Set in 1929–1930 Berlin during the twilight of the Jazz Age as the Nazis rise to power, the musical focuses on the hedonistic nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around American writer Clifford Bradshaw's relations with English cabaret performer Sally Bowles.

A subplot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor.

Overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub, and the club itself serves as a metaphor for ominous political developments in late Weimar Germany.

[11][12] In Berlin, Isherwood shared modest lodgings with 19-year-old British flapper Jean Ross,[c] an aspiring film actress who earned her living as a chanteuse in lesbian bars and second-rate cabarets.

In 1951, playwright John Van Druten adapted Isherwood's 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin into the Broadway play I Am a Camera which in turn became a 1955 film starring Laurence Harvey and Julie Harris.

[33] In early 1963, producer David Black commissioned English composer and lyricist Sandy Wilson to undertake a musical adaptation of Van Druten's 1951 play I Am a Camera.

[35] By the time Wilson completed his work, however, Black's option on both the 1951 Van Druten play and its source material by Isherwood had lapsed and been acquired by rival Broadway producer Harold Prince.

[36] Prince wished to create a gritty adaptation of Isherwood's stories that drew parallels between the spiritual bankruptcy of Germany in the 1920s and contemporary social problems in the United States at a time "when the struggle for civil rights for black Americans was heating up as a result of nonviolent but bold demonstrations being held in the Deep South.

When Cliff visits the Kit Kat Klub, the Emcee introduces an English chanteuse, Sally Bowles, who performs a flirtatious number ("Don't Tell Mama").

Herr Schultz, an elderly Jewish fruit-shop owner who lives in the boarding house, gives a pineapple to Fräulein Schneider as a romantic gesture ("It Couldn't Please Me More").

[62] At the end of the first act, Fräulein Schneider sang "It'll All Blow Over," expressing her concerns about marrying a Jew, while Cliff voiced his worries about Germany's emerging Nazism.

Originally, the Emcee sang "Sitting Pretty" accompanied by the cabaret girls in international costumes with their units of currency representing Russian rubles, Japanese yen, French francs, American dollars, and German reichsmarks.

[72][73] Replacements later in the run included Anita Gillette and Melissa Hart as Sally, Ken Kercheval and Larry Kert as Cliff, and Martin Ross as the Emcee.

[76] Emory Lewis, the reviewer for The Morning Call, wrote that "Jill Haworth, the lovely English actress who played Sally Bowles on opening night, was personable, but she was not sufficiently trained for so pivotal a role.

"[81] In 1986, the show was revived in London at the Strand Theatre starring Kelly Hunter as Sally, Peter Land as Cliff and Wayne Sleep as the Emcee, directed and choreographed by Gillian Lynne.

[82] Joel Grey received star billing as the Emcee, with Alyson Reed as Sally, Gregg Edelman as Cliff, Regina Resnik as Fräulein Schneider, Werner Klemperer as Herr Schultz, and David Staller as Ernst Ludwig.

In the final scene, the Emcee removes his outer clothes to reveal a striped uniform of the type worn by the internees in concentration camps; on it are pinned a yellow badge (identifying Jews), a red star (marking Communists and socialists), and a pink triangle (denoting homosexuals).

This production featured a number of notable replacements later in the run: Susan Egan, Joely Fisher, Gina Gershon, Debbie Gibson, Milena Govich, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Melina Kanakaredes, Jane Leeves, Molly Ringwald, Brooke Shields, and Lea Thompson as Sally; Michael C. Hall, Raúl Esparza, Neil Patrick Harris, Adam Pascal, Jon Secada, and John Stamos as the Emcee; Boyd Gaines, Michael Hayden, and Rick Holmes as Cliff; Tom Bosley, Dick Latessa, Hal Linden, Laurence Luckinbill, and Tony Roberts as Herr Schultz; and Blair Brown, Carole Shelley, Polly Bergen, Alma Cuervo, and Mariette Hartley as Fräulein Schneider.

Replacements later in the run included Kim Medcalf and Amy Nuttall as Sally, Honor Blackman and Angela Richards as Fräulein Schneider, and Julian Clary and Alistair McGowan as the Emcee.

This production closed in June 2008 and toured the UK for two years opening at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre with a cast that included Wayne Sleep as the Emcee and Samantha Barks as Sally, before Siobhan Dillon took over the role.

[citation needed] A revival opened in the West End at the Savoy Theatre on October 3, 2012, following a four-week tour of the UK, including Bromley, Southampton, Nottingham, Norwich and Salford.

[citation needed] In August 2013 the show went on tour in the UK, again with Young as the Emcee, Siobhan Dillon reprising her role of Sally and Lyn Paul joining the cast as Fräulein Schneider.

[96] Another UK tour began in autumn 2019 starring John Partridge as the Emcee, Kara Lily Hayworth as Sally Bowles and Anita Harris as Fräulein Schneider.

[102] Critics praised Stone's performance for her interpretation of the hard-drinking sybarite Sally Bowles "as a flaming flapper, the kind hymned by F. Scott Fitzgerald and embodied by the young Joan Crawford in silent movies.

[citation needed] Following the departure of Redmayne and Buckley, notable players as the Emcee and Sally Bowles have been Fra Fee and Amy Lennox;[115] Callum Scott Howells and Madeline Brewer; Aimee Lou Wood and John McCrea; Maude Apatow and Mason Alexander Park; Jake Shears and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Esteem);[116] Luke Treadaway and Cara Delevingne;[117][118] Layton Williams and Rhea Norwood;[119] Adam Gillen and Katherine Langford;[120] and Billy Porter and Marisha Wallace.

[citation needed] Since 2003, international stagings of the show, many influenced by Mendes' concept, have included productions in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Portugal, Greece, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Serbia, South Africa, Spain and Venezuela.

[citation needed] A 2008 production at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Avon Theatre in Canada, designed by Douglas Paraschuk and directed by Amanda Dehnert, featured Bruce Dow as the Emcee, Trish Lindström as Sally, Sean Arbuckle as Cliff, Nora McClellan as Fräulein Schneider and Frank Moore as Herr Schultz.

It featured Juan Chioran as the Emcee, Deborah Hay as Sally, Gray Powell as Cliff, Benedict Campbell as Herr Schultz, and Corrine Koslo as Fräulein Schneider; it was influenced by Mendes' 1993 revival.

This recording features Jonathan Pryce as the Emcee, Maria Friedman as Sally, Gregg Edelman as Cliff, Judi Dench as Fräulein Schneider, and Fred Ebb as Herr Schultz.

[citation needed] In addition to these recordings, cast albums for French, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Austrian, Dutch, Mexican, and German productions have been released.