"Willkommen" | |
---|---|
Song | |
Songwriter(s) | John Kander; |
Lyricist(s) | Fred Ebb. |
"Willkommen" is a song from the 1966 musical Cabaret . It is performed by The Emcee. The music was written by John Kander; the lyrics by Fred Ebb.
John Kander explained "With Cabaret, we were trying to find the piece, to write our way into it. The first thing we wrote was 'Willkommen' and the very first thing that ever happened was that little vamp." [1]
The finale, "Auf Wiedersehen", mixes elements of "Willkommen" and "Cabaret". [2]
The song is "the Emcee’s sardonic introduction" to the Kit Kat Klub, [3] and is set within the cabaret itself.
Filmsite notes this "cheery greeting in German, French and English" contains "three languages to suit the club's cosmopolitan clientele [and] anticipates future hostilities between the three nationalities during wartime". [4]
H2G2 writes The Emcee "Immediately evok[es] the decadent, cosmopolitan atmosphere of 1930s Berlin. 'In here, life is beautiful, the girls are beautiful, even the orchestra is beautiful... we have no troubles here.' These words of the Emcee will come back to haunt the characters later." [5]
New Line Theatre wrote the following analysis on the song and its reprise: [6]
The first song in Cabaret, "Willkommen", functions as both a comment song and a book song. It welcomes us both to the Kit Kat Klub where much of the action will take place, and also to Cabaret, the musical. The Emcee is addressing the audience in the Kit Kat Klub while he also addresses the real audience. Using the opening song this way prepares us for the two different uses to which songs will be put in the show.
At the very end, the Emcee briefly reprises "Willkommen", perhaps an ironic welcome to the new Germany Ernst and the Nazis are building, but the Emcee doesn't finish the final phrase; the song stops, unfinished, and he disappears. We know the story is not over. Herr Schultz will undoubtedly be put in a concentration camp and murdered.
And yet the Emcee is now happy to have helped us “forget” our troubles. Here at the end of the show, he says goodbye only in German (auf wiedersehen) and French (à bientôt). There is no English goodbye. The melody doesn’t end and neither does the lyric. The Emcee doesn’t finish his farewell.
USA Today described it as "deliciously bawdy". [7] The Providence Journal described it as an "opening chorus". [8] The Los Angeles Times said the song was "lascivious". [9]
The song was performed live at both the 1998 and 2014 Tony Awards.[ citation needed ]
Lady Gaga often presents Willkommen as an interlude on her concerts.[ citation needed ]
The song was performed by Patrick Brewer (portrayed by Noah Reid) in the Season 5 finale of Schitt's Creek.[ citation needed ]
Joel Grey performed the song in his episode of The Muppet Show .
John Harold Kander is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb, Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including Cabaret (1966) and Chicago (1975), both of which were later adapted into acclaimed films. He and Ebb also wrote the standard "New York, New York".
Fred Ebb was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera.
Cabaret is a 1972 American musical drama film directed by Bob Fosse, and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey.
Cabaret is a 1966 musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Joe Masteroff. The musical was based on John Van Druten's 1951 play I Am a Camera which was adapted from Goodbye to Berlin (1939), a semi-autobiographical novel by Anglo-American writer Christopher Isherwood which drew upon his experiences in the poverty-stricken Weimar Republic and his intimate friendship with nineteen-year-old cabaret singer Jean Ross.
Flora the Red Menace is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Robert Russell, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The original 1965 production starred Liza Minnelli in the title role in her Broadway debut, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. This was the first collaboration between Kander and Ebb, who later wrote Broadway and Hollywood hits such as Cabaret and Chicago.
Funny Lady is a 1975 American biographical musical comedy-drama film and the sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl. The film stars Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall and Ben Vereen.
Adam Pascal is an American actor, singer, and musician, known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original 1996 cast of Jonathan Larson's musical Rent on Broadway, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the Broadway tour of Rent in 2009. He is also known for originating the role of Radames in Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida, for playing the Emcee in the 1998 revival of Cabaret, and for playing Huey Calhoun in the Broadway company of Memphis. More recently, he played William Shakespeare in the Tony Award-winning musical Something Rotten!
Joseph Stein was an American playwright best known for writing the books for such musicals as Fiddler on the Roof and Zorba.
Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.
Signature Theatre is a Tony Award winning regional theater company based in Arlington, Virginia.
Marcy Heisler is a musical theater lyricist and performer. As a performer, she has performed at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, and numerous other venues throughout the United States and Canada. Heisler was nominated for the 2009 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics for Dear Edwina.
Jason D. Danieley is an American actor, singer, concert performer and recording artist. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was married to fellow performer Marin Mazzie.
The Happy Time is a musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by N. Richard Nash loosely based on a 1950 hit Broadway play, The Happy Time by Samuel A. Taylor, which was in turn based on stories by Robert Fontaine. The story had also been made into a 1952 film version.
Matt McGrath is an American actor.
Karen Mason is an American musical theatre actress and singer. She has appeared on stage in Broadway theatre, notably as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, and is a multiple award-winning cabaret performer.
"Cabaret" is the title song of the 1966 musical of the same name, sung by the character Sally Bowles. It was composed by John Kander, with lyrics by Fred Ebb.
The Scottsboro Boys is a musical with a book by David Thompson, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Based on the Scottsboro Boys trial, the musical is one of the last collaborations between Kander and Ebb prior to the latter's death. The musical has the framework of a minstrel show, altered to "create a musical social critique" with a company that, except for one, consists "entirely of African-American performers".
Live at the Olympia in Paris is Liza Minnelli's fourth and final album for A&M Records. Released in April 1972 in the United States, it features a live show performed over two nights in Paris on December 11 and 13, 1969. It was not the first time she had performed at the Paris Olympia, she had previously performed at the venue in June 1966 during the International Festival of Variety Shows.
"Maybe This Time" is a song written by John Kander and Fred Ebb for actress Kaye Ballard. It was later included in the 1972 film Cabaret, where it is sung by the character Sally Bowles, played by Liza Minnelli. It had already been recorded and released twice, in similar arrangements, on Minnelli's debut studio album Liza! Liza! (1964), and subsequently New Feelin' (1970), but it turned into a traditional pop standard after its 1972 inclusion in Cabaret.
"Tomorrow Belongs to Me" is a song from the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret, and the 1972 film of the same name. It was written and composed by two Jewish musicians – John Kander and Fred Ebb – as part of an avowedly anti-fascist work; the nationalist character of the song serves as a warning to the musical's characters of the rise of Nazism. Nonetheless, "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" has been adopted by right-wing, neo-Nazi, and alt-right groups as an anthem.