| History of "If You Could See Her" from CABARET | |
| Last Edit: Ludlow29 11:37 pm EST 01/23/25 | |
| Posted by: Ludlow29 (Ludlow29@aol.com) 11:22 pm EST 01/23/25 | |
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| I was at the Wednesday matinee of CABARET that has become a hot topic. I’m a longtime devotee of CABARET. As a young Jewish boy, blessed with a family who regularly took me to shows, I saw the original production many times. It remains my favorite theatre experience ever. It was also the watershed experience that made me want to write musicals. It demonstrated how musical theatre can simultaneously entertain and educate. Unlike more recent versions of the show, when you arrived in your seat you faced designer Boris Aronson’s ingenious concept—a mirror facing the audience telling them “this could be you.” What followed was a tantalizing, glamorous opening that evoked a German cabaret of yesteryear. Whether or not what you saw was literal, you were drawn in immediately to the setting. Joel Grey was the somewhat ghostly, fully intriguing emcee and the ensemble of players was truly beautiful. The aura was not the in-your-face decadence of the Mendes version or the freak show ambiance of the current version. You were part of what was happening—not distanced by the strange or ugly. Then as the story—and swastikas—unfolded, you were shocked at yourself for being so seduced by what you were witnessing. As a Jewish kid who’d been sheltered from antisemitism (living in a very assimilated Jewish neighborhood as a youth—the 5 Towns), it was the first time I truly understood how such evil could geminate. Which brings me to “If You Could See Her” as originally presented. Two things were different then. First off, the gorilla was daintily costumed in a tutu—like the hippos in FANTASIA (The gorilla wears silly attire in the movie version as well). It’s obviously a comedy number (In the current version, they use a more realistic gorilla suit). The other difference was that the final lyric had been changed. During the original tryout, audiences gasped and complaints were lodged because of the lyric, “If you could see her through my eyes/She wouldn’t look Jewish at all.” Due to pressure, a compromise was struck. It was made possible because, in that version the Jewish character (Herr Shultz) sings the delightful song “Meeskite.” “Meeskite” occurred toward the end of Act One. Using the Yiddish word for ugly, “Meeskite” is about a beautiful child born to homely parents. Though I understand reasons why the song was cut in subsequent productions, I deeply miss it. It made one love the character of Herr Schultz all the more—just before the shadow of Nazism threatened his life. The compromise in “If They Could See Her” was that instead of “She doesn’t look Jewish,” the lyric was changed to “If they could see her through me eyes, she isn’t a Meeskite at all.” The implication was made acceptably. There may have been snickers, but the audience realized the message was nothing to laugh at. Moreover, when Joel Grey sang the final line in the film, he reinstated “She doesn’t look Jewish at all,” doing so in a sinister hushed tone—that was terrifying. The current version of “If You Could See Her” has enough different elements that an audience—whether because of the current context or real world differences—may well laugh out loud. I, for one, was relieved when Adam Lambert spoke his aside about the lyric not being “funny.” To me the subtext was Adam Lambert’s mother is Jewish and he himself—raised Jewish—was disturbed by the laughter. I’ve also heard that this was not the first time he addressed the audience as such. Nonetheless, there was a section of this production that disturbed me considerably more. Perhaps it’s because my bread-and-butter job is teaching minority students in New Brunswick, many of them the children of immigrants and conspicuously frightened these days. Perhaps it’s because I’ve witnessed far more antisemitism in recent years in America. But I was sobbing and shaking during one exchange during the engagement party sequence. It was when the Nazi character first reveals his swastika armband at the engagement party given for Herr Schultz and the non-Jewish Fräulein Schneider. When the Nazi vehemently warns Fräulein Schneider to break the engagement, she mentions that Herr Shultz is a proud native German. Vehemently, the Nazi snaps back, “He is NOT a German!” That line couldn’t be more resonant or terrifying these days. That is the brilliance and portent of CABARET. - Michael Colby |
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| Link | https://www.michaelcolby.com |
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