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[0:00] Eli Tokash: Hello everyone and welcome to episode 2 of Take A Bow.

[0:06] Eli Tokash: I am your host, Eli Tokash, and this week we have a very exciting episode for all of you.

[0:11] Eli Tokash: As mentioned last week, we are in Tony season.

[0:15] Eli Tokash: So I'm gonna be celebrating shows. I'm gonna be celebrating performers and artists who are involved in this Tony season.

[0:25] Eli Tokash: Whether they're nominated, whether they're just performing and they opened a show during the season, whatever it may be, and we are kicking it off with one of the hottest shows and most talked about shows of the season.

[0:36] Eli Tokash: That's right. We're talking about Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.

[0:40] Eli Tokash: I was fortunate enough to go to their opening night and talk to so many of the cast members and so many incredible guests that were there to support the show on opening night.

[0:49] Eli Tokash: And it's just some incredible interviews. It's a brand new way of bringing a show to Broadway and the process of transferring it from the UK to Broadway and figuring out how to adjust it to American audiences and rebuild a theater and have this prologue.

[1:13] Eli Tokash: It's just such an innovative new way, and these are conversations that are not your typical red carpet.

[1:19] Eli Tokash: So I'm very excited to bring this episode to all of you. Fun fact actually, I'm gonna be doing this episode as a podcast, and then I will also be doing it as a YouTube episode.

[1:30] Eli Tokash: And the difference is there's actually gonna be a pretty big difference between the two.

[1:35] Eli Tokash: So, what you'll be hearing here on the podcast is pretty much a raw edit of what happened at the Kit Kat Club and the conversations that were made.

[1:46] Eli Tokash: I literally have conversation after conversation and person after person, like leaving the whole interview in, whether we ask the same questions or not.

[1:54] Eli Tokash: And then our YouTube video that you can go find on YouTube on Monday is actually going to be more question-based, and we'll just be doing like a collage of the guests answering one question, and then we will have the full interviews of the principals, and then we will have a montage of the guest questions and their answers.

[2:20] Eli Tokash: So it's gonna be a bit different. So definitely check that out if you're interested.

[2:26] Eli Tokash: It's gonna be much more fun, fast-paced than what you may see or hear here or in our previous opening night episodes.

[2:34] Eli Tokash: But before we get into the full episode, as always, we gotta talk about some Broadway news, shall we?

[2:40] Eli Tokash: There was lots going on this week. A lot of things that caught my attention that I was super excited about.

[2:45] Eli Tokash: So the first piece of Broadway news that happened since last week's episode that I was super excited about was the announcement from Little Shop of Horrors.

[2:53] Eli Tokash: Once again, they do not miss with their casting announcements. I'm so excited that Andrew Barth Feldman, Take A Bow family member actually, Andrew Barth Feldman, very long time ago.

[3:03] Eli Tokash: Hopefully we can get him back during his run of Little Shop, is gonna be joining the cast of Little Shop of Horrors as Seymour, which is super exciting.

[3:12] Eli Tokash: It's great to see a young voice, I guess, in the role of Seymour, and he's gonna be co-starring with Sarah Hyland.

[3:22] Eli Tokash: Sarah Hyland will be playing the role of Audrey. Very exciting stuff.

[3:26] Eli Tokash: Make sure you go see Little Shop of Horrors. Their performances begin at the end of the month, May 28th. Very exciting stuff.

[3:34] Eli Tokash: Some other actually a little bit more unfortunate news that was something that pretty much happened right after our last episode aired.

[3:47] Eli Tokash: We got the news that Limpica was closing. It was announced that Limpica is closing and will be having their final performance on May 19th.

[3:56] Eli Tokash: Yes, short notice, very upsetting announcement. I've actually heard nothing but great things about Limpica.

[4:06] Eli Tokash: I don't know why they're having such a difficult time selling tickets. Everyone that goes to see it loves it, everyone feels empowered by it.

[4:13] Eli Tokash: And it's just really unfortunate to hear that it's closing and not a lot of people and audiences will be able to experience this piece and this story, this queer story on Broadway that we don't always see.

[4:30] Eli Tokash: And yeah, I don't know. It's just very sad to hear. So many friends in the show.

[4:36] Eli Tokash: Hopefully, we actually had Ian Espinosa scheduled to do an episode with us.

[4:43] Eli Tokash: And unfortunately, you know, obviously it's allergy season. As you can tell, I'm dealing with them probably through the sound of my voice.

[4:52] Eli Tokash: As well as, you know, it's just Tony season, there's lots going on.

[4:57] Eli Tokash: So yeah, I don't know. It's been a tricky season, and I guess something came up and we weren't able to do it.

[5:05] Eli Tokash: But hopefully we will get that rescheduled and we'll be able to have her on and talk about telling the story and also being nominated for a Tony for her role.

[5:17] Eli Tokash: So hopefully we get more Limpica content here on Take A Bow very soon.

[5:23] Eli Tokash: Moving on, our last piece of Broadway news is really just a moment that I just wanted to talk about and kind of honor this episode to such a wonderful human who this theater community lost this week.

[5:41] Eli Tokash: Unfortunately this week there have been a couple of unfortunate news and I don't want to announce the other one as I'm still waiting for their family to fully announce it but the theater community lost a really great one and honestly two great people.

[5:41] Eli Tokash: One, and the one that was announced is none other than Thomas Gates. Tom was a profound production stage manager, a PSM for those in the industry.

[6:17] Eli Tokash: He has done countless Broadway shows, I mean over probably a dozen honestly, and he was currently the PSM of Illinous and unfortunately this week he was struck by a train and he didn't make it.

[6:35] Eli Tokash: I had the honor of working with Tom on several occasions. Sometimes it was very brief, but I was fortunate enough to work with him over an extended period of time during my time in Pippin.

[6:49] Eli Tokash: It was a lot, I guess. It was a time where, you know, it was my first show that I was not in a big cast of kids.

[7:03] Eli Tokash: And so I didn't really know like it was often hard to find where I fit in the cast or like what my role was.

[7:15] Eli Tokash: Theo was a tricky role as is because, you know, he's a clown in act one and he's Theo in act two and he's kind of just like there, you know.

[7:27] Eli Tokash: And then of course at the end he has his moment where he becomes like the next Pippin which was great and all.

[7:34] Eli Tokash: So Tom was always a champion of mine during that production and he always encouraged me.

[7:43] Eli Tokash: I was very much like latching on to the adults obviously because there weren't many kids in the show but specifically the circus performers who I felt like I could relate to the most in the sense of like Broadway was a very new thing and that was my Broadway debut so I was able to experience that with them.

[7:43] Eli Tokash: And I learned from them a lot and I learned a lot of circus stuff and Tom was the one who I had to get everything cleared from if I wanted to change something or try something new or he even noticed that I was learning a trick with the circus crew and he would come to me and talk to me about like hey like how would you want to incorporate this into your show and do you want to expand your role a little bit and we can let you do this and we can have someone else do this.

[9:10] Eli Tokash: And that's not an easy thing to do than it sounds because not only is he going out of his way to help me, but then someone else completely has to change their track for that number.

[9:16] Eli Tokash: And shout out to Charlotte and a lot of Masha, like a lot of those people who did change their stuff for my specific performances because I didn't even perform every show.

[9:16] Eli Tokash: So it was literally just, oh, you know, what day is it? Oh, I have to do this and this scene for Eli, you know, like it was a very, it's just not an easy thing.

[9:16] Eli Tokash: And Tom was such a champion of mine and he was so, he just cared for you and he made sure that everyone felt like they had their moments and everyone was happy and everyone was cared for and seen and heard and that's just who he was.

[9:37] Eli Tokash: When I say I talk a lot on here about a leader, and when I say a leader from the top down, usually there's no one bigger in the cast than the star of the show, but really it comes from the creative team and the director and whatnot, and the PSM is our on-site director.

[9:58] Eli Tokash: So he always had the final say. If I wanted to start juggling instead of doing my track in the balcony where, you know, perhaps it wasn't even sold out some nights, you know, it's just like he was always like, No, we'll put you like center stage for this moment if you want to show off your juggling routine, if you want to stand on Nico on his shoulders or on his hands or whatever we were doing, he would put us at center stage in the on-track.

[10:25] Eli Tokash: It was just, it was things that probably should happen at a high school through and not on Broadway.

[10:34] Eli Tokash: It shouldn't change that much. It shouldn't, especially as someone who was a replacement.

[10:39] Eli Tokash: But Tom was just like, how can we add new things? How can we continue to grow the show and everything?

[10:49] Eli Tokash: And he always thought it was cool that I could kind of get that opportunity right before switching into Theo.

[10:56] Eli Tokash: And that could kind of be its soft introduction to the audience and making the young clown more seen and the transition into Theo and all of that.

[11:07] Eli Tokash: So Tom was the best and that's just one of the many examples that I could have to explain the type of leader that Tom was, I guess.

[11:22] Eli Tokash: And it's just heartbreaking to hear the news. Fifty-one, I mean, that's pretty young.

[11:29] Eli Tokash: And you know, we lost a really incredible human being and someone who was for the performers and always looked out for us and one of the best for us.

[11:41] Eli Tokash: So I can't thank Tom and the impact that he's had on me and just the kindness I felt and the welcoming I felt from Tom in particular during my time and easing me into the whole New York scene and making my Broadway debut and moving away from my family and all of that, like he made that very seamless.

[12:04] Eli Tokash: So I just want to say, you know, thank you, Tom, and you will be deeply missed and it's just heartbreaking.

[12:14] Eli Tokash: So um this episode is for you and uh all of the episodes moving forward. We have you in mind, and all of my performances moving forward, like um this is this is for you, and to honor you and to thank you.

[12:28] Eli Tokash: So um rest in peace, Tom. And with that being said, it's time to turn it over to the wonderful cast and crew and all the guests who came to uh see the opening night at the cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.

[12:46] Eli Tokash: So without further ado, cabaret at the Kit Kat Club curtain.

[13:07] Eli Tokash: All right, y'all, kicking off the Kit Kat Club festivities at the red carpet opening night is Julian Ramos, who is seen playing Bobby in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.

[13:14] Eli Tokash: So this episode is for you and all of the episodes moving forward, we have you in mind, and all of my performances moving forward, like this is for you, and to honor you and to thank you.

[13:19] Julian Ramos: Opening night of Cabaret. This is so exciting.

[13:21] Julian Ramos: Yeah, it's kind of cool though, because you get to have like two of them. It's iconic.

[13:26] Julian Ramos: Yeah, the fact that the Kit Kat Club in Hero Life is beautiful, leave your troubles outside, and to just do that all weekend and get a chance to party all weekend is dreams.

[13:35] Julian Ramos: It's the weekend of the Kit Kat Club.

[13:37] Julian Ramos: Let's it's the weekend of the Kit Kat Club and all the amazing shows that are opening, which is so exciting.

[13:41] Julian Ramos: But obviously, I'm super excited for these two days.

[13:43] Eli Tokash: Yeah, well, I'm curious. I mean, there's been so many iterations of Cabaret, and it's such an iconic story, musical, all the things.

[13:50] Eli Tokash: So without further ado, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club curtain.

[13:50] Eli Tokash: How are you able to kind of draw on those various productions, previous productions, and bring that to life here at the Kit Kat Club, but also make it your own?

[14:01] Julian Ramos: Cabaret is so iconic. Sean Kandor and Fred Ebb's music is infused with little nuggets throughout the entire show that bring character and individuality, and so I take that inspiration from all the past productions that have created confidence and sassiness and mystery and infuse it in our beautiful world of color.

[14:24] Eli Tokash: I'm obsessed.

[14:25] Julian Ramos: Yeah, yeah. I love it.

[14:25] Eli Tokash: Well, I'm curious to ask you if you had a one night solo show and you had an MC, who would be your dream MC of your cabaret?

[14:36] Julian Ramos: I would have to say, well, I'd want to perform with Beyoncé, so I would say that my MC would probably be Bruno Mars.

[14:46] Julian Ramos: So Bruno Mars MC, and Sound Bowls is Beyoncé.

[14:51] Julian Ramos: My Silent Bowls is Beyoncé.

[14:53] Eli Tokash: Honestly, Beyoncé's the MC would crush it as well.

[14:55] Julian Ramos: So I'm obsessed. I could see her doing it all, actually.

[14:58] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: A hundred percent. She can do anything. She can do no wrong. Um, I mean, this is a show unlike any other show ever on Broadway. So, uh, with it being so different, with it being in the round, with it being a legit club with a crazy entrance and a prologue before. What is it about this show that you are most excited for audiences to come and see? I am most excited. The audience will see so much color and diversity and wild newness in this production. Um, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. When I was auditioning, I was like, there's no way I'm gonna get Cabaret. And I saw the production stills from the West End, and I was like, oh my gosh, like there is a world in which I can do this. So the team has just been amazing, and uh it's one of a kind.

[15:50] Ala Sukoni Burton: Well, here we are, over the night. It's the weekend of the Kit Kat Club. You get two openings. Like it's so beyond any other show on Broadway that it's only fitting that you guys get multiple openings. I know when they told us, I was like, dog! Okay, two parties! Yeah, real. Um, well, talk to me. Like I said, I mean, it's such a different show from anything that a performer has ever done before that audiences have ever seen. Um, what are you most looking forward to audiences coming and seeing? Is it the immersive experience? Is it the performance? It's like first off, it's the theater itself. Yeah, the way you walk in. You can't even walk in through the box like through the box office lobby, yeah.

And then, like, on top of that, I was saying this to all the Kit Kat Girls the other day. Like, we've created these characters that are like extensions of ourselves. And it's so free. Like, I feel like the word of the show is freedom. And so I feel like people just get to come in and like feel like loose and like, you know, like it's a little less snooty. Yeah, yeah. You really get to forget everything else that's going on. I love that. You get it's a m you are immersed in it. Yeah, yeah. I love it.

[16:58] BERNADETTE PETERS: Well, we're asking people if you had your own solo one night only cabaret type thing. Okay. Who would be your dream MC for your personal cabaret? Uh Bernadette Peters? Oh, period. Apparently, word is she's coming. Y'all don't play with me, because if she does, I won't be well. Bernadette, please come. Are you the type of performer that likes to know when celebrities are in the audience? Tell me every time. She's coming today, you mean? I don't know. I perhaps. I don't I don't know. I don't know how you how you respond. No, it's great. Oh, good. I would love to know, and I will die. Oh, okay. She will be here today. Okay. You already know who's coming. No, no one tells anything. They better get on it.

[17:50] Mimi Scarjula: We've been saying that this is the Kit Kat Club weekend. It is! This is this show's literally unlike any other show, then it's only fitting that you get two openings. Amen. We're like Kit Kat Chella. I gotta have a whole weekend. Yeah, say less. I love it. Um, well, um talk to me because this show really is unlike any other. What are you most excited for audiences to come experience? I'm most excited for audiences to come experience the individuality of this cabaret. Like it is truly 20 some people from all different walks of life, all different body types, ethnicities, everything coming together and putting together this beautiful piece of art that is just unmatched. I love it. And I think that you don't often go to a Broadway show and see all types of people.

You see a very particular type of person. And so I think when you come to our call, our club, the Kit Kat Club, you are gonna walk in and you're gonna see yourself on that stage. Whether it be your body size, your ethnicity, your background, like you are gonna feel seen in this space. The eyes, we're we see you, okay? And it's just beautiful, and I think I'm really excited. And Frex and Julia have just put together this production that is so true to the words and true to the time, and it's important for us to experience and learn from in this time too, you know? I think it'll galvanize people to get aware and to get moving.

[19:11] David Marino: Well, you kind of mentioned that there's been obviously Cabaret is such an iconic show, a lot of previous productions. How are you able to like extract from that as a performer but also make it your own in this Kit Kat Club world? No, totally. I grew up watching Liza Minnelli in Cabaret. So, like, I grew up and I was like, okay, my goal is Liza Minnelli. I want to sing, I want to dance, I want to act, I want to be this triple threat. And so I think I bring the spirit of her. I think her in the movie is just this effervescence thirst for life and experience. And I think I in Texas every night I walk on stage as if it's like the best day of my life. You know? So I'm experiencing it for the first time in that thirst for life.

And so when in this in the later halves where all that kind of starts to fade away, you're like, you really feel the loss. So I think um taking that with us, that the people who have inhabited Cabaret, the icons, Joel Gray, Liza Minnelli, Alan Cumming, like these incredible performers. Um their thirst for the material, their commitment to it, just taking that with us and making it our own, but honoring the hard work they put into it.

[20:17] Gabby Campo: I want to do one last question with you, because we're doing it for everybody. Um if you had your own like one night only solo cabaret. Okay, who would be the dream MC for your personal cabaret? Oh my goodness. I think it would have to be this is so hard. I love so god, I would love for it to be Liza. That would be iconic. Um, I also would love for it to be um how do I think Liza's the only one that's gonna be like a queen's queen herself. Could you just imagine? It's Mimi with a mmm. Let's do it. Right. Oh my god, I love it.

[21:09] Iron Byron: Nice to meet you. I'm Eli. Nice to meet you. Pleasure. Happy opening. Thank you. I just want to let you know this is my Broadway debut. Amazing. Well, let's talk about it. How are we feeling at the Broadway? To make my Broadway debut in this show. Yeah. I never dreamed of that. You know, you dream of like, well, I'm gonna make my Broadway debut, you know, like the STEVEN Sondheim. Heck, I'd even play the maid. Yeah, you know. Period. It's more than that. Are you aware that usually there's not two opening nights? Yes. I know they explain that to me. And how classy of the producers to like because they didn't want to leave anybody out. So both nights are equal. I'm obsessed. Well, what does it mean to you?

Like, obviously, tonight's opening night, and you get to say, like, oh my god, I've officially taken my first bow on Broadway. But we're called Take A Bow. So I'm curious to ask, like, what has it meant to you so far in this preview process and bringing it to Broadway of taking a bow on Broadway? Well, uh, we had uh an invited dress. Yeah, and that was really officially my first bow on Broadway. And it just the roar that came up from that audience at the end of Vilcoman, there's a roar. Period. And then at the you know, of course, at the bows, one side, and then we turn around and we look to the other side, and there's like they're competing with each other. Yeah, you know, because it's in the round, so like they're like, no, we can roar louder than you guys. Just overwhelming. I love it.

[22:32] MARTY LAUTER: Yeah, that's so cool. So I'm curious to ask, I mean, this is really a show unlike any other show that audiences can see on Broadway that have they seen in the past in previous productions of Cabaret, all of that. What are you most excited for people to come to the Kit Kat Club and experience for the first time? Uh I think the show is really, really funny. Yeah. Uh particularly uh Gail and EDDIE and I'm and and uh BB and just everyone. They bring so much comedy to it. They find the comedy moments in the midst of it being a very serious, really gut-wrenching story. Sure. And I think that's really important for people when they come to see a show that they see both. You know, they get both things. And it's a perfect blend of that. I think it's amazing.

[23:12] Gabby Campo: I love it. Well, congratulations. Thank you. Break a leg on your run. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks so much. Yeah, of course. Next up, you are hearing from none other than MARTY LAUTER, also known as Marsha Marsha Marsha, who plays the role of Victor and understudies the MC. Craziness. It's really crazy. Have you been a part of an opening on Broadway? No, I've not been part of an opening. Okay. So this is your first OBC and we're here. What are the emotions going through your head? Oh my god. It's just a lot of, I'm sure you're gonna hear this a lot. It's just a lot of gratitude. Yeah. It really is. It's just um it's with so many things like coming into Broadway then closing immediately. It feels so good to be a part of something that people are seeing and really being affected by and are sparking a lot of conversation. Like it feels it feels really like like a moment. So that's really like what's the coolest part about it, I think.

[24:07] David Marino: I love that. And uh the other thing too is like it's unlike anything on Broadway that like a performer has ever performed in, audience members have ever seen. Like it seems like so fresh and new. What are you most excited for them for audience members to come in and and see uh something new? Like what what is it about this show? I don't know. I mean, I it really is like the whole experience, like top to bottom. Yeah. Like it's uh it's very rare that you're gonna come to a theater and you're gonna see like because we have like uh it's like four hours of material happening kind of consistently. It's crazy. Um which is so special, and because our prologue is so fantastic. The first time we watched it, we got to like watch one of their dress rehearsals.

We were like, I love it. Also, yeah, everyone scream at the prologue. They literally love it. Cheer them on like you're out of club, truly do it. Yeah. Um, but yeah, like that is so special, just like the immersive nature is just so cool.

[25:04] MARTY LAUTER: Well, you kind of alluded to it, like you guys kind of have two different casts. Yeah. So, like, what is that like? Do you guys get to like play with each other backstage still, or is it kind of like after the prologue they're died? You know? Well, after the prologue, they do get to go home. Okay. Jealous every single time. Um, like early bedtime, we love that. Right. Um, but while I what I what I love is that two of the prologue members um identify as non-binary. So we are in the non-binary dressing room, but thank you so much, Cabaret. First time I've ever felt super comfortable in the dressing room in my whole career. Wow. Um I don't know if that's ever happened before, honestly. So good on good on Cabaret for um ver taking care of us. Literally, it's like it we get to like kiki and stuff before the show, it's all like that, yes. Oh my god. Breaking boundaries on stage and off stage, period. And back on stage all over the place. I love it.

[25:56] Gabby Campo: Um we're asking everybody if uh you had like a one night only solo cabaret. Who would be your dream MC of your own personal show? My dream MC? Yeah. That's hard. I know. Because our MC is little spooky. Um, I don't know. Um if if she would do duets with me, Ariana. Oh period. I love it. Thank you. I love it. Well, thank you so much. Congratulations and break a leg on your run. Yes, this is crazy. So great to see you. Yeah, of course. Thank you so.

[26:31] Gabby Campo: Now we have Gabby Campo playing the role of Frenchie in understudies. Gail Rankin as Sally Bowles. I mean, opening night on Broadway, it's absolutely bonkers. This is unlike anything that anyone's ever seen. What are you most uh looking forward for audiences to come and see? Uh obviously it's unlike anything they've ever seen before. So is there a part certain part that you're uh most excited about? Yes, I mean I I think that it's one of those shows that has been in the canon for so long and there's been so many different iterations of this piece that there's a lot to be expected from it. But I really feel like this creative team and this whole cast really brings a freshness to it, and I think that it's uh if I do say so myself, it's going to be a production that will kind of reinvent the wheel again.

Yeah. And I hope that audiences feel that, and I hope that audiences really feel like they've never heard this text before or never heard these songs before. Because I feel like we're breathing a whole new life into it, and I think that is the most exciting thing about it.

[27:35] David Marino: Yeah. Um, at least for me. I did this show in high school, and I played Sally Bowles in high school. And I feel like so many people have, and so many people have their versions of Sally or the MC, or you know, the Kit Kat Girls, and to be able to like bring that to a Broadway stage is a dream come true for me. I love that. Yeah, it's really a full circle, and it feels just like a dream come true, honestly. Well, congratulations. I mean, yeah, because this is like this is a pretty great show to be a part of, I would say. I do say so. I think so. I mean, between the cast, the show itself. I mean, you you kind of mentioned with the many iterations that have come before it. Is there sort of an added pressure uh to to do the show justice, I guess, and do the work and do you take anything from those iterations, but also make it your own how you navigate all of them.

I think that there is instead of a pressure, more of like an honor to uphold. Joel Gray came and celebrated his birthday the other day. And and just to have like, you know, John Cander and then and and all the names of everybody who has been involved in this show before. I think that there is an honor to hold. Um, but I think that the creative team has really pressed this idea of that like there is no pressure. There it's your version, right? You know, and and it it's yours, and you run with it and make it as authentic as you can because that is what's gonna make it real and true for the audience. Absolutely. And so there's no pressure, just only truth. Yeah. And I'm really excited about that. Well, congratulations and break a leg on the rest of your run. Thank you so much. Yes, of course. Happy opening. It's so nice meeting you. Thank you so much.

[29:12] David Marino: Next up, we have a little bit of double trouble. Y'all, this cast is huge, so we began uh stacking up the interviews. So we have two lovely uh cast members from the Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, and right now you'll be hearing from David Marino, who plays Lulu and also understudies the MC, as well as Paige Smallwood, who plays Rosie and understudies Sally Bowles. Good having you! Oh my gosh. Are you are you put her down? Are you sure? Yes. Oh my gosh. You great human beings. Go off. Yes, hi. So lovely to meet both of you. My name's Eli. Hi, it's so nice to meet you guys. Obsessed with the show. Oh, good, okay.

[29:54] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Loving everything about it.

[29:55] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Oh good.

[29:56] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Opening night.

[29:57] HENRY GOTTFRIED: How are we feeling?

[29:58] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: This is unlike any other show to be a part of.

[30:00] HENRY GOTTFRIED: What are you most excited about tonight and also throughout the show for audiences to come see?

[30:06] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: I mean, it is the amount of work, and I think everyone in on this in this street radius can relate to this, but this group witnessing the amount of work and effort and energy and blood and sweat and tears, literally, and like doctor's visits to like get this thing on the stage and to tell this everyone. I was bringing the proof. Like to go through all of this and to create this piece is like the biggest honor of my life. I've also never opened a show on Broadway. I've only joined, so this is like a huge honor for me as well. And to be with people like Paige and this company, it's just it's just a dream come true. And then the show in Cabaret, oh my god, go on. Iconic.

[30:49] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Yes, absolutely.

[30:50] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Yeah, I'm truly so excited for audiences to see the love that we put into it. Like, yes, the blood, the sweat, and space because all of that is from our love.

[30:58] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Amen.

[30:59] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: It's from our hearts, it's from like the deepest parts of our souls, you know what I mean? And yeah, this is something that a show that has been around for so long and that so many people know about. So I'm excited for those people to experience a show they love in a brand new way.

[31:13] HENRY GOTTFRIED: I love it. And I'm so excited as well for the people who have never seen Cabaret before to see this version. There's so many things to like look forward to from like the environment to the new story.

[31:30] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Not even into the theater, like it's masterful. As like a fan of cabaret yourself, like before this, like, like what is what like when making this and seeing the director's vision and just being like, holy moly, like what what were your kind of biggest surprises throughout this process?

[31:46] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: I had this face the entire time. I was just like, what? And like it was more like I mean, from the art itself and like the show itself, but then like everything that they plan to do to the space and the environment, like you're saying. And the prologue. I mean, that is to me like the vi like the blood, like the heart of that show of our show. I love the fact that we get to set the scene with incredible musicians and insane dancers and performers. It is such a cool way to welcome the audience into our space. And again, another diverse cast to a diverse casting. It's just it's such a great bridge into it. I'm just really grateful for it.

[32:22] HENRY GOTTFRIED: I love it. Is there anything you want to add?

[32:24] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Yes, yes, if I can. Um because you said it so beautifully and eloquently, like the way that the design of the show feeds into the show, the way that we would not be what we are without our prologue. It it it's it's incredible. It's it truly transports you to 1929, 1930 Berlin.

[32:44] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: I love it. And you were there from the second you walk in. And I knew from the second I watched the um Olivier performance of any Lennox doing cabaret, I was like, oh, I need to work with these people. I don't know how, I don't know when. Right, but I need to because their brains are incredible. And I actually was lucky enough after I found out I booked it, I got to go see it in London. Just to get like a taste. And I was like, okay, like let's see what this is all about. And without giving any spoilers, it is hands down the best theater experience in total that I have ever had, and I just hope that you know we can do we can continue to do it justice.

[33:20] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Amen. Shout out to Paige, y'all. She was on the red carpet in a stunning boot with her crutches. It was very impressive.

[33:28] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Next up, we have a three-person uh interview. So you'll be hearing from three different fabulous cast members. Uh one happens to be Colin Cunliffe, who plays Hans. Also uh one of my fantastic cast members from both Finding Neverland and Pippin. Yeah, that's right. We were in both of those shows together. I do not know Broadway without Colin Cunliffe, alongside Hannah Florence, who is one of the fabulous swings, as well as fellow swing Christian Kidd.

[34:00] Eli Tokash: Stop it!

[34:03] Colin Cunliffe: Hi.

[34:05] Eli Tokash: Good high.

[34:06] Colin Cunliffe: Hi.

[34:07] Eli Tokash: Look at you.

[34:07] Colin Cunliffe: You're like this guy.

[34:09] Eli Tokash: Listen, I know, I know. I was like, I'm going for the glasses, the classic vlog.

[34:13] Colin Cunliffe: Oh my god.

[34:14] Eli Tokash: You can see very sweet.

[34:18] Colin Cunliffe: I didn't know what to do. I needed you to style me together.

[34:22] Eli Tokash: Yeah, right, yeah, right.

[34:24] Eli Tokash: Hi everyone. I'm Eli. It's so nice to meet you, Hannah. Christian, nice to meet everyone.

[34:31] Christian Kidd: Hi.

[34:32] Eli Tokash: I know this one. We were both. We were in both Pippin and Everland together.

[34:36] Colin Cunliffe: Baby's baby boys.

[34:38] Eli Tokash: Yes. I don't know without Colin Cunliffe. I mean, uh it's in a contract. Whatever I'm booked in, Colin's too.

[34:47] Colin Cunliffe: Um my god, I love it. Well, here we are, opening night cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. I've been saying it's like the weekend of the Kit Kat Club. Because y'all get two openings. What the heck is that about?

[34:56] Christian Kidd: It's very Berlin. Keep it going.

[34:58] Colin Cunliffe: Just don't let the party until.

[35:01] Christian Kidd: Exactly.

[35:02] Colin Cunliffe: Here it is. The party's rolling on.

[35:05] Christian Kidd: Exactly.

[35:06] Colin Cunliffe: Yes, yes, yes. And you and Paper know. Um well, it's like such a show that no one's ever seen before, you know, like it's uh so unique, it's so different. The way that it's set up with the prologue and the environment that's just created for audiences, it's unlike anyone has anything anyone's ever seen.

[35:24] Eli Tokash: So, what are you most looking forward to for people, audience members who either don't know much about Broadway or even those who do know about Broadway to see something completely different about Broadway? What specifically about this show are you most looking forward to share with the audiences?

[35:38] Colin Cunliffe: I love its queerness, you know. I think I think that's been in the thread of this story for a very long time. That was definitely what was happening in Berlin in the 20s, and um to be able to represent that, share that and show it it's it's not only like a joy and fun, but it's needed, you know. So I'm proud I'm proud to show that.

[35:56] Christian Kidd: Oh yeah, for me, the combination of all the extras of the show and and and but then the story and and the relationships between the characters, I just feel like the whole thing is giving so much life force. Yeah, all of it. It's exploding at you non-stop, and for me, that is just it's everything, it's major, it's impactful. Period.

[36:23] Eli Tokash: What do you have to add?

[36:24] Christian Kidd: I just think I think a lot of this creative team comes to musical theater a little bit differently. Um I think there's a lot of artistic choices that just aren't typical of musical theater.

[36:39] Colin Cunliffe: Yeah.

[36:39] Christian Kidd: And I think it's it's directed in a way that you really pay attention to the story and the characters and what they're talking about and where they end up by the end of the show.

[36:51] Colin Cunliffe: Right.

[36:51] Christian Kidd: So I just think that the artistic choices made in the background make a huge difference.

[36:58] Eli Tokash: I love that, and adding on to what you're saying, because there have been so many iterations of cabaret in the past that sometimes when a show comes, it's like it's easy to be Alan Cumming, or like whoever was before you, and kind of try to do their thing. But this seems so fresh and so new that uh it may be easier per se to do your own kind of version and bring yourself to it. What has kind of been your process in in creating this revival? Are you drawing and extracting from previous performances, or are you uh kind of making this your own and doing your own thing here at the KAT CLUB?

[37:32] Colin Cunliffe: Who wants to start?

[37:34] Christian Kidd: Such a big remote.

[37:35] Colin Cunliffe: I'm sorry.

[37:36] Christian Kidd: I'm doing my own thing, and I feel like it's the um but it's it's beautiful alchemy of I think the casting of this show is that what we've seen is that where we're doing our own thing, this is also somewhat of a vision that the creative team had with each of these characters in the show.

[37:51] Colin Cunliffe: Yeah.

[37:51] Christian Kidd: And like, you know, mine's on like leather harness wearing animal kind of wild child, and I'm like, yeah, I'll take it. I'm like that's that's perfect. So um, you know, I I think that's been this weird magic that's happened with everyone that's been casting this.

[38:05] Eli Tokash: I love that. You guys want to add on?

[38:07] Hannah Florence: Yeah, um, for me, it's like as a Chinese Jewish heritage woman, uh in to be in this show in this time, uh, and have the the ties to the to the story and the history. Um for me, this is just a huge, huge piece to be a part of, and I'm I'm so excited and so glad that the team saw something in me and wanted me to be here. I'm thrilled.

[38:30] Eli Tokash: Stop, that's so great. That's so great to hear.

[38:34] Hannah Florence: Yeah.

[38:35] Christian Kidd: I feel like for me, there's I take inspiration from everywhere, and this place just kind of like funnels it and is like, let's see what sticks. You know? Let's see what what movement quality and what facial expressions and what intention really works here and what doesn't.

[38:55] Eli Tokash: Love it. Oh my god. Well, congratulations to all of you. Yes, this is so amazing. Break a leg on the rest of your run and uh have the opening.

[39:04] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Yes, uh I love you. Cabo I'm so proud.

[39:08] Eli Tokash: Next up, we have another swing of Pedro Garza. Also, like cabaret itself. So, what are you most looking forward to bringing audiences uh to their to their eyes, I guess?

[39:18] Pedro Garza: Yeah, I'm excited for their expectations to kind of be exceeded. There's so much that people associate with the show that will be brought, you know, the traditions of the show and the meanings and everything and the beauty of the show, that's gonna be presented in a whole new way. Like people are not gonna understand what's about to happen.

[39:34] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: I love it. And it's it's it's the decadence, the the richness, the immersiveness, everything is just top notch, and I'm so excited for them to experience it.

[39:42] Eli Tokash: Well, we're asking everybody uh if you had a one night solo show cabaret type thing, and you could have an MC. Who would be the dream MC for your solo cabaret?

[39:54] Pedro Garza: My solo cabaret. Celine Dion.

[40:00] Eli Tokash: Oh my god! Wait, period. Are we doing a duet or is she just the MC?

[40:05] Pedro Garza: I think she she's such a personality. Yeah. That obviously I there will be a duet at some point. But I want to make sure she has room to do her thing, you know.

[40:15] Eli Tokash: She's just, yeah, I want to make sure she has enough space to be her Celine De Ensemble.

[40:19] Pedro Garza: And are you seeing a Selene Dion song.

[40:20] Eli Tokash: I don't know.

[40:20] Pedro Garza: Oh, yeah.

[40:22] Eli Tokash: You wouldn't get nervous and be like, oh my god, I can't say it for the body.

[40:26] Pedro Garza: I love it. Yeah.

[40:26] Eli Tokash: That's awesome. Uh well, I'm curious because cabaret, I mean, it's an iconic show, right? Everyone knows Cabaret, and there's been so many iterations of the show, which we kind of alluded to earlier. How has it been with the process of kind of extracting from previous productions, but also making this production your own and something completely new?

[40:47] Pedro Garza: Right. I think it was beautiful to see the design presentation right away at the start of rehearsal and understand how new this world that we're building is. Just I think there's so much design wise and look wise and optics wise that people associate with the Kit Kat Club with the show, with Sam Mendes version, and that to come in and feel a celebration of self in this beautiful, bright, colorful way that I think people no longer really associate with the show. It's you know, it's it's associated with more dark, right? And I think to welcome the people into the into the space with that beauty and that color and that light and joy, is it personally freed a lot up for me as an actor. And it just allowed me to explore so much of the beauty inside myself, and I'm so grateful for this experience for just really breaking me apart and putting me back together.

[41:36] Eli Tokash: Oh, I love that. Well, congratulations on for so many reasons. Obviously. Yes, thank you so much, and break a leg on the rest of your run.

[41:41] Pedro Garza: Thank you.

[41:44] Eli Tokash: Yes, of course. It's so nice meeting you.

[41:46] Pedro Garza: It's great to meet you.

[41:46] Eli Tokash: Thank you so much. Happy opening.

[41:48] Pedro Garza: Thanks.

[41:49] Eli Tokash: And that wraps up the fabulous ensemble. So let's get into the principles. First up, from the principal cast of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, we have none other than HENRY GOTTFRIED, who plays Ernst Ludwig.

[42:03] HENRY GOTTFRIED: It's the longest and and biggest and most exciting opening in history.

[42:07] Eli Tokash: Yes, it's so true, but it's very on brand for what y'all are doing because this is unlike anything we've seen in Broadway history. Um speaking of that, like, what are you most excited for audiences to come see with this new form of theater?

[42:20] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Yeah. They do this amazing thing with this show, which is that like you can come in knowing nothing, and you are going to be set up to have the right experience to be taken on the ride of this piece of art in the right way. I think sometimes that like expectation is everything when we see a piece of art. What do you think it's going to be versus what it it turns out to be? And this show, because of this amazing prologue, you have 30 minutes, an hour or more to get taken to the right place to the right headspace to live in this world so that when the musical starts, you're exactly where you should be to be set up for this story that's going to be told.

[42:52] Eli Tokash: I love that. So cool. I'm curious for you, we're asking everybody. If you had a one-night solo cabaret, who would be your dream MC for your own personal cabaret?

[43:04] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Wow. Um Joel Gray.

[43:08] Eli Tokash: Joel Gray. At 92 years old, you can't go on you still got it.

[43:12] HENRY GOTTFRIED: I'm obsessed. What was that like to be able to perform for him? And like, did you get to meet him up?

[43:17] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Yeah, he came. I was really emotional. He came up, and John Candor, the composer, came up on stage. And it I I was I was taken aback by how emotional I was, knowing that they were there. I think it was just the theater kid in me who's like gets to be a part of a little piece of this history, which is so cool, and I wept. I just wept.

[43:34] Eli Tokash: Well, I mean, I'm curious because like obviously Joel Gray's version of cabaret, and and then we've had many iterations pre uh, I guess beyond that, and prior to this. Um, what has it been like to kind of find your own but also taking bits of of previous uh productions? Is that a thing, or are you kind of just doing your own thing?

[43:54] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Definitely. I mean, I I do think that these creators, this creative team, when they made this show, they are aware of the way that cabaret has shown up in the culture in the past, and this production, I think pretty intentionally seeks to differentiate itself.

[44:08] HENRY GOTTFRIED: And the thing with a really good piece of art is that it stands up to being tinkered with and reinterpreted, and nothing like sacrilegious, nothing like totally wild is happening to this cabaret. It's totally the cabaret as it exists on the page, but it feels different, and it means that the story lands differently, and the ideas, the questions being asked have been kind of framed slightly differently. And it's amazing that a really good play, you can do that, and we all just feel like just the play, the script, the scenes, the characters, it's all so heartbreaking. It's so good on the page.

[44:39] HENRY GOTTFRIED: And what about doing it in the round? What has that experience been like for you?

[44:43] HENRY GOTTFRIED: It's cool. It means everyone feels very close. Like you really get to feel like everyone's like right next to you listening to these little beautiful little scenes.

[44:51] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: And a lot of the scenes are just two handlers, like just two characters each time. And so to have everyone sitting right there next to you, just listening to these very intimate conversations, feels right. Feels like the way that it should be experienced. Yeah, I mean, performers, I guess, can sort of look at audience members to be their scene partner, but when it comes to a round, like they totally have your scene partners. And it suits both parts of this show, which are the book scenes of this musical that are very sort of naturalistic, and the numbers that are set in the cabaret that are very sort of wild and theatrical and abstracted. Sure. It suits both of those things because the numbers need the audience right there responding because the numbers are looking directly at the audience and saying, Do you see this? and asking for a response, asking for laughter. The scenes which aren't doing that are so intimate and so quiet that they want that kind of closeness. So it works in two different ways.

[45:37] NATASHA DIAZ: Next up we have NATASHA DIAZ who plays Fritzi slash Coast and understudies Fräulein Schneider. Thank you for doing this. I'm thrilled. I'm a happy opening. Like part one, I guess I should say. Yes. This is crazy. Yes, yes. Very exciting though, nonetheless. Oh, it's I've waited my life for this. Oh stop, wait, that's so cute. You cry. So talk to me about the show. Like, obviously, this show is so unlike anything other than what we've seen on Broadway and a version of cabaret as a in general. What are you most excited for audiences to come see? Both those who have seen Cabaret and know the story, but also new ones. I'm excited for them to have color brought to their perception of cabaret. There is a joy in this and colorfulness that people who are familiar with other iterations of cabaret will not expect.

Right. There's also this is very European, okay. This is this is an import from England, right? Right. So they have a different sensibility, they have a different sense of humor, there's a different taste. The design is I mean, every corner of this building, every wig, every ruffle and every panty that you see is done by Tom. And Tom is, Tom Scott's is so the visionary level reaches unimaginable. Wow. And to be in that painting, yeah, as a blonde. Right, period. First time for everything. So, like, yeah, so it's my first time as a blonde. My friends were gagging because it's like, it's like, oh my god, NATASHA, that wig. Yes, the wig, the blonde wig. I'm there like, you're gonna, it's gonna get sketched so many times.

I was like, well, I hope so. The fan art we're looking forward to. Oh, can't wait. I cannot wait. I love it. Fritzi is definitely she beats, she walks to her own drummer. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Talk to me because I'm asking everybody if you had a one-night only solo cabaret show, and you could have your dream MC. MC, your own solo show, who would you choose? Eddie.

[48:04] EDDIE REDMAYNE: Oh my god. Eddie is EDDIE is such a prince. He's such a hard worker, he's so reverent to the form. Um he's a Capricorn like me. And he I mean, I when I first met him, I couldn't even breathe. Really? Oh, he was because you know, I mean, the Stephen Hawking movie, yeah, The Danish Girl, yeah, he's a poet. Yeah. And um just to know that I'm in his orbit is everything. Stop, wait, I love that. No, he's he is an absolute poet. Um, and I look up to him and Gail and the performances they're giving are such depth and such Gail is otherworldly. Yeah, she's otherworldly. Um she's she has a connection to this character that I've waited to see all my life. Uh I love that. And it's there, you know. That's amazing.

Wow. I mean try not to see the show after hearing that. Like, come on. I mean, the real Sally Bowles. Yeah, you know, and you know, for me, to be able to as a Puerto Rican Italian to play a German. Wow. This is the moment that I have waited for my whole life because it is not. I'm not in a box. Yeah. And I can play and paint with what my actor self can dream of. And these people responded. And for me, the victory is every day. The gratitude every day to just paint as an artist. Yeah. I love it. I don't have to be my ethnicity all the time. You know, there are different rhythms. There's a different sensibility also trauma. It's different. It's moheld. And you know, actors were painters. Right.

You know, so to be able to paint on this level is the dream. Amazing. It's the dream. And to be on stage with Bibi, making fun with Bibi doing, you know, we're like, I'm basically her foil. So it's hilarious. I love it. I'm also her understudy, which is also kind of funny, yes. But we I mean the way we play, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just every day, every day I pitch myself. I love it. Well, congratulations and a happy opening.

[50:29] STEVEN SKYBELL: Now you'll be hearing from STEVEN SKYBELL, who plays Herr Schultz. Well, congratulations, here we are at the cabaret, the Kit Kat Club. Finally, part one. Part one. Um what what has this experience been like for you? Obviously, there's been so many iterations of this production of Cabaret done before, but this is unlike any others. Right. Well, I I'm here to tell you I've I've never seen Cabaret on stage. Really? I somehow got through life without. Wow. I'm not sure why, but um, so this was my first Cabaret, and I had to always ask people like, is that what it is this what usually happens? Is this what usually happens? But it's just an incredible production of Cabaret. I you know, and the audience is going crazy for it.

You know, the it's so it's it's really a joy to be a part of. I'm just so happy to be a part of it. And you know, I feel like well, Herr Schultz is not even in the movie, they cut him out of the movie, and so I feel like Frex, our director, has really served the Jewish story very well. That it's um it's part of the cautionary tale of the rise of fascism at that time, and so being able to give voice to that Jewish character is very, very, very meaningful to me.

[51:45] NATASHA DIAZ: I love that. Yeah, and you do it so well. Yes, of course, always. Um well, we're asking everybody if you had your own solo cabaret, and you could have any MC in the world, who would be your dream MC of your solo cabaret? It would have to be my dear friend Joel Gray.

[52:02] STEVEN SKYBELL: Okay who directed me in the Itish Fiddler. Yes, he's directed me several times, and I would be honored to have him be my MC. And what did it mean to you? He was here the other day. And what did it mean to you to be able to perform it in front of him? Well, I mean, we're we're very close, and you know, he's he's been talking to me about Herr Schultz all along during rehearsal process because he was in the original, so I would be silly not to listen to anything he had to say about Cabaret, but having him here for his 92nd birthday and performing for him and having EDDIE bring him up on stage, and we all sang happy birthday to him. It was really a special evening.

[52:40] NATASHA DIAZ: Yeah, it's amazing. Well, congratulations, yeah, of course. Good break legs on the rest of your run. It's a pleasure to meet you. Good to meet you. Yes, thank you so much. Maybe over next. That would be great. Thank you so much. Do you want to go backwards all over the place, jumping up around? Hey, no worries at all. Now we have the star of the show. That is right. We have none other than the fantastic EDDIE REDMAYNE, who originated the role out in the UK and is now originating the role here on Broadway as the MC. Happy opening, we're here. Thank you, man. Well, I guess opening part one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The weekend of the Kit Kat Club, I guess you could say. Um, well, talk to me about this because you've obviously been with the show before, so this isn't really an opening for you, perhaps.

You never know. It feels like a completely it's got the core DNA of what we had in London. Sure, but it feels like a different beast, and it is so thrilling for me getting to work with this extraordinary cast. Yeah. Um, and the breadth of the thing, that the building that Tom Scott has converted is is so much bigger, and he's mined it in so many different ways. And certainly the MC has moved on, and for an actor getting to play a part that you love, then getting to let it ruminate for a year or two, and then to come back and re-explore it and re-mine it is the dream. I love it.

[54:02] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: What has it been like for you to be kind of like well, you're you are the leader of the show, like obviously, and you're a leader of the cast and everything, but you also have the experience of doing the show already, and kind of people leaning on you and perhaps asking you questions, and what has it been like to be that kind of figure in this cast on Hot Way? Well, I've I've tried um because it's felt like a new experience, there sort of hasn't really been much of that. Rebecca Frecknell, although the shape of the show is very much embedded in the London production, every single actor here was cast for their individuality. And that's what I hope the show is a celebration of individuality in that sense.

And so there's never really felt like trying to replicate something, it's felt completely fresh, and for me the stimulus of this dumbfounding troop has been what has galvanized and pushed me through. I love that. Well, we're thrilled to have you back on Broadway. Thank you, man. Yeah, of course. Does it feel like doing a Broadway show in the round? Feels a little bit like the film and television world because there's kind of audience members on all sides of you. It's a good point. What I think is amazing about the Kit Kat Club here is that the space is in the round, and it's a big theatre, and yet it feels astonishingly intimate. Yeah. And as the MC, I get to I get to creep around the edges of the space, I get to surprise audience members, and what what Tom Scott, our designer, has done is and with the work of Isabella Byrd, our lighting designer, is create a space where you can be theatrical, but also you can see the tiniest thing as well. So so weirdly it does feel filmic at moments because you feel like everyone can see everything. Oh, hilarious. That's so cool.

[55:45] EDDIE REDMAYNE: Well, we're asking everyone one last question. Go ahead. If you had your one-night solo show cabaret, who would be the dream emcee of your own cabaret? Oh my god. Well, I was lucky enough the other day, Joel Gray came to see the show, and and he is he is the icon. He is he is so extraordinary, and and the way when he smiles, like the room lights up. I I'm sure he wouldn't do it, but I'm an Oski. You never know. What did it mean to you to perform this show for him? Uh it was it was one of the most terrifying but extraordinary nights in my life. Oh my god, that's incredible. Well, congratulations on your run. Cheers, buddy. Thank you so much. Pleasure meeting you.

[56:33] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Wrapping up our fabulous principal cast of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, we have ATO BLANKSON-WOOD, who is currently playing the role of Clifford Bradshaw in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Is there kind of like less pressure now that you have two openings? Like what is that kind of feeling? No, I I you know, this is my first time doing a double opening moment, and I feel like there's just as much pressure. I mean well, yeah, I mean, there's this first one, and like you know, we really want to like share it with an audience of people who are excited to see it. So I think there's always this like pressure, yeah, this like low-key pressure. But luckily, this is a beautiful show with a beautiful company, so it feels good. Uh it's it's good pressure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

[57:19] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Well, I mean, to be a part of Cabaret, it's such an iconic, I mean, cultural phenomenon, if you if you will. Um so I'm curious to ask you, you know, with all these different productions of Cabaret that audiences may know and love and be so familiar with, but this is something so different and new. Yeah. What has been the process of not only kind of taking and honoring the works of the past, but also bringing this new, fresh version of the story to the stage? You know, I think all credit goes to Rebecca Frecknell and our creative team who have really created this world that feels like 1929 Weimar Berlin, but also really feels like today. It feels like fresh, it feels modern from even the styles of dance in the prologue, right? You have like Vogue, you have Crump, like set to klezmer music. It's just like it's really this mashing up of these two worlds. Oh, I love that.

[58:14] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Yeah. We're asking everybody if you had your own personal cabaret, like one night only solo show, who would be your dream MC? Oh that is a great question. Um I'm gonna go basic with it. And my dream MC is Beyoncé. Period. That's been a popular pretty popular. I mean, come on! Yeah, yeah, yeah. But rightfully so. I mean the excellence, come on. Real. But like, is that a thing where you can like perform her song? Like, or is that like a no Queen's gotta do her thing? Oh, I can't. She'll do her own. I could not possibly perform any of her songs in front of her without her blessing. That would be terrifying.

[58:54] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: I am imagining right now. Yeah. Right. Speaking of icons and performing like kind of their own things. Joel Gray came to see the show, celebrate his 92nd birthday. That was crazy. Yeah, like what what is that like? Was there an added layer of terrifying terror? I mean, there was on some level, but I knew, but like, because Joel's also a director, right? And he's such like a theater icon, so I I just had the sense that he would have a love. There would be a love for this piece and some nostalgia there. And so it was just it felt like getting his blessing more than anything. Oh wow. Um and John Kander was also in the audience that night. So freaking cool. Which was crazy. Yeah.

[59:33] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: What are you most excited for audience members to come see? I am most excited for audiences members, audience members to come see Gail Rankin. Oh, period. As Sally Bowles. I love it. A revelation, a star.

[59:49] Eli Tokash: I just, yeah, I think New York is going to be rocked by this performance.

[59:53] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: I love that.

[59:54] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Oh, I'm so pumped.

[59:55] Eli Tokash: Well, thank you so much. Break a leg on your run.

[59:56] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: It's a pleasure so much.

[59:58] Eli Tokash: Yes, of course. Thank you so much.

[1:00:00] Eli Tokash: And there you go. That wraps up the principal cast. We were so bummed we didn't get to talk to Bibi Neworth. She was not doing interviews at the opening night.

[1:00:09] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Um, and we totally missed Gail Ranking. Unfortunately, I was literally talking to EDDIE while Gail passed through.

[1:00:17] Eli Tokash: Um, and she never came back the other way, but that's okay. Um we'll hopefully we'll get the chance to chat with Gail sometime soon. Uh but thrilled to talk to all of the fabulous cast of the show. Um now let's get into some of the guests, and then we'll head over to the creatives after that.

[1:00:39] Eli Tokash: Um we'll end it with the creatives, I guess you could say. So we talked to so many fabulous guests who were attending the opening night of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, literal legends, literally, um, in our industry and just in our pop culture. Um so starting it off, we have actually the theater owner of the August Wilson Theater. Uh he also owns many of the Ju Jampson theaters. We have Jordan Roth.

[1:01:08] Jordan Roth: Yes, okay. Thank you for doing this.

[1:01:10] Eli Tokash: My pleasure. Opening night. I guess opening night part one.

[1:01:14] Jordan Roth: Opening night part one. Moment for the fit. Do we have another fit for this same occasion tomorrow?

[1:01:19] Eli Tokash: Just a little bit more. Did you think I was gonna show up in the same look twice?

[1:01:22] Jordan Roth: No, no, no. No, you didn't think.

[1:01:24] Eli Tokash: Oh my god. Well, we'll be bringing you an entirely different look tomorrow night, but they are conceptually connected.

[1:01:30] Jordan Roth: Obsessed. How long did this take?

[1:01:34] Eli Tokash: 35 years.

[1:01:35] Jordan Roth: Really? You're in bye.

[1:01:37] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, amazing. Well, I'm curious to ask you, you know, obviously they like pretty much redid your theater. Um not pretty much.

[1:01:45] Jordan Roth: It's a it's well, it's just been completely transformed.

[1:01:49] Eli Tokash: Yeah. And yet it also feels like it's always been like this, and that is master design and craftsmanship.

[1:01:55] Jordan Roth: Oh, fascinating. Did you ever think a show here would be played in the round?

[1:01:59] Jordan Roth: Um I don't think I ever thought anything couldn't happen.

[1:02:03] Eli Tokash: Okay, fair enough. Well, I'm very excited to see it. We're asking everybody if there was a show about you, one night only cabaret solo show about you. Who would be the dream MC for your show?

[1:02:12] Jordan Roth: Me.

[1:02:16] Eli Tokash: Period! I love it. One man show. I love it. Thank you so much. Is anybody else gonna say not them?

[1:02:23] Jordan Roth: Actually, everyone is like Beyonce and Barbara and Bernadette and all these other people. Matt Damon we had, I don't know, very random song.

[1:02:32] Eli Tokash: Matt Damon asked or answered.

[1:02:34] Jordan Roth: No, no, no, no. We that was an answer.

[1:02:36] Eli Tokash: Oh, he was an answer.

[1:02:36] Jordan Roth: Yes, yes. Yeah, no, me.

[1:02:38] Eli Tokash: Okay, bye. Amazing. Congratulations.

[1:02:41] Jordan Roth: Thank you.

[1:02:42] Eli Tokash: Now let's hear from Dylan Mulvaney.

[1:02:46] Dylan Mulvaney: Dylan. Nice to meet you. I'm Eli. Would you like to hold this?

[1:02:48] Eli Tokash: I can hold it for you. I'll do my own. Whatever. Whatever you prefer.

[1:02:52] Dylan Mulvaney: Okay, great. Yeah, deal. Amazing. Here with Dylan Mulvaney, here we are. Opening night, I guess, part one of the Kit Kat Club.

[1:03:00] Dylan Mulvaney: Yeah.

[1:03:01] Eli Tokash: So um, how excited are you to see? Obviously, this is like a cultural phenomenon. Everyone knows what cabaret is. But when they when people like revive shows and they do it in this brand new way, like how exciting is that?

[1:03:12] Dylan Mulvaney: Oh, well, I remember seeing Cabaret with Emma Stone like almost what 10 years ago. And to now get to see this version on stage is it just makes me so happy. I've heard it's very queer, very um sort of like fluid, and so I think there's a lot of really good stuff that's gonna happen.

[1:03:28] Eli Tokash: Yeah, fun fact, Gail actually made her Broadway debut in that production almost exactly 10 years ago. Very full circle.

[1:03:34] Dylan Mulvaney: Yeah, which is crazy. Um and we they were also talking, like we we obviously talked to the casters recently, and they said how very queer it is, like you just mentioned, and there's a non-binary dressing room for the yes, how important is that in the inclusion in and this community on the world?

[1:03:52] Dylan Mulvaney: You know, I really want to advocate to see more trans people on Broadway and in commercial theater because I think there's some really cool, important stuff happening, you know, um in experimental theater and in nonprofits, but I really want to see it in the commercial setting, and I think we have to figure out how to change keys for trans people. We have to figure out how to you know get people representation, and I just want to see more of that.

[1:04:17] Eli Tokash: I love that. Well, we're asking everybody if you had a show, like a one-night only show, all about you. Who would be the dream MC for a show about you?

[1:04:28] Dylan Mulvaney: Oh my god. Um, I think maybe how about um it does it have to be dead or alive.

[1:04:37] Eli Tokash: Uh either.

[1:04:38] Dylan Mulvaney: Okay, um maybe one of each, too. Uh Elaine Stritch.

[1:04:42] Eli Tokash: Oh, period.

[1:04:42] Dylan Mulvaney: Yeah, or maybe Carol Channing.

[1:04:44] Eli Tokash: Love. Alright. There you have it. We're gonna make it happen. Love ya! Thank you so much, and have a great day. Enjoy this.

[1:04:50] Eli Tokash: Next up, we have a literal Broadway legend. I was freaking out to talk to her. I honestly blanked on the interview. Like, like I feel like I blacked out, and I just I had no idea what we talked about until I was editing this for all of you. So here is none other than the Broadway Queen herself, BERNADETTE PETERS.

[1:05:11] BERNADETTE PETERS: How are you? So lovely to meet you. Thank you for doing this.

[1:05:15] Eli Tokash: Thanks for being here. I'm this is Take A Bow. This is my own show.

[1:05:21] BERNADETTE PETERS: Yes. Thank you. I appreciate it.

[1:05:23] Eli Tokash: Okay. Well, obviously we're here at Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Well, how excited are you to see like revivals of shows that kind of really revive it and do new things with it, like what they're doing?

[1:05:35] BERNADETTE PETERS: I can't wait. I mean, my dear friend is Joel Gray. Of course. And who saw this already on his first day, loved EDDIE, and uh said that we're it was wonderful. So I'm looking forward to what this experience before the show starts. Right. What that is too. It's super exciting.

[1:05:53] Eli Tokash: We were asking everyone if they if you had an opportunity to do a show that celebrates you and your work. Who would be the dream MC of a show about you?

[1:06:03] BERNADETTE PETERS: Oh how about Lawrence Olivier?

[1:06:07] Eli Tokash: I love it. There you go. Well, thank you so much for stopping by. Enjoy the show.

[1:06:11] BERNADETTE PETERS: Yes, of course. Thank you.

[1:06:15] Eli Tokash: Next up, we have another legend. Uh we have Harvey Fierstein who shares a story about being in another production of Cabaret with the star of the show. It's himself, EDDIE REDMAYNE.

[1:06:28] Harvey Fierstein: I did I did cabaret with EDDIE.

[1:06:30] Eli Tokash: Oh, you did? At the public theater.

[1:06:31] Harvey Fierstein: We did a we did a concert version of it.

[1:06:34] Eli Tokash: Oh, fantastic. With uh Anne Hathaway.

[1:06:36] Harvey Fierstein: Yes. And EDDIE played um the the innocent young one. I played uh Herr Schultz, yes. Um Linda Lavin uh was was uh the Frau Schneider was um uh Audra was in it.

[1:06:52] Eli Tokash: Period. Audio was um was um um Freulein uh cross okay um yeah it was wonderful how excited are you to now revisit the show in a brand new way?

[1:07:04] Harvey Fierstein: Oh I'm always always excited to see the show. I've seen it a lot.

[1:07:08] Eli Tokash: Yes, amazing. What do you think about the show in the rounds? Do you like to see it?

[1:07:11] Harvey Fierstein: I mean, the last time I was here was my show. Right? Funny girls. Our so now I want to see this one. Have you done a show in the round before?

[1:07:21] Eli Tokash: Next up we have Broadway's Queen Julie Benko. This time of year, are you seeing a lot of shows right now?

[1:07:27] Julie Benko: Yeah, I'm seeing a lot of shows.

[1:07:29] Eli Tokash: Okay, just that stereotype on it. Okay, which I love. And that's your favorite now?

[1:07:33] Julie Benko: It was great.

[1:07:34] Eli Tokash: Oh good. And um, I haven't seen cabaret yet, so I'm I'm sure it will also become a favorite.

[1:07:39] Julie Benko: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so cool because it's like this immersive experience in the round. Have you ever seen a show or done a show in the round?

[1:07:47] Julie Benko: I've seen many in the round. I would love to do something in the round. I'm really very excited to see what they've done to the August Wilson, which was my home for 18 months.

[1:07:55] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[1:07:55] Julie Benko: And already from the outside, it's completely different. Unrecognizable. I'm seeing all my friends who are working to the front of house here, you know, all the front of house staff and the stage door guy, and I'm like, I don't even recognize you behind this door. It's such a completely different door.

[1:08:07] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, that's so funny. And how about like walking into the theater? Are you gonna be excited to see the bars and all that what they're doing?

[1:08:14] Julie Benko: I keep hearing you're not gonna recognize it.

[1:08:16] Eli Tokash: I love it. That's so awesome. Well, perhaps we'll have to get Julie Benko in the round doing Sally Bowls to add her former home.

[1:08:24] Julie Benko: From your mouth.

[1:08:25] Eli Tokash: Period. Let's just drop that in it.

[1:08:28] Julie Benko: I'm down.

[1:08:28] Eli Tokash: Listen, we're asking everybody if you had to do like a one night only solo show cabaret.

[1:08:35] Julie Benko: Which I do regularly.

[1:08:36] Eli Tokash: Of course. Okay. Who would be your dream MC if you had one?

[1:08:42] Julie Benko: My dream MC would probably be um Judy Garland.

[1:08:48] Eli Tokash: Oh.

[1:08:49] Julie Benko: I don't know. I mean she'd be great MC.

[1:08:51] Eli Tokash: She would. But like for you.

[1:08:54] Julie Benko: Like, so I feel like it would work. Or could I get Julie Andrews?

[1:08:58] Eli Tokash: It's your dream.

[1:08:59] Julie Benko: Yes, period. But we have to have like a duet true. And then maybe Robin Williams.

[1:09:04] Eli Tokash: Oh, for the comedy.

[1:09:06] Julie Benko: Yeah. To like to liven things up. I'm adding too many people.

[1:09:09] Eli Tokash: No, hey, this is your dream. Whatever happened.

[1:09:12] Julie Benko: Yeah. Just like my dream is to see you as Sally Bowls. So, like, it's all good. We're just dreaming here.

[1:09:17] Eli Tokash: I love it. Well, enjoy the show, and thanks for doing this.

[1:09:20] Julie Benko: So, of course.

[1:09:21] Eli Tokash: Now we have none other than Julia Lester, whose dad happens to be the person in the cast with the coolest name, Iron Byron. So take it away, Julia Lester.

[1:09:31] Julia Lester: Well, listen, I was just talking to your dad who's making your Broadway debut. You guys get to make your Broadway debuts in back to back seasons. How like exciting and cool is that?

[1:09:38] Eli Tokash: Um, it's like the most surreal feeling ever. I was here during previews, so I could see a run of the show and sob my eyes out, so hopefully I'll be a little bit more collected this time around. But it's it's really surreal. I mean, I'm like watching his biggest dreams come true after he's been you know cheering me on for my whole life, so it's it's really really special.

[1:10:01] Eli Tokash: I love that. It's kind of like roles reversed here. You could be the proud daughter.

[1:10:04] Julia Lester: Exactly. He already got the proud dad moment. He was so excited, he like came up to me and was like, this is my Broadway debut. And I was like, he's so proud of it.

[1:10:15] Eli Tokash: I know, I know. I love it. It're so incredible. Uh, we're asking everyone if you had your own like solo show cabaret. Wow. And you could have anyone be your MC of your show, who would be your dream MC?

[1:10:29] Julia Lester: Oh my god, that's such a good question. Um my god. Um wow. What have been some examples? What have people been saying?

[1:10:40] Eli Tokash: People have been saying Beyonce, Matt Damon, like answers. Like Barbara, you Bernadette, you know.

[1:10:48] Julia Lester: Okay, I'll hop on the Barbara train.

[1:10:50] Eli Tokash: Okay, please.

[1:10:50] Julia Lester: Yeah, I love that. Your dad, oh, or him. He's he'd be great at it.

[1:10:55] Eli Tokash: Yeah, absolutely. No one knows you better.

[1:10:57] Julia Lester: Right, exactly. That would be pretty special. I hope he doesn't share childhood stories.

[1:11:02] Eli Tokash: No, we need that.

[1:11:03] Julia Lester: Right. That's it that people want. We have a lot of them.

[1:11:06] Eli Tokash: Oh, good. I love it. Well, hey, so happy you're here. Casual. What a talented family.

[1:11:15] Julia Lester: Yeah, of course. Thanks for being here. Nice meeting you too. I'll tell you, you said hi.

[1:11:19] Eli Tokash: Yes, please do. Oh my god. So nice meeting.

[1:11:22] Eli Tokash: And now let's turn it over to Greg Hildreth.

[1:11:25] Greg Hildreth: Nice to see you. How's it going?

[1:11:26] Eli Tokash: Good, thanks. We're here at uh opening night.

[1:11:29] Greg Hildreth: Yeah.

[1:11:29] Eli Tokash: I guess opening part one. How do you feel about that?

[1:11:32] Greg Hildreth: I mean, we have Broadway Veteran here. We've been a part of many Broadway openings, and they get two Broadway openings.

[1:11:40] Eli Tokash: Okay, period. More celebrations. Come on.

[1:11:43] Greg Hildreth: Yeah. I love it. Well, we're asking everybody if you had like a one-night only solo cabaret show about you and celebrating you. Who would be your dream MC?

[1:11:54] Greg Hildreth: That is a great question. If Anthony Newley were still alive, I would love to have Anthony Newly be my MC.

[1:12:01] Eli Tokash: I love. Well, what about like living living?

[1:12:07] Greg Hildreth: We love him.

[1:12:08] Eli Tokash: Yeah, yeah. Somebody living.

[1:12:10] Greg Hildreth: I would love to have uh Eric Anderson be the MC of my show.

[1:12:15] Eli Tokash: Very sweet. Oh my god. How about it?

[1:12:17] Greg Hildreth: Uh well, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. This is unlike anything that's on Broadway. It's an immersive experience in the round. Have you ever done a show in the round at the club?

[1:12:25] Greg Hildreth: I have.

[1:12:26] Eli Tokash: You have to do all of that lighthouse acting.

[1:12:28] Greg Hildreth: Yeah.

[1:12:28] Eli Tokash: Constantly turning around.

[1:12:30] Greg Hildreth: It's difficult.

[1:12:31] Eli Tokash: Yeah, how do you how do you navigate that? And as an audience member, have you seen a show on the round? Does that make your kind of experience a little different?

[1:12:36] Greg Hildreth: Totally, yeah. I feel like the experience is ultimately like more cinematic because you can catch you know different sides of different people in different moments.

[1:12:47] Eli Tokash: There you go. An immersive experience. Immerse yourself in the Kit Kat Club here at Cabaret.

[1:12:52] Greg Hildreth: And the August Wilson. Thank you so much, Greg. Appreciate you.

[1:12:54] Eli Tokash: Yeah, nice chatting with you too. Wrapping up the awesome guests that we were able to talk to and get their reactions going into the show as well as what their relationship was with the show and all the fun stuff about uh the cabaret of them of their lives. Uh, we have none other than Tom Francis, who will be making his Broadway debut in Sunset Boulevard.

[1:13:15] Tom Francis: That's right, for all of you TikTokers that uh I don't know, I guess do that stuff or watch that stuff. Uh I'm sure you've seen the all all the videos of him just walking around the theater of uh their uh theater in London singing Sunset Boulevard. He is gonna be bringing that to Broadway and we talk all about it.

[1:13:36] Eli Tokash: So here is a fabulous. Love this.

[1:13:38] Tom Francis: You agree.

[1:13:39] Eli Tokash: Thanks very much.

[1:13:40] Tom Francis: You're welcome. Cheers. Uh well, here we are at the opening night of Cabaret. We're asking everybody if you had a your own solo show, a show about you. Who would be your dream MC of your show?

[1:13:52] Tom Francis: My dream MC.

[1:13:53] Eli Tokash: Yeah, for years.

[1:13:54] Tom Francis: Matt Damon.

[1:13:55] Eli Tokash: Yeah. Oh, I love that. He'd be sick.

[1:13:57] Tom Francis: Yeah, that's fantastic. Would you try to like do any of his like characters so that he's known for you to try to act out a monologue or something?

[1:14:04] Eli Tokash: Maybe you do that like um the one in um What's the film where he like goes Mario Zav and says like lists all of the like names of his brothers?

[1:14:14] Tom Francis: No, I think it's the well, maybe it is Goodwill Hunting.

[1:14:17] Eli Tokash: No, it is Goodwill Hunting, yeah.

[1:14:18] Tom Francis: Yeah.

[1:14:18] Eli Tokash: Well he goes through the like the list of names. You have to put that in there somewhere.

[1:14:21] Tom Francis: Fantastic, I love it. Well, you're about to come to Broadway from the West End, just like Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.

[1:14:26] Tom Francis: I know, I can't believe it.

[1:14:27] Eli Tokash: Yeah, how excited are you to to be making?

[1:14:29] Tom Francis: I'm absolutely ecstatic.

[1:14:31] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[1:14:31] Tom Francis: Yeah. Always been a dream. And like to that to actually do it is uh it's crazy. The whole walking around the theater, uh now you're gonna do it in New York with the beeping taxis and the sirens.

[1:14:44] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Yeah, it's gonna be mad.

[1:14:45] HENRY GOTTFRIED: Does it you ever get distracted?

[1:14:47] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Like, how do you stay in it?

[1:14:48] HENRY GOTTFRIED: No, I've got these like um headphones in my ears, and they like block everything out, and all I can really hear is myself and the orchestra. So hopefully it won't be too much of an issue for me. Um, I yeah, I'm really excited to show it to everyone, see what they think.

[1:15:01] Eli Tokash: Well, I hear you heard you saw this at the West End.

[1:15:04] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: I did, yes.

[1:15:04] Eli Tokash: And well, what do you think? What made you come back?

[1:15:07] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: I just love I love this show, and EDDIE REDMAYNE's unbelievable. Um, I just really want to see it again.

[1:15:13] Eli Tokash: Yeah, and you think audiences will want to come back too?

[1:15:15] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: Yeah, 100%. I love it.

[1:15:17] Eli Tokash: There you go. Seeing it multiple times. I love it. Thank you so much. Pleasure meeting you. Have a good YouTube.

[1:15:23] ATO BLANKSON-WOOD: All right.

[1:15:23] Eli Tokash: Well, that's all the guests who came to see uh the show for the first day. Um that was so much fun talking to them.

[1:15:31] Eli Tokash: Uh I felt like it was I don't know, a little bit more interactive and not like, are you excited to be here? So I was very excited for those uh and to share those with you.

[1:15:40] Eli Tokash: So uh that wraps up the guests, like I said, and let's turn it over to the creatives because the creatives of the Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club are not your ordinary creatives uh that we usually see on Broadway.

[1:15:51] Eli Tokash: Obviously, uh a lot of them came from the UK, but also this production uh required something that uh well, I guess a lot of things that uh no other show on Broadway has or that we could even talk about on a red carpet, as they literally had to uh remodel the theater.

[1:16:10] Eli Tokash: They're dealing with two different types of cast, they're dealing with two different types of stories to lead it into the real main event show, I guess you could say. Um, so this is really cool.

[1:16:21] Eli Tokash: We have the choreographer, we have the set costume and theater designer, uh, and the director. So, starting us off will be the choreographer, Julia Chang.

[1:16:31] Julia Chang: I'm so sorry, I'm just I shed it off.

[1:16:33] Eli Tokash: Great. Hi, I'm Eli. It's so lovely to meet you. Would you like to hold this? I can hold it for you.

[1:16:38] Julia Chang: We can okay, great, whatever you want.

[1:16:41] Eli Tokash: Okay, great. Um talk to you.

[1:16:44] Julia Chang: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you're gonna really like looking in with yeah, exactly.

[1:16:48] Eli Tokash: I kind of do a back and forth thing. I don't know, I'm awkward.

[1:16:51] Julia Chang: Um, great. So um happy opening.

[1:16:53] Eli Tokash: Thank you, sir. Part one, I guess you could say.

[1:16:55] Julia Chang: Um, what is that kind of process like as a creative member of the team? Like, are you watching both openings? Are you kind of seeing what's working for the different audiences? What has that process been like here in America?

[1:17:06] Julia Chang: Oh, yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm here for both. I just want to see and witness their greatness and be supportive and like uh watch them shine really. They've worked so hard for it. The class is amazing. Um it's been such an honor to work with them. So of course uh I have to be here for that.

[1:17:25] Eli Tokash: Well this show, the way that it's just crafted and the theater itself and the round and all of that, what is that kind of change, I guess, about being a choreographer of the show?

[1:17:37] Julia Chang: I mean I love the round.

[1:17:39] Eli Tokash: Oh great.

[1:17:40] Julia Chang: So like for me, uh I come from the world of dance where we dance in circles and ciphers, and that's what for me I come from that kind of club underground world, and I'm used to working in the round because I love that kind of intimacy.

[1:17:54] Julia Chang: Um and but in terms of crafting for theater and for stage and like for mainstream shows like this is it's quite different because you've got such a wider scope and like and needed a wider pan lens.

[1:18:04] Julia Chang: Um but I come from that same mindset of how do you see from every angle and how do you sculpt from different angles and and make it still feel intimate and real and transmit when it needs to go further out.

[1:18:15] Eli Tokash: Right.

[1:18:16] Julia Chang: Um and I think you can only do that by connecting to something that's real to artists and real to people.

[1:18:22] Eli Tokash: That's amazing. Well, we're asking everyone one final question. If you had a solo show of honoring all your work or whatever it may be, or a show about you, who would be your dream MC?

[1:18:36] Julia Chang: A show about me?

[1:18:37] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[1:18:38] Julia Chang: It'd probably be like Michelle Yeoh.

[1:18:39] Eli Tokash: Oh damn right, it'd be Michelle Yeoh.

[1:18:42] Julia Chang: I love it!

[1:18:43] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, well thank you so much. That's a great answer and break a leg on your run.

[1:18:47] Julia Chang: I hear that.

[1:18:48] Eli Tokash: Yes, oh my god, this is fantastic. So nice meeting you.

[1:18:51] Eli Tokash: And now let's hear from the legend of the night, Tom Scott, who happens to be the set theater and costume designer.

[1:18:59] Tom Scott: Appreciate it. Would you like to hold this or I can hold it for you?

[1:19:02] Eli Tokash: Okay, great.

[1:19:03] Tom Scott: Um listen, the cast, they're all fans of your work.

[1:19:08] Eli Tokash: Yes, we have some high expectations here.

[1:19:11] Tom Scott: Everyone has spoken so highly of you. It's a pleasure to meet you, pleasure to be here. Happy opening part one, I guess.

[1:19:18] Eli Tokash: Yeah, I know.

[1:19:22] Tom Scott: I know. Can you I know? Is that a thing? Like what do you kind of not watch this or do you watch the Sunday?

[1:19:28] Tom Scott: You watch the show.

[1:19:30] Eli Tokash: Yeah, but it's also just so strange because you know, the show in many ways has been opened so many times with so many different companies, and now we're here, and then we had our invited dress, and that felt like an opening, and then our first preview, and it just kind of keeps constantly unfolding and just like blossoming, I guess.

[1:19:46] Eli Tokash: You know, I'm curious from bringing this show from the West End now here to Broadway. Did you have to make any changes per se, like for an American audience?

[1:19:55] Tom Scott: Yeah? Oh well, the show itself is is uh there's we've fine-tuned a huge amount of stuff in the show, but like the spaces around are completely different because the build it's completely site-specific and completely um uh dependent on what the August Wilson gives to us.

[1:20:12] Tom Scott: So everything's uh everything in the public spaces or the bar spaces are brand new and for this production only.

[1:20:17] Eli Tokash: I love it.

[1:20:18] Tom Scott: And and the decision to perform in the round. I mean, that that's gotta be something so cool in the way that you've designed this theater to basically like literally surround the cast.

[1:20:29] Tom Scott: They've mentioned that their the audience is really one of their cast members. Like it really feels like. Was that like an intention? What did you like? What was the reasoning, I guess, behind doing it the rapture?

[1:20:38] Tom Scott: Yeah, I mean I'm sort of always interested in why now, you know, with musical revivals, and I think that you have to really think about if you're doing cabaret, you have to think about who is in that production.

[1:20:51] Tom Scott: Um what are you doing to carry the spirit of countercultural artistic spaces like cabarets into the West End and Broadway experience?

[1:21:05] Tom Scott: And I think that in order to do that, you have to be able to see and experience other audience members as part of the as part of a show, you know.

[1:21:15] Tom Scott: It's a very different thing, I think, seeing cabaret in a proscenium theatre.

[1:21:19] Eli Tokash: Absolutely.

[1:21:20] Tom Scott: Um and yeah, you are wherever you're sitting in the house, you are part of the world.

[1:21:26] Eli Tokash: Yeah. Fascinating.

[1:21:28] Eli Tokash: And and how much of the do you like you have two different casts, right? You have one for the prologue, you have one for the actual show. What was that process of like creating a space for the prologue and then creating a space for the actual show?

[1:21:42] Tom Scott: Yeah, I mean, again, that that's very specific to the Wilson.

[1:21:45] Tom Scott: I pulled a lot of um references for the prologue spaces for the bars from this beautiful old plaque that's on the wall for the guild theatre from 1925, but has all this artwork and decoration and writing that we have sort of pulled out as part of the spirit of the prologue.

[1:22:03] Tom Scott: Uh I think it's a line that says something may be presented within these walls, the divine pageant of the human soul with gaiety, with pity, and with truth.

[1:22:12] Tom Scott: And so we sort of pulled those words out, and it's just like the prologue are the kind of spirits of the building from the last hundred years being sort of conjured up to kind of almost like ritualistically start the production for us.

[1:22:27] Eli Tokash: So it's like a it's a real celebration, it's a real sort of conjuring of artistic experience.

[1:22:32] Tom Scott: Oh, I absolutely love that.

[1:22:33] Eli Tokash: Alright, one last question, and I'm gonna let you go. If you, if they did a show for you, honoring you and your work, who would be the dream for your own show?

[1:22:46] Tom Scott: Oh, it would be EDDIE REDMAYNE as the MC, but he would have my glasses on.

[1:22:49] Eli Tokash: You would have you guys on.

[1:22:50] Tom Scott: Okay, period.

[1:22:51] Eli Tokash: I love it. Great answer. Thank you so much, Tom.

[1:22:52] Tom Scott: Bigaleg, thank you so much. Nice meeting you.

[1:22:56] Eli Tokash: And last but certainly not least, here is the director of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Rebecca Frecknall.

[1:23:03] Rebecca Frecknall: Hi, Eli, nice to meet you.

[1:23:06] Rebecca Frecknall: Sorry, I'm just making sure that this is on really quick.

[1:23:09] Eli Tokash: Uh do you want to hold this or do you want me to hold this?

[1:23:12] Rebecca Frecknall: I can do whatever you prefer.

[1:23:14] Eli Tokash: Okay, wonderful. Uh and we're all set?

[1:23:16] Rebecca Frecknall: Cool. Happy opening.

[1:23:18] Eli Tokash: Thank you.

[1:23:18] Rebecca Frecknall: Yes, now we're here on Broadway. What is that feeling like from bringing the show from West from the West End now here to New York City on Broadway?

[1:23:26] Rebecca Frecknall: I feel like I'm having an out-of-body experience right now.

[1:23:29] Rebecca Frecknall: Yeah, I mean it's just a complete dream come true. And I think it's so surreal. This date's been in our diary for so long now, and to finally be here. It's just incredible. It's so exciting. Feels really emotional. Such a privilege to be here.

[1:23:42] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, well, it's uh a privilege to be speaking to you because this show is so brilliantly done.

[1:23:48] Rebecca Frecknall: Like cute. There's been so many iterations of this show, but nothing like with this that we're witnessing right now on Broadway.

[1:23:55] Eli Tokash: Like, what was the process of of not only like creating that for the West End, but also like making sure that it um translates well enough for an American New York kind of audience?

[1:24:09] Rebecca Frecknall: I mean, it's such an incredible iconic piece of American writing, isn't it? Like it's in the American musical theatre canon. It's sure it's such a kind of icon of Broadway that title and so we always knew that it was so well loved here and has you know it's from here and to bring it back here is really exciting.

[1:24:27] Rebecca Frecknall: I think whenever I like revisit a show even if it's a revival or a transfer of something I've made before I always try and go back into it with a sense of evolution and recreation and I never want to just copy something I've done before and what's been so exciting is having an American cast on Broadway doing it.

[1:24:43] Rebecca Frecknall: And most of whom who haven't seen the show so it's amazing for us because actually they're just meeting the material in the rehearsal room.

[1:24:49] Eli Tokash: Right.

[1:24:49] Rebecca Frecknall: And so they have new ideas and new provocations and we have new ideas and so we've been able to evolve the show and put it into sort of high definition I suppose for our Broadway audience.

[1:25:02] Rebecca Frecknall: And that's felt really exciting and we're in a different theatre and a different immersive space and that informs the show as well.

[1:25:08] Eli Tokash: Right.

[1:25:08] Rebecca Frecknall: So it's been amazing kind of revisiting something that you know and love so well but then completely rediscovering it with a new group of artists.

[1:25:15] Eli Tokash: Right and you kind of mentioned like just revisiting the work again and now with the time you've been like a j you've kind of like I guess let it soak in a little bit.

[1:25:24] Eli Tokash: Now you get the opportunity to revisit it also with EDDIE and Gail.

[1:25:29] Rebecca Frecknall: Yes.

[1:25:29] Eli Tokash: Like what is that kind of revisit looked like and how what have you learned I guess from putting it up in London to now putting it up here in New York?

[1:25:39] Rebecca Frecknall: It's been amazing having EDDIE back in the company and having him as that sort of central pillar, I suppose, that goes through that the you know he brings a sense of the original with him, but he hasn't done it for three years, and so he's also re-finding it.

[1:25:55] Rebecca Frecknall: And there are things that you know, ideas that he's rediscovered and evolved, things we liked last time that this time felt less interesting, and things we've learned through recasting the show multiple times in London as well about new ideas that can come into those characters.

[1:26:08] Rebecca Frecknall: So it's been amazing re-finding all of that with EDDIE, and it's been so nice having him back in the room and being back with him in that role.

[1:26:15] Rebecca Frecknall: And to see him work with Gail's just been really exciting, and I've loved working with her, she's such a fearless Sally.

[1:26:21] Rebecca Frecknall: It's just kind of brought such warmth and artistry and commitment and humor to the role, and they've I think they've really enjoyed um collaborating on it.

[1:26:32] Eli Tokash: Oh, that's awesome.

[1:26:33] Eli Tokash: It's been a really great, exciting room to be in.

[1:26:35] Eli Tokash: It seems like that, like this this group of people, and just the short amount of times that I had with them. Everyone loves everybody, everyone is so excited to like play around and and find new discoveries of the of the story of everything.

[1:26:46] Eli Tokash: Uh it's about to be so cool.

[1:26:48] Eli Tokash: Well, one last question I want to ask you that we've been asking everyone. If you had, I know you're you're a bit on the off stage, but if you had to do uh solo show uh your own personal cabaret, who would be your dream MC for your show to like honor you?

[1:27:04] Rebecca Frecknall: Oh gosh, I mean it's gotta be EDDIE REDMAYNE.

[1:27:08] Eli Tokash: It's gonna be, you know, it's like to do that.

[1:27:10] Rebecca Frecknall: He is that part to me now, and always will be. And I you know, I we've grown so close, and I such a close collaboration with him.

[1:27:17] Rebecca Frecknall: So I'd be happy for EDDIE to host my show all day.

[1:27:19] Eli Tokash: I love that!

[1:27:20] Eli Tokash: Well, thank you so much, and congratulations.

[1:27:22] Rebecca Frecknall: Thank you so much.

[1:27:23] Eli Tokash: Yes, of course. Nice to meet you too.

[1:27:25] Eli Tokash: Break a leg on your run, it's so amazing.

[1:27:27] Rebecca Frecknall: Yes, of course.

[1:27:28] Eli Tokash: Take about everyone over at the cabaret, the Kit Kat Club, it is an absolute blast, it's an unbelievable show.

[1:27:34] Eli Tokash: I can't wait to finally see it. I've been able to see sneak peeks and photos and all of these things, and uh uh, I guess like a moment in the lobby and stuff, and that's very rare because you can't have your phones.

[1:27:46] Eli Tokash: It's one of those shows where they kind of lock your phone up a little bit. Uh, so it's very exciting stuff.

[1:27:52] Eli Tokash: EDDIE REDMAYNE is unbelievable. The Gail is obviously with EDDIE uh nominated for a Tony Award, so um shout out to them.

[1:28:00] Eli Tokash: And it's up for best revival, and it's one of the hottest shows of the season.

[1:28:04] Eli Tokash: So make sure you go see Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.

[1:28:07] Eli Tokash: And uh I'm keeping it short because this was a longer episode.

[1:28:11] Eli Tokash: So uh that was episode 202. I hope you all enjoyed it, and hopefully you all will check out uh this visual uh episode up on YouTube on Monday while there's no theater going on.

[1:28:24] Eli Tokash: So um thank you so much for listening to this week's episode as always, and come back next week for a very exciting episode.

[1:28:31] Eli Tokash: It'll probably be more of a traditional episode with uh a fabulous guest that's involved in this Tony Award season.

[1:28:37] Eli Tokash: Thank you all so much, and until next week, bye everyone.

[1:28:42] Eli Tokash: Have a great week.

[1:28:44] Eli Tokash: Alright, y'all, it's time for the final curtain call.

[1:28:46] Eli Tokash: I would like to take a moment to allow a couple other people to take a bow.

[1:28:51] Eli Tokash: Starting with a special shout out to the team at the Broadway Podcast Network, including Dory Berenstein, Alan Seales, Kimberly Garris, and the rest of the team at the Broadway Podcast Network.

[1:29:01] Eli Tokash: Next in line to take a bow, we have Giselle Bustos for creating our incredible logo.

[1:29:06] Eli Tokash: Next up are our fabulous musicians Nikki Torsha and Cormac Cullenon for making our intro and outro music.

[1:29:13] Eli Tokash: And our final bow today are extra special for the patrons, Patrick McNamara, Brian Thompson, the listeners at PCC, and the rest of our fabulous patrons over at Patreon.com.

[1:29:24] Eli Tokash: If you're interested in becoming a patron, visit patreon.com/slash TAB.

[1:29:30] Eli Tokash: If you enjoyed this week's episode, make sure you're subscribed on all podcast platforms or wherever you're listening to us today on.