Cabaret

Musical by John Kander

Tallink presents:

Musical by John Kander
Based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood

World premiere on November 20, 1966 in Broadhurst Theatre
Premiere in the Estonian National Opera on February 9, 2024

Lyrics by: Fred Ebb
Translation of the lyrics by: Kirke Kangro
Book by: Joe Masteroff
Translation by: Hannes Villemson

Music Director: Kaspar Mänd
Conductor: Lauri Sirp
Assistant to the Music Director: Martin Trudnikov
Stage Director: AnnaKarin Hirdwall (Sweden)
Designer: Caroline Romare (Sweden)
Lighting Designer: Peter Stockhaus (Sweden)
Choreographer: Adrienne Åbjörn (Sweden)

Cast:

Emcee: Priit Võigemast, Kaarel Targo (Must Kast)
Sally: Hanna-Liina Võsa, Piret Krumm
Cliff: Kalle Sepp (Revüüteater Starlight Cabaret), Kaarel Targo (Must Kast)
Fräulein Schneider: : Juuli Lill, Katrin Karisma 
Herr Schultz: Mart Laur, Jassi Zahharov
Fräulein Kost: Karis Trass, Kadri Nirgi
Ernst Ludvig: Mart Madiste, Jaak Jõekallas

Performed in Estonian with subtitles in Estonian and English.

Berlin 1929. The ideas about The New World are growing stronger. But at the Kit Kat Klub, everyone is still welcome. Sally Bowles is the star of the club and together with the emcee she tries to keep the dream of freedom alive. Then she meets Clifford Bradshaw, an American writer who has come to Berlin in search of himself. In a Germany where the Nazis are marching ever louder, this love story unfolds in the shadow of an approaching world war.

“Cabaret” is one of Broadway’s legendary masterpieces, a musical with a serious underlying theme, depicting the impact on the lives of ordinary people caught up in the increasing decadence of Germany in the 1930s. The musical caused a sensation when it made its 1966 Broadway debut, and the season ran for nearly 2000 performances. The wild freedom and abandon of the time establishes an environment of spiritual, artistic and sexual freedom that was soon to be destroyed by the Nazi regime.

Stage Director AnnaKarin Hirdwall: “Have you ever let your wants and dreams pass you by out of fear of the consequences of pursuing them? In this piece I want to tell you about how people get affected by fear and how we become who we are. Do we live our lives imprisoned or free in truth? Can we enable personal and societal change in the future or do we hold back and cling to the old world in fear of renewal? I want to welcome the audience into a world populated by characters who believe, wish, love, dare, dream and hope – despite forces that want to limit, control, straighten and intimidate into fear and silence”.

Consultant, Art Historian Harry Liivrand: “There are two exceptional works in the history of music that stand out from the rest of the genre – “West Side Story” and “Cabaret”. These musicals are flesh and blood, so to speak, dealing with the maze of social conditions and human relationships in difficult political times, not just providing high-level musical entertainment. They are timeless because the issues they echo are timeless. To understand the Berlin-musical “Cabaret”, one must take into account the ultra-liberal political, cultural and social conjuncture of Germany, the Weimar Republic at the time. Thanks to the new art of photography, the Bauhaus school, expressionist modernism (die Neue Sachlichkeit) in the visual arts, and sexual freedom without taboos, Berlin became Europe's leading centre of avant-garde art and sexual emancipation in the second half of the 1920s. Dozens and dozens of cabarets, revue theatres, nudist bars, and entertainment clubs opened in the city became symbols of the latter, which were mostly managed and financed by gays, lesbians and transvestites. There were about a hundred gay clubs in Berlin alone. The proportion of Jewish musicians in Berlin's operetta and cabaret world promoting modern jazz (Kurt Weill, Oscar Straus, Paul Abraham, Fritzi Massary, etc.) was outstanding. Against the background of the blatant political struggle in the German capital – especially the Nazis versus the Communists – the unrestrained nightlife was also a “dance on the volcano”, but still, until January 1933, this joyful ideology of the “golden twenties” continued, developed, and lived creatively. /.../

KitKatClub reopened in 1994, but in a new location, and of course it's not quite what it once was. But the name and the legend sell. The dress code is checked at the door - I know from my own experience, because once we couldn't get in with Kristel Pappel and Tõnu Kõrvits... I recommend establishments such as “Wintergarten”, “Tipi am Kanzleramt” and “Bar jeder Vernunft” to fans of variety shows, operettas and musicals. It is possible to have a proper dinner there before the show and to order more during the break of the show. By the way, “Cabaret” will also be performed in “Tipi am Kanzleramt” from July."

Excerpts from the lecture for the troupe of “Cabaret” on 16.01.2024

NB! Please note:

• The production is not recommended for children under 14 years of age. The show may require parental guidance.
• The cigarettes used in the show are not tobacco products and are safe for health. 
• In the “Cabaret” production, visibility from 2nd balcony is limited.