Kenwright’s Cabaret Sets September Opening???
Date: 11 April 2006
Joining the ranks of the myriad autumn openings of big musicals including Broadway hits
Wicked and
Spamalot may be the long-rumoured
Bill Kenwright production of
Cabaret, which is tipped to in late September, directed by
Festen’s
Rufus Norris (See
The Goss, 29 Mar 2005). No venues or other details have been confirmed, but with murmurings of Kenwright’s longest-running West End show
Blood Brothers possibly being on the move, perhaps he could open
Cabaret at the Phoenix Theatre? A spokesperson for Kenwright told Whatsonstage.com: “We are not able to release any details until contracts have been signed with the venue and agents”, but acknowledged the show was likely to open in the autumn.
John Kander and
Fred Ebb’s musical opened on Broadway on 1966 and was made famous by the 1972 film starring Liza Minnelli as club singer Sally Bowles in Nazi Germany. Set in the Kit Kat Klub of 1930s Berlin, the story about sultry American singer Sally Bowles is one of pre-war sexual decadence and eroticism. The musical is based on the stories of Christopher Isherwood and the play by John Van Druten, and has a book by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb.
Cabaret was famously revived by
Sam Mendes at London’s Donmar Warehouse in 1993. That production later transferred to Broadway, where it ran from 1998 to 2004 and won a host of awards, including Tonys for Best Musical Revival, Best Actor in a Musical for Scotsman
Alan Cumming, playing the Kit Kat Club’s Emcee, and Best Actress in a Musical for
Natasha Richardson as Sally Bowles, the role immortalised by
Liza Minnelli in Bob Fosse's 1972 Oscar-winning film.
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