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BOB EDWARDS, Host: The city of Berlin is experiencing a renaissance of the cabaret, the racy, satirical, and sometimes raunchy performance art that flourished in the city during the 1920s and '30s. But, today's cabaret is quite different from its predecessor. In the '20s and '30s, Berlin's cabarets reflected the political tensions of the Weimar Republic and the first stirrings of the Nazi era. The modern version is primarily concerned with entertainment. From Berlin, the BBC's Caroline Wyatt reports.
(EXCERPT OF TUNE BEING PERFORMED IN A CABARET)
CAROLINE WYATT, Reporter: Every night, hundreds of Berliners crowd into the Chameleon Theater in Eastern Berlin to be entertained by its mix of music, jugglers, trapeze artists, and comedians. Its seats are booked for weeks in advance, as both young and old seek to retreat, for at least a few hours, into a world of old-fashioned fantasy. Since the Berlin Wall came down five years ago, dozens of new venues have sprung up, offering anything from a lone trick cyclist to a troupe of transsexual tap dancers.
Comparisons are already being made to Berlin's variety heyday of the 1920s, though the Chameleon's manager, Peter Ruser [sp], disagrees.
PETER RUSER, Manager, The Chameleon Theater: At the time variety theaters were like newspapers, you know, with political satire and everything, but not nowadays. We're- our thing is entertainment. What we do is unique to Berlin. I don't know any variety in Paris or in London like this. I know comedy clubs in London, but, I don't know places where it's mixed like this.
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