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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.