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Bruno (Quint) Mediate


Prof. Stephens
FTT 10701-02
2 December 2013
Come to the Cabaret: The Dichotomy of Humor in Musical Theatre
Visual art had the Renaissance in the late 1500s in Florence. Movies began to develop in
the early 1900s in France. While America has improved many forms of art, musical theatre is one
of the few art forms to originate in the United States. Musicals remain popular in American
culture today largely because musicals are a product of Americas past. Musical theatre is unique
in its combination of low humor mixed with deep intellectual questions. The musical Cabaret is
a prime example of this style of theatre that mixes both high and low art. Personal experiences
with Cabaret reflect the nature of American musical theatre. Cabaret asks intelligent questions
about life while integrating humor, and throughout the entire process of the Cabaret the cast was
able to see how this play communicated the higher and lower forms of art.
From the initial stages of the process, the duality of Cabaret was evident. Within the first
week of rehearsing, the entire cast performed a read through of the script for members of the
faculty. After the read-through was completed, the cast stayed and discussed the play with each
other, including the director. The cast immediately saw the superficial art that Cabaret portrayed;
the musical consisted of large production numbers with dynamic choreography, ostentatious
lighting and sets, as well as several comedic moments among all of the actors. What were more
implicit were the questions the play asked about life. These questions were the majority of the
discussion after the read-through. The thoughts some people had during this time were very
perceptive. Coming to a general consensus, the cast agreed that the play mainly focused on the

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disjunction between fantasy and reality. The characters in Cabaret are having such a good time
that they are unaware of all surrounding circumstances. One cast member talked about how she
felt all of the characters are just shells of their former selves at the end of the play because all the
things that made them human were stripped throughout the course of the play by the surround
world. The dual nature of Cabaret was very evident during the initial stages of the read-through,
where humor and intellect combined to create art.
The entire rehearsal process was a continuous unfolding of the dichotomy of Cabaret.
After the initial stages of rehearsal and reading through the script, the real rehearsal process
began. Cabaret deals with two separate worlds: one that takes place in the Kit Kat Club and
another that deals with the principle characters (i.e. Sally, Cliff, Herr Schultz, etc.) The split
between high and low art is also evident in these two separate worlds. The world of the Kit Kat
Club largely provides the humor and superficial art, whereas the action of the principle
characters asks the questions concerning life. The duality of the worlds was seen in the rehearsal
process. The members of the Kit Kat Club almost exclusively rehearsed separately from those of
the principle characters. Cabaret lends itself to such a rehearsal process, which demonstrates the
combination of high and low art evident in Cabaret and across all musical theatre. The separate
rehearsal periods allowed each member of the cast to consider their specific function onstage.
Some characters were meant to provide comedy while other characters were more thought
provoking. The split between low art and high art was evident in the rehearsal process of
Cabaret between members of the Club and the other principle characters.
During the performances, the separation between comedy and thought provoking
questions was also evidenced in the two separate acts. After the production team compiled all of
the elements of the show together, the show could be seen in its entirety. Once the show could be

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seen in its entirety, a dichotomy between the acts was seen. Act I is very connected to the low art,
or comedy because it has a lot of the big production numbers and most of the humor. Act II deals
more with the thought-provoking questions because the tragedy comes into play during the
second act. There was a joke among the cast that said Act I is where the characters dreams begin
and Act II is where all those dreams go to die. Although this joke is intending to be funny, it is an
accurate statement regarding the nature of Cabaret, and the dichotomy of high and low art in
general.
The overall experience with Cabaret showed how musical theatre is very much
concerned about many types of art from the lowest of the low, to high intellectual thought. At
one point in Cabaret people were performing a large, over-the-top dance number and at other
times people were discussing the purpose of their time on the earth. The dual nature of musical
theatre is also a product of Americas past. America has had its fair share of hardships, but it also
has a reason to celebrate and be entertained. The American musical will always be a part of the
culture of the United States because it shows not only where America has come from, but it also
shows what the people of America value. Musicals, just like Cabaret, should always entertain,
but they should also bring people to question the purpose of life and ask people what they value.

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