By Ernio Hernandez
04 Jan 2004

Adam Pascal, Cabaret's final Emcee

The Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's Cabaret end its long run at Studio 54 on Jan. 4, 2004.

The environmental staging by Sam Mendes (Gypsy, "American Beauty") and Rob Marshall (Little Me, "Chicago") will have played 37 previews and 2,378 performances by its run's end— etching the revival's final mark in Broadway history as having registered one performance more than the original staging of Annie.

Cabaret opened on Broadway March 19, 1998, at the Kit Kat Club (Henry Miller's Theatre) after previews from Feb. 13. The production then moved Nov. 12 — due to a construction accident on the theatre's block that shut down the Miller — to the former discotheque Studio 54, where it currently runs.

Roundabout, which recently purchased Cabaret's current home Studio 54, has announced that a revival of the Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman musical Assassins will inaugurate the space as Roundabout's new Broadway musical venue in March 2004. The theatre will not become a traditionally seated venue for some time yet, according to a production spokesperson.

Adam Pascal (Aida, Rent) and Susan Egan (Beauty and the Beast) will end the show's run in the roles of the Emcee and Sally Bowles — originated to Tony Award-winning success by Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson. The final cast also includes Tony Roberts (as Herr Schultz), Blair Brown (as Fraulein Schneider) with Rick Holmes, Liz McConahay and Martin Moran.

The many replacement stars that have played in the Emcee and Sally Bowles in Cabaret include Raul Esparza, Katie Finneran, Joely Fisher, Gina Gershon, Deborah Gibson, Michael C. Hall, Neil Patrick Harris, Jane Leeves, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary McCormack, Matt McGrath, Molly Ringwald, Brooke Shields, Kate Shindle, John Stamos, and Lea Thompson. Polly Bergen, Tom Bosley, Mariette Hartley, Hal Linden, Dick Latessa and Carole Shelley have appeared in the roles of Schneider and Schultz.

The musical — featuring a book by Joe Masteroff based on the play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten (which was based on "The Berlin Stories" by Christopher Isherwood — won the 1998 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical as well as Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Ron Rifkin). Kander penned the music and Ebb handled lyrics.

The revival staging — which set audiences in a 1929 Berlin cabaret where the actors at times played among them — was designed by Robert Brill (set and club), William Ivey Long (costume), Peggy Eisenhauer and Mike Baldassari (lighting) and Brian Ronan (sound). Scott Pask served as associate scenic designer, Randy Mercer handled hair and Paul Huntley designed wigs.