Summer means vacation for many people—including Broadway performers. The Tony nominated Broadway revival of Cabaret has announced the summer dates that its headlining stars Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin will be out of the show. They also announced the understudies who will be playing the leading roles of the Emcee and Sally Bowles, respectively, for those dates. 

David Merino will play the Emcee June 17, June 24, July 7, and July 8, while Marty Lauter (aka Marcia Marcia Marcia of RuPaul's Drag Race fame) will play the role July 15. Gabi Campo will play Sally Bowles for the 2 pm matinees June 19, June 26, July 3, and July 10. Paige Smallwood will play Sally for the 2pm matinee July 17. The show revealed these dates on an Instagram story.

This group of understudies are normally part of the Kit Kat Club ensemble. Merino usually plays Lulu, Lauter usually plays Victor, Smallwood usually plays Rosie, and Campo usually plays Frenchie. It's rare for shows to announce understudies ahead of time. So for folks who want to see these talented performers give their own spin to these lead roles, come to Cabaret at the August Wilson Theatre Kit Kat Club this summer.

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Photos: Eddie Redmayne, Gayle Rankin, More in Cabaret on Broadway

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Coming to 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 is currently nominated for nine 2024 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and acting nods for Redmayne and Rankin along with co-stars Bebe Neuwirth and Steven Skybell.

Redmayne (the Fantastic Beasts series) stars as the Emcee while Rankin (Glow) stars as Sally Bowles, alongside Ato Blankson-Wood (Slave Play) as Cliff, Neuwirth as Fraulein Schneider, Skybell as Herr Schultz, Natascia Diaz as Fraulein Kost and Fritzie, and Henry Gottfried(Waitress) as Ernst Ludwig.

READ: Eddie Redmayne First Played the Cabaret's Emcee in School, Now He's Doing It on Broadway

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.

READ: See How Cabaret Renovated the August Wilson Theatre

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.

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."

The Broadway transfer is produced by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Underbelly, Gavin Kalin Productions, Hunter Arnold, Smith & Brant Theatricals, and Wessex Grove.

Visit KitKat.club.

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Photos: Cabaret Opens on Broadway

Next Slide  

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