Berlin hosts Sally Bowles’s nightclub performances in the Broadway musical Cabaret.
The musical is set in Berlin during the early 1930s, as the Weimar Republic gives way to the rise of the Nazi Party. Sally performs at the fictional Kit Kat Klub, where the Master of Ceremonies introduces songs that mirror and comment on the surrounding political and social changes.
Cabaret is based partly on Christopher Isherwood’s literary works, especially Goodbye to Berlin, and on John Van Druten’s play I Am a Camera. The original Broadway production opened in 1966, with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff.
The setting is central to the show’s meaning. The nightclub initially appears glamorous and escapist, but the atmosphere darkens as antisemitism and authoritarianism grow. Some people confuse the musical’s location with Vienna because the story includes European cabaret traditions, but Sally’s performances take place in Berlin.