Rebecca Frecknall: Last News

A revival of Kander and Ebb musical Cabaret was the big winner at Sunday’s Olivier Awards in London. Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club scooped seven of the prestigious trophies, including Best Musical Revival and Best Actor and Actress in a Musical for Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley, respectively. Redmayne plays the Emcee while Buckley is Sally Bowles. (Scroll down for the full list of winners).

Cabaret is back on Broadway with unbridled decadence and immersive glory. Certain musicals are constructed so well that, even if they are cast with mediocre performances or if the production value is low, they still hold.Cabaret stands as one of the indestructible.This might explain why the original sixties production has been revived and reinvented so many times on both sides of the Atlantic.

Meena Harris For more than half a century, “Cabaret” — the iconic American musical set in Nazi Germany — has been produced, revived and revived again. This story, which touches on sex work, abortion and a complex female protagonist in Sally Bowles, has spoken to audiences generation after generation. But another element of the production stayed true for nearly the same amount of time: on Broadway, “Cabaret” has exclusively been directed by men.

Naveen Kumar When Eddie Redmayne’s slithering Emcee assures the audience at “Cabaret” that “here, life is beautiful,” he’s telling a half-truth. The August Wilson Theater, done up like the Kit Kat Club for a bracing, high-style, Broadway revival that opened there Sunday, has indeed been transformed into a house of pleasure.

Most Broadway shows only get one opening night performance, but Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club had two this weekend!

Brent Lang Executive Editor “No extraneous commotion,” Jordan Fein, the associate director of “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club,” beseeches the small army of construction crew members who are drilling, hammering and carrying planks of wood around him, not to mention the half-dozen musicians and dancers waiting to rehearse. It’s roughly two weeks before the revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “Cabaret” opens its doors to the public, and Fein is fine-tuning the prologue, an hour-and-15-minute immersion into club culture that precedes the show. It’s a daring piece of theatrical provocation that has helped to make the Broadway production one of the season’s hottest (and most expensive) tickets.

Broadway‘s upcoming star-filled revival of Cabaret has added two-time Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth and Fiddler on the Roof‘s Steven Skybell to the cast, with the former Cheers star playing “Fraulein Schneider” and Skybell set for “Herr Schultz.”

EXCLUSIVE: Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (Slave Play) has been cast as “Cliff” in the buzzy, upcoming Broadway production of Cabaret starring Eddie Redmayne as “The Emcee” and Gayle Rankin as “Sally Bowles.”

As long expected, London’s hit immersive staging of the beloved Kander & Ebb classic Cabaret starring Eddie Redmayne as the emcee will move to Broadway this spring, with Gayle Rankin taking the role of Sally Bowles.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin will bring some Weimar decadence to Broadway. The pair will star as The Emcee and Sally Bowles in a new and immersive production of “Cabaret.” The show, dubbed “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club,” was a sensation when it debuted in London with Redmayne and Jessie Buckley. A Broadway transfer has been buzzed about almost as soon as the the production across the pond was first unveiled.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Every year, Broadway brings an exciting group of emerging talents to the spotlight. This new season of theatrical talent and innovators are certain to wow audiences everywhere. Last year’s 10 Broadway Stars to Watch honored Jessica Stone of “Kimberly Akimbo” and Tony winner J.

Jake Shears and Self Esteem have joined the cast of the West End production of Cabaret – watch the official preview video below.Soloist and Scissor Sisters vocalist Shears will join the ‘Prioritise Pleasure’ singer-songwriter (real name Rebecca Lucy Taylor) onstage at the Playhouse Theatre’s Kit Kat Club from September 25 to January 20.The pair are stepping into the lead roles of Emcee and Sally Bowles, respectively. They’ll take over from current cast members Maude Apatow (Euphoria) and Mason Alexander Park (Quantum Leap).In a statement, Taylor said: “I’ve never made a secret of my love of theatre and I couldn’t be more excited about getting to make my stage debut as one of the greatest leads of all time.“I’ve joked for years that there is no need for a Self Esteem musical because Sally’s story covers most of the points.

The 2024 Olivier Awards recognizing achievement in London theater will be held April 14, 2024, at Royal Albert Hall. Nominations will be announced Tuesday, March 12.

David Benedict Having the audacity to harness stabs and slashes of Prokofiev’s celebrated ballet score for “Romeo and Juliet” for a production of Shakespeare’s play suggests remarkable confidence on the part of white-hot director Rebecca Frecknall. It’s not misplaced. Her startlingly visceral production, with a cast led by Toheeb Jimoh of “Ted Lasso,” is not only lit up by the power of bodies leaping in space and dramatically alert even when in repose; it’s also alive to the detailed drama of Shakespeare’s language. The intensity she engenders in her actors is sometimes ramped-up too highly and everything boils over, but at its finest, the fiercely articulate passion is electrifying. The fact that the rulebook is being rewritten is made plain from the get-go. The famous opening address about “two houses alike in dignity” is not spoken: The text is lit up on the wall covering the entire front of the stage. Beneath Gareth Fry’s low growl of a soundscape, the company gathers one by one to claw against it before sending it crashing to the ground. But this is not just a shock tactic. Frecknall is illuminating the line about “taking the wall of any man” and using physical energy to punch into a vigorously staged fight between the warring Montagues and Capulets.

It’s succession season at the UK’s  National Theatre with Rufus Norris, the institution’s Artistic Director, announcing that he will step down in 2025 after a decade in the post.

Ted Lasso star Toheeb Jimoh features in an upcoming theatre production of Romeo and Juliet in London's West End. The actor, who recently reprised the role of Sam in the third season of the Jason Sudeikis sports dramedy, will play Romeo opposite Isis Hainsworth's Juliet at the Almeida Theatre.

Naman Ramachandran The Royal Shakespeare Company’s theater adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s “My Neighbor Totoro” swept the Olivier Awards on Sunday, taking home six out of the nine categories it was nominated in, including the Sir Peter Hall Award for best director, awarded to Phelim McDermott and the Noël Coward Award for best entertainment or comedy play. The Almeida Theatre also had a successful night, with three of its productions taking home awards. Will Keen won best supporting actor for his performance in “Patriots” and “Tammy Faye” garnered two acting awards – Katie Brayben for best actress in a musical and Zubin Varla for best actor in a supporting role in a musical. Rebecca Frecknall’s revival of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” won best actor for Paul Mescal’s portrayal of Stanley Kowalski and best actress in a supporting role for Anjana Vasan’s performance as Stella. The play also won the best revival award.

Jodie Comer and Paul Mescal have secured top gongs for their West End debut performances at the Olivier Awards, hosted by Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham, as the biggest night in British theatre returned on Sunday.

Jodie Comer and Paul Mescal are among the big winners at the 2023 Olivier Awards, which are being revealed this evening at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Scroll down for a list of the winners that will be updated as the names come in. 

EXCLUSIVE: Toheeb Jimoh, who plays AFC Richmond’s goal-scoring Sam Obisanya onTed Lasso. will tackle rhyming couplets when he and Red Rose actress Isis Hainsworth play William Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers in what’s expected to be a sizzler of a Romeo and Juliet production in London this summer.

Paul Mescal has clocked his first Olivier Award nomination for his leading performance in Rebecca Frecknall’s buzzy stage adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire. Scroll down for the full list of nominees.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Tony-awarding-winning choreographer Sonya Tayeh behind the stage adaptation of “Moulin Rouge!” has joined the creative team of the upcoming “Gatsby” musical. The show’s producers Amanda Ghost, Len Blavatnik, Jordan Roth and American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) also announced that the stage adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel will have its World Premiere at A.R.T. in 2024. With “Hadestown” alum Rachel Chavkin on board to direct. As previously announced, Florence Welch, the force behind Florence + the Machine will write the lyrics. Welch will be joined by Thomas Bartlett to work on the show’s music.