced each time. Then the Emcee took off his coat and he, and the other dancers, faced the back of the stage. They'd removed all their clothes and hugged each other, the lights dimmed as a smoke effect came down from the ceiling, implying the gas chambers. I was shook.
I think I saw this one too!!
@@daisythorogood8731 That's so cool! It was the UK tour!
WOW!
This is how it was when I saw it, John Partridge was the Emcee and he was absolutely electric
Also, the moment of the older gent taking his coat off at the party and the audience fell dead silent when they saw the nazi armband he was wearing
First production I saw was a community theater production in a rural area. During this final scene, as the Emcee is giving his lines, the rest of the Kit Kat Klub performers stumbled onto stage, costumes torn, faces cut and bruised, limping, crying. On his last two lines, the Emcee rolled out a drum and hit it in a sudden, fast roll as the line of dancers were mowed down by the implied machine gun fire. Then, looking sadly from them to the audience, he gave one more hit on the drum and fell down dead. Lights out. Not bad for community theater.
oh the dramaturgy, Cabaret is not remotely historically accurate. the source material is about the effects of the depression on Germany that gave rise to all sorts of extremism. For historical accuracy when Hitler became chancellor in 33 he closed cabarets and opened Dachau, an abandoned munition factory that became a makeshift prison for political dissidents, mostly communists. The prison badge system didn't start until 1937, Kristallnacht was 1938. Isherwood left Berlin in 33, many of his gay friends died in Germany, but much later. There were Jewish people serving in the SA and SS until 1940.
Your comments also seem to infer that the Nazis were “cool with the Jews” util late in the war. Jews were banned from serving in the SS. The only exceptions were partial Jews who were made “honorary aryans”, when Himmler wanted to expel them. In the most notable case because one of them was already friends with Hitler from before his rise to power. I don’t know your motives but you’re giving a very strange impression
@@Gee-xb7rtthe musical exists outside of a timeline and isn’t meant to be an exact replica of the time. ESPECIALLY emcee, as he exists not as a person but as a concept. the cabaret as well is generally considered both a physical place in the musical but it’s also there to reflect the descent into fascism “under peoples noses” and exists as a concept itself. i dont think you know the purpose of this musical and you should probably stay out of critiquing it
i honestly can’t believe you’re shocked that a musical isn’t a history book and that it’s… dramatic? no shit
@@astrwolf5507 Of course i know Zionist propaganda when I see it, sorry that bothers you, not my problem. Much like Parade, some people just can't stop lying.
This was the first song I thought of when I saw that Trump won again. It's both beautiful and tragic to see others had the same thought process as me.
It’s sad my mind immediately went to “it’s only politics, what does that have to do with us”
@@coolioschoolio4359 What does it have to do with us? Oh, only everything. 🫂
@coolioschoolio4359 that's exactly why many people didn't vote. Apathy got Trump elected again.
Heartbreaking to watch isnt it? Youve seen the film you know how it is going to finish yet still... Bam. Brilliant performance.
***** well ya they do. Not those specific Nazis and not right then. But in time.
Was listening to this while on the bus ride to school one morning. Right as Emcee says, "Where are your troubles now?", I saw a house with a Trump flag in front of it. Just thought it was worth sharing.
I love how the ending is made for the director to be free to do whatever they want with it. It’s always different. I’ve seen shocking endings, terribly sad endings, and even more light hearted. This one is so magical
Absolutelyyy
As an aspiring director, this has quickly become one of my favorite new thought experiments, of, what would I do with the ending of cabaret
The concept of an ever changing ending is so fascinating to me and I love it so much
No matter how many times I watch it, the ending always gets me. Truly an amazing performance from all of them.
alan is probably the most beautiful man to walk the earth
I’ve gotta be honest I agree
Even the Emcee could not hang on to the fantasy world that lived within the confines of the cabaret.
Yes, the cabaret was a fantasy world, cut off from objective reality.
Exactly. Germany was a very grim place even before the Nazis took control. The Cabaret (much like the films of the period) offers a brief respite from the harsh world outside and a faint semblance of glamour but it's all an illusion and a pretence which can't last.
@@OreadNYC I’ve also been fascinated by the nature of the Emcee’s presence in the show. Is he actually a physical character in the same universe as the others, or is he like an outside narrator who simply embodies the internal struggles of the characters within the narrative? For example, in I Don’t Care Much, he dresses like Sally and narrates her internal dialogue. So maybe this ending is geared towards representing not that there was an Emcee killed in a concentration camp, but rather the false sense of security that many Germans had?
I like this ending so much, it has a much more sinister feel to it especially after being so campy for so long. I wonder why they don’t do this ending more often.
Just curious what other ending do they sometimes do?
@@fluffypuppy1641 there have been a few. Some endings the audience is forced to leave the room, others have the characters sent into a chamber “naked” full of smoke, some end like this. It really depends on the directors decision.
The last touring company revival that I saw was absolutely chilling. The Emcee turns around and walks upstage, the back curtain rises, revealing a line of people in silhouette as all the downstage lights go out, leaving nothing but painfully bright spots at eye level aimed at the audience as a projection of box cars moves across the lights from house right to house left. Words can never describe it, but seeing it in person induces goosebumps and tears. The last sound you hear before the blackout is a shot - and believe me, you feel it in your chest.
@@reneekujawskibauernfeind4523 I just watched a version where they lowered a huge mirror to cover the stage so when the lights when out, what the audience saw was themselves.
Geesh! THANKS!
@@MoonPhantom WOW, now THAT is brilliant! If I were still directing, that's what I would do, instead of lowering the curtain on the silhouette of the boxcars, etc.
My daughter and I got to see this when it was at 54 in New York City. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house at the end it was a standing ovation. It was amazing and I had chills. He’s an excellent actor
0:50
He has the most amazing face. I sense channeling of a tiny bit of Tim Curry, but with so much more complexity.
Absolutely
Carolan Ivey On a good day Tim Curry can also be pretty moving. He never gets roles for it though.
I had the privilege of seeing Tim Curry play Mozart in Amadeus opposite Ian McKellan and Jane Seymour. Believe me, there is no more complexity than the face, and talent, of Tim Curry.
Years later, I worked on an independent film in Louisiana that he was in. When he got to the office, I was to take him to the grocery, then to his apartment. We started talking, and I ended up telling him I loved him in the play. He gasped and said, "Oh! I'm glad you said that show. The other stuff is fun, but that is the work that really matters."
He was nominated for a Tony for Amadeus, and lost to Sir Ian, whose performance is seared into my memory for all time.
Jeff Freeman I bet that was FABULOUS!!!
Jenifer Joseph Tim curry's also been recovering from a stroke that put him in a wheelchair for like 5 years now and he's rather frail I hear.
The performances are quite chilling. The performers put a lot of intensity into their roles. The memories and emotions that this performance evokes are quite striking. The extent to which "Just Politics" can effect everyday life gives one food for thought,
This Donmar Warehouse production by Sam Mendes was groundbreaking and breathtaking. The entire cast was sensational but in particular Jane Horrocks gave a very brave and touching performance. In one fell swoop she obliterated the until-then supposedly definitive Fosse-directed Minelli performance, which had dominated the landscape for more than 20 years, and paved the way for the many truer Sally Bowles interpretations which followed.
What an amazing actor! I adore him completely.
Our local theatre group did this last night and they used this remarkable performance as inspiration for theirs. The cabaret girls and mc all went into a gas chamber together. I was so close to crying.
I love all the versions he's performed for this musical, but this is my favorite. Here he appears to represent all people- female, male, predator, victim. ... it's a genius portrayal. Alan Cumming fan fuheva!
I saw Alan perform live at the old studio 54 venue and the entire production was magnificent, especially Alan.
Mr. Alan Cummings is brilliant!! The whole cast is beautiful, even the orchestra is beautiful!!
“And it was the end of the world.” is the line that always gets me.
But it wasn't the end of the world. It was the end of their tiny narcissistic pleasuredome.
@@howtubeableno. The end of the world doesn't always mean "the end of the world", like "happy [quotes] to see you" doesn't mean happy. But it was the end of that world. Stormtroopers. Nazis. Gender conformity that wouldn't break molds for another century, only to face hate again. The atom bomb. The end of samurai and the Japanese Emperor. Fck, all of AUSTRIA.
If you were a Jew in Berlin in the 1930s it was 100% the end of the world
@@howtubeableSounds like something a Nazi would say
This is so powerful....
It gives me shivers: Alan Cumming you are remarkable. Your characterisation couldn't be better. This is such a incredible performance BRAVO!!!! I wish....so much that I could've seen this in person.
This gives you an absolute punch in the gut even if you’ve seen it 100 times. Brilliant but chilling.
Anybody found the ending for the 2012 London revival? I heard the cast huddles together naked at the end and it's implied they're in a gas chamber
Julia Day they did that at the production I recently saw but I haven't seen the revival version anywhere, if I were you I'd keep looking it is truely one of the creepiest, most harrowing things I have ever seen
Iris Warren it really was, I saw it today in San Jose and I was so out of breath with how powerful it was.
Iris W were they actually naked? Thats harrowing
Where they seriously naked ?!
Late but. I've just came back from the UK Tour which I think is based on the London revival and yes. The KABARET letters were knocked over and the Emcee stood in front of the A. He sang the ladies are beautiful, even the men are beautiful in a broken whisper and could barely say even the orchestra. He then knocked the A down and went to the back of the stage. There, the ensemble had their backs turned, after we'd seen them crouching on the floor, fully clothed when the letters were knocked. They were fully naked and the Emcee dropped his coat, naked also, linking arms in a goose step way almost, them all huddling together. The back of the stage, that they were against, a dirty white wall with a copper pipe running across. A hiss. Like a gas chamber. The most harrowing sight to imagine live.
The switch to a minor key is really interesting....
Listen to the Revival Cast Album - it's much more pronounced and dramatic - representing the change from Freedom to repression. In the original revival production - when the curtain opens to show the orchestra - there's no one playing the instruments only the sound of the dissonant orchestra (playing in the pit). The audience is all, like - "what the heck's going on?" - only to be lead into the Concentration Camps with the actors.
Sarah LaPidus And absolutely terrifying
I agree. Songs in major key signatures often sound happy and bright, like a warm and sunny day. Comparatively, songs in minor keys sound uncertain, like a dark, and cold night.
I saw this play right after the move to Studio 54 with Cummings and Mary McCormick. I guess is was around 1999. The ending was different then. Where the curtain opens to show the orchestra - there's no one there - just the music playing, and rising to a disjointed cacophony. And the volume kept rising - with very harsh lighting - and the players stood there - with Cummings making a final spin - ripping off his coat - to the striped prisoners outfit and reaching his hands to the harsh spot light - somehow changing his expression into one of a Concentration Camp victim. All at the same time - it was almost like a magic trick - It scared the crap out of me - but was stirring and impactful and beautiful, all at the same time. (listen to the cast album - it's played out there - audio only) It changed my life. I don;'t know why they changed the ending into the one showed in this video. This was much less dramatic.
I saw this in an independent theater it was amazing. The ending depresses me to no end. And I will never look at Alan Cumming the same way again. Haha he's awesome.
Saw the UK tour of this the other day and the end of it was truly harrowing. Cabaret has such an art at being both eccentric and fun while still being so heartbreaking.
This is an entirely creepier version of The Master of Ceremonies character. A whole lot more ghoulish! And I love it that Jane Horrocks’ version of Sally Bowles is totally unlike the famous Liza Minnelli version. This is how each successive musical production should be. Similar because it’s the same story and framework, but different enough to make it a new experience for the punter.
Jane Horrocks is amazing. I would have loved to have seen her in this but I loved her in the movie little voice. She blew me away in that movie.
So I just watched CSU’s rendition of this and it was so eerie- when they said the orchestra is beautiful, the orchestra was gone, and a recording was instead being played at that time. Then all the people just came up and started taking of their coats instead of singing and there wasn’t the star and prison wear but there was this ominous rumbling sound and they just lined up at the exit of the stage and stood still for a bit. Very eerie ending, very different than this!!
In the version I saw, the apartments were transformed into gas chambers with everyone walking into them and I've never seen another performance quite so impactful as that one. It was truly a fantastic piece and remains to be a top favorite of mine. Also Alan is just a treat ❤️
Alan Cummings was masterful. I am so glad to have seen him on Broadway in this.
Such a great story
What an incredibly powerful ending. Our regional theater group put on this version recently, and when the master of ceremonies took off his coat and revealed the concentration camp uniform underneath, there was an audible gasp from the audience.
I first saw this show the day after Trump was inaugurated. Needless to say, the entire 2nd act had the audience breathless. No laughter, just the occasional gasp and stunned silence. At the end of the show, hardly anyone was clapping because we were all so shocked and moved.
That’s the moment I fell in love with musical theater and the power the art form can hold. Cabaret is the best musical of all time.
CABARET REMAINS RELEVANT IN 2023.
1930S BERLIN IS AMERICA UNDER BIDEN.
CONGRATULATIONS.
It's powerful how everything gets more sad as it goes on. Everyone hates eachother and loses hope. Even the orchestra becomes broken. Even the emcee becomes sad
Fuck that last bit hits hard, what an amazing show
I wish the current Broadway revival kept the ending. It hits way harder imo
@@jayrose2933 YESS SAME! 💚
I once went to a stage performance of cabaret in Blackpool grand theatre, with Wayne sleep, thay sang the end song and at the end they slipped off stage, then you saw the curtain rise up and the cast was in a pile on top of each other naked, and someone dressed as a German soldier came on with a gas mask and had tins of cyclon b in a small trolly, as you can guess, the audience was silent except for some people took a sharp intake of breath!
Sam Mendes is an absolute genius and I would watch anything he directed. The Ferryman has a similarly terrifying, abrupt ending as this version of Cabaret, and it works brilliantly.
I saw The Ferryman and I saw this Cabaret production with Natasha Richardson as Sally. Sam Mendes has not only made some of my favorite films, 1917 and Road to Perdition, but also my favorite broadway shows! Bravo, Sam!
I know that the ending is supposed to be chilling no matter which version you’re watching given that we all know what’s coming next but that moment Alan Cumming takes his coat off and sheds the last of himself and is wearing a CC uniform is fucking bone chilling.
Cabaret is so haunting. My favorite musical of all time. Alan Cumming is amazing!
Alan Cumming. Just... his face. He's amazing.
I absolutely love this alternate ending, much more powerful than the original one.
What's the original ending?
@@finleyforevermore Didn't have the last musical ensemble.
@@herrschultz7413 A.) So so awesome that you replied to this all these years later!
B.) I kinda forgot i made this comment but i know about the two endings now, yeah!
And i absolutely agree with you, this ending is so much more impactful. I know they say "less is more" and that may be true, but the haunting callbacks to earlier lines, the way "Willkomen" sounds even MORE ominous and discordant than in the other ending, the way Emcee's final goodbye sounds more tragic with the higher key...when the cast comes in with "Willkomen, bievenue, welcome!", it feels like such a gut punch..it's genuinely perfection, and I wish more productions did this ending, the shorter one just doesn't have the same effect at all.
Alan's face at 3:17 saying like, "... it'll be ok, let's have fun."
My interpretation was that he was laughing at the idea of the Jew being a true German.
@@captainbeamng6581with the reveal at the end that the emcee is jewish himself, i saw that smirk as more bitter and sardonic than anything. like he knew that the nazis would not see it that way, rather than him actually believing it himself
@@gretep "He" as in a greater representation of the Nazis. Essentially what I was trying to say, just better articulated.
One could interpret that they are in the concentration camp this whole time and singing to cheer themselves up. The Emcee taking off his coat shows the reality of the situation that they are in. His final moments is courageous showing that he'd rather die being himself and mocking the world around him, getting the last laugh against those that overpowered him rather than conform to being something that he is not.
The 1966/1987 version of the ending is so much more powerful and effective than the 1998 ending. I really wish this one was used in more professional productions, the only productions I've seen use this ending are non professional ones.
I am particularly haunted by this- totally breathtaking. Alan and the cast are brilliant. I had just finished Ken Burns US and the Holocaust. I guess this is appropriate
I saw this at Studio 54 in 2000, it was one of the best things I ever saw on a stage.
I too saw it at studio 54 but Neil Patrick Harris play the MC and Mr Cunningham from Happy Days was also in it it was great at that venue wasn't it
I also saw it un studio 54, although in 2002. I was 12 years old. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen on stage.
Just watched this as a class project. The ending was absolutely haunting, I looked up and everyone’s mouths were hanging open. Bravo 👏👏
Alan Cummings is spell-binding. Amazing performance!
Saw him in this with Jennifer Jason Leigh at Studio 54. He was outstanding
I love cabaret so much
My school performed it this year and it was really good
It's a great musical
I knew what was going to happen and it still broke me.
Objective completed. The Emcee, being Jewish himself, led the other characters, as well as the audience into the story just to destroy them
The version that I saw had the scenery part to reveal a stark white wall, which was , I assume, was the shower of a Nazi death camp. It was a disturbing ending.
I saw this musical for the first time today. It’s truly about the tragedy of cowardice and how by ignoring the world’s problems in favor of fun people end up in tragedy.
The shadow of alan cummings nose giving a Hitler mustache shadow is such a spooky touch
So I just saw the show on TH-cam for the first time, and I honestly thought I knew what was coming. The emcee went to unbutton his jacket and I thought to myself, ‘It’s going to be a uniform, a Nazi uniform. With everything that I’d seen so far it would’ve made sense.
I was proved wrong pretty quickly.
ive watched this like six times today and cried every time
now eleven
I saw this at Studio 54...! Wow! What a show!
I saw the show. When I saw it at the end was silence, and in the background all you heard was the Furnaces burning where the nazis burned the bodies. It chilled you to the bone.
oh my god i did not know that was how it ended.. crying my eyes out
When I saw Cabaret in DC in 2002, there was a blackout after Sally's reprise, then a scrim rose to show Auschwitz and you could hear the roar of the crematoria as the Emcee reveals himself as a gay, Jewish prisoner. That broke me.
this is by far my favorite production of cabaret, but i always get a little ticked at 1:05, know i know it’s difficult to line that up, but it still frustrates me
I'm finding this video incredibly relevant here on Inauguration Day.
Maybe This Time And How?
Maybe This Time its interesting because my school actually produced this play a couple months ago and I really think it was picked because of the election.
I only think so because we were all laughing at trump until because we didn't think he'd win and when he did it was a huge shock like when the emcee took his coat off
Maybe This Time 🍷Cheers. 😣😞
He put babies in cages because America is moral exhausted, greedy, and/ or filled with displaced hate. He is a prophet of doom ad history repeats itself.
I would have loved to seen this. Alan Cumming is a genius.
Not many people realize that Cliff is Eliot from Breaking Bad
I don’t think Cliffs character is talked about nearly enough. Mind you he has dealt with and witnessed: His first friend in Germany, a man he trusted, turn out to be a Nazi, his other friends lose pretty much everything, and his girlfriend completely turning her back on him and ABORTING THEIR CHILD. Dude has been put through the wringer.
And he gets to go home while his girl stays in Germany. The only consolation for him is that he is likely to survive the war.
I agree throwing In the fact that Cliff and Ernest are somewhat implied to be lovers of a sort. though I can’t fault Sally for the abortion she was right
@S-pw2jh
If Cliff and Ernest were lovers, then it’s not a healthy romance for Cliff because Ernest was deceiving Cliff about Ernest’s political affiliations and Ernest was just using Cliff to provide financial support for the Nazis. Cliff would be the victim of an abusive sexual relationship in this case as well as an abusive financial relationship since Ernest was not being honest with Cliff.
@@melissawickersham9912 I wasn’t saying it was healthy sorry just that it’s kinda implied you know?
If one of the TV networks decides to bring CABARET LIVE to audiences, I really hope they offer the part of Emcee to Alan Cummings first.
I had forgotten the ending. It's been years since I have seen the movie or any productions Cabaret. I was overwhelmed very fast.
Though this is not my favorite cast, it is my favorite ending. The 1998 ending is very abrupt and leaves to much on the mind of the listener, this ending produces closure.
Millie J really? I preferred the 1998 ending but I’d love to see Alan in that one
I absolutely agree with you, this ending is so much more impactful. I know they say "less is more" and that may be true, but the haunting callbacks to earlier lines, the way "Willkomen" sounds even MORE ominous and discordant than in the other ending, the way Emcee's final goodbye sounds more tragic with the higher key...when the cast comes in with "Willkomen, bievenue, welcome!", it feels like such a gut punch..it's genuinely perfection, and I wish more productions did this ending, the shorter one just doesn't have the same effect at all.
This literally kept me awake at night.
I have been studying the holocaust and I highly doubt this was intentional but the miserable looks on the orchestra’s faces you can only barely make out and the near ear piercing sounds you begin to hear made this just even more upsetting.
I have heard stories of the nazi’s forcing people in concentration camps to perform in order to humiliate them and to drown out sounds of executions.
They would beat and torture them if they were even slightly incorrect on how it was performed
And hearing the orchestra at the beginning and the general feeling the music puts out just makes it so much more disturbing to me
I could just be wrong and it was completely unintentional but i feel like it is horrific either way