The Costumes of Cabaret: An Analysis of Audience\u27s Perceptions of Historic Gender Roles and Sexuality

Costumes greatly influence an audience\u27s perception of character, setting, and atmosphere in any theatrical or filmatic production. Within Cabaret those elements are further enhanced by the costumes, because of the historical relevance of things like gender, sexuality, and social standing. All of those elements are expressed through the different costumes characters wear in a performance. The costumes in Cabaret, beginning with the original 1966 Broadway show through the production at the College of Wooster in 2007, are defining factors in the ways an audience perceives the show. Cabaret\u27s setting in 1920s-30s Berlin, during the Weimar Republic, shapes those issues of gender and sexuality through the world of the Kit Kat Klub. Weimar Berlin sets the stage for the story of Cabaret, conveying the sexual energy of the city. In designing the costumes for Cabaret at the College of Wooster, I found it is how an audience sees the choices in a production that defines the art of the show