#house falls for wilson…literally

[ineffablesheets]

Just thinking about how every prank between them is like a love letter dipped in emotional sabotage, signed with a smirk and sent with the full knowledge that revenge will inevitably follow.

[spacediddly]

The thing about Hilson is that it wouldn’t work if Wilson wasn’t as batshit as House.

If Wilson was just an average guy, House would get bored and move on. Instead though, Wilson plays along with a lot of House’s schemes, and even gets into some nonsense of his own - the guitar kidnapping; literal gay chicken; hell, the first time they meet is because Wilson breaks that antique mirror with that bottle, and that made House think he was the only interesting guy there. If Wilson was just some dude - a plain James - House would think; “Who is this guy?.. I’m going to fuck him and move on.”

But because it’s Wilson, and Wilson is on the same level of batshit nonsense as House (he’s just better at hiding it than House, who really couldn’t give a fuck), that House bails this guy out of jail and is like “Who is this guy?.. I’m going to have a strange and unhealthy codependent relationship with him, and we’re going to be the only ones to stick by each other through thick and thin, and run away to live out our final days on this earth together… Also I’m going to fuck him.”

[elena-ferrante]

w o w my awful day got even more awful after this scene thanks

[legaylos]

I’m gonna commit seppuku

[the-hopeless-haze]

Honestly one of the things I love about House and how it’s realistic is how the ducklings all come into medicine with their own biases and prejudices. Chase hates obese people and people who struggle with alcohol use and kisses 7 year old girls and doesn’t see how that’s an abuse of his power. Foreman hates poor people who “use the emergency room as a bed for the night.” Cameron is so empathetic and tries so hard not to have biases that she does and it gets in the way of her practice so often that even she is blindsided by it. She’s so judgmental about how patients aren’t living their life the way she sees is correct and moral… and she’ll tell them. Also she’s pro life most likely. Like idk I think a lot of Career Shows want to paint all the doctors/cops/lawyers as perfect and that’s why they all come across as a stale version of real life but like. House does not do that and it makes them face their biases and shove the mirror back on the audience

[oriley42]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: House M.D. Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Greg House/James Wilson Characters: Greg House, James Wilson (House M.D.) Additional Tags: Remix, Alternate POV, First Time, Fluff and Smut Series: Part 2 of on selfishness Summary:

A remix of the end of "selfish," this time from House's POV.

[july-19th-club]

a while back i read jane eyre for the first time since high school in anticipation of watching the 2006 wilson/stephens miniseries. it's incredible to reread these classic novels as an adult, because while i got all the words and understood the *content* as a teenager, i didn't at all find the book interesting or fun to read. anyway i think one of the reasons that book stood the test of time isn't so much the gothic intrigue and how fucked up rochester and his wife are . he sucks so bad in so many ways . but he keeps needing rescued from stuff and only jane can do it . he fucking breaks an ankle falling off a horse early in her employment with him and she's the one who helps him back to the house . his attic wife sets his bedroom on fire and jane's the one who finds him and puts it out before he dies of smoke inhalation . then attic wife sets the house on fire after jane leaves and the whole place burns to the ground, grievous death and permanent injuries, etc, etc. jane comes back yippee everything's okay again! austen heroes don't get wounded like that because they're far too sedate and busy engaging in social seasons and heathcliff is like not wounded physically so much as destroyed emotionally . but this dude strikes the balance for readers who best enjoy when a man is collapsing of various problems and literally cant survive a day without some governess to pour water on his four-poster so he doesn't fry to a crisp

ALSO . i particularly was interested in the passages just after jane first meets him where she talks a lot about how if he was a normal polite person, or even just like a normal Lord with like, a sense of propriety and good manor house manners, she'd have been shy and awkward and uncomfortable and would have hated him. but i think where some interpretations get it wrong is that she doesn't think his rudeness is HOT. she thinks it's good for her own confidence, in that she knows her own self-esteem and social comfort levels are so low that all the scripts of peerage and society make her crawl into herself and disappear. she doesn't know how to follow the scripts convincingly, she's been emotionally abused her whole life so she has no sense of self-worth, but he doesn't follow the script. which means she doesn't have to worry about following it either. which does wonders for her confidence levels because when she can just act in ways that make sense to her rather than second-guessing whether she will be Approved Of, she can actually be a person. and that's what she first appreciates about him: his ability to (more or less without trying or even noticing) facilitate that for her.

"The incident had occurred and was gone for me: it was an incident of no moment, no romance, no interest in a sense; yet it marked with change one single hour of a monotonous life. My help had been needed and claimed; I had given it: I was pleased to have done something, trivial, transitory though the deed was, it was yet an active thing, and I was weary of an existence all passive."

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, quarterfinals of the major bracket

Propaganda:

For House and Wilson:

Literally the most insane couple of all time from medical malpractice the show. They’re best friends, they live together, they’ve drugged eachother, they make stupid bets together, they manipulate each other, they ride off into the sunset together. They’re Sherlock and Watson, they’re the best doctors in their fields and you’d never want them anywhere near your medical care.

Medical malpractice <3

For Will and Hannibal:

Ive previously only heard the term "murder husbands" refer to hannigram so it feels flitting. The whole series culminated with a murder they did together bathing in blood. 

The show and ship that coined murder husbands. It’s in the text in s3 from a journalist side character. They do Many murders either together or as a message to each other. Usually this involves turning the dead body into an art piece. The show ends with them killing a guy together in a slo mo scene backed by porno music.

They're both batshit and manipulative.

ALRIGHT so they're not canonically together but it is HEAVILY implied and they have some sort of fucked up psychosexual obsession with each other. in the later parts of the show they start committing murder and cannibalism together and they're soooo unhinged but it's awesome

kill people for each other. maim each other. kill people together. most batshit insane metaphors. send each other to jail. ruin everyone’s lives. someone can probably say this better than me but these gay people are insane

Literally THE murder husbands. They kill for each other. They've tried to kill each other. They're canon in all but name, like the homoeroticism between these two is the driving force of the show.

one time hannibal folded a guy into an origami human heart

They are in love and they kill and eat people. They are called Murder Husbands in canon.

The original murder husbands (literally, that's not just their ship name, they get called that in canon)

The show begins with Will working for the FBI and trying to catch Hannibal, but because Hannibal is so intrigued by the way Will is able to see the world and the motives behind the killings so easily, it becomes a game of Hannibal isolating Will even more from the people around and seducing him to try and kill. By the time Will starts embracing the side of him that Hannibal sees, he starts oulling back and trying to distance himself so that when the time comes for Will to fully embrace himself and Hannibal, no one really suspects what they have planned. 

hannibal literally does murder as courtship and it works bc will is also a fucked up little guy

I'm actually quite offended they aren't included by default (joke). They are THE murder husbands!!!!!! (mod note: they should have been, but I wanted to see how many submissions they'd get. They got 19, making them a little more than 6% of total submission count).

do i have to say it. they literally get called murder husbands IN THE SHOW

There are 3201 works for Hannibal on ao3 tagged Murder Husbands. They are the ogs, they are the pioneers we owe it all to them.

THEE murder couple. You know it. I know it. They commit crimes at each other as courting and then commit crimes together and then fall off a cliff to wash up somewhere and live on to serve cunt. Get referred to as 'murder husbands' in canon. What more do you need

Hannigram were literally called Murder Husbands in canon, they are the og, they are THE blueprint. They were gay as hell and comitted so much murder so many crimes. THEY RAN OFF TO EUROPE TOGETHER.

[starryvioletnight]

Soft House MD Ship Things

Too lazy to write a fanfiction about these, here ya go.

Camteen (Cameron x Thirteen):

Thirteen likes to watch Cameron work. She likes seeing her razor sharp, focused, in charge.

Mostly because once Cameron realizes Thirteen is watching her, her face almost literally melts, becoming soft around the edges, and her eyes light up. She'll smile so big Thirteen has to look away

Thirteen dyes Cameron's hair. They have all the supplies in their home that Cameron keeps in a neat caddy under the sink. Thirteen is so methodical with her approach that Cameron has fallen asleep while her fingers are in her hair.

Cameron does make tea for Thirteen. She makes her favorite tea in the mornings, herbal tea when she's sick, something warm and cozy on fall nights... While Thirteen was already well versed in the hair dye scene, Cameron went out of her way to learn different techniques for steeping, boiling water, etc, to make the perfect cups of tea.

Choreman (Chase x Foreman)

When asked about when they got together, they pick random dates and random stretches of time, just because they don't think it's anyone's business. But they do know, and are secretly huge saps about it, buying each other 1 month, 2 month anniversary gifts, etc.

Foreman loves to game late into the night, which is usually fine cause Chase is a heavy sleeper. On the rare occasions he's woken up Chase, Chase will come to the living room and drag him to the bed for apology cuddles.

They argue about medicine a lot at work, because they have such opposite viewpoints. It's a solid rule that they don't talk about work at home, and if one says something that goes too far while working, they apologize at home and spend quality time doing something together (like playing games or cards, or cooking together, any activity really).

Everyone thinks Chase is a bigger romantic, but it isn't true. Chase is romantic in small ways; fixing the coffee before breakfast, getting Foreman his favorite snacks when shopping, helping Foreman with his half of the house work when he's too tired. Foreman is romantic in big ways; planning fancy dinners months in advance, finding time for both of them to get PTO and get away for a few days, those sorts of things.

Finally, Hilson (House x Wilson)

While not a fan of it himself, House has watched the show Fraiser all the way through because of Wilson. When Wilson looked on softly at the scene where Daphne and Niles sings Heart and Soul together while cooking, House made a mental note. Now he plays it when he's between pieces, or taps it out while thinking, because he knows it brings Wilson a small kind of domestic joy.

Of course, House's own compositions and home-recitals of the greats steal Wilson's breath away. He's careful to never over-praise, House thinking it forced after a compliment or two, but Wilson would love nothing more than to shout to all he knows how talented his lover is.

Wilson picks up small hobbies to keep him occupied, as to not work himself to death. House's favorites, and the subjects of most of his ridicule, are knitting and crocheting. Wilson loves seeing House in the things he's made, like a scarf or stocking cap when it's cold, and House likes having a physical reminder of Wilson when he isn't around.

House teaches Wilson Spanish. He knows Wilson wants to learn, but doesn't often push himself past watching telenovelas (always with subtitles on). After a rocky start, Wilson and House can have conversations in Spanish, and House feels a stab of pride whenever Wilson uses it to talk to a patient.

Their main dynamic never changes, after all that was how they got this far in the first place, but now they find saying I love you is a quick way to disarm the other; whether in the middle of bantering, pranking, arguing, anything. An unexpected I Love You sends the other reeling, relishing in the way the words come naturally, and how now, after all these years, they've finally let each other say it.

[devotioncrater]

"i'm not gonna say anything. i'm just gonna walk into her office and i'm gonna kiss her"

now why tf did house look down at his desk and start stammering and blushing after wilson said that 🤨 "cuddy likes bold" but he does too ??? arguably more than her ???

wait no pause. actually. that entire conversation he's soooooo hyperfocused on what wilson would do. almost as if he's envisioning himself in cuddy's shoes. he also like. keeps looking at the table, looking at wilson, looking at the table, looking at wilson with an expression that's expectant. he thinks wilson will connect the dots. holy shit.

he wants wilson to connect the dots. but he can't...he can't admit it to himself. so he role plays as cuddy. he hides behind this made-up, fabricated version of reality where wilson's got a crush on cuddy. it's perfect because the only other likely person wilson would go see that play with is cuddy.

after the play, house asks for the dirty details yet 1) gets frustrated at wilson for not sticking to house's own script of Going On A Date To A Play = Sex. and then 2) gets jealous at the thought of wilson having sex after the play with the real cuddy instead of him.

there's mixed, complex feelings written all over the wall here. on one hand, house wants wilson to fall into bed with cuddy because that means that by extension from fabricating this entire thing, wilson is actually falling into bed with house who is merely role-playing as cuddy. fantasy gaga. "i'll miss you. you were a good friend." = the nature of our relationship has changed.

HOWEVER on the other hand, house can't stand the thought of wilson falling into bed with cuddy because it'd be Too Real, Too Literal. it'd be wilson having real sex with the real cuddy and — because this is wilson here — it'd be wilson having a real romantic relationship with the real cuddy. notably not with house. it'd completely fuck the fantasy up.

but house is too far gone and also likes to fuck around and find out. he knows wilson's a hopeless romantic, so he sends wilson flowers in cuddy's name. wilson interprets this as cuddy being sexually interested, which pleases house because he is sexually interested in his boy best friend.

house is overly invested in hearing what wilson's plan is to ask cuddy out after wilson says he doesn't know what "being straight" is. they're on two different wavelengths where house thinks wilson's read between the lines to figure out it was house, not cuddy, this whole time. ergo to him, wilson's "i don't know what that [being straight] is" = i'm interested in you too and i recognize that cuddy is a metaphor; i'm now knowingly playing into it.

meanwhile wilson is literally talking about the real cuddy.

house becomes clearly aroused flustered at the thought of wilson barging into cuddy's office to wordlessly kiss her. house enjoys the way wilson approaches sex & romance differently than him. i think a part of him wants a grand romantic gesture like what wilson described. "i can't stop thinking about her" / "maybe she's right. maybe...maybe this is worth exploring."

and the funny thing is, is that the office wilson does barge right into is house's office.

"you sent those flowers to me!" "yes, because you took her to a play. because actually you do want to march down there and kiss her." "no! i don't!" "yes, you do."

it's just a prank, right? it's just a retaliation, right? calling it a prank or retaliation is a rationalization to deny away how house's attraction is boiling over. he wants to explore things with wilson, wants to get rid of the "good friend" label, but he's way! too! repressed! at least to initiate it outright. so he concocts this convoluted thing just to get wilson to make the first move because, historically, wilson holds the reins in their relationship. they also, historically, work their boundaries out through pranks. why should this situation be any different?

and wilson has this look of slow, frustrated realization before he says, "you're right" because he knows house. wilson is now in on the metaphor, so he admits that he does want to kiss metaphor cuddy.

but when house's face falls, "seriously?" wilson goes right back into The Status Quo "no" because as soon as the metaphor became Too Real, Too Literal, it shook house out of it thanks to his jealousy. that, and maybe wilson — Dr. Comphet himself — got cold feet, too.

they're ships in the night. when one of them is in on the metaphor, the other isn't. house knows how to woo wilson, wilson knows how to woo house. and yet they can't!!! ever!!!! admit it at the same time!!!! house pulls on a push door; wilson pushes on a pull door; the door doesn't open

[lucaswarmhotchocolate]

I love how literally everyone is pointing fingers at someone else to blame foreman’s interview falling through, but I’m gonna be real honest I think it was foreman who cancelled that interview. This is probably a test or smth . Either way I think the progression has been hilarious… Foreman blaming House, House blaming Cuddy, Cuddy blaming Wilson, Wilson blaming Cameron… this is something right from ao3

[gonuclear]

somehow my boyfriend and i ended up on the side of youtube with like…police body cam compilations and in one of them there was this dude at a hospital who had somehow climbed up into the ceiling after lying and telling the cops he had to use the bathroom so he could be left unattended. while he was still crawling through the ceiling i turned to my boyfriend and said “dude this is literally just the plot to an episode of house.”

we then agreed that at the climax of the episode the patient would climb up into the ceiling of their hospital room trying to escape, at which point house would send foreman up there to try and coax the patient out. after that fails (obviously) house decides that he’ll go into the ceiling himself, but by this time the patient has made it to a different part of the hospital and they have to figure out where he went. as house is crawling along the ceiling panels one of them gives way, and he winds up falling directly onto wilson’s desk. while all of this is going on thirteen actually goes and finds the guy (without ever having to go into the ceiling) and gets him to come down long enough for her to give him a sedative. house has some sort of revelation whilst crawling through the ceiling that helps him figure out how to cure the guy, and the episode ends with house getting an invoice from wilson for a new desk (which he will never get).

[qcomicsy]

Choose violence: 1. the character everyone gets wrong

Wade Wilson. Harley Quinn. Tim Drake. Dick Grayson.

I could go more but each one for each particular reasons.

The problem with comic book fandom is that eventually people will be attracted by the vibe. And there's nothing wrong with that most of the time the vibe is good.

Unfortunately it does involve people affirming things without being absolutely sure and myself was also guilty of that a while ago.

Yet, I do not think we should bash these people or act purposely towards them, the comic media is big. There are 80 years of history regarding some characters (Dick for example) and others (the newest ones like Harley, Tim, Deadpool) around 30 years +. That's a lot.

And I am not even pointing out the fact that how different writers will have different takes and different approaches to each character, because each history regarding them will have a particular theme and unfortunately comics suffer from what I call "playing doll house" effect where the writer wants to make a concept he finds very amusing or interesting and most of the time they will be willing to bend character each way their like to serve that.

As a newbie in comics the possibility of getting characters wrong, getting overwhelmed and taking early comics where the version of those characters is fucked up already, wanting to give up even before start is absolutely understandable and possible.

It is overwhelming, it is easy to get it wrong, it is even expected to get wrong because most of this characters have been suffering some kind of flandarization coming from the comics itself.

That being said.

Jesus Christ how those this poor fuckers are misunderstood.

Since I do not read much comics from Tim Drake I won't be speaking much about him, I also won't be speaking much about Dick because I am getting around reading his old series now.

The problem with characters like Wade, Dick and Harley is that the three of them are multifaceted people. Writing characters and understanding characters who are multifaceted is hard.

I, for a long time believed that their more silly moments the jokes and easy going persona where facades a thing that they use as a coping mechanism a thing that it's not the real them. Now I am not so sure.

Yes I do agree a lot of people summarize them as either this ray of sunshine without real feelings and in Wade's and Harleys case a crazy person that has no logical thought process.

The thing is that all of them can be funny and thoughtful. Can have the habilidades of cracking jokes both because they feel like but also to distract an enemy.

Dick Grayson can be a very thoughtful and kind person and cat like an asshole when he's in a bad mood and willingly be mean with people he cares about.

It all boils down to one thing that I have been thinking a lot lately. Comics are one of the few medias where you can have all the liberties to make multifaceted people, people who make mistakes and have a long time to make up for it. To fall on old ways to evolve, devolve, you can express and explore them in each way it relates to the character history and the people who love them.

And I find it such a shame that it's literally the characters who are the most written in that way the ones who suffer the "only character trait ever" syndrome.

[thefandomlesbian]

So no pressure at all not to answer if you don’t want to. Just if you do know…

*could* House still have his leg amputated? Would it help?

Initial disclaimer: I am not a doctor and I don't claim to be, any misconceptions are my own!

So we know that amputation was originally on the table in 1999/2000 when House initially had his infarction and then brought back into the limelight in 2011 when he committed bathtub butchery. But outside of those two acute incidents, could he have an amputation in the interim?

It's sort of a multipronged question because amputations, particularly above knee amputations (AKA) are pretty involved, risky surgeries. There's a lot of significant vasculature in the thigh that can be difficult to control. The femur in the thigh is the strongest bone in the human body, breaking a healthy adult femur is the equivalent of cracking concrete. Contrary to what House says when he claims surgeons are going to err on the side of "caution" and take his leg to protect themselves from complications, there are a lot of risks involved in taking a ~70 lb limb from the body. Patients after an AKA are 4x more likely to suffer a cardiac event. It's not just about preserving function if at all possible (though that is a concern). AKA is lower risk than, say, allowing a necrotic muscle to continue to rot inside the body, but if a healthy person with a mobility device walks into a surgeon's office and says, "I would like to have my leg amputated because of chronic pain," many surgeons are resoundingly going to say no.

That is especially complicated by House having had an infarction, a blood clot. Muscular infarctions are rare and almost exclusively happen in diabetics, so for House to have had one as a nondiabetic man in his late 30s/early 40s, he probably has something unusual going on in his blood to cause atypical clotting factors. He should be taking bloodthinners to prevent another infarction from occurring. By definition, that makes him a higher risk patient for any surgeon--he comes off the bloodthinners for surgery, putting him at risk for another infarction, or he doesn't and he's now at risk for hemorrhage.

Add to the equation that House is American in the world run by insurance--no insurance company is going to approve an amputation in a guy who's walking with a cane. Some would probably try to slide it by as a cosmetic/elective surgery to escape any financial responsibility, so he'd be looking at around $50,000 out the gate for surgery alone.

But the question will it help? is one that... really can't be answered. Again, contrary to what the canon displays, phantom limb pain is seldom easily fixed and can become chronic, plus the physiology is extremely poorly understood, so it's much more difficult to treat than standard acute or chronic pain. There's a pretty good chance that, with time and healing after amputation, House would have a fairly normal, pain-free existence, given he'll always be disabled and he'll face the struggles of using a prosthetic/walker/crutches/whatever mobility aid he chooses. There's also a chance that he could continue to live in chronic pain, now less treatable, while healing a surgical incision and learning how to walk again. It could fall either way. (And potential complications, ie a second infarction, cardiac event, no limitations, there's a lot to work with.)

All of that said--this is just in terms of my experience and limited knowledge. I think amputee!House is something that should be explored more often in fandom, from all sides of the equation (1999, 2011, favorable outcomes, unfavorable outcomes). It's worth mentioning that within the scope of the House MD universe, House does believe that he would be a happier person in less pain if he had had his leg amputated.

In terms of fanworks, anything goes! (I mean I literally wrote a soliloquy on how/why Wilson's cancer is considered terminal while simultaneously writing my WilsonLives!AU, so it's safe to say we should all be comfortable hurling realism in the toilet for the sake of Fix It FanFiction.) There are no rules, medicine as we know it doesn't exist, you can do Whatever You Want for the sake of the narrative.

[brazilianreader]

HOUSE M.D. | 5x??

Firstly, I was watching this episode the other day but I forgot to write down what it was, but it was one from Season 5 close to the episode where the armed man takes House and other characters hostage.

All good

Wait

No. It's not okay.

I'm literally freaking out (not literally haha)

Wilson is in Cuddy's office and tells her "I've always had feelings for you."

Like: MAN??

I still don't know exactly if he meant loving feelings because that's how I interpreted the context of the speech in the translation from my language. But, did he really say that he has >loving< feelings for Cuddy??

If that's a yes… Wilson I never expected this from you. Oh, fall in love with Cuddy? That's right, after all even I'm in love with her, but the point of him admitting it out loud to her face.

I can't judge you after all

And if that's still a yes, then I'm disappointed because I would really like this fact to have been explored in the series (let's face it, it needed and had room for some romantic conflict drama) and I would love to see the HousexCuddyxWilson dynamic

[eddieredmayneargentinablog]

"Cabaret 2024 Musical Ending Explained"

By Gillian Blum Posted: June 29, 2024, for The Direct.

Elusive by nature, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is not exactly the Cabaret audiences are used to, and its ending reflects that.

At its barest of bones, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club starring Eddie Redmayne tells the same story as the four Broadway productions of the show before it. A writer checks into a Berlin boarding house, meets and becomes intimately involved with a tormented Cabaret singer, and watches as the city falls victim to the atrocities of World War II.

Beyond this basic skeleton, though, the 2024 take is not the Cabaret theatergoers are familiar with. Audiences are fully immersed in the story being told on the circular center stage, with the August Wilson Theatre having been transformed into the nightclub from the show itself.

How Does Cabaret 2024 End?

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club uses its signature shock value to bring a message to the conclusion of the show that audiences familiar with Cabaret might not expect.

In all versions of the show, the Emcee (Eddie Redmayne in 2024) speaks directly to the audience over the course of several interludes throughout the musical. Sometimes he moves the story along, akin to a narrator, sometimes he is part of the story, sometimes he is simply commenting on the story or its setting at large.

The Emcee has been portrayed differently over the years, which will be discussed in more depth later. But at his core, the Emcee is always a unique enigma. He does not fit into any sort of box or label, he is in the show but he exists outside of it, he is crazy but he is also an intelligent guide.

As it repeatedly says on the revival's website, the Kit Kat Club is somewhere to "Relax. Loosen up. Be yourself." So, as Berlin is falling to the Nazi regime, the Emcee exists inside of the club that allows others to escape the chaos of the outside world.

In 2024, the Emcee's intense individuality is portrayed in many ways, including the Emcee's costumes (and those of the ensemble at large). Throughout the show, he wears elaborate, often androgynous, costumes that match the strange, almost Eldritch-like way Redmayne portrays the character.

That is, until the show's finale, wherein the Emcee bids the audience auf Wiedersehen dressed in a plain, gray suit.

In fact, throughout the show, more and more of the ensemble and cast start replacing their loud, colorful, extravagant costumes with this identical gray suit, ending the show all wearing the same, dull outfit.

2024 Cabaret Finale Meaning + Changes Explained

At its core, Cabaret is a show about the dangers of political ignorance or indifference. Sally Bowles quite literally chooses to ignore the outside world, in favor of losing herself to drugs and alcohol in a desperate attempt at escapism.

The Emcee's role in that messaging differs from production to production. In the original Broadway version from 1966, Joel Grey's Emcee represented the city of Berlin itself, his malevolence most obvious in the dark conclusion.

When Sam Mendes re-imagined the show, first in London in 1993 and then on Broadway, with Alan Cumming taking on the role of the Emcee, the character's metaphorical significance was drastically changed. Rather than being the perpetrator, the Emcee represented the victim.

Instead of through extravagant costumes like in 2024, Cumming's Emcee displays his uniqueness through unabashed sexuality. He spends the show essentially seducing the audience and wearing revealing costumes, seemingly without shame.

This version ended with the Emcee taking off an overcoat to reveal a striped concentration camp uniform, with badges denoting him as Jewish, Communist and/or Socialist, and part of the LGBTQ+ community. This was done in an effort to highlight the tragedy faced by the victims of the Holocaust — people like the Emcee who were perceived as "different" in some form or another.

In the 2024 Broadway revival (another reimagining that originated in London, this time by director Rebecca Frecknall in 2021), the Emcee's role in the show's messaging has changed once again.

Redmayne explained to the Washington Post that in playing the Emcee, he shows that even the most silly and out there people "can then shape-shift their way into being something that is serious and is quite dangerous:"

“It was intriguing to me that those people that perhaps you don’t take seriously can then shape-shift their way into being something that is serious and is quite dangerous.”

Throughout the show, there was this idea that no matter what is going on in the outside world, within the Kit Kat Club, "life is beautiful." Despite the spread of Nazi ideology, the Kit Kat Club remains a place where people can express their individuality. The Emcee's (and ensemble's) extravagant costumes demonstrate this.

The gray suits represent the cracks in this fierce escapism, with the darkness and chaos of the crumbling city around them slowly infiltrating the Kit Kat Club. But whereas the ensemble is seemingly forced to conform, the Emcee just shifts into a new role, one that perpetuates this loss of individuality.

Talking to the Washington Post, Redmayne described this new role as the Emcee "being puppeteer, conductor, perpetrator," and not "a victim:"

"Individuality was stripped away as fascism rose and people had to become more homogenized ... So the idea, therefore, of our Emcee as being puppeteer, conductor, perpetrator — rather than the version of the Emcee as a victim — was important."

The Kit Kat Club could not remain somewhere to escape to, it was swallowed up by the chaos many characters hoped it would protect them from. Those who saw the club as refuge, a place to be their unconditional selves, lost the individuality they once proudly demonstrated within the Kit Kat Club's walls.

And the Emcee simply embraced it, just as he had previously embraced the individualistic culture the Kit Kat Club had once been home to.

Why Did Cabaret Change Its Ending?

The 2024 revival of Cabaret is a drastic re-imagining of how the musical can convey its story most effectively.

By immersing the audience in the Kit Kat Club, the show is able to reinforce the feelings of escapism the club offers, before stripping it away and turning it into another place consumed by Nazi conformism.

For her version of the story, Frecknall wanted to emphasize "it being the ensemble’s tragedy," not the Emcee's. Part of this, she explained to the Washington Post, is because, Redmayne is a "a cis, White, beautiful Aryan man," and so "would have been okay" in the eyes of the Nazis.

Despite the Emcee being the pinnacle of individuality throughout the show, when push came to shove, he could adapt and become the Nazi ideal. So many others did not, and those were the people whose story Fracknell wanted to highlight:

"“Productions often land on the tragedy of the Emcee, which works really successfully ... But I was interested in actually getting to the end and it being the ensemble’s tragedy. You know, Eddie would have been okay. Eddie is a cis, White, beautiful Aryan man. I thought it was interesting just really acknowledging that and going, 'Actually, you would walk out of this and these people wouldn’t.'"

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is now playing at the August Wilson Theatre.