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Cabaret, 2019

General Poetry - post, comment, review, critique
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indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Cabaret, 2019

Post by indar » Sun Aug 04, 2019 11:03 am

Bob Fosse,
you would be disappointed to learn
that the internet
is not, in any way,
as entertaining
as Joel Gray
dancing with a gorilla.

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Tracy Mitchell
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Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 3:58 pm

Re: Cabaret, 2019

Post by Tracy Mitchell » Sun Aug 04, 2019 11:42 am

Had to google to learn Bob Fosse is the choreographer and Joel Gray is dancer.  Must have been something to see Joel Gray dancing with the G.  

T

indar
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Re: Cabaret, 2019

Post by indar » Sun Aug 04, 2019 11:54 am


indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Cabaret, 2019

Post by indar » Sun Aug 04, 2019 12:42 pm

Sorry I keep commenting on my own poem but I am so upset. At the end of the number, Joel Gray says in a stage whisper "she doesn't look Jewish at all". A musical version of the dehumanization of a group of people.

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Colm Roe
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Re: Cabaret, 2019

Post by Colm Roe » Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:37 pm

I can read this in so many conflicting ways.
'She doesn't look Jewish at all' on the face of it is racist, but in the context of wartime Germany we see a German man dating someone he shouldn't be seen with. I see a brave man saying (in an unusual way, and in front of a Nazi audience) I'll love who I want to love...even if it's a Jew! 
I dated a lovely dark skinned girl in the 70's...and am familiar with racial abuse...her for being black, and me for mixing with with 'one of them' 
From my research the musical was an almost exclusively Jewish affair...writer, producer, director etc. And they were pissed off when they had to change those lyrics in certain countries!
Being Irish I'm only one generation from signs on English boarding houses saying 'No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish'.
I still haven't figured out if I'm worse than 'The Blacks', or they were worse...either way, I'm sure the dogs were happy to be in the middle of it all  :)
Anywho, I enjoyed the poem and my Googled investigations  :D

indar
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Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Cabaret, 2019

Post by indar » Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:54 am

Cabaret was a stunning movie in its day and was one of the longest running Broadway plays. Joel Gray was a peculiar master of ceremonies at the cabaret attended by, among others, German officers. He danced with this ghastly gorilla as part of the whole effort to dehumanize a group of people. It was a big, cruel joke. Can't help but think of that in present circumstances.

My sweetheart is a black man born in the backwoods of Texas in 1938. His life story hurts my heart. Any idea that America is in a post-racial era, as some claim, is ridiculously wrong.

Dave
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Re: Cabaret, 2019

Post by Dave » Fri Aug 16, 2019 9:19 am

Great film and sadly the kind of racism found in the story is on its way back in Germany.

Dave

indar
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Re: Cabaret, 2019

Post by indar » Fri Aug 16, 2019 9:50 am

It seems to be a phenomenon taking place all over the western world. Is there a wave of realization that the planet's resources are finite and rather than face the issue head-on there is a growing sense of competition for what's left---zero-sum thinking? Or is it something else like a sense of shifting power structures? Probably a whole complexity of issues that are contributing and for those who want simple answers assign blame.....

What good does that do?

poet-e
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Re: Cabaret, 2019

Post by poet-e » Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:18 pm

Not knowing any backstory, the poem itself seems light and in jest.  IDK if you wanted it more as a commentary...

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