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GOODBYE TO BERLIN:

A Cabaret based on the book by Christopher Isherwood and adapted from


texts by Christopher Isherwood, Jay Presson Allen, John Kander, Fred Ebb, John
Van Druten and Joe Masteroff by Rob Jones

The Kit Kat Klub, Berlin, 1931

The Gilmorehill G12 Studio, Glasgow, 2009

1. Preset

The club is seedy and badly lit. There is a small band in the corner, tuning
up, playing snippets of music, joking and jamming amongst themselves. We
are welcomed by the Cabaret troupe and their EMCEE, shown to a table,
fetched a drink. The atmosphere is informal and exciting. When the place is
full, our servers retire to the stage. There is a drumroll.

2. Wilkommen

EMCEE:
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!
Fremde, etranger, stranger.
Gluklich zu sehen, je suis enchante,
Happy to see you, bleibe, reste, stay.

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome


Im Cabaret, au Cabaret, to Cabaret

[Spoken – sample text for improvisation]


Meine Damen und Herren, Mesdames et Messieurs,
Ladies and Gentlemen! Guden Abend, bon soir,
We geht's? Comment ca va? Do you feel good?
I bet you do!
Ich bin euer Confrecier; je suis votre compere...
I am you host!

Und sagen

ALL:
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome
Im Cabaret, au Cabaret, to Cabaret

EMCEE:
[Spoken – sample text for improvisation]
Leave your troubles outside!
Though life is disappointing, forget it!
We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful...
The girls are beautiful...
Even the orchestra is beautiful!

[Instrumental]
[Spoken – sample text for improvisation – these references and in-jokes should
all be changed to match the group performing this particular show]
And now presenting the Cabaret Girls!
Rosie! (Rosie is so called because of the color of her
cheeks.) Lulu! (Oh, you like Lulu? Well, too bad!
So does Rosie.) Frenchie! (You know I like to order Frenchie
on the side. On your side Frenchie! Just kidding!)
Texas! (Yes, Texas is from America!But she's a very
cunning linguist!) Fritzie!
(Oh, Fritzie, please, will you stop that!
Already this week we have lost two waiters,
a table and three bottles of champagne up there.)
and Helga! (Helga is the baby. I'm just like a father
to her. So when she's bad, I spank her. And she's
very, very, very, very, very bad.)

Rosie, Lulu, Frenchie, Texas, Fritzie... Und Helga.


Each and every one a virgin! You don't believe me?
Well, don't take my word for it. Go ahead- try Helga!

Outside it is winter. But in here it's so hot.


Every night we have to battle with the girls to keep
them from taking off all their clothings. So don't go
away. Who knows? Tonight we may lose the battle!

We are here to serve you!


And now presenting the Kit Kat Boys:
Here they are!
Bobby! Victor!
Or is it
Victor! and Bobby...
You know, there's really only one way to tell the
difference...
I'll show you later.
Hans (Oh Hans, go easy on the sauerkraut!)
Herrman (You know what's funny about Herrman?
There's nothing funny about Herrman!)

And, finally, the toast of Mayfair, Fraulein Sally Bowles!

ALL:
[Whispered, slowly louder]
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!
Fremde, etranger, stranger.
Gluklich zu sehen, je suis enchante,
Happy to see you,
Bliebe, reste, stay!
Wir sagen
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome,
Fremde, etranger, stranger.
Gluklich zu sehen, je suis enchante,
Happy to see you,
Bliebe, reste, stay!
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome
Im Cabaret, au Cabaret, to Cabaret!

3. I am a Camera

CHRISTOPHER: A Berlin Diary. Autumn 1930.


From my window, the deep solemn massive street. Cellar-shops where
the lamps burn all day, under the shadow of top-heavy balconied façades, dirty
plaster frontages embossed with scroll-work and heraldic devices. The whole
district is like this: street leading into street of houses like shabby monumental
safes crammed with the tarnished valuables of a bankrupt middle class.
I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not
thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the woman in
the kimono washing her hair. Some day, all of this will have to be developed,
carefully printed, fixed.
At eight o'clock in the evening the house-doors will be locked. The
children are having supper. The shops are shut. The electric sign is switched on
over the night-bell of the little hotel on the corner, where you can hire a room
by the hour. And soon the whistling will begin. Young men are calling their girls.
Standing down there in the cold, they whistle up at the lighted windows of
warm rooms where the beds are already turned down for the night. They want
to be let in. Their signals echo down the deep hollow street, lascivious and
private and sad. Because of the whistling, I do not care to stay here in the
evenings. It reminds me that I am in a foreign city, alone, far from home.
Sometimes I determine not to listen to it, pick up a book, try to read. But soon
a call is sure to sound, so piercing, so insistent, so despairingly human, that at
last I have to get up and peep through the slats of the Venetian blind to make
quite sure that it is not – as I know very well it could not possibly be – for me.

4. Frauline Schroeder

CHRISTOPHER: There are two lodgers, other than me, in this flat. Next
Door to me, in the big front room, is Frl. Kost. In the room opposite, overlooking
the corridor, is Frl. Mayr. And behind Mayr's room, over the bathroom, at the
top of a ladder, is a tiny attic which Frl. Schroeder, the ladndlady, refers to, for
some occult reason, as

FRL. SCHROEDER: The Swedish Pavilion!

CHRISTOPHER: It is not currently let.


Frl. Kost is a blonde, florid girl with large silly blue eyes. When we meet,
coming to and fro from the bathroom in our dressing gowns, she modestly
avoids my glance.
One day I asked Frl. Schroeder straight out:
What is Frl. Kost's profession?

FRL: SCHROEDER: Profession? Ha, ha, that's good! That's just the word
for it! Oh yes, she's got a fine profession. Like this - (with the air of doing
something extremely comic, she imitates a prostitute.) Ja, ja, Herr Issyvoo!
That's how they do it!
CHRISTOPHER: I don't quite understand, Frl. Schroeder. Do you mean
that she's a tightrope walker?

FRL: SCHROEDER: He, he, hee! very good indeed, Herr Issyvoo! Yes,
that's right! That's it! She walks along the line for her living. That just describes
her!

CHRISTOPHER: One evening, soon after this, I met Frl. Kost on the stairs
with a Japanese. Frl. Schroeder explained to me later that he is one of her best
customers. She asked her how they spend the time together when not actually
in bed, for the Japanese can speak hardly any German.

FRL. KOST: Oh, well, we play the gramophone together, you know, and
we eat chocolates, and we laugh quite alot. He's really very fond of laughing.

CHRISTOPHER: Frl. Mayr is a music-hall jodlerin - a yodeller.

FRL. SCHROEDER: One of the best in all of Germany!

CHRISTOPHER: Though I have not been to see her sing.


She and Frl. Schroeder are both adept fortune-tellers and neither would
dream of starting a day without consulting the omens. The chief thing they
both want to know at present is: when will Frl. Mayr get another engagement.
This question interests Frl. Schroeder quite as much as Frl. Mayr because Frl.
Mayr is behind-hand with the rent.
When not engaged in laying cards, Frl. Mayr lectures Frl. Schroeder on her
theatrical past.

FRL. MAYR: And the manager said to me, fritzi, heaven must have sent
you here! My leading lady's fallen ill. You're to leave for copenhagen tonight.
And,what's more, he wouldn't take no for an answer. 'Fritzi', he said (he always
called me that) 'Fritzi, you aren't going to let and old freind down?' And so I
went.
A Charming man. And so well-bred.
Familiar... but he always knew how to behave himself.

FRL. SCHROEDER: I suppose some of those managers must be cheeky


devils?

FRL. MAYR: Yes, some of them... you wouldn't believe! But I could
always take care of myself. Even when I was quite a slip of a girl. I'm a
Bavarian, and a Bavarian never forgets an injury.

Suddenly, they drop to the floor, giggling. Backstage, there is the sound
of a commotion.

CHRISTOPHER: Coming into the living room yesterday evening -

FRL. MAYR: SHHH!

FRL. SHROEDER: Hark! He's smashing all the furniture!


FRL. MAYR: He's beating her black and blue! Bang! Just listen to that!

CHRISTOPHER: But whatever's the matter?

FRL. SCHROEDER: [getting up and waltzing CHRISTOPHER around


excitedly] Herr Issyvoo, Herr Issyvoo, Herr Issyvoo!

FRL. MAYR: Shh! Shh, they've started again.

CHRISTOPHER: Who?

FRL. KOST: Frau Glanterneck.

CHRISTOPHER: [over the chaos] Frau Glanterneck lives in the flat


directly below ours. She is a galician Jewess, in itself a reason why Frl. Mayr
should be her enemy: for Frl. Mayr, needless to say, is an ardent Nazi. And,
quite apart from this, It seems that Frau Ganterneck and Frl. Mayr once had
words on the stairs about Frl. Mayr's yodelling. Frau Ganterneck, perhaps
because she is a non-aryan,said that she preferred the noises made by cats.
[FRL. MAYR shrieks with laughter]
Frau Ganterneck, who is sixty years old and ugly as a witch, had been
advertising in the paper for a husband. What was more, an applicant had
appeared: A widowed butcher from Halle. He had seen Frau Ganterneck and
was nevertheless prepared to marry her. Here was Frl. Mayr's chance. She sent
the butcher an anonymous letter:

FRL. MAYR: Are you aware that she has (a) bugs in her flat (b) been
arrested for fraud and released on the ground that she was insane, (c) leased
out her own bedroom for immoral purposes, and (d) slept in the beds
afterwards without changing the sheets.

CHRISTOPHER: And now the butcher had arrived to confront Frau


Ganterneck over the letter.

A another bang, a scream and a giggle.

The row lasted over an hour.

FRL. SHROEDER: (Stealing the limelight.) Lina, my friends used to say


to me, however can you? How can you bear to have strange people living in
your rooms and spoiling your furniture, especially when you've got the money
to be independant. And I'd always give them the same answer: My lodgers
aren't lodgers. I used to say. They're my guests.
You see, Herr Issyvoo, in those days I could afford to be very particular
about the sort of people who came to live here. I could pick and choose. I only
took them really well educated and well connected - proper gentlefolk (like
yourself, Herr Issyvoo). I had a Freiherr once, and a Rittmeister and a Professor.
Yes, Herr Issyvoo, I've got something to remember all of them by... look
here, on the rug - that's where Herr Noeske was sick after his birthday party.
What in the world can he have been eating to make a mess like that. He'd
come to Berlin to study, you know. His parents lived in Brandenburg - a first
class family; oh, I assure you! They had pots of money! Hiss herr papa was a
surgeon.
And that's where Herr Rittmeister always upset his coffee over the
wallpaper. He used to sit there on the couch with his fiancée. Herr Rittmiester, I
used to say to him, do please drink your coffee at the table. If you'll excuse my
saying so, there's plenty of time for the other thing afterwards... But no, he
would sit on the couch. And then,sure enough, when he began to get a bit
excited in his feelings... over went the coffee cups! ...such a handsome
gentleman.
You see those Ink-Stains on the carpet? That's where Herr Professor Koch
used to shake his fountain-pen. I told him off a hundred times. In the end, I
even laid sheets of blotting paper on the floor around his chair. He was so
absent minded... such a dear old gentleman! And so simple. I was very fond of
him.

CHRISTOPHER: [Over the top] Frl. Schroeder can go on like this, without
repeating herself, by the hour. When I have been listening to her for some time,
I find myself relapsing into a curious trance like state of depression. I begin to
feel profoundly unhappy. Where are all these lodgers now? Where, in another
ten years, shall I be, myself? Certainly not here. How many seas and frontiers
shall I have to cross to reach that distant day; how far shall I have to travel, on
foot, on horseback, by car, push-bike, aeroplane, steamer, train, lift, moving-
staircase, and tram? How much money shall I need for that enormous journey?
How much food must I gradually, wearily consume on my way? How many pairs
of shoes shall I wear out? How many thousands of cigarettes shall I smoke?
How many cups of tea shall I drink and how many glasses of beer? What an
awful, tasteless concept! And yet - to have to die... a sudden, vague pang of
apprehension grips my bowels and I have to excuse myself in order to go the
lavatory.

5. Fritz Wendel

CHRISTOPHER: One afternoon, I was invited to black coffee at Fritz


Wendel's flat. Fritz always invited you to 'black coffee', with emphasis on the
black. He was very proud of his coffee. People used to say that it was the
strongest in Berlin.

FRITZ: Chris!

CHRISTOPHER: Hullo, Fritz. How are you?

FRITZ: Fine.

CHRISTOPHER: How's business?

FRITZ: Business is terrible. Inflation. The Communists. The Nazis. Soon I


will be with a tin cup! Or, I make a rich marriage. That at least is sensible. Or I
make business soon, or, I go as a gigolo.

CHRISTOPHER: Either... or. Sorry. Force of habit.

FRITZ: Either or, I go as a gigolo. I'm speaking a lousy English just now.
Sally says maybe she'll give me a few lessons.

CHRISTOPHER: Who's Sally?

FRITZ: Oh, I forgot you don't know Sally. Too bad of me. She's an English
girl, an actress: Sings at the Kit Kat Klub.

CHRISTOPHER: That doesn't sound much like an English girl, I must say.

FRITZ: Eventually, she's got some French in her. Her mother was French.
Hot stuff, believe me.

CHRISTOPHER: Oh, Is she any good?

FRITZ: Mar-vellous. Eventually I believe I'm getting crazy about her. You
will come with me perhaps? To see her tonight?

CHRISTOPHER: Yes. Yes I suppose so.

6. Mien Herr

EMCEE:
Mein Damen und Herren, Mesdames et Messieurs,
Ladies and Gentlemen!
And now, the Kit Kat Klub is proud to present a very beautiful young lady. She is
so beautiful, so talented so... charming, that I have only yesterday said: I want
you for my wife. And she said: 'Your wife? What would she want with me?!'

SALLY:
You have to understand the way I am, Mein Herr.
A tiger is a tiger, not a lamb, Mein Herr.
You'll never turn the vinegar to jam, Mein Herr.
So I do...
What I do...
When I'm through...
Then I'm through...
And I'm through...
Toodle-oo!

Bye-Bye, Mein Lieber Herr.


Farewell, mein Lieber Herr.
It was a fine affair,
But now it's over.
And though I used to care,
I need the open air.
You're better off without me,
Mein Herr.

Don't dab your eye, mein Herr,


Or wonder why, Mein Herr.
I've always told you I was a rover.
You mustn't knit your brow,
You should have known by now
You'd every cause to doubt me,
Mein, Herr.

The continent of Europe is so wide, Mein Herr.


Not only up and down, but side to side, Mein Herr.
I couldn't ever cross it if I tried, Mein Herr.
So I do..
What I can...
Inch by inch...
Step by step...
Mile by mile...
Man by man.

Bye-Bye, Mein Lieber Herr.


Farewell, mein Lieber Herr.
It was a fine affair,
But now it's over.
And though I used to care,
I need the open air.
You're better off without me,
Mein Herr.

ALL:
Don't dab your eye, mein Herr,
Or wonder why, Mein Herr.
I've always told you I was a rover.
You mustn't knit your brow,
You should have known by now
You'd every cause to doubt me,
Mein, Herr.

Bye-bye, mein Lieber Herr,


Auf wiedersehen, mein Herr.
Es war sehr gut, mein Herr
Und vorbei.
Du kennst mich wohl, mein Herr,
Ach, lebe wohl, mein Herr.
Du sollst mich nicht mehr sehen,
Mein Herr.

CHORUS:
Bye-bye, mein Lieber Herr,
Auf wiedersehen, mein Herr.
Es war sehr gut, mein Herr
Und vorbei.
Du kennst mich wohl, mein Herr,
Ach, lebe wohl, mein Herr.
Du sollst mich nicht mehr sehen,

SALLY:
And bye-bye
ALL:
Bye-Bye, Mein Lieber Herr;
Farewell, mein Lieber Herr.
It was a fine affair,
But now it's over.
And though I-
Used to care,
I need the-
Open air.

SALLY:
You're better off
Without me,
You'll get on
Without me
Mein Herr

CHORUS:
Auf wiedersehen...
Es war sehr gut...
Du kennst nicht Wohl...
Ach, lebe wohl!

Bye bye, mein herr,


Auf wiedersehen,
Bye bye mein Herr!

7. Sally Bowles

SALLY: Fritz, darling, I'm so glad you came.

FRITZ: You were really very good.

SALLY: I know, isn't it fabulous?

FRITZ: Sally, I would like for you to meet my friend; may I introduce Mr
Isherwood - Miss Bowles? Mr Isherwood is commonly known as Chris.

CHRISTOPHER: I'm not. Fritz is about the only person who's ever called
me Chris in my life!

SALLY: Marvellous. Have you a cigarette, darling? I am desperate!

CHRISTOPHER: So, you're English?

SALLY: Oh God, how depressing. You're meant to think I'm an


international woman of mystery. I've been working on it like mad! (Laughs)

CHRISTOPHER: Oh no, don't worry. Your cover's not blown. Fritz told
me.
SALLY: Fritz, you rascal! Have you been telling tales on me?

FRITZ: I will go to fetch another bottle, I think.

SALLY: So, I suppose you're wondering what an good little English girl is
doing working in a place like the Kit Kat Klub?

CHRISTOPHER: It is a rather unusual place

SALLY: That's me darling: unusual places, unusual love affairs. I am a


most strange and extraordinary person. Now, tell me all about you. I want to
hear everything.

CHRISTOPHER: Everything?

SALLY: Absolutely everything.

CHRISTOPHER: Well, there's nothing very dramatic to tell. Once I came


down from Cambridge, I -

SALLY: I'm going to be a great filmstar! That is, if booze and sex don't
get me first.

Pause

Do I shock you darling?

CHRISTOPHER: Not in the least.

SALLY: But you don't like it.

CHRISTOPHER: It's no business of mine.

SALLY: Oh, for god's sake. Don't start being English! Of course it's your
business what you think.

CHRISTOPHER laughs

CHRISTOPHER: I suppose you take after your mother then?

SALLY: I'm sorry, darling?

CHRISTOPHER: I thought Fritz told me your mother was French?

SALLY: Oh no, of course not, what rot! Fritz is an idiot. He's always
inventing things.

CHRISTOPHER: I noticed that her fingernails were painted emerald


green, a colour unfortunately chosen, for it called attention to her hands, which
were much stained by cigarette smoking and as dirty as a little girl's.

8. A Party for Speaking English


FRITZ: Herr Isherwood?

FRL. SHROEDER: Nien, nien Herr Wendel. Sie konnen nicht hinein
gehen. Herr Issyvoo erwartet heute eine Dame.

FRITZ: Aber ich muss mit ihm sprechen. Christopher! Christopher!

CHRISTOPHER: Fritz.

FRITZ: Frl. Schroeder says I cannot come in. She says you expect a lady.

CHRISTOPHER: Yes, I do, but that's alright. Come in Fritz. Do you want
some coffee? One of my pupils is coming.

FRITZ: But yes, I would like some coffee. Black coffee.

CHRISTOPHER: Will you get us some coffee, Frl. Shroeder?

She is off in a huff

FRITZ: You remember Sally, from the club?

CHRISTOPHER: Yes. Who could forget?

FRITZ: Eventually she is coming round here this afternoon. I want that
you should know each other.

CHRISTOPHER: Oh. I wonder what Natalia will think of her. Natalia


Landauer is the pupil I am expecting.

FRITZ: Landauer? Of the big department store?

CHRISTOPHER: Mm-hmm.

FRITZ: But... Landauers are enormous rich Jews.

CHRISTOPHER: Stinking rich, It seems.

FRITZ: Good. I think I shall make a pass after her, if you don't mind?

CHRISTOPHER: (Laughs) What if she's fat and hideous?

FRITZ: (Shrug) Perhaps her father will take a liking for me, and give me a
job. If I marry her, a partnership perhaps. I'm not prejudiced.

FRL. SHROEDER: Frl. Sally Bowles.

SALLY: Darlings!

FRITZ: Hullo, Sally.


CHRISTOPHER: Good to see you again. Could you make coffee for four,
Frl. Shroeder?

SALLY: Oh, not for me. I'm allergic to coffee. I break out in the most
sinister spots if I drink it before dinner.

CHRISTOPHER: Just for three, then, Frl. Shroeder.

She leaves

SALLY: Am I terribly late, Fritz darling?

FRITZ: No, you are beautifully on time.

SALLY: I thought I wasn't going to be able to come at all. I had a most


frantic row with my landlady. Finally, I just said pig, and swept out. You should
have heard the things she called me. I mean - well, I suppose in a way I may be
a bit of a tart... I mean, in a nice way - but one doesn't like to be called that.
Just because I brought a man home with me last night.
I shall have to find a new room. I don't suppose you know of any, do you?

CHRISTOPHER: Well, yes, as it happens. There's a room here empty.

SALLY: Oh? How perfectly marvellous. How much?

CHRISTOPHER: Er, I'm not entirely certain. I know Frl. Schroeder is very
anxious to let it.

SALLY: What is she like? I mean, is she going to make trouble if I bring
men home occasionally? I mean, it would only be very occasionally, because I
do think one ought to go to the man's room, if one can. I mean, it doesn't look
so much as if one was expecting it, does it?

FRITZ: How fat?

CHRISTOPHER: I'm sorry?

FRITZ: How fat?

FRL. SHROEDER: Frl Landauer!

CHRISTOPHER: Oh, come in. Good afternoon, Frl. Landauer.

NATALIA: Good afternoon.

CHRISTOPHER: How nice to see you again

NATALIA: It is nice to see you again. Ah, it is good. You have others! So,
we shall make party for speaking English, yes?

CHRISTOPHER: Oh, well actually, my friends were just leaving...


FRITZ: No,no, no, I am delighted to stay Christopher.

NATALIA: Good, this is splendid for the practising. You will introduce me
please?

CHRISTOPHER: Oh yes, of course. Miss Bowles, Frl. Landauer, and Mr


Wendel, Frl. Landauer.

FRITZ: Sehr erfreut, gnadiges Fraulein.

NATALIA: No, no. English conversation, please.

FRITZ: I am so charmed, dearest miss.

They sit.

FRITZ: Last summer, when I... I... (He gives up)

Long pause

NATALIA: You are all healthy I hope?

CHRISTOPHER: Yes

FRITZ: Oh, yes

NATALIA: I have had a cold, but it is better now.

FRITZ: How sad! A cold from the nose is most aggravating.

NATALIA: This was a cold of the bosom. Not of the nose. All of the
Phlegm was here.

SALLY: All the what?

NATALIA: The phlegm. That comes in the tubes.

SALLY: Do you mind not going on about it? I think I am going to be sick.

CHRISTOPHER: Er, Phlegm. PH is always pronounced F. And you don't


sound the G.

NATALIA: Then why are they putting the G please?

CHRISTOPHER: Well... that's a very good question, but... rather difficult


to explain.

SALLY: Well do try, Christopher darling.

CHRISTOPHER: Well... it's just there

NATALIA: So, Mr Professor, you do not know?


CHRISTOPHER: ...No

NATALIA: Then I am sorry: I cannot help you.

They laugh politely. Fritz gets carried away.

FRITZ: It's most amusing. Very Amusing.

Pause

Please, you must take a cake, dearest miss.

NATALIA: I am not eating between meals.

FRITZ: You are not eating between meals?

SALLY: I am eating between meals.


Thank you. So much.

CHRISTOPHER: You're welcome.

SALLY: Oh, Fritz leibling, did I tell you? I saw a film about syphilis the
other week that was too awful. I couldn't let a man touch me for almost a week.
Is it true you can get it from kissing?

FRITZ: Oh yes. And your king, Henry the Eighth, caught it from letting
cardinal Woolsey whisper in his ear.

NATALIA: That is not, I think, founded in fact. But from Kissing, most
decidedly. And from towels. And from cups.

SALLY: And of course, screwing.

NATALIA: Screwing, please?

SALLY: Oh, uh - fornication

NATALIA: Fornication?

SALLY: Oh, Christopher, darling, what is the German word?

CHRISTOPHER: I don't remember.

SALLY: Oh yes...

CHRISTOPHER: Oh no.

SALLY: Bomsun!

CHRISTOPHER: That would be the one German word you pronounce


perfectly.
SALLY: Well, I ought to. I spent the entire night bomsuning like mad with
some ghastly old producer who promised to give me a contract.
Oh, Frl. Schroeder? Could I have a talk with your landlady, Chris darling?

CHRISTOPHER: (Defeated.) Oh, go right ahead

9. So What?

FRL. SCHROEDER:
You say fifty marks. I say one hundred marks, a
difference of fifty marks-
Why should that stand in our way?
As long as the room's to let,
the fifty that I will get
is fifty more that I had yesterday,
Ja?

When you're as old as I..


is anyone as old as I?-
What difference does it make?
An offer comes, you take.

For the sun will rise


And the moon will set
And learn how to settle
For what you get.
It will all go on if we're here or not
So who cares? So what?
So who cares? So what?

When I was a girl,


My summers were spent by the sea.
So what?
And I had a maid
Doing all of the house-work, 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?

For the sun will rise


And the moon will set
And learn how to settle
For what you get.
It will all go on if we're here or not
So who cares? So what?
So who cares? So what?
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?

For the sun will rise


And the moon will set
And learn how to settle
For what you get.
It will all go on if we're here or not
So who cares? So what?
So who cares? So what?

So once I was rich


And now all my fortune is gone,
So what?
And love disappeared
And only the memory lives on,
And so what?

If I've lived through all that


(And 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?

For the sun will rise


And the moon will set
And learn how to settle
For what you get.
It will all go on if we're here or not
So who cares? So what?
So who cares? So what?

It all goes on.


So who cares? Who cares?
Who cares? So what?

10. Sally and Chris


SALLY: Of course, I'd never let love interfere with my work. Work comes
before everything... But I don't believe that a woman can be a great actress
who hasn't had any love-affairs -

Chris is laughing.

SALLY: What are you laughing at, Chris?

CHRISTOPHER: I'm not laughing.

SALLY: You're always laughing at me. Do you think I'm the most ghastly
idiot?

CHRISTOPHER: No, Sally. I don't think you're an idiot at all. It's quite
true. I was laughing. People often make me want to laugh at them. I don't know
why.

SALLY: Then you do like me, Christopher darling?

CHRISTOPHER: Yes, of course I like you, Sally. What did you think?

SALLY: There's something I want to confess to you, Chris darling... I'm


not sure if you'll understand or not.

CHRISTOPHER: Remember, I'm only a man, Sally.

SALLY: (Laughs) It's the most idiotic little thing. But somehow I'd hate if
you found out without my telling you... You know, the other day, Fritz told you
my mother was french?

CHRISTOPHER: Yes, I remember

SALLY: And I said he must have invented it? Well, he hadn't... You see, I
told him that she was.

CHRISTOPHER: But why on earth did you do that?

They both laugh

SALLY: Goodness knows. I suppose I wanted to impress him.

CHRISTOPHER: But what is there impressive in simply having a French


mother?

SALLY: I'm a bit mad like that sometimes, Chris. You must be patient with
me.

CHRISTOPHER: All right, Sally. I'll be patient.

A Silence. Chris returns to his book.

SALLY: You lied about the hot water. I'm freezing! Freezing to death.
Hug me!
...Tighter.
Oh, Chris, don't be so literal...

She kisses him. He doesn't respond.

She gets up, motions to the band to play, and writhes around to the
music.

Doesn't my body drive you wild with desire?


Well, doesn't it?

CHRISTOPHER: It's a very nice body.

SALLY: Oh, do you really think so, darling? I suppose it does have a
certain kind of... style. I mean, look, it's very flat here... Not much hips... And
uh... here.

CHRISTOPHER: It's a little early in the day for this sort of thing isn't it?

He motions to the band to stop the music.

SALLY: Maybe you just don't sleep with girls.


Oh! You don't.
Well listen, we're practically living together, so if you only like boys, I
mean, I wouldn't dream of pestering you.

Pause

Well do you sleep with girls or don't you?

CHRISTOPHER: Sally! You don't ask questions like that.

SALLY: I do.

CHRISTOPHER: (Shrugging) Alright. if you insist. I do not sleep with


girls. No, no, let me be absolutely accurate: I have gone through the motions of
sleeping with girls exactly... three times. All of them disastrous.
The word for my sex life now is... nil.
Alright?

SALLY: Well why didn't you tell me in the first place?


Look, Chris, you're absolutely my best friend. And friends are much
harder to find than lovers. Besides, sex always screws up a friendship anyway...
if you let it ...So we won't let it! Okay? Okay?

CHRISTOPHER: (Good natured) Okay, Sally.

They shake hands, and she kisses him on the cheek and giggles. She
motions to the band to start up again, and flounces out to the music.

11. Klaus
CHRISTOPHER: One day, I had been up and dressed for some time
when Sally returned home. She came straight into my room, looking tired but
pleased with herself.

SALLY: Hullo, darling, what time is it?

CHRISTOPHER: Nearly Lunch time.

SALLY: I say, is it really? How marvellous! I'm practically starving. I've


had nothing for breakfast but a cup of coffee...

Pause

CHRISTOPHER: (with inevitability) Where have you been?

SALLY: But darling, I thought you knew!

CHRISTOPHER: I haven't the least idea.

SALLY: Nonsense!

CHRISTOPHER: Really, I haven't Sally.

SALLY: Oh, Christopher darling, how can you be such a liar! Why, it was
obvious that you'd planned the whole thing! The way you got rid of Fritz last
night - he looked so cross! Klaus and I nearly died of laughing.
Have you got a cigarette Chris?

He looks at her. She remembers.

Pause

You know, I'm most terribly in love with him.

Pause

CHRISTOPHER: And is Klaus in love with you?

SALLY: He absolutely adores me.


Of course, Chris, I don't suppose you really understand... it's awfully hard
to explain...

CHRISTOPHER: I'm sure it is.


After this, Sally and Klaus saw each other every day. Until about the
middle of January, when Klaus left suddenly for England. Quite unexpectedly he
had got an offer of a very good job, synchronising music for the films.
Sally spent her time curled up on the sofa, writing love poems she
wouldn't let me see, until a letter from Klaus duly arrived.

KLAUS: I am so sorry, mien libeling. (SAD SAD SAD VIOLIN) I see now
that I behaved very selfishly. I thought only of my own pleasure. But now I
realise that I must have had a bad influence on you. (It's not you, it's me)
I was invited a few nights ago to a party at the house of Lady Klein, a
leader of the English aristocracy. I met there a beautiful and intelligent young
English girl named Miss Gore-Eckersley. She is related to an English lord whose
name I couldn't quite hear - you will probably know which one I mean. We have
met twice since then and had such wonderful conversations about many
things. I do not think I have ever met a girl who could understand my mind so
well as she does -

SALLY: That's a new one on me. I never suspected the boy of having a
mind at all!

12. Sally and Daddy

CHRISTOPHER: Sally soon perked up when she received a telegram


from her fabled father, informing her that he would be in town for a rare flying
visit. She was to meet him for lunch at his hotel, from where she would take
him on a whistle-stop tour of the more father-friendly parts of Berlin. Fritz and I
decided to go out. I rather upset him by insisting on visiting the Salome, which I
had never seen. Fritz, as a connoisseur of night life, was most contemptuous.

FRITZ: It's not even genuine. The place is run for tourists.

CHRISTOPHER: The Salome turned out to be very expensive and even


more depressing than I had imagined. The audience consisted chiefly of
respectable middle-aged tradesmen and their families, exclaiming in good-
humoured amazement: 'Do they really?' and 'Well I Never!'. We went out half
way through the Cabaret performance. At the entrance, we met a party of
American youths, very drunk, wondering whether to go in. Their leader was a
small, stocky young man with an annoyingly prominent jaw.

AMERICAN: Say, What's on here?

FRITZ: Men dressed as women.

AMERICAN: Men dressed as women? As women, hey? Do you mean


they're queer?

FRITZ: Eventually, we're all queer.

Pause

AMERICAN: You queer, too, hey?

CHRISTOPHER: Yes. Very queer Indeed.

The Americans think about this for a moment, and then charge inside
with some kind of wild college battle-cry.

It was late when I got back home. Sally was sitting up in the dark.

How'd it go?
No reply

Bad?

No reply

Sally, what is it?

She looks at him, gets up.

SALLY: I waited at the hotel til ten. When I got back, there was this: Dear
Sally. Sorry. Schedule Revised At Last Minute. Writing. Love.

CHRISTOPHER: Well, These things do happen. I'm sure he had a good


reason

SALLY: Ten words. Exactly. After ten it's extra. You see, daddy thinks of
these things.

If I had leprosy, there'd be a cable: Darling. Oh Dear. Sincerely Hope Nose


Doesn't Fall Off. Love.

Pause

That Bastard. I'll show him! I'll become a big filmstar!

Poor man. He tries to love me. Perhaps even thinks he does. but the real
truth... is that he just doesn't... care.

Maybe he's right. Maybe I'm not worth caring about. Maybe I am just...
just... nothing.

She cries. Chris goes to her.

CHRISTOPHER: You're a perfectly marvellous girl!

SALLY: Oh, no.


.
CHRISTOPHER: And beautiful...

SALLY: Don't...

CHRISTOPHER: ...and talented...

SALLY: No, I'm not.

CHRISTOPHER: Yes, yes you are.

SALLY: Do you really think so? I mean really?

CHRISTOPHER: Yes. Yes I do.


SALLY: Oh thank you. Oh, Chris.

He starts kissing her face. And accidentally kisses her mouth. They stop
for a moment and look at each other. Then go back in.

13. Maybe This Time

SALLY:
Maybe this time, I'll be lucky
Maybe this time, he'll stay
Maybe this time
For the first time
Love won't hurry away

He will hold me fast


I'll be home at last
Not a loser anymore
Like the last time
And the time before

Everybody loves a winner


So nobody loved me;
'Lady Peaceful,' 'Lady Happy,'
That's what I long to be
All the odds are in my favor
Something's bound to begin
It's got to happen, happen sometime
Maybe this time I'll win.

SALLY: Obviously, those three girls were just...

SALLY and CHRISTOPHER: ...the wrong three girls!

They laugh.

14. Interval

EMCEE: Interval speech adlib

Everybody gets another drink down them.

15. Welcome Back

EMCEE: Welcome back speech adlib

16. Enter Max

SALLY: Gutentag.

WASHERWOMAN: Oh, Gutentag


SALLY: Bitte. er. Kan ze... er... Washe?

MAX: I think you dropped this in german

SALLY: What?

MAX: Sorry. I think you dropped this.

SALLY: Yes. Thank you.

Kan ze Washe... vir... Muntag... Tuestag. Tuestag?

WASHERWOMAN: reply in german

SALLY: Just Tuestag!

MAX: Excuse me miss, can I help you?

SALLY: I want my laundry back by tuesday.

MAX: Asks in german

WASHERWOMAN: replies in german

MAX: Well, that's okay.

SALLY: Thank you, so much.

MAX: Maximilian Von Huygens.

SALLY: Sally Bowles. Do you have a cigarette darling? I am desperate! I


must have left mine at the club. - The Kit Kat Klub. Divine decadence.

MAX: May I Drop you somewhere? I have my car outside.

SALLY: Alright.

17. Money

SALLY: Money

EMCEE: Money

EMCEE and SALLY:


Money makes the world go around,
the world go around, the world go around,
Money makes the world go around,
it makes the world go round.
A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound,
a buck or a pound, a buck or a pound,
Is all that makes the world go around,
that clinking clanking sound,
Can make the world go round.
If you happen to be rich, and you feel like a night's entertainment,
You can pay for a gay escapade.
If you happen to be rich, and alone and you need a companion,
You can ring ting-a-ling for the maid.
If you happen to be rich and you find you are left by your lover,
Tho you moan and you groan quite a lot,
You can take it on the chin,
call a cab and begin to recover on your fourteen carat yacht.
Money makes the world go around,
the world go around, the world go around,
Money makes the world go around,
of that we both are sure.
(Raspberry) On being poor.
When you haven't any coal in the stove and you freeze in the winter
And you curse to the wind at your fate.
When you haven't any shoes on your feet and your coat's thin as paper
And you look thirty pounds underweight,
When you go to get a word of advice from the fat little pastor,
he will tell you to love evermore.
But when hunger comes to rap, rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat, at the window
See how love flies out the door.
For money makes the world go around, the world go around,
the world go around.
Money makes the world go around,
the clinking, clanking sound
of Money, money, money, money,
Money, money, money, money,
Get a little, get a little,
Money, money, money, money,
Mark, a yen, a buck or a pound,
That clinking, clanking clunking sound
is all that makes the world go round,
It makes the world go round.

18. Almost Continuously

CHRISTOPHER: From that moment onwards with we were with him


almost continuously, either separately or together. Every morning, he sent
round a hired car to fetch us to the hotel where he was staying. The chauffeur
always brought with him a wonderful bouquet of flowers, ordered from the
most expensive flower-shop in the linden. Max had corrupted us utterly. It was
understood that he was going to put up the money to launch sally upon a stage
career. He often spoke of this, in a thoroughly nice way, as though it were a
very trivial matter, to be settled, without fuss, between friends. But no sooner
had he touched upon the subject than his attention seemed to wander off
again - his thoughts were as easily distracted as those of a child.
SALLY: Why, darling. he's a Baron! He never even told me. Class. He
must know everybody. Why, I bet you a man like that could get me into films
faster than you could say 'Eric Von Straun'!

CHRISTOPHER: In exchange for a little infidelity?

SALLY: Idiot! Don't worry. I can handle him.

The EMCEE and SALLY share a look as she hugs CHRISTOPHER.

Trust me. Just trust me, darling.

(Playful) Alright, don't trust me.

19. Caviar for Lunch

CHRISTOPHER sits, waiting for MAX and SALLY in a restaurant. He waves away
a waiter.

SALLY: Guess who?

MAX: Sorry, Chris, we are late.

SALLY: Oh darling, we had the most glorious time!

MAX: We didn't stop laughing!

SALLY: Don't open your eyes. Don't look... Okay!


isn't it fabulous? I feel just like Kate Francis.

MAX laughs

SALLY: Oh,Chris, why didn't you come? We had the best time! It was so
much fun. Max really knows how to corrupt a girl.

MAX: I try

SALLY: Not only did I get this glorious pelt, I got perfume, silk stockings...

MAX: And you got that funny little blue hat!

SALLY: Gosh, who are you calling funny! I think it's divine, I love it.
Oh god, we didn't get anything for Chris!

MAX gives a look of 'aha', and takes out a cigarette case.

MAX: I'm afraid I've had no to time to have it wrapped.

SALLY: Oh, darling, isn't that beautiful.

CHRISTOPHER: What on earth makes you think I'd accept that?


MAX: To give me pleasure.

SALLY: Max loves buying things!

MAX: Chris, you're a man of strong convictions.

The waiter arrives

SALLY: Oh, Can we have caviar again?

MAX: We had it for breakfast!

SALLY: Can we have it for lunch?

MAX: For lunch, for dinner, breakfast again, anything you want.

SALLY: Er, drei caviar, bitte.


That's for me. What are you having?

MAX and SALLY laugh.

SALLY: You shoulda been there!


Darling, can we go to the Lady Windermere tonight? I'm dying to show of
my new coat.

CHRISTOPHER: I could use a drink.

MAX: Why not. We'll make a night of it. Or why not a weekend? I have a
little place out in the country.

SALLY: Oh, how marvellous.

MAX: Then it's settled. We'll leave tonight.

CHRISTOPHER: I dare say it'll be good to get out of Berlin. Did you see
the scene outside? It was horrifying.

MAX: The Nazis are just a gang of stupid hooligans, but they do serve a
purpose. Let them get rid of the communists, later, we'll be able to control
them.

CHRISTOPHER: But who's we?

MAX: Why, Germany of course.

They are standing by now, cracking open beers and sitting down on the
front of the stage. SALLY and her fur coat are in a world of their own.

Surely it must be a wonderful experience for you to be driving away into


the night, not knowing wither you are bound?
If I tell you we are going to Paris, or to Madrid, or to Moscow, then there
will no longer be any mystery and you will have lost half your pleasure...
Do you know, Christopher, I quite envy you because you do not know
where we are going.

CHRISTOPHER: That's one way of looking at it, certainly... but at any


rate, I know we are not going to Moscow. We're driving in the opposite
direction.

MAX laughs

MAX: You are very English sometimes, Christopher. Do you realise that, I
wonder?

CHRISTOPHER: You bring out the English side of me, I think.

MAX: Am I to understand that as a compliment or a reproof?

CHRISTOPHER: As a compliment, of course.

They rejoin SALLY and sit down.

20. Two Ladies

The EMCEE appears at the curtain.

EMCEE: Berlin makes strange bedfellows these days. Some people have
two. Some even...

EMCEE and GIRLS:


Beedle dee, deedle dee, dee!
Beedle dee, deedle dee, dee!
Beedle dee, deedle dee, Beedle dee, deedle dee,
Dee!

Beedle dee, dee dee dee,


Two ladies.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee,
Two ladies.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee,
And I'm the only man, Ja!

Beedle dee, dee dee dee...


I like it.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee...
They like it.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee...
This two for one.

Beedle dee, dee dee dee...


Two ladies.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee...
Two ladies.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee,
Und he's the only man
Ja!

Beedle dee, dee dee dee...


He likes it.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee...
We like it.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee...
This two for one.

I do the cooking...
Und I make the bed.
I go out working
To earn our daily bread.
But we've one thing in common,

He...
She...
And me,
The key,
Beedle dee, dee,
The key,
Beedle dee, dee, the key,
Beedle dee, deedle dee, deedle dee, dee!

(Double time!)

Ooh! Aah! Ooh! Aah!

We switch partners daily


To play as we please.
Twosies beats onesies,
But nothing beats threes.

I sleep in the middle,


I'm left,
Und I'm right,
But there's room on the bottom
If you drop in some night.

Beedle dee, dee dee dee...


Two ladies.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee...
Two ladies.
Beedle dee, dee dee dee,
And he's the only man.

Ja!
Beedle dee, dee dee dee...
I like it,
Beedle dee, dee dee dee...
They like it!
Beedle dee, dee dee dee...
This two for one.

Beedle dee, deedle dee, deedle dee,


Deedle dee, dee!

21. Sally is an endearing child...

MAX: ...all the way through Tanzania and Uganda. More Sally? (Drink)
And every now and then, the train stops in the middle of nowhere. And right
there is a family of giraffes nibbling the trees. Or a herd of zebra, galloping off
in a cloud of dust. And when the flamingoes come out, thousands and
thousands of them, turning the whole sky pink... You'll be amazed when you
see it.

SALLY: Mmm... Sounds absolutely exotic. Oh... Christopher darling, I


don't feel well. (Laughs)

Sally stumbles, drunk, and falls asleep on the floor.

CHRISTOPHER: (Drunk) Sally! Sally! Are you quite comfortable?

MAX: Sally is an endearing child...But I must admit I find it peaceful


when she's taking a nap!

He looks for a cigarette. CHRISTOPHER produces the cigarette case. They


smile. There is a moment.

MAX: To Africa?

CHRISTOPHER: To Africa.

They Kiss.

22. Tomorrow Belongs to Me

All: (Gradually)
The sun on the meadow is summery warm
The stag in the forest runs free
But gather together to greet the storm
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me

The branch of the linden is leafy and green


The Rhine gives its gold to the sea
But somewhere a glory awaits unseen
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me

The babe in his cradle is closing his eyes


The blossom embraces the bee
But soon says a whisper, arise, arise
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me

Now Fatherland, Fatherland, show us the sign


Your children have waited to see
The morning will come when the world is mine
Tomorrow belongs to me
Tomorrow belongs to me

Tomorrow belongs
Tomorrow belongs
Tomorrow belongs to me!

CHRISTOPHER: (To Max) You still think you can control them?

23. Screw Maximillian

SALLY: (Packing the props scattered around the stage into the suitcase.)
I told Frl. Schroeder we would be gone for at least two months, maybe more.
She cried and cried and said she’d miss us. I think the only reason she was
crying was because she knows she can’t get 50 marks a month from anybody
else for these pitiful little rooms. You know (starts to sing) Money makes the
world go round the world go… where have you been? I’ve been packing for
hours. Have some champagne darling, compliments of Max. Oh the laundry
came back. It’s over there on the bed. You know Chris, it occurred to me.. I
know I handled Max brilliantly and all, what with the African move, I mean it
would be funny wouldn’t it if he asked me to become baroness von huygens of
raginsburg. (Been looking for that for months.) I mean stranger things have
happened.

Pause

Well I wouldn’t dream of accepting him of course.

CHRISTOPHER: For god's sake I wish you could hear yourself


sometimes. I mean really hear yourself. CHRIST! Aren’t you ever going to stop
deluding yourself? Hmmm? Handling Max! Behaving like some ludicrous, under-
age little femme-fatale. You, you're about as fatale as an after dinner mint!

SALLY: Hm. Well darling we all know about your vast experience with les
femmes, fatale or otherwise.
Look why don’t you just come out with it; you can’t stand Maximillian
because he’s everything that you're not. He doesn’t have to give English
lessons for three marks an hour, he's rich. And he knows about life, he doesn’t
read about it in books. He’s suave, and he is divinely sexy. And he really
appreciates a woman.

CHRISTOPHER: Oh, screw Maximillian!

SALLY: I do

Pause
CHRISTOPHER: So do I

Pause

SALLY: You two bastards.

CHRISTOPHER: Two... two... shouldn’t that be three?!

24. The Fight

An SA man offers Christopher a paper as he tries to storm away.

CHRISTOPHER: Your paper, and your party, are pure crap, sir.

The SA man doesn't understand, quizzes him in German.

I said DAS IST DER SHIZER

Tears the paper up

And so are you.

Christopher is beaten up. The drummer in the band gets involved.

25. A Very Strange and Extraordinary Baby

Sally is nursing Christopher back to health after his kicking.

SALLY: Here (Gives him a drink.) I hear you took on the entire Nazi party
single handed!

CHRISTOPHER holds up two fingers.

Only two?

CHRISTOPHER grunts confirmation.

Feel up to a little surprise?

Takes out a letter.

Here. Dear Sally and Christopher (in that order, please note) I know you
will forgive me, but family affairs make it imperative for me to leave for
Argentina immediately. It was fun wasn’t it? Signed Maximilian. Argentina my
arse. Oh, he also sent this. 300 marks, for the two of us. That's 150 each. Let's
see, on an hour to hour basis that puts us about on a par with Frauline Kost!
Some goldiggers aren’t we?

Listen Christopher darling...

I wasn't sick.
Well, I suppose that was obvious, wasn't it?

Laughs

I went to the doctor's today.

Pause

Well aren't you going to ask?

CHRISTOPHER: Alright. Who's is it?

SALLY: I don't know! I really don't know.

CHRISTOPHER: Well what are you going to do?

SALLY: Well obviously I can't have it! The doctor I went to says He'll do it.
But it's expensive. He has to bribe somebody or other for some kind of
certificate or something... oh, I don't know. Well. There goes my fur coat.

A long pause.

CHRISTOPHER: I would like to marry you.

SALLY: Oh, darling!

They laugh, and open drinks in celebration.

CHRISTOPHER: With any luck I'll get a fellowship at Kings.

SALLY: Oh Marvellous. What's that?

CHRISTOPHER: My college at Cambridge! You'll absolutely love it there.

SALLY: Oh, I know I will.


It's crazy.

CHRISTOPHER: What?

SALLY: Me. Wanting to be an actress!


I guess babies love you automatically, don't they?

CHRISTOPHER: They don't have much of a choice

They laugh

SALLY: To you and the Baby!

CHRISTOPHER: To me and the baby.

SALLY: It probably is yours. But I don't suppose we'll ever know for sure.
CHRISTOPHER: (shrug) So what?

SALLY: You're sure... you won't mind? Honestly?

CHRISTOPHER: Honestly.

They laugh

SALLY: Oh, Chris.

CHRISTOPHER: To me and the baby

SALLY: to you and the baby.

To you.

CHRISTOPHER: Me?

SALLY: You.

CHRISTOPHER: To Me.

Together: And the baby!

SALLY: Christopher. You're a most strange and extraordinary person.

26. You like Miss Bowles Vairy Much?

CHRISTOPHER: Today, I met Natalia for coffee, to tell her that I would
soon be leaving Berlin and that she would have to find herself a new teacher.
We talked, as usual, of art, music, books - carefully avoiding the personal note.
We had been walking around the teirgatren for the best part of an hour, when
natalia abruptly asked:

NATALIA: You like Miss Bowles vairy much?

CHRISTOPHER: Of course I do... we're going to be married, soon.

NATALIA: Imbecile!

CHRISTOPHER: We marched on for several minutes in silence.

NATALIA: You know, I do not like your Miss Bowles?

CHRISTOPHER: I know you don't.

NATALIA: What I think, it is not of importance?

CHRISTOPHER: (Teasing) Not in the least.

NATALIA: Only your miss, bowles, she is of importance?


CHRISTOPHER: She is of great importance.

NATALIA: (Becoming angry at Chris' refusal to be serious) Some day, you


will see that I am right.

CHRISTOPHER: I've no doubt I shall.

Today the sun is brilliantly shining; it is quite mild and warm. I walk back
to the apartment, without an overcoat or hat. The sun shines, and Hitler is
master of this city.
I catch sight of my face in the mirror of a shop, and am horrified to see
that I am smiling. You can't help smiling, in such beautiful weather. The trams
are going up and down the Kleiststrasse, just as usual. They, and the people on
the pavement,and the tea-cosy dome of the Nollendorfplatz station have an air
of curious familiarity, of striking resemblance to something one remembers as
normal and pleasant in the past - like a very good photograph.
No. Even now I can't altogether believe that any of this has really
happened.

27. The Coat

Sally returns in the morning without the fur coat she has been wearing
since Max bought it for her.

SALLY: Good morning darling.

Pause

Darling would you mind awfully seeing if there's a bit of brandy left, put
an egg in it and call it breakfast. I suppose you're wondering what on earth
happened to me. I’m afraid we made a night of it.

CHRISTOPHER: Where’s your fur coat?

Pause

You did it, didn’t you?

SALLY: Did what darling?

CHRISTOPHER: The abortion

SALLY: Has no answer

CHRISTOPHER: In God’s name… why?

SALLY: One of my whims..

CHRISTOPHER: Is that all you can say? One of my whims. What, what
right-
SALLY: (Interrupting) If you want to hit me, why don’t you just hit me.

CHRISTOPHER: But, you wanted it, didn’t you?

SALLY: Has no answer

CHRISTOPHER: Me... and the baby… I suppose Max Reindhart did show
up at the club… or was it a friend of a friend of a friend of an assistant director
who said he’s try to squeeze you into the chorus line. That is of course if you, if
you went to bed with him.

SALLY: You think that.

CHRISTOPHER: Yes.

SALLY: Well then its just as well, isn’t it? For you, for everyone. Now,
darling, would you be an angel and just let me get some sleep.

CHRISTOPHER: Tell me why you did it.

SALLY: What is there to say? You’ve said it all in one way or another.

CHRISTOPHER: Sally please, I, I have to know.

SALLY: Okay: I’m self centred, inconsiderate, and what was the third
adjective, oh yes and I have this infantile fantasy that one day I’ll amount to
something as an actress. Oh, Chris, a dinky little cottage in Cambridge? Play
pen in the bedroom, nappies on the towel rack. How soon would it be before we
started hating each other? How soon would it be before I started dashing out
and disgracing myself in the nearest pub. How soon would it be before you…

CHRISTOPHER: Before I... Say it… Go on. You might as well now.

SALLY: Forget it, just forget it.

CHRISTOPHER: I see.

CHRISTOPHER makes to leave

SALLY: Chris... Christopher… I really do love you.

CHRISTOPHER: Yes, yes… I think you do love me.

Are... are you alright?

SALLY: Nods

CHRISTOPHER: Is there any thing I can do for you?

SALLY: (Laughs) No.. (through sobs) I think I’ll sleep a little while.

Christopher leaves the stage.


Oh, shit.

28. Goodbye to Berlin

CHRISTOPHER returns with coat, hat and suitcase.

SALLY: Magazines?

CHRISTOPHER: No.

SALLY: It's a long trip. Chocolate? No.

CHRISTOPHER: Well, we seem to be here.

SALLY: Yeah.

Pause

Darling, I'd love to come down onto the platform with you and wave a
tiny white handkerchief etcetera, but there is that interview... It may not
amount to anything but...

Together: you never know

SALLY puts her hand out mock-formally, CHRISTOPHER shakes it, then
stops, looking at her fingernails. They are both remembering everything.

CHRISTOPHER: Shocking.

SALLY laughs

SALLY: I'll see you.

CHRISTOPHER leaves the stage.

29. Cabaret

SALLY:
What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.

Put down the knitting,


The book and the broom.
Time for a holiday.
Life is Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.

Come taste the wine,


Come hear the band.
Come blow a horn,
Start celebrating;
Right this way,
Your table's waiting

No use permitting
some prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret!

I used to have a girlfriend


known as Elsie
With whom I shared
Four sordid rooms in Chelsea

She wasn't what you'd call


A blushing flower...
As a matter of fact
She rented by the hour!

The day she died the neighbours


came to snigger:
"Well, that's what comes
of to much pills and liquor."

But when I saw her laid out like a Queen


She was the happiest...corpse...
I'd ever seen.

I think of Elsie to this very day.


I'd remember how'd she turn to me and say:
"What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret."

And as for me,


I made up my mind up back in Chelsea,
When I go, I'm going like Elsie.

Start by admitting
From cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Only a Cabaret, old chum,
And I love a Cabaret!

30. Auf Weidersehn (Wilkommen Reprise)

EMCEE:
Mein Damen und Herren, Mesdames et Messieurs,
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Where are your troubles now?
Forgotten!
I told you so.
We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful...
The girls are beautiful...
Even the orchestra is beautiful!

Auf Weidersehn...

Abianto...

Drumroll.

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