Broadway's Cabaret is welcoming even more new faces to the Tony-nominated revival this fall. Fat Ham star Calvin Leon Smith will succeed Ato Blankson-Wood as Clifford Bradshaw beginning September 16, alongside previously announced new stars Adam Lambert and Auli'i Cravalho.
Blankson-Wood, part of the revival's original company, will play his final performance September 14, departing alongside fellow original cast members Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin as The Emcee and Sally Bowles, respectively.
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. Read the reviews here. The production was nominated for nine 2024 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. It won one, for Tom Scutt's set design.
The current cast of Cabaret also features Bebe Neuwirth as Fraulein Schneider, Steven Skybell as Herr Schultz, Henry Gottfried as Ernst Ludwig, and Natascia Diaz as Fraulein Kost and Fritzie.
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.
READ: Eddie Redmayne First Played the Cabaret's Emcee in School, Now He's Doing It on Broadway
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.
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.
The creative team also includes 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.
READ: In Cabaret, Set and Costume Designer Tom Scutt Wanted to Celebrate Queer Individuality
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 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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