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Starring:
Julian Clary performs for the last time on Saturday 19th April, whereafter Alistair McGowan will take the role of Emcee.
Emcee played by Chris Akrill during the week of 17/03/2008
Cast includes Amy Nuttall, Angela Richards,Julian Clary , Michael Hayden, Barry James, Harriet Thorpe, Andrew Maud.
Producer:
Bill Kenwright Ltd.
Writer:
John Kander (Music) and Fred Ebb (Lyrics)
"Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome, in cabaret, au caberet, to cabaret!" Kander and Ebb's remarkable musical set in pre-war Berlin finally returns to the London stage in a major new version.
1931: While the rest of Berlin prepares for war, inside the Kit Kat Klub everything is dark, sexual and morally ambiguous.
The world of nightclub performer Sally Bowles and Emcee was the second musical on which John Kander and Fred Ebb collaborated. Conceived in 1966, it was filmed in 1972 starring Liza Minelli, Michael York and Joel Gray, and went on to win eight Academy Awards.
This new production is directed by Rufus Norris whose credits include Market Boy (National Olivier) Tintin (Barbican) and the award-winning Festen (Almeida and Lyric).
Kander and Ebb's remarkable musical turns the pre-war Berlin of 1931 into a dark and sexually charged haven of decadence, its extraordinary and morally ambiguous inhabitants determined to keep up appearances as the real world - the world outside the comfortable sanctuary of the cabaret - prepares for the nightmarish chaos of war. Its stage and screen awards include 8 Oscars, 7 BAFTA's and 13 Tony Awards.
Norris makes a real drama out of a crisis, as the rise of Nazism in thirties Berlin is reflected through the prism of a raunchy cabaret club, presided over by the seedy Emcee of James Dreyfus and the needy star singer of Anna Maxwell Martin’s Sally Bowles. She and Michael Hayden’s aspiring gay novelist Clifford Bradshaw develop a relationship of sorts when she gatecrashes the boarding house he is staying at.
Join the legendary Sally Bowles live at the Kit Kat Klub: "A shimmering masterpiece of a show guaranteed night after night! It's divine decadence darling!" Award-winning director Rufus Norris returns to the Lyric Theatre, where his recent production of Festen played to great critical acclaim.
Cabaret, with book by Joe Matseroff, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, was based on John van Druten’s play I am a Camera which in turn took its inspiration from Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin stories. The multi award-winning musical was conceived in 1966, later becoming the 1972 film with Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey - the film was to win 8 Academy Awards.
Cabaret was the second of Kander and Ebb’s musical collaborations. Their other work together includes Chicago, Flora, The Red Menace; 70, Girls, 70; The Act; The Rink; Steel Pier and Kiss of the Spider Woman. Originally entitled Welcome to Berlin, it is based on John Van Druten's play I Am a Camera, which in turn was adapted from the novel Mr. Norris Changes Trains and a collection of short stories, Goodbye to Berlin, by Christopher Isherwood. Set in 1929-1930 Berlin on the eve of the Nazis' rise to power, it focuses on English cabaret singer Sally Bowles and her relationship with young American writer Cliff Bradshaw. A sub-plot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and one of her tenants, Jewish fruit vendor Herr Schultz. Overseeing the action is the Emcee, who presides as master of ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub and serves as a general commentator.
Cabaret is suitable for theatregoers aged 14 and older.
Childrens Notes
12+ includes some brief moments of nudity
Press Quotes
"genius" says The Independent "sensational" The Mail on Sunday
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