Skip to main content
Cabaret (1972)
Statisticians put the number of movie musicals with the theme “the show must go on” at approximately one zillion.
But narrow that range to the dark, anxious subtheme of the “the show must go on…or else,” and Cabaret leads the conversation.
Bob Fosse’s 1972 musical is about as dingy and dread-soaked as a film adaptation of a Broadway show could possibly be. It centers the performers and denizens of the Kit Kat Klub, strutting, mugging and belting like there’s no tomorrow, as 1930s Berlin devolves into fascism around them.
Despite Fosse’s notorious cynicism, Cabaret’s is not lacking in sentiment. This is a movie that believes performance is tantamount to survival. Resisting the easy notes of tragedy, triumph and resistance, the film positions the rise of Nazism as quick, violent blips on the edges of the frame. The performers are trying to ignore it, instead clinging tightly to their disappearing reality. When politics does enter the Kit Kat stage, it comes as iconography metabolized through satire. See: Joel Grey goose-stepping in lingerie.
Then there’s the Liza performance. As nightclub singer Sally Bowles, Minnelli flashes every dimension you could ask for: grandeur, vulnerability, sass, longing, ugly hope and beautiful selfishness.
It’s hard to imagine another actor filling every corner of the shabby, shrinking world Cabaret renders. Hers is a million-dollar voice always threatening to shatter a 10-cent stage light. Moreland, Sept. 5–8.
Also Playing:
5th Avenue: The Fall (2006), Sept. 4–6. Academy: The Mummy (1999), Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and A Bay of Blood (1971), Sept. 2–3. To Die For (1995), Breathless (1960) and Day of the Dead (1985), Sept. 4–10. Cinemagic: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and Running Scared (2006), Sept. 2. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Lady Bird (2017), Sept. 3. Bloodmoon (1997), Sept. 4. Ichi The Killer (2001), Sept. 5. The Great Dictator (1940), Sept. 6 and 8. Cinema 21: 8½ (1963), Sept. 5. Clinton: Shrek (2001) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Sept. 5. Moreland: School of Rock (2003), Sept. 2. Grease (1978), Sept. 4, 5, 7 and 8. Grease 2 (1982), Sept. 4, 6 and 8. Purple Rain (1984), Sept. 5, 6 and 8. Hollywood: Showdown In Little Tokyo (1991), Sept. 2. Akira (1988), Sept. 3–8. Where the Wild Things Are (2009), Sept. 5–6. Alien (1979), Sept. 5–6. Xanadu (1980), Sept. 6. Masked Avengers (1981), Sept. 8. Tomorrow: A Page of Madness (1926) with live score, Sept. 4. The Mummy (1999), Sept. 5. Sherman’s March (1985), Sept. 6.
