Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin will bring some Weimar decadence to Broadway.

The pair will star as The Emcee and Sally Bowles in a new and immersive production of “Cabaret.” The show, dubbed “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club,” was a sensation when it debuted in London with Redmayne and Jessie Buckley. A Broadway transfer has been buzzed about almost as soon as the the production across the pond was first unveiled. Rebecca Frecknall, who spearheaded the show, returns as director along with designer Tom Scutt. It will play at the August Wilson Theatre.

Previews will begin April 1, 2024. The production will have win opening night gala celebrations starting April 20, with the official press opening on April 21.

In London’s West End the show was a hot ticket, winning seven Olivier Awards, the most for any musical revival in the awards’ history. Like that show, “Cabaret” will be performed in the round, with the auditorium decked out with “dreamlike spaces” which guests will be invited to explore before the show starts. These will feature entertainment, drinks and dining, all of it evoking a certain pre-World War II period of German late night history.

“It was whilst playing ‘The Emcee’ in a student production of ‘Cabaret’ over 25 years ago that my love for theater was properly ignited,” Redmayne said. “It now feels completely thrilling and a little surreal to be a part of Rebecca’s truly unique vision of Masteroff, Kander and Ebb’s brilliance as it arrives on Broadway, where the piece has such a history. I am beyond excited to be doing it arm-in-arm with the remarkable Gayle Rankin and a truly stunning cast and team. I am hoping we will create an experience for you quite unlike any other.”
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Redmayne and co-star Jessie Buckley both won 2022 Olivier Awards for their performances.

The Olivier-winning revival of Cabaret is getting a cast recording. The album will feature the Olivier-winning performances of Eddie Redmayne as The Emcee and Jessie Buckley as Sally Bowles. Redmayne’s “Willkommen” and Buckley’s “Mein Herr” will hit streaming platforms December 21, with the full release following January 20, 2023.

The Rebecca Frecknall-directed production of the Tony-winning 1966 Broadway musical, currently running at London’s Kit Kat Club (a.k.a. the renovated Playhouse Theatre), officially opened December 12, 2021. The original cast also featured Omari Douglas as Cliff Bradshaw, Liza Sadovy as Fraulein Schneider, Elliot Levey as Herr Schultz, Stewart Clarke as Ernst Ludwig, and Anna-Jane Casey as Fraulein Kost with Josh Andrews, Emily Benjamin, Sally Frith, Matthew Gent, Emma Louise Jones, Ela Lisondra, Theo Maddix, Chris O’Mara, Daniel Perry, Andre Refig, Christopher Tendai, Bethany Terry, Lillie-Pearl Wildman, and Sophie Maria Wojna.

The London production also features a new addition: a Prologue Company of nine actors, dancers, and musicians, who welcome audiences to the world of the club as they arrive at the theatre. The initial Prologue Company consisted of Gabriela Bendetti, Rachel Benson, Laura Braid, Julian Capolei, Hollie Cassar, Celine Fortenbacher-Popławska, Samantha Ho, Andrew Linnie, and Sally Swanson with an original score composed by Angus MacRae.

Since last October, the revival has been led by Callum Scott Howells and Madeline Brewer as The Emcee and Sally Bowles (respectively) with Sid Sagar as Cliff Bradshaw, Danny Mahoney as Ernst Ludwig, and Michelle Bishop as Fraulein Kost.
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Artists to be feted at a brunch also celebrating Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch

The Newport Beach Film Festival has announced it’s 2022 Festival Honors, which includes Oscar winners Ron Howard and Eddie Redmayne and actors from Jonathan Majors and Patton Oswalt to Keke Palmer and Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly.) The artists will be honored at a brunch in conjunction with Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch taking place on Oct. 16 at Balboa Bay Resort.

Howard is receiving the Variety Legends and Groundbreakers Award for his creative leadership. After starting as an actor in such classics as “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Happy Days,” Howard became an Oscar-winning filmmaker whose movies as director include “A Beautiful Mind” and “Apollo 13.” Most recently he directed “Thirteen Lives,” the true story of the rescue of a soccer team and their coach from a cave in Thailand. “Thirteen Lives” is available on Amazon Prime.

Another Oscar winner in attendance at the festival is Eddie Redmayne, who will attend the NBFF Centerpiece screening of his new film “The Good Nurse” on Oct. 15 where he will be honored with the Icon Award. The Netflix film stars fellow Oscar winner Jessica Chastain, with Redmayne playing Charlie Cullen, a nurse known as the “Angel of Death” and regarded as one of the most prolific serial killers in history.

The 23rd edition of the festival will be held in person Oct. 13-20 and will spotlight more than 350 films from around the world. For more information visit newportbeachfilmfestival.com [Source]

The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its In Conversation With… series, to be headlined with appearances by Damien Chazelle, Viola Davis and Eddie Redmayne.

Oscar-winning writer-director Chazelle will discuss his career that stretches from Whiplash and La La Land to his upcoming film Babylon, which stars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.

Davis and director Gina Prince-Bythewood will take part in their own informal conversation about their artistic drive and Hollywood careers as their collaboration on The Woman King has a world bow in Toronto next month. Davis is also known for her work on the TV series How to Get Away With Murder and movies like Fences, Widows, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and action-thriller The Old Guard.

Eddie Redmayne, who will be at TIFF this year with The Good Nurse, will also be on hand to talk about his movie career, which includes star turns in Red, The Good Shepherd, Les Miserables, and The Theory of Everything, where he played the scientist Stephen Hawking and earned a best actor Oscar.

And Toronto has booked an In Conversation With… appearance by Korean actors Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung. Jung is bringing A Man of Reason to Toronto, while Lee will be at the festival with his latest film, Hunt.

Since their collaboration on City of the Rising Sun in 1999, both have been key players in Korean cinema and TV, with Lee starring in Netflix’s Squid Game and Jung starring in The Good, the Bad, the Weird; Cold Eyes; and Steel Rain. [Source]

Red Nose Day, the BBC’s annual televized fund-raising event, is set to return on March 18.

Featuring comedy sketches and specials, live performances and a host of celebrity names, the live show will be broadcast from the broadcaster’s Manchester headquarters on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the U.K.

Sir Lenny Henry will return to host the event alongside former Doctor Who David Tennant, “Walk the Line” judge Alesha Dixon, former “Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two” host Zoe Ball and comedian Paddy McGuinness.

The show will include cameos from comedians Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Jack Whitehall, David Walliams and Matt Lucas as well as public figures such as Olympian Tom Daley and actor Rose Ayling Ellis.

Among the sketches and performances audiences can expect to see on the night are “Comic Opera,” which will see six celebrities given 24 hours to learn opera – and perform it in front of a live audience at The London Coliseum; “Schools Thank You” in which “Fantastic Beasts” stars Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne surprise some children at Leavesden Studios, where the Harry Potter franchise was filmed; “Rock Profile” featuring a host of bold-name music artists including Adele, Post Malone, Lady Gaga and Lewis Capaldi; “Ghosts” with pop star Kylie Minogue joining the cast of the sitcom in a one-off sketch; a special performance from “Strictly Come Dancing” winners Rose Ayling Ellis and Giovanni Pernice; “The Repair Shop,” in which French and Saunders gatecrash the show in the hope of getting a free fix; “Jack Whitehall’s Mini Golf Challenge” with Whitehall taking on soccer players Mason Mount and Declan Rice; “Bedtime Stories for Comic Relief” with Stephen Fry and some celebrity friends reading some less child-friendly fare; a musical performance from the cast of West End show “&Juliet” and “The Great Comic Relief Prizeathon” hosted by Joel Dommett and AJ Odudu.
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