Tomorrow Belongs to Me: Cabaret Turns Five on Broadway, March 19 | Playbill

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News Tomorrow Belongs to Me: Cabaret Turns Five on Broadway, March 19 Roundabout Theatre Company's musical revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's Cabaret celebrates its 5th anniversary, March 19. At this benchmark, the show has played 2,045 performances.
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Neil Patrick Harris, the current Emcee in Cabaret. Photo by Joan Marcus

The musical directed by Sam Mendes with Rob Marshall featuring the music of Kander, the lyrics of Ebb and book by Joe Masteroff, opened on Broadway March 19, 1998. It won Tony Awards that year including Best Revival of a Musical.

The current revival surpassed the tallies of the original production and the musical's first revival. Cabaret first played Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre under the direction of Harold Prince. The production which opened Nov 20, 1966, would play 1165 performances (including a transfer to the Imperial Theatre) before closing at the Broadway Theatre Sep 6, 1969. A revival with original star Joel Grey (reprising his role as the Emcee) and director Harold Prince opened Oct 22, 1987, at the Imperial, playing 261 performances before closing.

This production began at the Henry Miller Theatre (the current home to Urinetown) and was forced to move when the city shut down the street due to a construction elevator collapse at the nearby Conde Nast building site. The new environmental production — featuring a Kit Kat Club setting that extends out into the audience with tables — moved to Studio 54 in November, 1998.

Neil Patrick Harris (Proof) currently heads up the cast as the Emcee with Deborah Gibson as Sally Bowles. Tom Bosley (Herr Schultz), Mariette Hartley (Fraulein Schneider), Rick Holmes as (Clifford Bradshaw), Jane Summerhays (Fraulein Kost) and Peter Benson (Ernst Ludwig) also star.

Harris becomes the seventh Emcee in this revival following the Tony Award-winning originator Alan Cumming. Subsequent performers included Michael Hall, Matt McGrath, Raúl Esparza, and John Stamos. Gibson is the latest in a long line of varied actresses to play the role of Sally Bowles after the revival's other Tony Award-winning originator Natasha Richardson. Other include Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary McCormack, Susan Egan, Joely Fisher, Lea Thompson, Katie Finneran, Gina Gershon, Kate Shindle, Brooke Shields, Jane Leeves, Molly Ringwald and Heather Laws.

Some interesting 5-year facts:

 

 

  • 5 Actors, 2 Musicians, 2 Stage Managers and 7 Stagehands of the original company are still with the show
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  • Only two Ernst Ludwig costumes have been made: One for the understudy and one that has fit all other actors who have portrayed the role.
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  • The "GO" button on the production light board has been pushed 595,452 times Cabaret has gone through:

     

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  • 18,738 Cigars
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  • 51,100 Cigarettes
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  • 312 Pineapples
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  • 2,045 Oranges
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  • 403 Apples
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  • 565 Prop Newspapers
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  • 50 Bricks
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  • 2,325 Eggs
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  • 73 Gallons of Worcestershire Sauce
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  • 83,845 AA Batteries
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  • 6,079 Pots of Coffee
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  • 40 Zippo Lighters and 4 Gallons of Lighter Fluid
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  • 3 Typewriters
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  • 2 Gramophones
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  • 2 Pianos and 75 piano strings Roundabout Theatre Company artistic director Todd Haimes told Playbill On-Line (Aug. 2002) that Cabaret will play one more year at the space and then close to make way for a revival of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins.

    Tickets for Cabaret at Studio 54, 254 West 54 Street, can be purchased at (212) 239-6200 or click here.

     

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