Willkommen! Roundabout Will Welcome Tony-Winning Cabaret Back to Broadway With Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams in 2014 | Playbill

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News Willkommen! Roundabout Will Welcome Tony-Winning Cabaret Back to Broadway With Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams in 2014 Michelle Williams, an Oscar nominee for her performances in "My Week with Marilyn," "Blue Valentine" and "Brokeback Mountain," will make her Broadway debut alongside Tony Award winner Alan Cumming in the Roundabout Theatre Company Broadway revival of Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall's Tony-winning production of Cabaret, producers announced Sept. 4.

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Alan Cumming

Cumming (Macbeth, Threepenny Opera, Design for Living) will reprise his performance as Emcee, the show's master of ceremonies and the role he was awarded the 1998 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Williams will make her Broadway debut as nightclub singer Sally Bowles.

Academy Award winner Mendes (director) and Academy Award nominee Marshall (co-director/choreographer), who were Tony-nominated for their work on the 1998 production, will return to recreate their direction and choreography from the 1998 Tony Award-winning production.

The 24-week limited engagement will begin previews March 21, 2014, at Studio 54, where the Kit Kat Klub was housed in 1998. (Mendes and Marshall will convert Studio 54 into the grittty Kit Kat Klub with cabaret-type seating as well as traditional theatre seating to recreate the environment of the notorious pre-war Berlin Nightclub.) Opening night on Broadway is set for April 24, 2014.

"I'm delighted to be stepping back into the Kit Kat Klub one more time, and to be having the opportunity to re-explore and re-discover this extraordinary musical alongside two equally extraordinary performers," said director Mendes in a statement.

Co-director/choreographer Marshall added, "I am thrilled that Todd Haimes and the Roundabout have decided to revive this production of the Kander/Ebb/Masteroff masterwork, Cabaret. Working on this unique and profound musical was a truly great experience and I am looking forward to returning to it with such a spectacular cast. Michelle Williams is an actress of rare gifts and she will make an astonishing Sally Bowles. And I am especially excited that Alan Cumming is reprising his extraordinary performance as the Emcee for a whole new audience to experience."

Michelle Williams
photo by ABC/ Rick Rowell
Cabaret features a book by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. It is based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood.

"Cabaret is one of the greatest musicals in American musical theatre history," said Roundabout artistic director Todd Haimes in a statement. "A classic like Cabaret should be seen at least every decade in the same way we see classic plays like A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie. Our production opened 15 years ago in a seminal production directed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall and showcased a Tony Award-winning performance by Alan Cumming. Sam, Rob and Alan bring back 15 years of experience and perspective to this material. I am excited to experience the production with an all new cast including Michelle Williams who I know will make an exceptional Sally Bowles."

Cumming, who will revisit the Emcee, said, "I first played the Emcee in London 20 years ago, and then again five years later on Broadway. I was in a totally different place in my life on both those occasions, and I am certainly a different man today. But one thing hasn't changed: There are still people in this world who want to oppress and destroy us for being different, and Cabaret is both a celebration of diversity and a reminder of the dangers of complacency. It couldn't be more relevant and I couldn't be more excited to be a part of it."

Complete casting will be announced at a later date.

Kander is "thrilled that Cabaret is coming back" and Masteroff "can hardly wait to see what some brilliant guys have done to make the new Cabaret as fresh and young as ever."

The original design team will also return for the 2014 production, including set and club design by Robert Brill, costume design by William Ivey Long, lighting design by Peggy Eisenhauer and Mike Baldassari and sound design by Brian Ronan. Patrick Vaccariello is the musical director.

Roundabout's production of Cabaret opened on Broadway March 19, 1998, starring Cumming and Natasha Richardson and won four Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Actor in a Musical. The production played for six years through Jan. 4, 2004. Cabaret premiered on Broadway in 1966 and won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Studio 54 is located at 254 West 54th Street. Tickets are currently available to Roundabout subscribers and donors, and will be available to the public in the coming weeks. For more information, call (212) 719-1300 or visit RoundaboutTheatre.org.

 
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