Cabaret (Revised 1987)

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Cabaret (Revised 1987)

Full-Length Musical, Drama  /  3w, 4m plus ensemble

Book by Joe Masteroff
Based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Broadway production directed by Harold Prince
Produced for the Broadway Stage by Harold Prince

Daring, provocative and exuberantly entertaining, Cabaret explores the dark and heady life of Bohemian Berlin as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich.

Performance rights for this title are currently withdrawn in the UK and Ireland. To be informed as soon as it becomes available in the future, please submit a license application.

Image: 2021 West End Production (Marc Brenner)

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 4m plus ensemble
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Adaptation (Literature), Period, Docudrama/History
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Pre-Teen (Age 11-13), Teen (Age 14-18)
Accolades
Accolades
  • Winner! Eight 1967 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Composer/Lyricist
    Winner! 1967 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Production
    Winner! 1967 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical
    Winner! Four 1998 Tony Awards for Revival, Actor, Actress, and Featured Actor
    Winner! Three 1998 Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding Revival, Actor and Actress
    Winner! Three 1998 Outer Critics Circle Awards, for Outstanding Revival, Actor and Actress
    Nominee: Two 2014 Tony Awards, for Featured Actor and Actress
    Winner! Seven 2022 Olivier Awards, including Best Musical Revival
    Nominee: Nine 2024 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical

Details

Summary

In a Berlin nightclub, as the 1920s draw to a close, a garish Master of Ceremonies welcomes the audience and assures them they will forget all their troubles at the Cabaret. With the Emcee’s bawdy songs as wry commentary, Cabaret explores the dark, heady and tumultuous life of Berlin’s natives and expatriates as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich. Cliff, a young American writer newly arrived in Berlin, is immediately taken with English singer Sally Bowles. Meanwhile, Fräulein Schneider, proprietor of Cliff and Sally’s boarding house, tentatively begins a romance with Herr Schultz, a mild-mannered fruit seller who happens to be Jewish. Musical numbers include “Willkommen,” “Cabaret,” “Don't Tell Mama” and “Two Ladies.”

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NOTE: Two Broadway versions of this show (1966 and 1987) are available for licensing. Though both follow the same story and share most songs, there are some differences in the script and score:

  • Only the Original 1966 version includes “Why Should I Wake Up?” and “Meeskite.”
  • Only this Revised 1987 version includes “Don’t Go,” “The Money Song” and “I Don’t Care Much.”
  • The two versions differ in their treatment of the character of Cliff: In the Original 1966 version, there is no suggestion that he may be gay or bisexual. In this Revised 1987 version, his bisexuality is more strongly implied.

Both versions include “Willkommen,” “So What,” “Don’t Tell Mama,” “Perfectly Marvelous,” “Two Ladies,” “It Couldn’t Please Me More (The Pineapple Song),” “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” “Married,” “If You Could See Her,” “The Telephone Song,” “Sitting Pretty” and “Cabaret.”

History
Cabaret opened on Broadway on November 20, 1966, and played for 1,165 performances at the Broadhurst, Imperial, and Broadway Theatres. The London production ran for 336 performances at the Palace Theatre. The show was revised for Broadway, first in 1987, when it played for 261 performances at the Imperial and Minskoff Theatres, and again in 1998 at Studio 54, where it played for 2,377 performances. In 2014, Cabaret returned to Broadway at Studio 54, playing an additional 388 performances.
  • Time Period 1930s, 1920s
  • Setting The Kit Kat Klub, a seedy nightclub in Berlin. New Year's Eve, 1929.
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Additional Features Not Applicable, Drag Performance
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Mild Adult Themes
    • Smoking

Media

Videos

  • Joel Grey discusses Cabaret youtube thumbnail

    Joel Grey discusses Cabaret

Photos

  • Cabaret (Revised 1987)

    Image: 2021 West End Production (Marc Brenner)

  • Cabaret (Revised 1987)

    Image: 2014 Roundabout Theatre Company Production (Joan Marcus)

  • Cabaret (Revised 1987)

    Image: 2014 Roundabout Theatre Company Production (Joan Marcus)

  • Cabaret (Revised 1987)

    Image: 2014 Roundabout Theatre Company Production (Joan Marcus)

  • Cabaret (Revised 1987)

    Image: 2014 Roundabout Theatre Company Production (Joan Marcus)

  • Cabaret (Revised 1987)

    Image: © Justin “Squigs” Robertson

Show more +

Music

Music Samples

  • Musical Style Classic Broadway
  • Dance Requirements Easy
  • Vocal DemandsModerate
  • Orchestra Size Medium
  • Chorus Size No Chorus

Licensing & Materials



  • This title is not currently available for performance. To be informed as soon as it becomes available in the future, please submit a license application.
    PLEASE BE ADVISED: There are multiple versions of this title. Before you proceed, please double-check to ensure that you are applying for the version you want. We will not be able to refund rental or shipping fees if you pay for the wrong version.

    For additional information regarding the various versions of CABARET, see A Guide to Cabaret in Breaking Character.

    If you’re still not sure which version best suits your needs, you may purchase a perusal for each available version.

    CABARET (ORIGINAL 1966)

    CABARET (REVISED 1987)

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Authors

Joe Masteroff

Joe Masteroff

Born in 1919 in Philadelphia, Joe Masteroff had only one dream from infancy: to write for the theatre. After the essential lonely childhood and four-year stint in the Air Force, he came to New York to face his future: book writer or book seller? Luckily, luck intervened. Befo ...

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John Van Druten

John Van Druten

John William Van Druten (June 1, 1901 – December 19, 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observations of contemporary life and ...
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Christopher Isherwood

Christopher Isherwood

Christopher Isherwood was a novelist, playwright, screen-writer, autobiographer, and diarist. He was homosexual and made this a theme of some of his writing. He was born near Manchester in the north of England in 1904, became a U.S. citizen in 1946, and died at home in Santa ...
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John Kander

John Kander

John Kander is a Tony, Emmy and Grammy-winning composer, a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors Award, and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. With frequent collaborator Fred Ebb, he composed the score to dozens of Broadway musicals, including Cabaret, Zorba, Chi ...

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Fred Ebb

Fred Ebb

Fred Ebb (1933–2004) was an award-winning lyricist, librettist and director who frequently and successfully collaborated with composer John Kander. Ebb's work for the theatre included Flora, The Red Menace; Cabaret; The Happy Time; Zorba; 70, Girls, 70; Chicago; The Act; Woma ...

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