By Tara Oakes and Stuart McDill
LONDON (Reuters) – Stars from the London revival of musical Cabaret said on Wednesday the play was more timely than ever as it topped the list for most Olivier awards nominations.
Originally produced by Kander and Ebb on Broadway in 1966, the show focuses on the lives of characters linked to a seedy Berlin nightclub during the rise of the Nazis.
The West End revival was launched in 2021 and stars Eddie Redmayne as the Kit Kat Klub’s master of ceremonies and Jessie Buckley as Sally Bowles, an English performer with more ambition than talent. Both are nominated for Oliviers for their performances.
Elliot Levey, nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his role as Jewish greengrocer Herr Schultz, told Reuters that his character’s decision not to leave Berlin despite the threat of violence hit particularly close to home.
“When we started rehearsals, Putin had his troops amassing on the border – 100,000 troops – and it wasn’t headline news. Everyone just assumed it was sabre rattling. It was some sort of strategy. Nobody left Kyiv. And now look where we are,” Levey, whose own Jewish grandfather fled Kyiv due to anti-Semitism, told Reuters.
Lisa Sadovy – up for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical as Fraulein Schneider, who breaks off her engagement to Schultz under Nazi pressure – grew close to tears discussing the resonance of the play with the war in Ukraine.
“I think it’s her last chance and to have that shattered by outside forces. You know, it happens all the time, all over the world, the way people’s lives are ruined,” Sadovy said.
Director Rebecca Frecknall said that John Kander, set to turn 95 this week, was almost “saddened” by how pertinent it remained.
“When they wrote it, they didn’t expect it to be relevant in the future… Every time it’s been on, it always feels as personal if not more personal than its original production,” Frecknall said.
Omari Douglas, who plays bisexual writer Cliff Bradshaw, said the return of war to mainland Europe had created a new resonance with the audience.
“You can kind of just feel it in the air, in the audience every night,” said Douglas, nominated separately as Best Actor for his role in the play Constellations.
Cabaret is nominated for 11 Olivier awards, widely regarded as the most prestigious in British theatre.
The awards are set to take place on April 10.
(Reporting by Tara Oakes; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
