"MJ: The Musical"

Performances: 1,165.
Open / Close: November 20, 1966 – September 6, 1969
Theater: Opened at the Broadhurst Theatre, transferred to the Imperial Theatre and moved one more time to the Broadway Theatre before closing.
Tony Awards: Nominated for 11 and won 8 – the same nom/win tally as “Once.” Won Best Musical, Best Director, Best Score, Best Scenic Design and Best Costumes. Jack Gilford and Lotte Lenya – arguably the “B Plot” pair – were nominated for Best Actor / Actress but did not win. Joel Grey won, of course, and Peg Murray, both for Best Featured, Murray for playing Frau Kost, the sex worker who acts out against Frau Schneider by exposing her engagement to Herr Schultz, a Jew.
Fun Fact #1: The character Sally Bowles is named after the author Paul Bowles who Christopher Isherwood (who wrote the novel “Cabaret” is based on) used to hang out with.
Fun Fact #2: Anne Reinking made her Broadway debut as one of the Kit Kat Klub dancers.

Podcast

Nope – I am definitely NOT making any kind of political statement by doing an episode on “Cabaret” at this specific moment. Nope, not at all. My delightful conversation with actor and director Doug Schneider steers clear of any chatter about what’s happening in politics in America right now. But, that said, this is certainly a good show to revisit if you want a dramatic window into the insidious effects of the rise of right-wing political power.

Doug played Herr Schultz in two different productions and yet never got to sing his favorite song from the show, Meeskite. We talk about that and the fact that the so-called B Plot of the love story between Schultz and Frau Schneider, excised from the movie, is really the heart of the story.

Doug also offers a story about where the song “Maybe This Time” came from (added to the movie, not in the original show). Since recording the episode, I’ve found out that the song was originally written for a musical called “Golden Gate” that was never produced.

I will talk about “Cabaret” again in the future because the 1998 revival ran even longer than the original. So this is just the beginning of the conversation about this fascinating show.

Here is the opening to the show, possibly from the original production. I’m thinking it might actually be from the first revival in 1988 but regardless, it’s a young and spry Joel Grey giving it his best!

Here’s Jill Haworth at the Tonys and, not to be rude, she seems to project a version of Sally who isn’t the best singer…

A recording of Jill Haworth singing over a number of stills from the original production. Maybe gives a broader sense of her embodiment of Sally Bowles.

This podcast is…fine (far be it from me to throw shade on a more successful podcast) but it has a lot of interesting (if uncredited and not contextualized) video footage.