From EVERYBODY LOVES A WINNER, SO NOBODY LOVED ME: Cabaret (1972) The genius of Bob Fosse and the musical itself is that the atrocities of the rise of Nazism is summed up by a stirring number that paints a picturesque image of good health and serenity. “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” is a masterpiece of song writing: here are lyrics that present us with the healthiest, most beautiful and most naturalistically spectacular imagery such as a stag in the wilderness and all the majesty of nature in all its poetic glory, masked as a propaganda song for a political agenda that preaches hatred and violence against Jews and other groups. It is also the only song sung outside of the Kit Kat Klub, which elevates its other worldliness. It is a terrifying image of Hitler Youth that will soon be propelling the dictatorship while the concerned elderly wipe their eyes with worry. This song comes late in the piece, where we have already been subjected to the violent brutality on the streets at the hands of the Nazis. This is more of the superlative structure of the musical – the song makes a terrifying opinion that the maliciousness that occurred earlier outside the Kit Kat Klub (while the Emcee gleefully spanks his chorus girls or referees an all-girl boxing match) is justified because “Tomorrow Belongs To Me” is presented as an elegant, graceful and healthy song. The Emcee appears right at the end of “Tomorrow Belongs To Me”, but instead of taking to the stage and addressing a boozy audience, he simply looks up and shares a wickedly devilish wide grin. Joel Grey remembers: That was a beat that was in the Broadway show. But it needed to be put in another context for the film, so Fosse just had me backstage in my dressing room, knowing what was going on everywhere. Fosse knew exactly what he wanted, or at least he made you think he knew, but of course nobody knows what exactly it is going to be because it is always adaption to the human element – he was open enough to allow things to be different and all of us did that, I mean he was such a great artist.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 22:01:46 +0000
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