Cabaret, Starring Alan Cumming, to Return to Studio 54?

Will the Roundabout Theatre Company's acclaimed 1998 revival of Cabaret return to its old haunt, Studio 54?

The New York Post's Michael Riedel reports that plans are in the works to bring back the smash revival, with Alan Cumming reprising his Tony Award-winning performance as the ghoulish Emcee, who presides over the seedy Kit Kat Klub in a Weimar-era Germany blinding itself to the political terrors around the corner.

Riedel writes that Cabaret may follow the Roundabout's transfer production of Sunday in the Park with George, which opens on February 14th, 2008, into Studio 54 later next year.   "Cabaret was a huge artistic success. Reviving the show would allow new audiences to see it. And unlike the commercial theater, if the engagement made a profit, the money would go into other productions (seven-plus new stagings a year) and educational programs," said a Roundabout spokesperson.

Directed by Sam Mendes, with co-direction and choreography by Rob Marshall, the revival of Cabaret featured a number of changes from the original production and met with critical accolades.  The production, which won Tony Awards for stars Cumming, Natasha Richardson and Ron Rifkin, as well as one for Best Revival of a Musical, ran from March 19th, 1998 through January 4th, 2004.

Based on The Berlin Stories of Christopher Isherwood and the play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten, Cabaret features a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb and a book by Joe Masteroff.  The original legendary 1966 production, directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Ronald Field, led to an Oscar-winning film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli as Kit Kat Klub star Sally Bowles, with Joel Grey winning an Oscar for reprising his Broadway turn as the Emcee.

Visit www.roundabouttheatre.org for more on the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Photo of Alan Cumming by Retna Ltd.