Eddie Redmayne is currently reprising his Olivier-winning performance as the Emcee in Broadway's new immersive revival of John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff's Cabaret, so it's probably no surprise that he counts original stage and screen Emcee Joel Grey as a "hero." So what happens when Redmayne is performing the show, looks out into the audience, and spots Grey staring back at him?
"We clocked eyes," Redmayne shared on an April 25 visit to Live With Kelly and Mark. "I was in character, and he put his hands on his heart and sort of pushed his heart toward me. I will never forget [it] in my life." See the full story in Redmayne's interview above.
Coming to Broadway as a transfer from an Olivier-winning West End engagement, Cabaret opened at the Kit Kat Club (née August Wilson Theatre) April 21. Rebecca Frecknall directs. Read the reviews here.
Along with Redmayne, the cast is led by Gayle Rankin (Glow) as Sally Bowles, Ato Blankson-Wood (Slave Play) as Cliff, Bebe Neuwirth as Fraulein Schneider, Steven Skybell as Herr Schultz, Natascia Diaz as Fraulein Kost and Fritzie, and Henry Gottfried (Waitress) as Ernst Ludwig.
READ: How to Get $25 Tickets to Broadway's Cabaret
The company also includes Marty Lauter (AKA Marcia Marcia Marcia of RuPaul's Drag Race season 15) as Victor, Gabi Campo as Frenchie, Ayla Ciccone-Burton as Helga, Colin Cunliffe as Hans, Loren Lester as Herman/Max, David Merino as Lulu, Julian Ramos as Bobby, MiMi Scardulla as Texas, and Paige Smallwood as Rosie. Swings include Hannah Florence, Pedro Garza, Christian Kidd, Chloé Nadon-Enriquez, Corinne Munsch, and Karl Skyler Urban.
As in the production's West End run, the theatre has been transformed into an in-the-round Kit Kat Club. Ticket holders receive a "club entry time" before their show date so that everyone's able to take in the pre-show, which can even include a full dinner at some ticket levels. The prologue company, a group of 12 dancers and musicians, welcome theatregoers with a pre-show performance beginning approximately 75 minutes prior to curtain time.
The Broadway prologue company comprises dancers Alaïa, Iron Bryan, Will Ervin Jr., Sun Kim, and Deja McNair. The musicians include Brian Russell Carey on piano and bass, Francesca Dawis on violin, Maeve Stier on accordion, and Michael Winograd on clarinet. Rounding out the company are dancer swings Ida Saki and Spencer James Weidie, and dedicated substitute musician Keiji Ishiguri.
READ: Eddie Redmayne On How His Emcee in Cabaret Is a Shape Shifter
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."
READ: 50 Years of Cabaret: The Surprisingly Transformative Journey of a Classic
The Broadway transfer is being produced by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Underbelly, Gavin Kalin Productions, Hunter Arnold, Smith & Brant Theatricals, and Wessex Grove.
Visit KitKat.club.
Eddie Redmayne in Cabaret
Gayle Rankin in Cabaret
Gayle Rankin, Eddie Redmayne, and company of Cabaret
Company of Cabaret
Gayle Rankin and company of Cabaret
Steven Skybell and Bebe Neuwirth in Cabaret
Henry Gottfried in Cabaret
Eddie Redmayne and company of Cabaret
Gayle Rankin and Ato Blankson-Wood in Cabaret
Gayle Rankin and company of Cabaret
Eddie Redmayne and company of Cabaret
Bebe Neuwirth in Cabaret
