Set in 1931 Berlin as it careens toward the abyss,Cabaretdepicts alternating stories.
I would never look at theater, or life, in the same way again.
Ive pretty much always got one of Fred Ebbs sardonic lyrics jangling around in my head.
TIP OF THE HATEddie Redmayne, who plays the Emcee inCabaret, wears a Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello jacket. Philip Treacy hat.Fashion Editor: Harry Lambert.
Today, its Youll never turn the vinegar to jam, mein Herr, and I couldnt agree more.
It reaffirmed my love for the theater, he says of his first experience.
Redmayne wears an ERL top and pants and Loewe shoes.
ODD COUPLEGayle Rankin (far left), who plays Sally Bowles, wears a 16Arlington dress and Grenson shoes. Redmayne wears an ERL top and pants and Loewe shoes.
There was just a sort of general debauchery that lived in the experience, he says.
Flash forward 15 years.
Redmayne was eager to return to the role, but many questions remainedprincipally, who might direct it.
WILLKOMMENRankin wears a JW Anderson top and pants. Hat by Stephen Jones Millinery.
(Gillian Lynne directed the 1986 London revival.)
In Frecknalls version, Sally emerges as the beating heart of the show.
When I first met with Gayle, I was blown away by her passion and fearlessness, says Frecknall.
RAZZLE DAZZLERedmayne wears an Alexander McQueen jacket; alexandermcqueen.com.
Shes a real stage animal and brings a rawness and wit to her work, which will shine through.
Shes going to be a bold, brutal, and brilliant Bowles.
Her platinum hair is pulled back from her face and her dark blue eyes project a wry intelligence.
WILLKOMMENRankin wears a JW Anderson top and pants.
Hat by Stephen Jones Millinery.
She grew up in a small Scottish village, watching Old Hollywood movies with her mother and grandmother.
I thought, she says, I am going to go there.
The following year, she and her father flew from Glasgow to New York for her audition.
She would become the first Scottish drama student to attend the institution.
At Juilliard, theres an annual cabaret night, in which all third-year drama students perform songs.
How does Rankin make sense of this fascinating, mystifying character?
And the real truth is, only Sally gets to know who Sally is.
(He gave the character the last name of writer and composer Paul Bowles.)
You said all these things about me that werent true.
And as far as she got in the letter was Dear Christopher.
The upending of Sally as an object is another core conceit behind the production.
I felt that other productions Id seen had this slightly stereotypical male-gaze idea, Frecknall says.
She views Sallys musical numbers as describing different facets of female identity.
The character has secrets to tell us, Rankin says.
Important things to share with us.
And I think thats the umbilical cord between her and the Emcee.
He doesnt exist in the bookGoodbye to Berlinand was their conceit to connect the story of Sally Bowles.
Rankin believes that there is a kind of mystical bond between the two characters.
I think Sally feels that too.
There are no clues in the text.
Prince conceived of the character as a metaphor representing Berlin itself.
A person like Redmaynegiven his class, ethnicity, and sexualitywould emerge from the catastrophe unscathed.
The characters journey is from Shakespearean fool to Shakespearean king.
The show, she notes, becomes the ensembles tragedy.
RAZZLE DAZZLERedmayne wears an Alexander McQueen jacket; alexandermcqueen.com.
That was really at the headline of our mission.
There is something deeply, deeply moving about how weve managed to navigate the usual slipstream of employment.
Part of Scutts intention withCabarethas been to smudge and diffuse the audiences preconceived notions.
Inclusive casting is one mode for change; iconography is another.
In this case, that has meant no bowler hats, no bentwood chairs, no fishnet stockings.
The aesthetic is less Bob Fosse and more Stanley Kubrick.
We started off in a place of ritual, he says.
I really wanted the place to feel as if youve come into some sort ofEyes Wide Shuttemple.
I honestly cant think of another musical that does so much.
It was made with such pain and such love, Scutt says.
Which is absolutely the piece.
In this story: hair, Matt Mulhall; makeup, Niamh Quinn.
Produced by Farago Projects.
Set Design: Afra Zamara.
