Theatre News

Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin to star in Cabaret on Broadway

Lead casting for the show has been revealed

Alex Wood

David Gordon

| New York |

23 October 2023

Gayle Rankin and Eddie Redmayne, © Mason Poole HORIZ, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin will headline Rebecca Frecknall’s upcoming Broadway revival of Cabaret, beginning performances in the spring of 2024 at the August Wilson Theatre.

Redmayne will reprise his WhatsOnStage and Olivier Award-winning turn as the Emcee, which he originated in this production’s West End mounting, and Rankin (soon to appear in House of the Dragon, with other credits including Glow) will take on the role of Sally Bowles. Rankin appeared in the 2014 Broadway revival as Fraulein Kost.

Cabaret, which completely gutted the West End’s Playhouse Theatre and rebuilt it as an in-the-round cabaret space called the Kit Kat Club, earned a revival record-setting seven Olivier Awards in 2022.

The New York mounting is expected to transform the Wilson into a similarly configured Kit Kat Club in London. It will open on 1 April 2024, with twin gala nights on 20 and 21 April.

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Redmayne said: “It was whilst playing the Emcee in a student production of Cabaret over 25 years ago that my love for theatre was properly ignited. It now feels completely thrilling and a little surreal to be a part of Rebecca’s truly unique vision of Masteroff, Kander, and Ebb’s brilliance as it arrives on Broadway, where the piece has such a history.

“I am beyond excited to be doing it arm-in-arm with the remarkable Gayle Rankin and a truly stunning cast and team. I am hoping we will create an experience for you quite unlike any other.”

Rankin added: “Cabaret has been a wildly profound marker in my life. How I understand myself as an artist and citizen in the very fragile world we live in has proved to revolve on its axis. I am completely honored to hold hands with Sally inside of this singular, powerful production, and forever grateful to Rebecca, Eddie, and the whole family for inviting me into its creation on Broadway.”

Frecknall directs the John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff masterpiece, which is based on the play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten and the Berlin Stories of Christopher Isherwood.

The team includes club, scenic, and costumer designer Tom Scutt, lighting designer Isabelle Byrd, sound designer Nick Lidster, choreographer Julia Cheng, musical supervisor Jennifer Whyte, assistant director/prologue director Jordan Fein, and prologue composer/musical director Angus MacRae.

Scutt said: “The Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson will be the thrilling evolution of our production of Cabaret. Inspired not only by 1920s Germany and 2020s London, our new renovation is enriched by the influence of New York deco architecture, the jazz age, and queer cabaret. Cabaret NYC promises to be a totally unique melting pot of an experience.”

Redmayne and Rankin are scheduled to play a limited engagement through to Saturday, 31 August. Starting on Monday 17 June, Redmayne will not perform on Monday evenings and Rankin will not perform at Wednesday matinees.

Additional casting will come in the next few weeks.