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EXCLUSIVE: Masked country music star Orville Peck and two-time Tony Award nominee Eva Noblezada are set as the new Emcee and Sally Bowles of Broadway‘s Cabaret at the KitKat Club, producers announced today.
Peck, making his Broadway debut, and Noblezada will play a limited 16-week engagement at the August Wilson Theatre starting Monday, March 31, through Sunday, July 20. They’ll take over for Adam Lambert and Auli‘i Cravalho who, as previously announced, will play their final performances on Saturday evening, March 29.
Casting for the two roles after Sunday, July 20, will be announced this summer. Today’s announcement was made by producers Adam Speers for ATG Productions, Underbelly, Gavin Kalin Productions, Hunter Arnold, Smith & Brant Theatricals, and Wessex Grove.
Producers aren’t saying whether Peck will play the Emcee with or without a mask.
“The Emcee has been my dream role since I was a teenager,” said Peck, who is rarely seen in public without his signature, often-fringed mask and whose concert performances are highly theatrical. “The nature of the character allows for complete freedom of individual expression. It can be portrayed through such a vast range of emotions, perspectives, and performance styles. That kind of freedom is every actor’s dream.”
Peck, who trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and appeared on London’s West End in the Olivier Award-nominated Peter Pan Goes Wrong before releasing his innovative, career-making albums Pony (2019), Bronco (2022) and Stampede (2024), continued, “I truly cannot believe I’m getting to make my Broadway debut in one of my favorite shows and in probably my favorite role in all of musical theater. I grew up in the theater. I was a working actor and a dancer for many years before I started making music. I did the hustle, and the struggle, for a long time, trying to make things happen for myself. But it taught me so much of who I am as a performer and a person, so it feels very full circle to be making a return to it at this point in my career.”
Among Peck’s recent collaborators are Willie Nelson, Elton John, Shania Twain, Kylie Minogue and Beck.
Noblezada finishes her run as Daisy Buchanan in the hit Broadway musical The Great Gatsby on January 31, then joins other original Broadway cast members of Hadestown for a limited engagement reunion in the West End production. She made her Tony-nominated Broadway debut in the 2017 revival of Miss Saigon, and on film she has appeared in Yellow Rose and Easter Sunday.
Said Noblezada, “While studying musical theater in school, Cabaret always stood out. I was, and am, amazed by the lineage of theater royalty who have been in the show. And Sally Bowles to me is simply… fascinating. She is like a totally conscious child who is also completely unhinged. Almost clownish. But real and raw and in your face. And that character amidst and against that backdrop of such an evil reality is painfully surreal. I am totally psyched to start learning more. And I am ready to be as submissive as possible to the iconic world that is Cabaret.”
Orville Peck is represented by Crush Music and William Morris Endeavor. Eva Noblezada is represented by Schachter Entertainment and United Talent Agency.
In a statement, director Rebecca Frecknall said, “After such a brilliant collaboration with Adam Lambert, I’m thrilled to be able to bring yet another incredible contemporary musician into the role of the Emcee. Orville brings such theatricality to his own musical performance and has one of the most crystalline voices in music right. It’s going to be exciting to see him become a part of our production and hear him sing John Kander and Fred Ebb’s score.”
She continued, “I’ve followed Eva’s work for years and it’s a privilege to have her join the company as our next Sally Bowles on Broadway following Auli‘i’s magnificent run. She brings such truth and emotional vulnerability to her work and has a voice that always thrills. She is truly one of theater’s great leading ladies, so it only seems fitting for us to get to see her take on this great canonical role.”
Prior to Adam Lambert and Auli‘i Cravalho, Broadway’s Cabaret starred Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin, who originated the roles last spring. The current cast also includes Bebe Neuwirth, Calvin Leon Smith, Steven Skybell, Henry Gottfried and Michelle Aravena.
