spielpalast = play palace

There's nothing so timely as a Cabaret. Spielpalast, now a Burlington arts staple, never fails to wow the crowds and make you reflect upon how you fit into this wild and crazy world. Some people think Cabaret is just a bunch of singing and dancing and naked ladies. Not so. There is a real history to this entertainment form that stems from the pre-war days of Nazi Germany. From the eloquent words of the Spielpalast Web site:

At the end of the wild whirlwind between WWI and WWII, The Depression (known for its loose morals, prohibition, unemployment), The Roaring Twenties (re: hair bobs, jazz, bathtub gin) and the Weimar Rebublic (don't forget dadism, montage and rebellion), European and American ex-patriates flocked to the literary cabarets and burlesque entertainments. These feateured a wide range of scandalous and subversive performance, including political satire, nude dancing, gender bending and elaborate avant-garde nonsense spectacles. In the increasingly oppressive atmosphere of facisct nationalism, brutality, censorship, and restricted civil liberties, these cabarets and burlesque shows served the purpose of transgressive dis-ordering radical internationalism and a much needed release from the rigidity of "family values."

Performed in local clubs and cafes the cabaret celebrated the unstompable resilience of the individualistic and alternative human spirit in a time of mass propaganda, blind patriotism and military frenzy.

This year, as in the previous few years, the political undertones seem especially poignant. But for me, its the singing, dancing, and theatrics that rouse my emotions. I love this Stuck In Vermont VLOG by Eva Sollberger (also a Cabaret dancer). It encapsulates everything I love about the show and the people in it.



Oh, and there's still time to catch the show this weekend--go, go, go!