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Cabaret At The Kitkat Club: Eddie Redmayne And Gayle Rankin Teams Up For Iconic Broadway Musical
The iconic musical Cabaret is back on Broadway, but this time, audiences will be more than just spectators. Starring Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin, the show will seat its audience directly in the centre of the action.
Broadway's Cabaret, directed by Rebecca Frecknall, has returned to Broadway after three years on London's West End. The revival, held at the August Wilson Theatre, has been transformed into a glitzy, Weimar-era Berlin nightclub. The show, which won seven Olivier Awards, is sweet, shocking, intoxicating, and leaves a lasting impression.
The show features a series of neon-drenched alleyways and cherry schnapps, showcasing the production's gritty, haunting nature. The show opens at the August Wilson Theatre, transforming the space into a glitzy, Weimar-era Berlin nightclub with bustling bars and intimate table seating. The theater-in-the-round experience is a testament to Frecknall's masterful storytelling and the musical's ability to leave a lasting impression.
Eddie Redymayne and Gayle Ranking teams up for Cabaret At The Kitkat Club
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is set to open at the August Wilson Theatre in New York, featuring a complete revamp with a round seating arrangement, ensuring the audience is at the center of the action.
Speaking to CBS news, actor Gayle Rankin said, "The cabaret is a place of hope." Rankin, who takes on the role of Sally Bowles (originally played by Liza Minnelli in the film) continued, "And I think it's why all of these really extraordinary beings descend on it, and how that hope is dashed and broken and destroyed."
Rankin added, reflecting the show's dark undercurrent set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany's rise to power. Olivier Award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, who plays the Emcee, says the production is a stark reminder of the dangers of complacency.
"Is 'Cabaret' a warning?'" Redmayne asks. "For me, it is. It shows the hope, the joy, the aspiration, but it shows how progress can be taken from you, and we can regress."
Redmayne spoke further about his original connection to the play, “I was about 14 or 15 years old, I was at school, and I was cast as the Emcee. And I'd never listened to 'Cabaret,' so that was my introduction to it. And something in that experience struck me.
“I don't come from a very theatrical family. My parents were always beautifully supportive, but from an early age I was like, 'Oh, this is what I wanna do,’” he recalled. “And I'll never forget that after they came to see my school production of 'Cabaret,' they were like, 'Go for it.'"
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is an immersive theatre production that blurs the lines between reality and the world of the Kit Kat Klub. Audience members enter through a side door, greeted by performers and musicians, making it a must-see for theatregoers.
A brief about the Cabaret At The Kitkat Club
Cabaret is an American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff. It is based on the 1951 play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten, which in turn was based on the 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood.
Set in 1929–1930 Berlin during the twilight of the Jazz Age as the Nazis rise to power, the musical focuses on the hedonistic nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around American writer Clifford Bradshaw's relations with English cabaret performer Sally Bowles.
A subplot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor. Overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub, and the club itself serves as a metaphor for ominous political developments in late Weimar Germany.
The original Broadway production opened on November 20, 1966, at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City and became a box office hit that ran for 1,166 performances. The award-winning musical inspired numerous subsequent productions as well as the 1972 film of the same name.
On July 11, 2023, it was announced that the 2021 West End production would transfer to the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway in spring 2024. Similarly to the West End production, the August Wilson Theatre was also refurbished as the Kit Kat Club with an intimate in-the-round staging.
Eddie Redmayne reprised his performance from London as the Emcee with Gayle Rankin and Ato Blankson-Wood costarring as Sally Bowles and Cliff Bradshaw. Additionally, Bebe Neuwirth, Steven Skybell, Natascia Diaz, and Henry Gottfried play Fraulein Schneider, Herr Schultz, Fraulein Kost, and Ernst Ludwig, respectively.
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