Archival PhotosLife Is a Cabaret! Look Back at the Kander and Ebb Classic on Its 54th AnniversaryThe groundbreaking musical opened on Broadway November 20, 1966.
By
Playbill Staff
November 20, 2020
Jill Haworth and cast in CabaretFriedman-Abeles
Cabaret, with a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb, a book by Joe Masteroff, and direction by Harold Prince, opened November 20, 1966, at the Broadhurst Theatre. Starring Jill Haworth as Sally Bowles, Joel Grey as the Emcee, Bert Convy as Cliff, Lotte Lenya as Fraulein Schneider, Jack Gilford as Herr Schultz, and Peg Murray as Fraulein Kost, the show ultimately ran for 1,165 performances, winning eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
Based on stories by Christopher Isherwood and an earlier stage adaptation, I Am a Camera by John Van Druten, the show was adapted for film by Bob Fosse and starred Liza Minnelli, with Joel Grey reprising his performance; both stars took home Academy Awards.
After a 1987 revival that ran for 261 performances (with Grey again returning to the role of Emcee), the show was revived to spectacular effect by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall, running 2,377 performances and earning stars Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson Tony Awards. That revival returned, again with Cumming, in 2014, starring Michelle Williams as Sally Bowles.
In honor of Cabaret's anniversary, flip through photos from its various stage iterations below!
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Look Back at Cabaret on Broadway
Look Back at Cabaret on Broadway
35 PHOTOS
Joel Grey with the cast of Cabaret
Friedman-Abeles / The New York Public Library
Jill Haworth and cast in Cabaret
Jill Haworth and cast in Cabaret
Friedman-Abeles
Joel Grey and company in Cabaret
Friedman-Abeles
Bert Convy and Jill Haworth in the Broadway musical Cabaret, 1966
Joel Grey and company in the Broadway musical Cabaret, 1966
Lotte Lenya and cast
Jack Gilford and Peg Murray
Bert Convy, Howard Kahl and George Reinholdt
The cast of Cabaret
Larry Kert and Anita Gillette
Anita Gillette and Larry Kert
Martin Ross and cast
Martin Ross and cast
Martin Ross and cast
Charles Abbott and cast
Cabaret
Patricia Haines, Charles Abbott and Mary Ann Bruning
Natasha Richardson in Cabaret
Alan Cumming and company in the 1998 production of Cabaret
Alan Cumming and The Kit Kat Girls in Cabaret.
Joan Marcus
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Jennifer Jason Leigh in her last Broadway role, Sally Bowles in Cabaret.
Photo by Photo by Joan Marcus
Adam Pascal, Cabaret's final Emcee
Michelle Williams and Alan Cumming
Michelle Williams
Alan Cumming in Cabaret
Joan Marcus
Michelle Williams and cast
Emma Stone and company
Photo by Joan Marcus
Emma Stone and cast
Emma Stone
Joan Marcus
Danny Burstein, Linda Emond and Alan Cumming
Joan Marcus
Andrea Goss
Randy Harrison and the 2016 National Touring cast of Roundabout Theatre Company’s Cabaret
From the mainstage at Playbill's Pride Festival in Times Square to their own onstage parade, the Tony-winning musical's all-queer stage management team came out from behind-the-scenes.