[Elphaba22]

I'm not going to lie, I know almost nothing about this show, and I'm auditioning for it in a month or so, and I was wondering if anyone could give me a detailed description of Sally's character, the size of her role, vocal range, but more importantly, what she's like in general, her role in the plot.
Thanks so much guys!

[The Duchess of Mint]

Dear Elphaba22,

Sally Bowles is a very interesting woman, but she's not as interesting as she pretends to be. She's a singer, a dancer, and a sort of actress (because she has to put feeling into her acts), but her dream is to be a REAL actress! She is all about herself!

She's living in a world that's about to change, in an ugly way, and she's using the Kit Kat Klub as her personal escape clause, with regards to reality. She's been a loud, international, sophisticated, wild, bad, naughty, sex-kittenish little minx for awhile before she meets the visiting guy (I won't give him a name, because his name differs between the Broadway show and the movie).

Sally seems to have an interesting relationship with The Emcee. I personally believe that she is his favorite performer, and that she is his lover, no matter WHO he usually sleeps with. I think that The Emcee knows Sally better than she knows herself, and that he KNOWS that she'll stay in the Cabaret, rather than to face either reality, or a new lifestyle, or anything else.

When Sally meets The New Guy, she shocks him, educates him in the ways of eroticism, and thoroughly charms him...right into love with her. She, and he, and Max, form an erotic threesome, which inevitably betrays its own supposedly free-love philosophy.

All the while, a terrifying new political party begins to infiltrate Germany, and Sally, The New Guy, and Max try their best to ignore the new turmoil, while the knowing Emcee points out Germany's flaws, without ever being brave enough to actually stand up to the facists!

As Sally and The New Guy take their relationship to new, exciting, and thoroughly scandalous...and stereotypical...heights, Sally becomes pregnant, and even though The New Guy is surprisingly willing to be a father, Sally begins to doubt herself. At the Cabaret, her keeper, The Emcee, makes fun of her unmercifully; he is, after all, a sort of heart-of-darkness conscience for Sally, and he knows what she REALLY wants, and what she'll REALLY do in REAL life.

When Sally realizes that there isn't a maternal protector hiding inside of her psyche, she decides to abort the baby, and when she breaks the news to The New Guy, he is devastated, crushed, shocked, and angry. He is the ultimate "sensitive guy," and he didn't even realize who he was until he almost became a father. Sally may not have known who SHE was until she almost became a mother, but, since she now knows that she's not the mothering type, she's decided to get the abortion. In the "Cabaret" movie, she tells The New Guy that if they were to live as husband and wife, she would eventually be "discracing [herself] at some nearest pub," and that "it would only be a matter of time before...". I can't decide exactly what she WOULD have said, but I think that she might have said "before we fell apart."

When Sally and The New Guy part, and Sally returns to the Cabaret, she goes back to her ultimate un-reality, to her ultimate form of escapism, to her ultimate lover. I once read somewhere that "she retreats into the womb of the Cabaret", and I agree with that ironic assessment. She's going to end an unborn life, just as the hatred which is taking over Germany will end many lives, and yet, she retreats, as though the Cabaret is her mother, her security blanket, etc.

In many ways, Sally is very Piscean. She loves fantasy, and she hates reality, and yet she hates the sorrow that her hatred of reality brings to her. She's not necessarily as razzle-dazzle as she seems, and, in all of her tragic sorrow, she's a girl who calms her troubles with sex, fantasy, and the spectacle of show biz glamour.

Thanks in advance for your reply.