I don't know how long ago the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis decided to stage Cabaret this season, but given what is happening in our country, it's almost too much to watch it, which I finally was able to do this afternoon.
I've only seen the 1972 movie before, never a stage production, and definitely not the updated post-Alan Cummings version. As I expected, it was more visceral, both in terms of the script and the theater experience.
The reviews in the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press, plus some things I had seen mentioned by people I know on social media, had prepared me a bit. But I not only cried a little, unexpectedly, as Sally Bowles sang the closing title song, I wept even more because of the sound effects that followed just after that, accompanying telegraphed visuals of people being stolen away by train.
This essay, by another local resident who just saw the performance, echoes my experience. As she says, "This musical is full of 'what not to do' in the face of a growing totalitarian dictatorship – do not deny, do not think that being an American makes you safe, do not go along to make a profit (and survive, yes) or to maintain your business, and do not run away."
If you're here, go and see Cabaret.
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