{"id":23747,"date":"2026-09-03T09:49:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/?p=23747"},"modified":"2026-09-03T09:49:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:49:23","slug":"i-think-weve-met-somewhere-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2026\/09\/03\/i-think-weve-met-somewhere-before\/","title":{"rendered":"I Think We’ve Met Somewhere Before"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“With a storm in the wind, what would you do?”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As I was reading all of my classmates\u2019 blogs from last week, I saw how a lot of them wrote about stuff they adored or were hyper-fixated on. I think I\u2019ll do the same, so\u2026 Cabaret (1993), right?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alan Cumming, Emcee (1993)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I FREAKING LOVE CABARET AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<\/span><\/p>\n

I literally start trembling violently whenever somebody brings it up\u2014<\/span>that\u2019s how down bad I am for this musical. I know somebody reading this may have no idea what I\u2019m talking about, who that man is, why I titled my blog, or what the quote underneath even means. I PROMISEEEEEEEE I\u2019ll get into that. Let me just explain what the musical is about first. (SPOILERS!!!!!!)<\/span><\/p>\n

Without getting too in-depth, the musical has this beautiful opening where the Emcee, Alan Cumming, welcomes the audience to the KitKat Klub. A nightclub or cabaret, if you will, for people to escape their worries. Hence, \u201cLeave your troubles\u2026 outside!\u201d Anyway, we meet the rest of the Emcee\u2019s crew: Rosie, Lulu, Frenchie, Texas, Fritzie, Helga, Bobby, Victor, Hans, Herman, and finally Sally Bowles.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the opening, we\u2019re introduced to the main protagonist and another supporting character. Cliff Bradshaw, a \u201cstarving author\u201d trying to find somewhere to write, and Ernst Ludwig, a man who smuggles valuables from different countries. Ludwig refers Cliff to Fraulein Schnider\u2019s residence to live in exchange for being taught English by Cliff. He agrees, and there a friendship is born.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cliff (left) and Ludwig (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When he gets to Fraulein Schnider, she lends him the room for only 50 marks. Then leaves Cliff by himself to celebrate the New Year with her love interest, Herr Schultz. Did I mention that the year is 1944?<\/span><\/p>\n

For context, Cliff is in Berlin, Germany during the mid 1940\u2019s. I\u2019m sure you all can put two and two together. So, if learning about the rise of the N*zi Party isn\u2019t your thing, now\u2019s the time to click off this blog, because it only gets worse from here. And honestly, that\u2019s what I love the most about this peculiar musical. It gradually gets worse without the viewer realizing until it\u2019s far too late.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back to the storyline though, while Cliff is adventuring through the city, he finds the KitKat Klub and meets Sally Bowles. A beautiful young woman who is whoreish, trashy, and uneducated. They hit it off and move in after a few days. During that time, Sally obviously has feelings for Cliff and tries to make advances until she finds out that he\u2019s a homosexual. Even then, Cliff and Sally still stay side by side.<\/span><\/p>\n

Time passes, and Fr\u00e4ulein Schneider and Herr Schultz are engaged and throwing their party. Everything goes well until Ernst Ludwig arrives. He\u2019s disgusted and disappointed that Fr\u00e4ulein wants to marry a Jewish man, so he walks out, but Cliff grabs his arm before he leaves. There, the N*zi symbol rested on his arm. Cliff is obviously horrified because he read Mein Kampf (My Struggle), a book published by H*tler about his beliefs and plans for New Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n

To get Ludwig to stay and enjoy the party, a guest sings “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” <\/span>\u2014 a fascist song disguised as patriotism. Apparently, the only people who care are Fr\u00e4ulein Schneider and Cliff, as they watch in terror. In contrast, Herr Schultz and Sally turn their heads to dismiss the Nazis. This scene shows the main characters\u2019 perspectives without overdoing it, and it gets me so misty-eyed. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Tomorrow Belongs to Me”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I say EVERYTHING goes to crap after that scene, I really do mean it.\u00a0 Fr\u00e4ulein Schneider calls off the wedding because she\u2019s stuck in survival mode, and rightfully so. Marrying a Jewish man at that time would mean certain death even though he was literally her soulmate.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, Sally Bowles gets pregnant by an unknown man, and when Cliff finds out, he encourages her to keep the baby. He wanted to step up and be the father because he adored the idea of them being a family, so Sally reluctantly agrees. Unfortunately, she couldn\u2019t bear the pregnancy any longer and went behind his back to have an abortion. Cliff was destroyed yet still wanted to be with Sally.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was already planning on leaving Berlin to flee to the United States and wanted Sally to come with him. She obviously declines, and they fight about what\u2019s going on in the political world with some iconic lines.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUgh, you mean <\/span>POLITICS. <\/span><\/i>What has that got to do with us?\u201d from Sally.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSally, don\u2019t you understand? If you\u2019re not against all this, you\u2019re for it\u2026 or you might as well be.\u201d and \u201cSALLY WAKE UP! THE PARTY IN BERLIN IS OVER! IT’S BEEN A LOT OF FUN, BUT IT’S OVER NOW!\u201d from Cliff.<\/span><\/p>\n

He leaves Sally with a train ticket out of Berlin. He advises Sally to use it before walking out \u2014 for good. He also urges Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz to flee from Berlin too, but they both refuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Herr Schultz believes it will \u201cpass over\u201d while Fraulein Schneider claims that she\u2019s in too deep but is resilient and will survive. I got my quote from her song \u201cWhat would you do?\u201d In my opinion, today\u2019s world is scarily similar to Cabaret. As a teenager, I feel like Cliff and Fraulein Schneider simultaneously \u2014 wanting to leave my country because I see dystopian aspects everywhere, but how? I don\u2019t have the money or passport to go somewhere else for a while. I\u2019ll just have to wait it out or defend myself as she implied.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also got my title from this scene. People often joke about history repeating itself, so I thought it was neat for my title hinting at familiarity.<\/p>\n

The story ended as history decided it to \u2014 the rise of the N*zi Party and genocide taking full effect. One of my favorite parts about this play is how similar the introduction and ending are, yet the ending is obviously corrupted. The orchestra sounds rough, and the choir has lost its liveliness \u2014 almost sounding like shouting soldiers. It\u2019s all so uncanny.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone who stayed in Berlin died. Even the Emcee. We see his final moments \u2014 teasing the audience by taking off his trench coat as if he\u2019s naked underneath. When he finally removes it, instead of a nude body, the crowd is met with a much smaller frame dressed in Jewish prisoner attire. He sings \u201cGoodbye. See you soon.\u201d In German, before posing as if he were crucified. The lights cut off, and that was it.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I first watched Cabaret, I was fifteen years old and extremely confused. I understood some parts of the story, but I still missed so much. The play purposefully blinds its audience with sexuality and gender expression to distract from the actual issue at hand. Cabaret has affected me in many ways \u2014 good and bad. I\u2019m more open-minded, compassionate, and likely to speak out in retaliation (curse and blessing).<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m so glad I get to share my love for this play. It feels like I got my jitteriness all out now. Thank you so much for reading this, and sorry it went on for so long<\/3333<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“With a storm in the wind, what would you do?” As I was reading all of my classmates\u2019 blogs from last week, I saw how a lot of them wrote about stuff they adored or were hyper-fixated on. I think I\u2019ll do the same, so\u2026 Cabaret (1993), right? I FREAKING LOVE CABARET AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I literally … Continue reading “I Think We’ve Met Somewhere Before”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23747"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23805,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23747\/revisions\/23805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}