Will the real Sally Bowles please stand up? Cabaret, the musical, the real lives behind it

“Berlin was in a state of civil war. Hate exploded suddenly, without warning, out of nowhere; at street corners, in restaurants, cinemas, dance halls, swimming-baths; at midnight, after breakfast, in the middle of the afternoon ... From 1929 to 1933, I lived almost continuously in Berlin, with only occasional visits to other parts of Germany and to England. Already, during that time, I had made up my mind that I would one day write about the people I’d met and the experiences I was having. So I kept a detailed diary, which in due course provided raw material for all my Berlin stories." ― Christopher Isherwood, whose books on Berlin provided the basis for the musical Cabaret. 

I talk to author Brian Fairbanks whose new work-in-progress promises to uncover the extraordinary real characters in behind the musical Cabaret, and "give them agency".