Pictures: Umbrella Rooms
American actors Maude Apatow and Mason Alexander Park will join the cast of the multi-award-winning, critically acclaimed Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club in London’s West End from 29 May 2023.
Currently playing Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors Off-Broadway and one of the stars of the critically acclaimed HBO series Euphoria, Apatow will step into the role of Sally Bowles. After giving a Helen Hayes Award-winning performance as The Emcee in Cabaret in Maryland in the US in 2019, Park (Quantum Leap, Sandman, TV, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, US tour) will revisit the role in London.
Commenting on joining the hit show, Apatow said: “Playing Sally Bowles has always been a dream of mine, and I am so grateful to be joining such a spectacular production.”
While Park added: “I am so thrilled to be joining this remarkable production playing a role that has changed my life continuously over the years, in a show that is unfortunately more timely than ever.
“I remember being so moved by the show last year, and turning over my shoulder with tears in my eyes at the interval to see Maude Apatow perched behind me. Cut to a full calendar year from that performance, and we will be doing our first preview paired together as Emcee and Sally.
“To sing these songs and tell this story as a trans person in a time in which many of the themes of the show are slowly reentering the public consciousness, with politicians targeting my community and the communities at the centre of this piece is a harrowing, exciting, and necessary challenge that I am so looking forward to taking on. Come to the Cabaret!”
At certain performances original cast member, swing and understudy Emily Benjamin (Bat Out of Hell The Musical, London Coliseum, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Bridge Theatre) will play Sally Bowles.
On 29 May the production will also welcome Beverley Klein (Caroline, or Change/How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Chichester Festival) as Fraulein Schneider, and Teddy Kempner (Caroline, or Change, Playhouse Theatre, Company, Donmar Warehouse) as Herr Schultz. They will join current cast members: Ives Moiba (Cliff Bradshaw), Danny Mahoney (Ernst Ludwig) and Michelle Bishop as Fraulein Kost.
The cast is completed by Gabriela Benedetti, Emily Benjamin, Charles Croysdill, Laura Delany, Sally Frith, Matthew Gent, Ying Ue Li, Ela Lisondra, Chris O’Mara, Grant Neal, Hicaro Nicolai, Adam Taylor, Toby Turpin, Patrick Wilden and Sophie Maria Wojna.
The Prologue Company currently includes Rachel Benson, Ami Benton, Laura Braid, Reuben Greeph, James Hastings, Samantha Ho, Emma Holt, Liz Kamille, Andrew Linnie, Aine McLoughlin and Callum Sterling.
The final performance for John McCrea as The Emcee and Aimee Lou Wood as Sally Bowles will be on 27 May.
Presented by Ambassador Theatre Group and Underbelly, the unique new version of the classic musical began performances at the in-the-round 550 capacity venue in December 2021. The production won a record-breaking seven Olivier Awards – the most for any musical revival in Olivier history – and three prestigious Critics Circle Awards.
Rebecca Frecknall heads a creative team that includes set and costume designer Tom Scutt and choreographer Julia Cheng. Musical supervision and direction is by Jennifer Whyte, with lighting design by Isabella Byrd and sound design by Nick Lidster. The casting director is Stuart Burt and the associate director is Jordan Fein.
Based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1939 semi-autobiographical book Goodbye to Berlin and the stage adaptation I Am a Camera by playwright and director John Van Druten, Cabaret features music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb.
Angela Thomas
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