Emcee understudies Marty Lauter (better known to many as Marcia Marcia Marcia from RuPaul’s Drag Race) and David Merino will step into the spotlight at Broadway’s Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club for the production’s final two weeks at the August Wilson Theatre. They’ll cover the role while Billy Porter recovers from illness. The revival has now confirmed their performance schedules.
Merino will lead September 9–11 and again September 19–21, while Lauter will take on the role September 12–18.
The immersive revival of John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff’s Cabaret will now conclude September 21, earlier than originally announced. The production had been set to run through October, but the closing was moved up after producers confirmed Porter would not return during the run. Porter is expected to make a full recovery from sepsis.
Joining the company are Marisha Wallace as Sally Bowles, Calvin Leon Smith as Clifford Bradshaw, Steven Skybell as Herr Schultz, Ellen Harvey as Fraulein Schneider, Henry Gottfried as Ernst Ludwig, and Michelle Aravena as Fritzie/Kost.
As with its celebrated West End staging, the August Wilson Theatre has been transformed into an in-the-round Kit Kat Club. Audiences are assigned entry times before each performance to experience the prologue, which begins roughly 75 minutes before curtain. At select ticket levels, that experience includes full dinner service as the prologue company of 12 dancers and musicians immerse audiences in the world of the show.
Adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin and John Van Druten’s I Am a Camera, Cabaret follows American writer Clifford Bradshaw as he arrives in Weimar Berlin, falling into the nightlife of the Kit Kat Club and into a relationship with English singer Sally Bowles, all against the shadow of the rising Nazi regime.
The revival’s creative team features choreographer Julia Cheng, club/set/costume designer Tom Scutt, lighting designer Isabella Byrd, sound designer Nick Lidster (for Autograph), and music supervisor/director Jennifer Whyte. Hair and wig design are by Sam Cox, makeup design by Guy Common, with prologue composition and music direction by Angus MacRae. Jordan Fein serves as prologue director. Casting is by Bernard Telsey and Kristian Charbonier, and Thomas Recktenwald is production stage manager.
