Show guide
Cabaret
Cabaret is a landmark musical drama that uses the seedy glamour of a Berlin nightclub to examine the rise of fascism in a city sliding toward catastrophe.
- Broadway premiere
- 1966
- Music by
- John Kander
- Genre
- Drama
- Setting
- 1930s
Cabaret: quick answers
What is Cabaret about?
- In Berlin as the Nazi Party rises to power, American writer Cliff Bradshaw becomes entangled with Sally Bowles, an English singer at the seedy Kit Kat Klub, where the sinister Emcee presides over the decadence.
When did Cabaret open on Broadway?
- Cabaret opened on Broadway on November 20, 1966, at the Broadhurst Theatre and ran for 1,166 performances, winning the Tony for Best Musical. Sam Mendes' 1998 revival with Alan Cumming ran for 2,377 performances.
What kind of musical is Cabaret?
- Cabaret is a dark musical drama with an original score by John Kander and Fred Ebb and a book by Joe Masteroff, based on Christopher Isherwood's Berlin stories and the play I Am a Camera.
Where and when is Cabaret set?
- Cabaret is set in Berlin in 1929 and 1930, in and around the Kit Kat Klub and Fräulein Schneider's boarding house.
Has Cabaret played in London's West End?
- Cabaret opened at London's Palace Theatre in 1968 with Judi Dench as Sally. The 2021 Kit Kat Club production at the Playhouse Theatre, with Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley, won seven Olivier Awards.
Is there a Cabaret movie?
- Bob Fosse's 1972 film starred Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, and Michael York and won eight Academy Awards.
The story of Cabaret
Set in Berlin in 1929 and 1930, the show centers on the Kit Kat Klub, a decadent nightclub presided over by an unsettling Emcee, and follows an American writer's entanglement with a British cabaret performer as the political climate around them darkens. Their personal story of romance and disillusionment unfolds in parallel with the growing shadow of the Nazi party, giving the musical a chilling sense of history closing in on its characters.
The nightclub setting allows the show to comment on the wider world through musical numbers staged as club acts, using performance and spectacle to mask, and eventually reveal, the horror taking root just outside the club's doors.
The music and the makers
John Kander wrote the music, working with a book adapted from earlier stage and literary sources rather than an original story. The score is built around the concept of songs performed within the club itself, giving it a sly, theatrical edge, jazzy and seductive on the surface while carrying darker meaning underneath.
As a drama, the show uses that music not just for entertainment but as commentary, letting the Emcee's numbers in particular blur the line between diversion and warning as the story's political stakes rise.
Cabaret on Broadway
Cabaret first opened on Broadway in 1966 and has since become one of the most frequently revived musicals in American theatre, with major productions reinterpreting its tone and staging for new generations. Its blend of dazzling showmanship and unflinching political subject matter has kept it feeling relevant across decades.
Audiences continue to be drawn to Cabaret for the way it fuses entertainment with warning, offering a night of style and spectacle that never lets you forget the darker forces gathering just beyond the stage lights.
Cabaret: frequently asked questions
When did Cabaret open on Broadway?
Cabaret first opened on Broadway in 1966.
Who composed Cabaret?
John Kander wrote the music for Cabaret.
What is Cabaret about?
It is a drama set in a Berlin nightclub in 1929 and 1930, tracing a romance against the rise of fascism in Germany.
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