Life is a Cabaret!

My evil twin (aka the Diva) and I enjoyed a wonderful evening together. We began with beverages and bang bang shrimp at Bonefish followed by an outstanding performance of "Cabaret" at the Koger Center.

I had seen the movie version starring Liza Minelli, many, many years ago...as I started watching the performance...I was somewhat uncomfortable thinking of where it was going...1930's Germany, the stirrings of a new political party and all the hate that would result from a new Germany. I am half German and for some odd reason I feel ashamed of the Holocaust...my mother was a very, very small child neither of us would in any way have been responsible for the actions of the Nazis. I often hear people say that such an event could never occur again...yet it does, human bondage and genocide continue to plague the world even in 2010. People allow themselves to be swayed by charismatic speakers be it the media or savvy politicians and then quietly go about their business turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to the atrocities right around the corner.

Back to the performance...the music, dancing and acting were fabulous! Life is a Cabaret old chum, come to the Cabaret...where everyone is beautiful and life is one big party where reality can be ignored. Leben und las Leben (live and let live) is frequently recited throughout the performance as well as a musical number about seeing one's love through one's eyes rather than what society sees. (for the most part this is the credo which I strive to live). An engagement is broken off due to one being Jewish (Herr Schultz) and the other being German (Frau Schneider)and as the man says I am Jewish and I am a German. Heartbreaking, I tell you, to watch and to know that in history this played out more often than not. The point is brought up that if you DO NOT STAND AGAINST something, or do nothing...you in fact allow or support those actions...or as I believe Mark Twain said, " if you don't stand for something you will fall for anything" The theatre attendees were quite the subdued lot as each filtered out of the Koger Center and back to their lives. At the heart of it...Cabaret is a love story... with all the wonderful, fun things life has to offer...and it is a story of a darker, more sinister and brutally evil reality. In all things, there is opposition...how we choose to react or ignore those facts is our challenge...I hope we each choose wisely!