History Theatre / Cabaret

* VillainSong: "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" for the Nazis.

** In the revival, Natasha Richardson played her with a suitable voice, but with added tired inflections that managed to fit both ways. (The 2014 revival with MichelleWilliams took this even further.

* DownerEnding: Less blatantly then the plays indicates, but the final image of the blurry mirror reflecting the cluster Nazi soldiers sitting among the crowd suggest that this is so.

** Really there are quite a few of these. There are numerous small set pieces that show the Nazis taking over Berlin that add a feeling of dread to the happy talk of the characters, like the radio with Nazi propoganda or the swastika posters. Then there are the cabaret songs which cut between the upbeat music and darker scenes, such as a man being beaten perhaps to death.

* FundamentallyFunnyFruit: During the song "It Couldn't Please Me More", the Jewish grocer, Herr Schultz, presents Fraulein Schneider with a pineapple, which would be rationed in this time period and therefore a very valuable gift.

''Cabaret'' is a stage musical based on a set of short stories by Christopher Isherwood (collected in ''Goodbye To Berlin''), which in turn were based on real events and people. It also drew enormous influence from ''I Am A Camera'' (1951), a straight play based on ''Goodbye to Berlin''. ''Cabaret'' itself was adapted into a film of the same name in 1972. No two versions of this story are the same, all starring wildly different characters, or different versions of the same characters, and following different events. Hell, even the musical itself differs somewhat in content based on what revision you're talking about.

* DramaticIrony: The movie takes place in Germany in the late 20's. Throughout the movie, we see the Nazi party becoming more and more prominent, though not all of the characters do. The end of the film is Sally blithely performing before a crowd of armband-wearing Nazis, though the audience knows even ''that'' will end in time.

--> "Trust ''that'' to be the one German word you pronounce perfectly."

* FanDisservice: The raggedy costumes, caked-on makeup and amateurish choreography strongly downplays, if not outright removes, any potential eroticism in the cabaret ChorusGirls. Coupled with the Emcee's creepy leering, the nightmarish editing and cinematography, and the overall setting of pre-Nazi Germany, overall the numbers come across more sad and sleazy than sexy.

** FanDisservice: In the movie at least; between the raggedy costumes and caked-on makeup (coupled with the Emcee's creepy leering and the nightmarish editing and cinematography) the performers and their acts come across more sad and sleazy than sexy.

* AdaptationalNameChange: The lead male character (played Michael York) is called Brian Roberts rather than Cliff Bradshaw. His job is also changed from writer to English teacher.

** Another scene cuts between the MC and some of the Kit Kat Club Girls doing a jaunty dance, and a bunch of young men sneaking into Natalia's yard in order to throw her dead dog against her door, all while chanting "JUDEN!JUDEN!" It is around this time that [[ThoseWackyNazis the MC and the girls switch their hats around, which now look like soldiers' helmets, and march offstage...]]

* BookEnds: Beginss and ends with the distortion of the Master of Ceremonies, then off the Nazi audience.

* ButNotTooBi: The main male character, who is StraightGay in the book, reveals himself to be bisexual in the musical, but we never do see him having anything close to a relationship with another man.

The movie was directed by Creator/BobFosse and won eight Academy Awards, including for Fosse's direction, Liza Minelli's performance as Sally and Joel Grey's as the Emcee. It is particularly notable for dominating the awards in the year of ''Film/TheGodfather'', though the latter's comparatively few awards (three) still included Best Picture.

** Subverted in the film's famous dance scene with Sally and the bentwood chair. Minelli and Fosse worked hard to show the typically untrained technique and stereotypical moves that an enthusiastic amateur like Sally would have used. Minelli - a trained dancer - later claimed that rehearsing these jerky, exaggerated moves seeded many of her later arthritis problems.

* {{Fanservice}}: Liza Minelli in a sexy black leotard, gyrating around a chair and singing with AudioErotica - the song "Mein Herr" is full of it.

* LargeHam: Liza Minelli's Sally Bowles, whether it's just from her excessive drinking or her personality. But she's a very OTT person.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: More of a vocal example; in the original Christopher Isherwood stories, Sally has an unremarkable, even squawky voice. That doesn't work so well for the main character of a musical...

*** Subverted in the film's famous dance scene with Sally and the bentwood chair. Minelli and Fosse worked hard to show the typically untrained technique and stereotypical moves that an enthusiastic amateur like Sally would have used. Minelli - a trained dancer - later claimed that rehearsing these jerky, exaggerated moves seeded many of her later arthritis problems.

* BetaCouple: Fritz and Natalia

%% * LargeHam: Liza Minelli's Sally Bowles.
%% * MoneySong: "Money Money"
* MoodWhiplash: Within the one song. "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" starts with a simple boy with a great voice singing. But when the camera pans back to reveal his Hitler Youth uniform and everyone in the audience joins in together, it gets extremely creepy.

** In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhX1gL6bjxI Operettszinhaz production]], the threesome is between Sally, Cliff, and the Emcee.

Fremde! Etranger! Stranger!\\
Gluklich zu sehen! Je suis enchante! Happy to see you!\\

->''Fremde, etranger, stranger.''
->''Glücklich zu sehen, je suis enchante,''

* CutSong: The straightest version is "I Don't Care Much" which was cut from the original production and added back later, but every version is missing at least a couple of songs present in other versions.

* ThoseWackyNazis: Zigzagged. The main Nazi sympathizer in the show is Ernst Ludwig and by all accounts starts out a pretty decent fellow but the higher the Nazis rise in prominence, the more obsessed he becomes. Same with the menace, it's more subtle and in the shadows, growing uglier until the end when they can't escape it.

* GrapesOfLuxury: Fraulein Schneider treats Schultz's gift of a pineapple as more luxurious than diamonds or pearls.

* WeimarRepublic

* GratuitousGerman, followed by GratuitousFrench, followed by GratuitousEnglish: Many of the phrases in the opening number "Willkommen" are sung in manner.

* IWantSong: "Maybe This Time".
* LastChorusSlowDown

* MoneySong: "Sitting Pretty/The Money Song"

* MovieBonusSong / RetCanon: "Mein Herr", [[IWantSong "Maybe this Time"]] and "Money Money".

* TheMusicalMusical

* [[GrapesOfLuxury Pineapple of Luxury]]: Fraulein Schneider treats Schultz's gift of a pineapple as more luxurious than diamonds or pearls.

* LargeHam: Liza Minelli's Sally Bowles.
* MoneySong: "Money Money"

* MovieBonusSong[=/=]RetCanon: "Mein Herr", [[IWantSong "Maybe this Time"]] and "Money Money".

* [[GrapesOfLuxury Pineapple of Luxury]]: Fraulein Schneider treats Shultz's gift of a pineapple as more luxurious than diamonds or pearls.

* DownerEnding: Less blatantly then the plays indicates, but the final image of the blurry mirror reflecting the cluster of red (Nazi soldiers sitting among the crowd) suggest that this is so.