Bebe Neuwirth: "Cabaret"

In "Cabaret," Fraulein Schneider tells three stories--and their central theme is the "virtue" of passivity.

When I was a child,

My summers were spent by the sea.

So what?

And I had a maid doing all of the housework--

Not me.

So what?

Now I scrub all the floors--

And I wash down the walls--

And I empty the chamber pot.

If it ended that way--

Then it ended that way.

And I shrug and I say:

So what?

Life has fucked with Schneider. Expectations were set in childhood--and hopes were then dashed. The sea gives way to other liquids--the suds in the bucket, the piss in the chamber pot.

When I had a man, my figure was dumpy and fat.

So what?

Through all of our years,

He was so disappointed in that.

So what?

Now I have what he missed

And my figure is trim--

But he lies in a churchyard plot.

If it wasn't to be

That he ever would see

The uncorseted me--

So what?

Here, again, a dream is (fatally) deferred. Like the sea, the "vision of thinness" is just out of reach.

Since life is so bitter, says Schneider, I'm quite happy to find myself cheated by a tenant:

Well, I've lived through all that--

Fifty marks doesn't mean a lot.

If I like that you're here--

And I like that you're here--

Happy New Year, my dear!

So what?

How can the Nazis take over Germany? Because of an attitude like this. We see Schneider opting for a "fellow traveler" lifestyle--late in the Second Act.

It's so smart to unnerve the audience--in a discussion about "fifty marks"--so very, very early in the evening.

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