Happy to See Them

Yesterday, we had John Kander and Fred Ebb performing their iconic song, "New York, New York."  Today, how's about we stick with the good fellows, but with a special performance from the show that turned their careers around, Cabaret.

This is a number done at the Kennedy Center Honors when the two songwriters received their tribute.  At the time, Cabaret was having a hugely successful revival, in a very gritty re-interpretation of the musical.  Alan Cumming became a star with his incredibly sleazy version of the Masters of Ceremonies, a role that made Joel Grey famous and won him both a Tony Award and Oscar, but done totally differently, almost elegantly in tails and with a cane, almost to seduce you with his impish charm.  Cumming, on the other hand, brought out the low-life degeneracy of the era.

This is Alan Cumming performing the opening number, "Wilkommen" from that then-current revival -- but with a bit of clever staging and sleight-of-hand, he is joined by the original actor who created the role, Joel Grey.  And the two Master of Ceremonies team up.  Pay close attention for another nice, but very subtle bit of staging:  later in the number, the two men finally cross paths eye-to-eye, and when they do, it's on the line, "Happy to see you."  I have to believe that that was no accident.  Fun, too, is watching Kander and Ebb in their box having the time of their lives with the surprise.

The quality of the video isn't very good.  The quality of everything else is.