Additional casting has been announced for the upcoming Broadway revival of “Cabaret.” The previously announced transfer of the currently running London production, directed by Rebecca Frecknall, will start previews on April 1 and open on April 21 at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre.
The revival will feature a prologue not seen in any of the four previous Broadway productions of “Cabaret.” Audience members will be welcomed into the world of the fictional Kit Kat Club in Weimar Germany by a company of dancers and musicians. The prologue is directed by Jordan Fein, who will also serve as associate director to Frecknall. Angus MacRae will provide original music and music direction for the atmosphere-establishing prologue. The prologue will begin approximately 75 minutes before each curtain time. Ticket holders will receive a specified entry time.
The prologue dancers will be Alaïa, Will Ervin Jr., Sun Kim, Bryan Longchamp and Deja McNair, all of whom will make their debuts on the Main Stem. Serving as swings will be Ida Saki, who appeared in “Dancin’,” and Spencer James Weidie, in their Broadway debut.
The musicians for the prologue, who are separate from the orchestra for the rest of the show, will include Brian Russell Carey on piano and bass, Francesca Dawis on violin, Maeve Stier on accordion and Michael Winograd on clarinet. Keiji Ishiguri will serve as the musician’s substitute.
“In creating the prologue, we wanted to build a bridge between now and Weimar Berlin; a time when dance and music were being redefined and a time when artists were attempting to make sense of a world spinning out of control,” explained Fein. “Upon entering the Kit Kat Club, audiences will be immersed in Angus MacRae’s original score that combines Klezmer influences with contemporary electronic sounds and Julia Cheng’s choreography that explores the last century of movement and dance.”
“We wanted to subvert an audience’s idea of what it is to go to a Broadway musical and create a club space that’s surprising, arresting, and alive from the moment you enter,” added Frecknall. “Our prologue company will bring the Kit Kat Club to life long before the opening drumroll of ‘Willkommen.’”
The prologue company joins a previously announced principal cast that includes Eddie Redmayne as the Emcee, Gayle Rankin as Sally Bowles, Bebe Neuwirth as Fraulein Schneider, Ato Blankson-Wood as Clifford Bradshaw, Steven Skybell as Herr Schultz, Henry Gottfried as Ernst Ludwig and Natascia Díaz as Fraulein Kost and Fritzie.
“Cabaret” is being produced by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Underbelly, Gavin Kalin Productions, Hunter Arnold, Smith & Brant Theatricals and Wessex Grove.
