The London production of Cabaret will be welcoming Billy Porter to it’s cast.
The Kinky Boots and POSE star will be taking over the role of the Emcee from 28th January through to May 2025.
The current revival of the show began in 2021 with the action presented ‘in the round’ placing the patrons in the Kit Kat Club where most of the story is set. This version of the show is also playing on Broadway since earlier this year.
Porter will be the latest in a long list of notable performers to take on the role the Emcee.
Eddie Redmayne received wide-spread acclaim for his performance. Since then everyone from Callum Scott Howells to Layton Williams, John McCrea and Jake Shears have had stints performing the part. Adam Lambert is currently starring in the Broadway production.
Then role was originally played by Joel Grey when the show first opened on Broadway in 1966, he reprised the part for the film version opposite Liza Minelli in 1972. He returned to the role for the 1987 Broadway revival.
Alan Cumming got rave reviews for his take on the Emcee in the 1993 Sam Mendes theatrical adaptation that played in both the West End and on Broadway. When he departed the production Neil Patrick Harris later took over.
The musical is based on the 1951 play I Am Camera, which is turn was based on the 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin by gay author Christopher Isherwood.
