Isherwood and the Makings of Sally Bowles

Instructors: John Dennis Anderson and John Shuman

Time: Location: Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre (WHAT)

Dates: Classes from 1-3 p.m. on Oct. 16,23,30, Nov, 6

Screenings from 1-3 p.m. on Oct. 20,27, Nov. 3, Nov. 10.

The writer Christopher Isherwood is best known for creating Sally Bowles, a self-dramatizing cabaret singer in 1930s Berlin, whom he based on his friend Jean Ross. A classic avatar of the “manic pixie dream girl” trope, Sally Bowles first appeared in one of Isherwood’s autobiographical stories that was later dramatized by his friend John van Druten in the successful play I Am a Camera. The play was then adapted as the John Kander and Fred Ebb musical Cabaret. This course will explore the evolution of Sally Bowles over the course of these works into the widely recognizable symbol of “divine decadence” embodied by Julie Harris on stage and Liza Minnelli on screen. These various incarnations of Sally Bowles and her relationships reflect shifting representations of homosexuality, abortion, and anti-Semitism in literature and popular culture. The Monday classes will discuss readings of Isherwood’s story “Sally Bowles,” his 1976 memoir Christopher and His Kind, John van Druten’s play, and the Kander and Ebb musical, while on Fridays the class will watch various screen versions. All classes will be held from 1 to 3pm at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater.