Theatre News

Michelle Ryan plays Bowles opposite Will Young in Cabaret

| London's West End |

25 May 2012

Former EastEnder Michelle Ryan will make her musical theatre debut playing Sally Bowles in Rufus Norris’ forthcoming revival of Cabaret. As previously reported, pop star-turned-actor Will Young will also make his musical theatre debut in the production, which opens at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October, as the Emcee.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Ryan described the role as a “gift”, adding: “Sally is quite delusional. She’s not the best singer, she’s not a performer, but she has this kind of spirit that takes her through it all … I’ve been working with a voice coach for two years (on new film The Man Inside), so you could say that when Cabaret came along I was ready.”

Based on the stories of Christopher Isherwood and the play by John Van Druten, Cabaret
has a book by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred
Ebb. It premiered on Broadway in 1966 and in 1972 was made into an
Oscar-winning film starring Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles, Michael York
as Cliff and Joel Grey as the Emcee.

Norris’ Olivier Award-winning production originally opened at the West
End’s Lyric Theatre in October 2006 with James Dreyfus as the Emcee
and Anna Maxwell Martin as Sally, who was later succeeded by Kim
Medcalf.

The production, which is choreographed by Javier de Frutos, will play a four-week UK tour before opening at the Savoy.

Since rising to fame in EastEnders, Ryan, now 28, has appeared in TV series including Jekyll, Bionic Woman, Merlin and Doctor Who, while her stage acting credits include Toby Young‘s Who’s the Daddy? at the King’s Head (2005) and The Talented Mr Ripley at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton (2010).