Adam Lambert and Auli’i Cravalho Are the New Stars of Broadway’s Cabaret

BY LOGAN CULWELL-BLOCK

Originally published on playbill.com.

The immersive revival of the Kander and Ebb musical continues its run at the Kit Kat Club in the August Wilson Theatre.

Adam Lambert and Auli’i Cravalho join Broadway’s Cabaret as The Emcee and Sally Bowles, respectively, September 16, and new production shots offer a first look at the new stars.

Succeeding the revival’s original stars Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin, respectively, Lambert and Cravalho join the production at the August Wilson Theatre Kit Kat Club alongside fellow new cast members Calvin Leon Smith, who succeeds Ato Blankson-Wood as Clifford Bradshaw; and Michelle Aravena, succeeding Natascia Diaz as Fraulein Kost and Fritzie. The cast also features Bebe Neuwirth as Fraulein Schneider, Steven Skybell as Herr Schultz, and Henry Gottfried as Ernst Ludwig. Rebecca Frecknall directs.

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.

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.