The Cabaret Broadway revival welcomed two new stars this week: Adam Lambert and Auliʻi Cravalho, who are both making their Broadway debuts in the roles of the Emcee and Sally Bowles, respectively. Learn about their interpretation of these beloved characters in the video interview above with Playbill's Jeffrey Vizcaíno.
For the Grammy-nominated Lambert, who's been primarily known as a recording artist and frontman to Queen, Cabaret is an opportunity to establish himself as more than a musician. "I'm excited to get back to theatre," said Lambert. "This was the trajectory I was on. My childhood dream was to do Broadway. I think the closest thing I came to it was rehearsing for the first national [tour] of Wicked here in New York, 42nd Street Studios. But that was almost 20 years ago, so I took the fork in the road, and [I've] been doing the pop music thing, which I will still continue to do. But this is, like, a childhood dream. I love it, and I've always loved this show."
As for real-life Disney princess Cravalho, she admits she's nervous. But Cabaret is a welcomed departure from Moana, the Disney character that made her famous. "It's also such a joy to be playing a character like [Sally], especially juxtaposed—Moana 2 comes out on November 27th. I am so grateful to be playing a role that challenges me in this way, that is an adult woman. I have been fighting for my life to get out of high school roles in TV and film. So I'm stoked to be playing [this] character."
Musical theatre, music, and Moana fans will have a long while to see these two stars—they'll be at the Kit Kat Club through March 30, 2025. Below, see a new video montage from the show.
Lambert and Cravalho succeeded Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin, respectively, in the show.
Currently on Broadway as a transfer from an Olivier-winning West End engagement, the revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's Cabaret opened April 21. Rebecca Frecknall directs. The production was nominated for nine 2024 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. It won one, for Tom Scutt's set design.
READ: In Cabaret, Set and Costume Designer Tom Scutt Wanted to Celebrate Queer Individuality
The current cast of Cabaret also features Calvin Leon Smith, who succeeded Ato Blankson-Wood as Clifford Bradshaw; and Michelle Aravena, succeeding Natascia Diaz as Fraulein Kost and Fritzie, plus Bebe Neuwirth as Fraulein Schneider, Steven Skybell as Herr Schultz, and Henry Gottfried as Ernst Ludwig. Rebecca Frecknall directs.
Based on Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin and John Van Druten's dramatization of it, I Am a Camera, Cabaret is set in Weimar-era Berlin as American writer Clifford Bradshaw arrives to work on his novel and soak up the debaucherous nightlife. He meets English cabaret performer Sally Bowles and a complex relationship develops, all as the Nazis ascend to power and the spectre of World War II and all its horrors loom on the horizon.
Much of the production's creative team is reprising their work for the Broadway bow, including choreographer Julia Cheng; club, set, and costume designer Tom Scutt; lighting designer Isabella Byrd; sound designer Nick Lidster (for Autograph); and music supervisor and director Jennifer Whyte. Hair and wig design are by Sam Cox, and Guy Common is handling makeup design. Prologue composition and music direction are by Angus MacRae, with Jordan Fein serving as prologue director. Casting is by Bernard Telsey and Kristian Charbonier, and Thomas Recktenwald serves as production stage manager.
The revival is the musical's first new staging on the Main Stem since the 1998 revival, which was also a London transfer. That 1998 production was revived in 2014. Revivals of previous stagings are not uncommon for Cabaret.
The oft-produced work premiered in 1966 with Harold Prince at the helm and Joel Grey starring (and winning a Tony Award) as The Emcee. The original staging (with some revisions) was brought back to Broadway, with Grey reprising his performance, in a 1987 revival. The 1998 version of Cabaret, a more dramatic revision of the work, starred Alan Cumming as the Emcee—Cumming won the Tony for his performance and came back with the production when it was revived in 2014.
The musical was famously adapted for the big screen by director-choreographer Bob Fosse, with Liza Minnelli starring as Sally Bowles. The film version, considerably darker and seedier than Prince's staging, won eight Academy Awards and is considered by many one of the best films ever made. Revisions to the stage work since the 1972 film have largely transplanted the film's energy into the script—along with some of its new songs, including "Mein Herr" and "Maybe This Time."
The Broadway transfer is produced by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Underbelly, Gavin Kalin Productions, Hunter Arnold, Smith & Brant Theatricals, and Wessex Grove.
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Adam Lambert in Cabaret
Auli’i Cravalho and Adam Lambert in Cabaret
Auli’i Cravalho in Cabaret
