The conferencier welcomes you to the beginning of the IB2 class Independent Project: Kabarett
The cabaret of 1920's Berlin has become familiar to many through the hit musical Cabaret, Bob Fosse's highly atmospheric film, images of smoke-filled clubs, semi-naked women, and Marlene Dietrich as femme fatale Lola Lola in The Blue Angel. However, by the late 1920's the German cabaret, or Kabarett, was already nearing the end of its heyday, as political satire was played down in favour of outrageous dance routines and sentimental ballads.
The roots of German cabaret lie not in 1920's 'Berlin, but in pre-war Munich. Although some experimentation with a cabaret style imported from Paris took place in Berlin at the turn of the century - notably at the Schall und Rauch cabaret of theatrical impresario Max Reinhardt - it was in the south of Germany that das Kabarett sprung to life as a new and vital form of entertainment....
The roots of German cabaret lie not in 1920's 'Berlin, but in pre-war Munich. Although some experimentation with a cabaret style imported from Paris took place in Berlin at the turn of the century - notably at the Schall und Rauch cabaret of theatrical impresario Max Reinhardt - it was in the south of Germany that das Kabarett sprung to life as a new and vital form of entertainment....
When Hitler took power in 1933, cabaret was one of the first victims of Nazi terror. Some writers and performers were arrested and taken to concentration camps; some committed suicide; and others left Germany for America or other parts of Europe. The few who tried to return to cabaret after the war found that it had lost the zest, the vitality and bite that had made it such a remarkable force during the early part of the century.
