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Liza W/ a Z

Cabaret, which is set in Berlin in the early thirties, brilliantly depicts both the decadence of the period and the rise of “The Nazi State” from ridiculed fringe group to ruling party. As many others have noted, Cabaret hardly seems like a musical, because all of the songs save one take place in the Kit Kat Klub. The performances of Liza Minelli and Joel Grey are remarkable. Indeed, Minelli’s rendition of the title song has become a classic. However, it is the one song that occurs elsewhere that is the most memorable. This song, “The Future Belongs to Me,” occurs outside in a beer garden on a sunny afternoon and is sung by an angelic-looking young Nazi with a sweet tenor voice. One by one the beer garden patrons arise and chillingly join in the singing, as the words and music change from gently lyrical to scary militaristic. As the principal characters are departing, the Baron’s shrug of the shoulders when asked, “Do you still think that you can control them” speaks volumes, especially in view of the horrors that would soon engulf millions. Most accounts of the rise of “The Nazi State” focus on intellectual matters, such as the repressive Treaty of Versailles or the world-wide depression of the thirties, but the beer garden scene in Cabaret captures, better than any book or movie that I am familiar with, the emotional effect that “The Nazi State” must have had on the Germans of the time. After all, when Germany was at one of the lowest ebbs in its history, a group suddenly appeared on the scene carrying a message of German superiority. The future did indeed belong to them, but thankfully the “future” only lasted for a few years.

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