Cabaret

cabaret

Restaurant that serves liquor and offers light musical entertainment. The cabaret probably originated in France in the 1880s as a small club that presented amateur acts and satiric skits lampooning bourgeois conventions. The first German Kabarett was opened in Berlin c. 1900 by Baron Ernst von Wolzogen and accompanied its musical acts with biting political satire. By the 1920s it had become the centre for underground political and literary expression and a showcase for the works of social critics such as Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill; this decadent but fertile artistic milieu was later portrayed in the musical Cabaret (1966; film, 1972). The English cabaret derived from concerts given in city taverns in the 18th–19th centuries and evolved into the music hall. In the U.S. the cabaret developed into the nightclub, where comedians, singers, or musicians performed. Small jazz and folk clubs and, later, comedy clubs evolved from the original cabaret.

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Cabaret 

originally an improvised presentation given by poets, musicians, or actors in literary and artistic cafés. The performers read poetry, sang topical ditties, and staged short, satirical sketches. There was a master of ceremonies to help create an unconstrained and gay atmosphere. Cabarets became widespread in France (mostly Paris) in the 1880’s but lost their improvisational character gradually, as the bourgeoisie began frequenting them and professional artists from variety shows began to appear on their stages.

In Russia two of the most popular cabarets were LetuchaiaMysh (The Bat) in Moscow and Krivoe Zerkalo (The Distorting Mirror) in St. Petersburg, both founded in 1908. In present-daybourgeois countries cabarets are restaurants with variety showsthat are usually intended solely for entertainment and occasion-ally have erotic and vulgar overtones.