Customer Reviews

The Cabaret

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Actually it's quite true. I am now a cabaret artist* after having been inspired by what I read about the history, philosophy and chutzpah of cabaret artists from this book. I particularly enjoyed the information about Parisian and German cabaret.

Cabaret is quite an ephemeral form of performance and therefore not as well documented as other art forms, so it's fabulous to have a text that takes you on a very intense journey through cabaret's eventful history. Lisa's bibliography is extensive... There are not many early cabaret books written in English, so Lisa has done a lot of the homework for us.

This book is not about your white washed "Moulin Rouge" variety. It's the gritty, political, not always nice, irreverent cabaret I have come to love and respect.

Lisa includes great pictures (some colour), exerpts of songs, poems etc (in the original language and then translated into rhyming English!)

I loved this book so much I actually photocopied it when it was not in print and hard to find. (Many many years ago) But don't worry, I now have the hot little book next to my bed.

It's a great summary and a great reference work.

Since you can't see the contents on Amazon, here's a summary:

1 Ladies and Gentlemen...

2 Paris 1881: Cabaret is Born
[includes Le Chat Noir]

3 Cabaret on the Move: 1897 - 1914
[Berlin, Munich, Budapest and the rest...]

4 Cabaret as a Meeting Place for Artists

5 Cabaret as a Vehicle of the Artistic Vanguard
[Futurist Performance, Dada]

6 The Roaring Twenties
[Berlin]

7 Relatives and Progeny of Cabaret

8 Into the Third Reich

9 Cabaret in Exile

10 Life and After-Life

*Disclaimer. (Although it changed my life. It may not change yours. I was already a theatre writer and performer. This book just steered me quite firmly in the cabaret direction).