willkommen, bienvenue, welcome
Tonight was "Cabaret." I can't remember being so moved, not only emotionally, but politically and ideologically, by a musical. The only other time I've seen this show was the 1972 movie with Liza Minelli. I saw it in high school, but didn't really like it. I didn't understand it. I understood it this time. A little too well.
The dramaturg notes pointed out the similarities between the rise of Nazi Germany and the current state of the nation. It's positively eerie. I've been sort of despairing about the way our country is headed recently. I read an article about Russian people for my Allies and Adversaries class last week. The article showed that Russians are more than willing to surrender their "fundamental" rights, like freedom of speech, the press, etc., for safety and security. Isn't that what we're doing now? I don't want to turn into Russia. I don't want to surrender any more rights.
One thing that struck me throughout the musical was how unfair it is that we can let so easily let other people dictate how we show love. There are many types of love in this world, many types of expression of love. People are always looking for connections, connections with other people, with loved ones, with strangers. It is ridiculous when complete strangers can say one way is wrong, and the rest of the pack follows suit.
The whole cast did a wonderful job of bringing 1931 Berlin to life. The idea of a cabaret from that time is sublime; satirizing current and political events. That's my type of gig. Near the end, when the Nazi rule has taken over the Kit Kat Club, the male lead, Cliff, gets dragged off by two SS officers. Another one came up with a camera and shot a few, a little poignant nod to Abu Ghraib; it was magnificent. Throughout the second act, I was tearing up. But was really got to me was the finale, when the swing members came out wearing gold stars, some of them were wearing pink triangles. I thought of my friends, and began counting how many would be in line for a train to a camp for their choices in life.
And then I thought, would I be on a train, too?
The dramaturg notes pointed out the similarities between the rise of Nazi Germany and the current state of the nation. It's positively eerie. I've been sort of despairing about the way our country is headed recently. I read an article about Russian people for my Allies and Adversaries class last week. The article showed that Russians are more than willing to surrender their "fundamental" rights, like freedom of speech, the press, etc., for safety and security. Isn't that what we're doing now? I don't want to turn into Russia. I don't want to surrender any more rights.
One thing that struck me throughout the musical was how unfair it is that we can let so easily let other people dictate how we show love. There are many types of love in this world, many types of expression of love. People are always looking for connections, connections with other people, with loved ones, with strangers. It is ridiculous when complete strangers can say one way is wrong, and the rest of the pack follows suit.
The whole cast did a wonderful job of bringing 1931 Berlin to life. The idea of a cabaret from that time is sublime; satirizing current and political events. That's my type of gig. Near the end, when the Nazi rule has taken over the Kit Kat Club, the male lead, Cliff, gets dragged off by two SS officers. Another one came up with a camera and shot a few, a little poignant nod to Abu Ghraib; it was magnificent. Throughout the second act, I was tearing up. But was really got to me was the finale, when the swing members came out wearing gold stars, some of them were wearing pink triangles. I thought of my friends, and began counting how many would be in line for a train to a camp for their choices in life.
And then I thought, would I be on a train, too?
posted by Kat @ 23:49
1 Comments:
At 9:42 AM,
Anonymous said…
It's a sad pattern that had repeated itself throughout history. Even the ancient Romans went through the same thing. Interestingly, these often come about at about the same time as the country's religious decline. I personally think that people when the majority of people share the same beliefs and want their government run on its principles, they are more likely to fight to keep everything that way. When it starts declining then, few people want to step on others toes in order to say they are wrong in trying to change things. We some how think that if we don't rock the boat that it will somehow fix itself instead of looking at the large historical pattern of this happening. Of course the other option is that they are so busy fighting over small rather insignificant things that they forget to watch the large ones and make sure they don't move. It is sad. I personally am going to continue to pray for our country and do what I can to help affect change.
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