Cabaret Characters

The Emcee & The Kit Kat Girls

‘The Emcee/MC’ stands for Master of Ceremonies. The Emcee is the host of the Kit Kat Klub in Cabaret. He’s an expressive, cheeky androgynous entertainer. He invites the audience to explore sexuality through his fun and comedic performances. In Cabaret, The Emcee has white painted face, with bright rosy cheeks, red lips and false lashes. It’s a comical, theatrical makeup.

The Kit Kat Girls are a group of perfomers at the Kit Kat Klub. They aren’t particularly pretty but they provide a chorus of singers and dancers for Cabaret performances.

Sally Bowles

Sally Bowles is an aspiring Hollywood actress who performs at the Kit Kat Klub. She lives in the moment, she’s free spirited and careless yet struggles with coming to terms with her lifestyle. Her hair is styled into a jet-black, five point bob. Her eyes are made to appear larger with white-rimmed water lines. Her signature green nail varnish is ‘divine decadence darling’. In the film, we see her experience the trails and tribulations of life in 1930s Berlin and see how to builds up a ‘front’ to disguise pain and exaggerates and surprises to ensue mystery.  

Clifford Bradshaw

As the main character of Cabaret, the story follows the journey of an American novelist to Berlin to teach English and work on his writing. During the film we see Bradshaw explore his sexuality as well as shed light on the rise of the Nazi party. As the focal point of Cabaret, we see and experience other characters through Bradshaw’s eyes.

Fraulein Schneider & Herr Schultz

Fraulein Schneider is the landlady of the flat where Clifford Bradshaw and Sally Bowles come to reside. Amidst the rise of the Nazi party, Schneider believes the future is decided and nobody has the power t change it. She is the representation of survival and coping in 1930s Berlin.

Herr Schultz also rents a room in Fraulein Schneider’s flat. Schultz is a Jew, he owns of a fruit shop. He is in a low-key relationship with Schneider and refuses to believe that the Nazi’s will cause any harm or disruption to the lives of Jews living in Germany.

Ernst Ludwig & Fraulein Kost

Ernst Ludwig is a German man who we find out is smuggling funds for the Nazi Party. Ludwig and Cliff Bradshaw meet early on and Ludwig recommends Schneider’s flat for a room to rent. Cliff gives him English lessons and he is presented as a friendly character.

Fraulein Kost is a German prostitute also renting a room in Schneider’s flat. She is sexually assertive and demanding. Another of Fraulein Schneider’s roomers, Kost and Schneider have a long-standing feud. Kost is later revealed to be a member of the new Nazi party.

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Cabaret - DC Theatre Scene. 2014. Cabaret - DC Theatre Scene. [ONLINE] Available at: http://dctheatrescene.com/2013/01/31/cabaret-2/. [Accessed 10 October 2014].

Michael York - Topic - YouTube. 2014. Michael York - Topic - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7YScRmlgZ1xgUG-UWLNkfQ. [Accessed 10 October 2014].

April | 2013 | IN A LONELY PLACE. 2014. April | 2013 | IN A LONELY PLACE. [ONLINE] Available at:https://inalonelyplaceencounterswithfilm.wordpress.com/2013/04/. [Accessed 10 October 2014].
Sally Bowles | Cabaret Berlin. 2014. Sally Bowles | Cabaret Berlin. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cabaret-berlin.com/?p=100. [Accessed 10 October 2014].