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Cabaret (musical)

Cabaret is an American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff. It is based on the 1951 play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten, which in turn was based on the 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood.

For the 1972 film, see Cabaret (1972 film).

Cabaret

John Kander

Fred Ebb

Joe Masteroff

October 10, 1966: Shubert Theatre, Boston

See list
  • 1966 Boston
  • 1966 Broadway
  • 1967 US tour
  • 1968 West End
  • 1969 US tour
  • 1986 West End revival
  • 1987 US tour
  • 1987 Broadway revival
  • 1989 US tour
  • 1998 Broadway revival
  • 1999 North American tour
  • 2006 West End revival
  • 2008 UK tour
  • 2012 UK tour
  • 2012 West End revival
  • 2013 UK Tour
  • 2014 Broadway revival
  • 2016 North American tour
  • 2017 UK tour
  • 2019 UK tour
  • 2021 West End revival
  • 2024 Broadway revival

Set in 1929–1930 Berlin during the twilight of the Jazz Age as the Nazis rise to power, the musical focuses on the hedonistic nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around American writer Clifford Bradshaw's relations with English cabaret performer Sally Bowles. A subplot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor. Overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub, and the club itself serves as a metaphor for ominous political developments in late Weimar Germany.


The original Broadway production opened on November 20, 1966, at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City and became a box office hit that ran for 1,166 performances. The award-winning musical inspired numerous subsequent productions as well as the 1972 film of the same name.

Emcee – the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub, a leering, ghoulish, flamboyant figure

[f]

 – a British flapper who is the headlining chanteuse at the seedy Kit Kat Klub

Sally Bowles

Clifford Bradshaw – an American writer who has come to Berlin in order to write a novel

Fräulein Schneider – an older German woman who runs a boarding house where Cliff and Sally reside

Herr Schultz – an elderly Jewish fruit shop owner who falls in love with Fräulein Schneider

Ernst Ludwig – a German smuggler who befriends Cliff when he arrives in Berlin

Fräulein Kost – a German prostitute who rents a room in Fräulein Schneider's boarding house

Maria, Lulu, Rosie, Fritzie, Texas, and Frenchie – cabaret girls who perform at the Kit Kat Klub

[t]

Bobby, Victor, Hans, and Herman – cabaret boys who perform at the Kit Kat Klub

Max – the proprietor of the Kit Kat Klub and Sally's boyfriend

Sally Bowles: , Anita Gillette, Melissa Hart

Penny Fuller

Cliff Bradshaw: , Larry Kert

Ken Kercheval

Herr Schultz:

George Voskovec

Herr Ludwig:

George Reinholt

Fräulein Schneider:

Susan Willis

Fräulein Kost:

Rhoda Gemignani

at the Internet Broadway Database

​Cabaret​

at IMDb

Cabaret (1993 UK TV production starring Alan Cumming)

at the Guide to Musical Theatre

Plot and production information

by Keith Garebian. OUP 2011 2nd edition.

The Making of Cabaret