Video: Billy Porter Talks Fulfilling Dream Role as Emcee in Broadway’s CABARET

Playing the Emcee on Broadway has been a longtime dream for Billy Porter. The Tony-winner, who steps into the shoes of the Cabaret host this week, visited CBS Mornings to talk about taking on the role in the current Broadway production. With Porter and Marisha Wallace starring in the show, it will mark the first time the leads are played by people of color in a Broadway production.

During the conversation, Porter recalled being denied an audition for the part in 1998's Broadway production, with the production having claimed at the time, "That is not the story we're telling." "My mother used to say, 'God's delay is not denial.' And all these years later, with the state of the world right now, and with art as my activism and resistance, I'm right where I need to be," said the performer.

He went on to describe his interpretation of the character, which he previously played in the London run of the production. "My version is that my character is American. He fled the Jim Crow South to go to Europe to think that he would be safe, only to find himself being taken away to the concentration camps. It's a very different interpretation from what people have seen in the past."

Porter, along with two-time Olivier Award nominee Marisha Wallace, will star in the Tony Award-winning Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre, beginning 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.

Buy Tickets to Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club