It was a night for such things; I stumbled across the 4th Street drama and it led to a conversation with C about the men who live to tell someone they're wrong on the internet.
Re: Cabaret, I think it relies on having an audience who is aware of the history and able to recognize what is coming. Perhaps to a fault. I wonder if it's responsible in 2017 to perform Cabaret without a history reference in the program and the lobby (a preshow talk maybe), even though that spoils the build through the course of the play. I like to think that laughter was discomfort, the kind that comes during a horror film. I share your concern that a different segment feels free to laugh with the MC, that they don't have to be ashamed. Then there are the ones who have no idea that moment is supposed to be a gut punch, who are fully oblivious. And that scares me, because it's on that attitude that you build a fascist state.
The day Cabaret stops making us uncomfortable is a black day indeed.
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Re: Cabaret, I think it relies on having an audience who is aware of the history and able to recognize what is coming. Perhaps to a fault. I wonder if it's responsible in 2017 to perform Cabaret without a history reference in the program and the lobby (a preshow talk maybe), even though that spoils the build through the course of the play.
I like to think that laughter was discomfort, the kind that comes during a horror film. I share your concern that a different segment feels free to laugh with the MC, that they don't have to be ashamed. Then there are the ones who have no idea that moment is supposed to be a gut punch, who are fully oblivious. And that scares me, because it's on that attitude that you build a fascist state.
The day Cabaret stops making us uncomfortable is a black day indeed.