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Ethan Neal
TA 120
Dr. Nancy Jones
2 Nov. 2019

University of Kentucky’s ​Cabaret

“Willkommen, Bienvenue, welcome in cabaret, au cabaret, to cabaret!” - ​Cabaret​.

Welcome to ​Cabaret ​the musical, set in late Weimar Germany in the midst of the Nazi take over.

A tale of doomed lovers, political and sexual tension, all directed by the Master of Ceremonies

of the notorious German Kit Kat Club, outlines the dramatically subtle infiltration of Nazi

Germany. While the exhilarating production of ​Cabaret​ by the University of Kentucky’s Musical

Theatre Department featured a raunchy, sexual interpretation of Joe Masteroff’s musical, the

analysis of this product with respect to Mary Overlie’s viewpoints provides a clear understanding

of their impact in creating a visually and emotionally impactful scene detailing the advancements

of the Nazi Party prior to the Second World War.

The stage is set: four distinct levels in the theatre - from highest to lowest - the orchestra,

the main stage, the “audience”, and the true audience. While this configuration is atypical, the

arrangement does nothing but provide for the dramatic effect of the production. The

juxtaposition of the orchestra being the highest space in the theatre rather than the lowest as is

typical helps allude to the atypical nature of the musical, time period, as well as the way the

subtext is conveyed to the true audience. The main stage provides a space for the largest

portion of the actions to take place and is the true central focus of the musical. In this particular

case, the main stage is set to depict the internal layout of the Kit Kat Club, a cabaret club, which
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could allude to the events surrounding the time period. As Adolph Hitler said “If you tell a big

enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed” and what is cabaret but one big lie.

The “audience” level portrayed in this production is particularly interesting, as it is visible to the

true audience, however they add no dramatic activity. In a way, they are simply just as the true

audience: observers. However, if one were to examine the history, they would notice that the

audience serves as a direct symbol for the bystanders of the Nazi takeover, as they watched as

the regime took over the entire country, but because it did not directly affect them, they stood, or

rather sat, idle. The interaction between the cast and the true audience - in this case by adding

an extra level of space - allowed for the audience members to be truly involved in the production

rather than standing idle as the “audience” providing the open conversation about what should

have been done during the Nazi takeover.

In the end, it is what is not said that says the most, and as for this production that was

indeed the case. The use of dramatic, unnatural shapes and movements in the production in

some cases added to the performance, but in many cases distracted from the overarching

objectives.“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” - Ralph Waldo

Emerson. The portrayal of the Master of Ceremonies was where the most distraction happened,

as the overly dramatic, sexualized, and often awkward gestures took away from his objective in

the musical which was to redirect the attention of the audience to the overarching air of

Nazi-ism. What should have been a character used to lead the audience through the plot turned

out to be much more of a distraction due to the overuse of overly dramatic movement, shape,

and gesture.
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“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

and in this production, the use of time and patience was quite evident. The actors allowed the

text to breathe in a way that seemed natural and characteristic. Pauses and interruptions used

in the argumentative scene between Sally and Clifford drew in the audience’s attention and

allowed them to feel as if they were in the scene alongside the actors rather than a viewer.

Similarly, the uses of pauses by Clifford enhanced his character by illustrating to the audience

that this Clifford chooses his words before he speaks rather than impulsively speaking as is the

case with Sally, furthering the in-depth development of character traits and creating a dynamic

interpretation of Clifford.

Emotion is the truest viewpoint that can speak to an audience, but out of the physicality

do we perceive emotion. As mentioned above, it is what we do not say that speaks the most. As

a whole, the production was very encapsulating in as an audience member; the actors

conveyed their emotion in such a way that they were tangible to the audience - they could feel

the same emotions as what the actors were portraying. By clearly using all of the viewpoints

above to convey their objectives in the scene the audience was drawn into the scene not to be

bystanders, but to feel that we somehow brought something to the performance: we are not

simply viewers, but we are apart of the performance itself.

"Auf Wiedersehen. A bientot. Goodbye." - ​Cabaret​. Cabaret 2019 by the University of

Kentucky Musical Theatre Department - success on many remarks. The overall performance

was stellar and one the department should be extremely proud of; the preparation, actors, and

objective material was clearly of high caliber and true brilliance.

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While the exhilarating production of ​Cabaret​ by the University of Kentucky’s Musical Theatre

Department featured a raunchy, sexual interpretation of Joe Masteroff’s musical, the analysis of

this product with respect to Mary Overlie’s viewpoints provides a clear understanding of their

impact in creating a visually and emotionally impactful scene detailing the advancements of the

Nazi Party prior to the Second World War. The clear indication of objective, motive, and means

provided much clarity of emotional and thematic material for even the unlearned audience

member.