Page "Cabaret (film)" Paragraph 1

The film is loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret by Kander and Ebb, which was adapted from The Berlin Stories of Christopher Isherwood and the play I Am a Camera.

Only a few numbers from the stage score were used ; Kander and Ebb wrote new ones to replace those that were discarded.

In the traditional manner of musical theater, every significant character in the stage version of Cabaret sings to express emotion and advance the plot ; but in the film version, the musical numbers are entirely diegetic, and only two of the film's major characters ( The Emcee and Sally ) sing any songs.