Night

'How do the cabaret songs and routines comment on the social issues which are the background for the story of Cabaret?' Satirical on every level, Bob Fosse's 1972 film Cabaret redefines the previously accepted genre of the musical. Using the songs and routines as cunning tools of social commentary the musical numbers both predict and interpret the world of Berlin in 1931. The opening routine, 'Wilkommen', is a powerful introduction to the opposing worlds of the …

…dramatical persona more so than she ever could in the outside world. Sally seems more genuinely her true self on stage, while elsewhere she seems out of place. For her, the affirmation she gains from performing is enough to continue her hedonistic lifestyle. Having touched upon a world of reality, Sally willingly returns to the fraudulent world of the cabaret and asserts for all she is worth that for her, life is indeed a cabaret.