Cabaret
- 2hr 45min. Incl. 1 interval.
- Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse
- 4.7/5 based on 143 reviews
Cabaret photos
- Booking details
- Booking until: Saturday, 31 May 2025
- Running time: 2hr 45min. Incl. 1 interval.
- Age restrictions
- Important information - Please read
Cabaret description
This is Cabaret, the beloved 1966 musical set in pre-war Berlin’s infamous Kit Kat Club, one of the few remaining places in the city where people can still be themselves. This smash-hit production of one of the best-loved musicals of all time has been revived numerous times, winning seven Oliviers including Best Musical Revival.
A classic musical with impeccable credentials
Cabaret has a book by Joe Masteroff and music by John Kinder, plus lyrics by Fred Ebb. Based on the 1939 Christopher Isherwood novel, Goodbye to Berlin, it’s a semi-autobiographical story about his time in the city between 1929 and 1932, when the sinister Weimar Republic was rising. At the end of WW2 John van Druten adapted the novel for the stage, and the rest is history.
Cabaret debuted on Broadway in 1966 starring Joel Grey as the Emcee and Jill Haworth as Sally Bowles. It has been revived numerous times since. Recent revivals include the West End production at the Lyric Theatre in 2006 directed by Rufus Norris, and 2021’s Savoy Theatre production which set off on tour for 2013, 2017 and 2019. There was a 2014 Broadway revival and a 2021 West End revival, and the show is apparently on its way to Broadway after the current West End run.
The story whisks us back to 1931 where we meet an English night club performer Sally Bowles, who performs at the outrageous Kit Kat Club in Berlin. We follow her as she enters a relationship with the American writer Cliff Bradshaw while, at the same time in the same city, the boarding house owner Fraulein Schneider and her Jewish lover Herr Schultz battle to survive Weimar Germany.
About the actors and creatives
The action stars Jake Shears as Emcee and Rebecca Lucy Taylor as Sally Bowles until March, when the main cast members change. They’re replaced by Luke Treadway as Emcee and Cara Delevingne as Bowles. Taite-Elliot Drew also plays his role of Clifford Bradshaw until March, replaced by Michael Ahomka-Lindsay.
Jake Shears is the lead singer of Scissor Sisters, and the musician and actor Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s stage name is Self Esteem. She’s making her West End debut in Cabaret. Luke Treadway previously wowed us in The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and Cara Delevingne was brilliant in Anna Karenina. Taite-Elliot Drew comes with varied credits including The Beggars Opera and Into The Woods, and Michael Ahomka-Lindsay was nominated by WhatsOnStage for an award for his work in the musical Newsies.
Directed by Rebecca Frecknall, the set and costume design is by Tom Scutt, the choreography by Julia Cheng, lighting design by Isabella Byrd, sound design by Nick Lidster and musical supervision by Jennifer Whyte.
The score is a classic too, packed with catchy tunes you’ll remember. Willkommen, So What?, Telephone Song and Don't Tell Mama, Mein Herr, Perfectly Marvellous, Two Ladies, Cabaret itself fill the show with excitement and emotion.
