Video: Billy Porter on the Difference Between His Directing and Performance Styles: 'I'm About Love'

Billy Porter has returned to Broadway as the Emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, a role he played earlier this year in the West End production. Having begun performances earlier this week, the Tony-winner visited Late Night with Seth Meyers to discuss the show, along with his beauty line Black Mona Lisa Beauty.

"It was like riding a bike," Porter said of picking up the role again. "I got out of rehearsal early because I knew my stuff!" During the months off before bringing his Emcee to New York, he also directed a play called This Bitter Earth at London's Soho Theatre. As for the difference between his directing and performance styles, he believes they are similar.

"I'm about love. I'm about play. I'm about how blessed we are to be able to breathe this rarefied air that we breathe, and to be able to do the thing that we love the most. I bring that into everything." Watch the full interview, where Porter also talks about cell phone usage in theaters, breaking the fourth wall with the audience, and more.

Porter, along with two-time Olivier Award nominee Marisha Wallace, stars in the Tony Award-winning Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre, having begun performances on Tuesday, July 22, for the production’s final 13 weeks through Sunday, October 19. See photos from their run in London HERE! 

Additionally, the cast features Calvin Leon Smith as ‘Clifford Bradshaw,’ 2024 Tony Award nominee Steven Skybell as ‘Herr Schultz;’ Ellen Harvey as ‘Fraulein Schneider,’ Henry Gottfried as ‘Ernst Ludwig,’ and Michelle Aravena as ‘Fritzie/Kost.’

The second year company of Cabaret also features Gabi Campo as ‘Frenchie,’ Jada Simone Clark as ‘Helga,’ Colin Cunliffe as ‘Hans,’ Marty Lauter as ‘Victor,’ David Merino as ‘Lulu,’ Julian Ramos as ‘Bobby,’ MiMi Scardulla as ‘Texas,’ Paige Smallwood as ‘Rosie,’ and Price Waldman as ‘Herman/Max.’ Swings for the production are Maya Bowles, Pedro Garza, Christian Kidd, Corinne Munsch, Chloé Nadon-Enriquez, and Karl Skyler Urban.

The Prologue Company, the dancers and musicians that welcome audiences to the club, feature dancers Sun Kim, Deja McNair-Kyles, and swing Ida Saki. The musicians of the Prologue are Brian Russell Carey (piano & bass), Francesca Dawis (violin), Keiji Ishiguri (dedicated substitute), Déa Thatcher (accordion), and Michael Winograd (clarinet).

Experience this groundbreaking musical like never before. The denizens of the Kit Kat Club have created a decadent sanctuary Inside Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre, where artists and performers, misfits and outsiders rule the night. Step inside their world. This is Berlin. Relax. Loosen up. Be yourself.

Cabaret, one of the most revered and successful musicals of all time, has music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood. The show features the songs “Willkommen,” “Don’t Tell Mama,” “Mein Herr,” “Maybe This Time,” “Money,” and the iconic title number.

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