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February 7, 2013:

LIFE IS A CABARET, OLD CHUM

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, what good is sitting alone in your room, come here the music play. Yes, Virginia, I watched the new Blu and Ray of Cabaret last evening and I am here to tell the tale. First the history: I loved the original cast album of Cabaret and played it over and over again. When the national tour came to the Ahmanson Theater I was there to see it and was bowled over by the production and the show itself. I had never seen anything like it (I had already seen the opening number on the Tony broadcast) – it was brilliantly directed and choreographed and the material was extraordinary. The cast here was very good – Melissa Hart as Sally (I’d later work with her on one of the Unsung Musicals albums), Leo Fuchs as Herr Schultz, Signe Hasso as Fraulein Schneider, Gene Rupert as Cliff, and Robert Savio as the Emcee. Savio especially was fantastic. But it was just the whole deal – it paved the way for Prince’s work with Sondheim, clearly and is probably one of the most influential musicals ever. I saw it one more time on stage, when I moved to New York in 1969. Some of the originals had moved on, and so we had Anita Gillette as Sally, can’t remember who was Cliff, someone named Martin something was the Emcee (I believe he’d been Joel Grey’s understudy), but thankfully Lotte Lenya and Jack Gilford were still in the show. Seeing the latter two performers was one of the greatest theater experiences I’ve ever had.

In 1972, a new friend, Gary Burkhart, invited me to a special sneak preview of the film version of Cabaret, at the Village Theater, probably a good six months in advance of its eventual release. The preview was separate picture and sound in interlock so the magnetic soundtrack was in stereo. I had no idea what to expect, and was not even that knowledgeable about the film’s director, Bob Fosse, as I hadn’t seen his other film musical, Sweet Charity, at that time. I knew he was doing a new musical called Pippin, too, because I auditioned for it. So, we showed up at the Village, the house lights dimmed and the film began. I thought the opening number was really well done, although it was very different from its stage counterpart. As the film went on, I began to realize that I’d better get used to the fact that this film was going to be a completely different beast than the stage version, but I wasn’t ever able to put the latter out of my head. I was sorry not to have the Schneider/Schultz relationship, but it was clear they were going for something entirely different. I missed all the cut songs, thought Mein Herr was a very poor substitute for Don’t Tell Mama, even though I loved the way it was filmed (I still don’t like Mein Herr as a song, even now). I thought the replacement for Money Makes the World Go Round was superior to the stage version, and I liked all the other numbers. Once I got used to Miss Minnelli (a very different Sally than the stage show), I really liked what she did with the part, and I thought Michael York was a wonderful Brian (Cliff in the stage show), and I liked the supporting cast. Joel Grey was fantastic in all the numbers, and I did like the look of the film. The audience reaction was pretty good, as I recall, and there was silence at the end of the film when it panned back to the distorted mirror shot and revealed an audience filled with swastikas.

I came out of the theater having really liked the film, and when it was released I saw it several more times. The first thing I noticed when I saw it on its opening day was that the shocking use (in 1972) of the F-word in one scene (“F- Brian”) had a shot changed so we were not on the front of Michael York but his back, over which was looped (“Screw Brian”). If you listen to it you can absolutely tell the line was looped. And the film as released was in mono. But it was always a love-hate relationship, because I’d loved the stage show so much. In retrospect, it was a pretty daring and bold movie and the decision to have only the numbers in the Kit Kat Klub was probably the right one (save for Tomorrow Belongs to Me, which is sung as an anthem at an outdoor cafĂ©). The film of Cabaret was as influential on film musicals as the stage show had been for stage musicals, although it would take many years for Cabaret’s influence to actually be felt. That, of course, happened with Chicago – which, to put it politely – is filled with Fosse’s shots and ideas from Cabaret. Just watch the two films’ opening numbers and you’ll see just how obvious it is. I think Fosse made all that work much better than it did in Chicago, where everything in the numbers was, for me, ruined by the terrible rapid editing.

So, it was fun to revisit Cabaret on Blu and Ray last night. I’ve already read one rather ill informed review that said the disc had many soft scenes and looked gritty. Well, sorry to have to correct the reviewer, but that’s how it was shot and that’s what it looked like. But few of these reviewers have ever seen the films they’re reviewing projected so they’d be better off doing a little research before making with the silly pronouncements. The transfer, which is off an IP from what I understand (the film’s camera negative has gone missing), looks just like it did in the theaters, just like one of the release prints. That is, a couple of generations away from the camera negative and just what audiences would have seen back then. Sound is very clean. There’s one of those annoying retrospective things – nice to have current interviews, but not well put together or thought out, which is par for the course with those things. Having just seen Liza Minnelli in the film itself, it is a little shocking to see her in the retrospective thing – one wishes people would just leave themselves alone. But it’s not nearly as shocking as Michael York. My mouth hit the floor, frankly. Anyway, for fans of the film, everyone should be very pleased with the Blu and Ray of Cabaret.

Prior to that, it had been a long and occasionally annoying day, most of which had to do with the packaging of an upcoming CD. So, a lot of the day was spent dealing with that. I did manage to eat a Cobb salad and a bagel, I did pick up some packages and pay a rather obscenely large Kritzerland bill, I did manage to do some work on the computer, and I had three weird computer issues to deal with, which also took up time. The first was what they call a colonel panic, where your computer screen darkens and you get an alert that you must shut down your computer via the power button, then restart. I got a senior tech on the phone at Apple, who told me that there might have been a security issue with a site, or a software or hardware hiccup. We shut down, and started up and it was fine. Then an hour later I got another error message saying the Time Machine backup hadn’t completed because something was in use. I called back, got a really stupid person, so demanded a senior tech again. He was able to suss it out right away – he had me unplug the Time Machine and plug it back in. That did the trick and the back up was completed.

Then much later in the day, I went to do something in the other room and when I came back everything on my desktop had disappeared. I freaked out, of course. And for some reason I can’t really fathom, just before calling Apple, I clicked on the Finder icon in the dock and suddenly everything on the desktop came back. I got a senior tech on the phone and she had me uncheck two things that have to do with an Apple thing called Spaces, which I never use. Basically, something can cause you to go to another “space” when you have these boxes checked – it’s like a whole new desktop but empty – you can have up to four of those. She said if I’d swiped the screen left or right on the track pad I would have gotten back to my real desktop instantly. So, that was good to know.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’m exhausted and must get a good night’s beauty sleep.

Today, I’ll enter fixes into the manuscript from proofer number one. I’ll go through them one by one – I don’t always do all of them, and some I’ll have to run by Muse Margaret, but the proofer already told me she didn’t really find all that much to fix. Then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then a friend is coming over and we’ll dine and hang out for a while. After that, I relax.

Tomorrow, more of the same in terms of entering fixes, plus finishing choosing Billy Barnes songs, getting music, and casting our one final person. Tomorrow night is a birthday dinner with the Staitman gals and their mom, Saturday I’ll be at the book fair for a few hours, then will be supping with Barry Pearl and his ever-lovin’ Cindy, then attending Barry’s opening night in Rumors. Sunday, I judge the finals of the singing contest, then have a dinner after that.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, enter fixes, hopefully pick up packages, eat, hang out, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Liza Minnelli films and your favorite Bob Fosse moments? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, singing life is a cabaret, old chum.

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