'Cabaret' is our world
'Cabaret' is our world
Updated 01:48am (Mla time) Nov 17, 2004
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the November 17, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
"CABARET" the musical is set in Berlin, in the waning days of the Weimar Republic, when Germany was in the throes of economic and social depression, humiliated after its defeat in World War I. Germans were thus vulnerable to any leader promising to restore Germany's glorious past and thus their self-esteem. Whatever they may have thought personally about Adolf Hitler's vainglorious attempts to revive German pride and his sinister motives in focusing public resentment on the Jews, Germans could not but be swept along with the tide, giving rise perhaps to a dark cynicism and hopelessness, as well as an almost manic search for temporary escape, embodied in the performers and clientele of the Kit Kat Club.
Against this backdrop, "Cabaret" tells the story of two couples searching for love and comfort. Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz literally dance around their budding romance, two people rich in years but completely innocent of the world, believing they could create a separate space for themselves where they would be safe. Sally Bowles and Cliff Bradshaw are scarred veterans of life, but even then remain pilgrims in search of meaning and companionship. But we know, ranged against the forces gathering strength all around them, the fragile spirits hovering about these lovers stand no chance. Their love-and they-are doomed.
It seems farfetched to look for parallels between the world of "Cabaret," Berlin in the 1930s, and the world of its local audience, Metro Manila in 2004. And yet, stepping out of the Music Museum and out of "Cabaret's" nocturnal world, one feels a chilly resonance, the mood into which the musical plunged us, particularly this dark and mordant re-interpretation, seeming to be just right for us, for this time.
* * *
FOR like the Germans slipping inexorably towards the darkness of Nazism, we are a people with battered egos, our sense of belief in ourselves and our nation wobbly and tenuous. We are beset all around by a national insecurity, fearful for our economic and political well-being, pushing vainly against the winds of despair and grasping for straws. How else to explain the hold on the popular imagination of politicians like Joseph Estrada and presidential aspirant Fernando Poe Jr.? Action stars both, they offered to substitute their cinematic personas for the political leadership they knew the majority of Filipinos hungered for. Of course, through accidents of history and political machinations, their bids for illusory salvation were eventually frustrated. But I think it is precisely their inchoate rescues, which in the movies would have been accomplished with rapid-fire fisticuffs and witty repartee, which have created this miasma of frustration we find ourselves in.
Like Berlin in the years between the wars, Philippine society is an illusory bourgeois society floating above swelling waters of decadence and moral corruption. In our country today, our so-called social arbiters and moralists worry about the impact on public morality of contraception and singers' plunging necklines on TV while remaining silent on truly horrific but profitable crimes like child prostitution and pornography and graft in high office.
* * *
IT SURELY is a testament to New Voice Company's commitment to theater that disturbs and disrupts that it chose to stage this darker, menacing version of "Cabaret" to mark its 10th anniversary.
If all it wanted to do was celebrate a milestone, New Voice could very well have chosen a big-budget, feel-good production that would both have drawn huge audiences and let them leave the theater humming the songs and feeling upbeat about the world. They could even have staged "Cabaret" in the spirit of the award-winning movie directed by Bob Fosse, where Liza Minnelli portrayed Sally Bowles as an eternally optimistic woman-child.
Instead, following the recent Broadway revival directed by Sam Mendes, New Voice Company's staging of "Cabaret" evokes the darkness of the time, and swathes the production in a spirit of impending doom, as symbolized by Jamie Wilson's Master of Ceremonies, who beguiles the audience with a certain slimy charm, but who hovers over the lovers as a silent commentary on the futility of their romance.
Monique Wilson's Sally Bowles retains the perky appeal of Minelli's version, but to this accomplished actor's credit, her Sally is less a child than a jaded character who cannot quite trust or believe in her luck. When Cliff lures her to join him in Paris and thence to a life of subsidized respectability in America, Sally is suddenly the world-weary adult to her lover's innocent child. She knows such a life is not for her, and her anthem is not so much a call to celebrate life and wring every minute of enjoyment out of it, as a dirge for dead hopes and imprisonment in the world of a cabaret.
* * *
EQUALLY accomplished performances are drawn from the rest of the cast. Jamie Wilson astounds with his unstoppable energy and command of the stage. It's too bad the role of Cliff Bradshaw has few "moments" for Michael Williams, but even within the confines of this role, he manages to shine. Joy Virata and Leo Rialp as the aging lovers are truly a joy to behold, their repartee played out delicately and honestly, without descending into caricature. Lyn Sherman as Fraulein Kost is given a more comically broad role, but her strong presence gives the character a measure of gravitas.
Finally, a special mention for the Kit Kat Girls who throw themselves freely into their roles, dancing up a storm, singing their hearts out. But always, they keep true to their personas as women symbolizing a society on the verge of a breakdown.
Updated 01:48am (Mla time) Nov 17, 2004
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the November 17, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
"CABARET" the musical is set in Berlin, in the waning days of the Weimar Republic, when Germany was in the throes of economic and social depression, humiliated after its defeat in World War I. Germans were thus vulnerable to any leader promising to restore Germany's glorious past and thus their self-esteem. Whatever they may have thought personally about Adolf Hitler's vainglorious attempts to revive German pride and his sinister motives in focusing public resentment on the Jews, Germans could not but be swept along with the tide, giving rise perhaps to a dark cynicism and hopelessness, as well as an almost manic search for temporary escape, embodied in the performers and clientele of the Kit Kat Club.
Against this backdrop, "Cabaret" tells the story of two couples searching for love and comfort. Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz literally dance around their budding romance, two people rich in years but completely innocent of the world, believing they could create a separate space for themselves where they would be safe. Sally Bowles and Cliff Bradshaw are scarred veterans of life, but even then remain pilgrims in search of meaning and companionship. But we know, ranged against the forces gathering strength all around them, the fragile spirits hovering about these lovers stand no chance. Their love-and they-are doomed.
It seems farfetched to look for parallels between the world of "Cabaret," Berlin in the 1930s, and the world of its local audience, Metro Manila in 2004. And yet, stepping out of the Music Museum and out of "Cabaret's" nocturnal world, one feels a chilly resonance, the mood into which the musical plunged us, particularly this dark and mordant re-interpretation, seeming to be just right for us, for this time.
* * *
FOR like the Germans slipping inexorably towards the darkness of Nazism, we are a people with battered egos, our sense of belief in ourselves and our nation wobbly and tenuous. We are beset all around by a national insecurity, fearful for our economic and political well-being, pushing vainly against the winds of despair and grasping for straws. How else to explain the hold on the popular imagination of politicians like Joseph Estrada and presidential aspirant Fernando Poe Jr.? Action stars both, they offered to substitute their cinematic personas for the political leadership they knew the majority of Filipinos hungered for. Of course, through accidents of history and political machinations, their bids for illusory salvation were eventually frustrated. But I think it is precisely their inchoate rescues, which in the movies would have been accomplished with rapid-fire fisticuffs and witty repartee, which have created this miasma of frustration we find ourselves in.
Like Berlin in the years between the wars, Philippine society is an illusory bourgeois society floating above swelling waters of decadence and moral corruption. In our country today, our so-called social arbiters and moralists worry about the impact on public morality of contraception and singers' plunging necklines on TV while remaining silent on truly horrific but profitable crimes like child prostitution and pornography and graft in high office.
* * *
IT SURELY is a testament to New Voice Company's commitment to theater that disturbs and disrupts that it chose to stage this darker, menacing version of "Cabaret" to mark its 10th anniversary.
If all it wanted to do was celebrate a milestone, New Voice could very well have chosen a big-budget, feel-good production that would both have drawn huge audiences and let them leave the theater humming the songs and feeling upbeat about the world. They could even have staged "Cabaret" in the spirit of the award-winning movie directed by Bob Fosse, where Liza Minnelli portrayed Sally Bowles as an eternally optimistic woman-child.
Instead, following the recent Broadway revival directed by Sam Mendes, New Voice Company's staging of "Cabaret" evokes the darkness of the time, and swathes the production in a spirit of impending doom, as symbolized by Jamie Wilson's Master of Ceremonies, who beguiles the audience with a certain slimy charm, but who hovers over the lovers as a silent commentary on the futility of their romance.
Monique Wilson's Sally Bowles retains the perky appeal of Minelli's version, but to this accomplished actor's credit, her Sally is less a child than a jaded character who cannot quite trust or believe in her luck. When Cliff lures her to join him in Paris and thence to a life of subsidized respectability in America, Sally is suddenly the world-weary adult to her lover's innocent child. She knows such a life is not for her, and her anthem is not so much a call to celebrate life and wring every minute of enjoyment out of it, as a dirge for dead hopes and imprisonment in the world of a cabaret.
* * *
EQUALLY accomplished performances are drawn from the rest of the cast. Jamie Wilson astounds with his unstoppable energy and command of the stage. It's too bad the role of Cliff Bradshaw has few "moments" for Michael Williams, but even within the confines of this role, he manages to shine. Joy Virata and Leo Rialp as the aging lovers are truly a joy to behold, their repartee played out delicately and honestly, without descending into caricature. Lyn Sherman as Fraulein Kost is given a more comically broad role, but her strong presence gives the character a measure of gravitas.
Finally, a special mention for the Kit Kat Girls who throw themselves freely into their roles, dancing up a storm, singing their hearts out. But always, they keep true to their personas as women symbolizing a society on the verge of a breakdown.
posted by Dante at 3:55 PM
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