Identifier: CAB1998
Inclusive Dates: 1996 - 2004
This is an unusual collection series as it is part of two nearly identical productions of the same musical at different points in Roundabout's history.
In 1993, Sam Mendes directed an innovative, darker revival of the musical in London’s Donmar Warehouse Theatre, which opened to rave reviews for the young director. A slightly revised production transferred to Broadway under the direction of Sam Mendes with co-direction by Rob Marshall. Produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, the revival of Cabaret opened on Broadway on March 19, 1998. The original revival cast included Alan Cumming as the Master of Ceremonies, Natasha Richardson as Sally Bowles, John Benjamin Hickey as Clifford Bradshaw, Ron Rifkin as Herr Schultz, and Mary Louise Wilson as Fraulein Schneider. The production ran for 2,378 performances, won multiple awards, and inspired a national tour. After six years on Broadway, the musical revival closed on January 4, 2004. Cabaret had a successful run on Broadway and went on to win four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival, Best Actress in a Musical (Natasha Richardson), and Best Actor in a Musical (Alan Cumming).
The production was originally slated to begin preview performances in February of 1997 at The Supper Club, but after negotiations fell through in September of 1996, the production was forced to postpone. After another search, Roundabout entered into an agreement with Club Expo to house the production of Cabaret at the renamed Kit Kat Klub, which was located in the former Henry Miller’s Theatre. A construction accident on July 21, 1998 on a nearby street forced the production to cancel performances for several weeks. The loss of revenue for these performances and the delays in reopening the theatre propelled Roundabout to move to a new location. The production reopened at the iconic Studio 54 on November 12, 1998 and ran in that location through the end of the run in 2004.
Fast forward a decade. To celebrate the company's 50th anniversary, Roundabout remounted its production of Cabaret, again at Studio 54, opening on April 24, 2014 and running through March 29, 2015 (and again with a successful regional tour) relying heavily on the archival documents and materials retained from the earlier revival. Alan Cumming was again cast at the Master of Ceremonies, with Michelle Williams playing Sally Bowles (later replaced by Emma Stone and Sienna Miller). The creative team behind the revival all returned for the remount, providing an unusual example of a revival company reviving its own production with few substantial changes to the original.
Roundabout Theatre Company Archives Cabaret 1998-2004 collection includes stage documentation from both revivals on Broadway, as well as research and planning documents. Items in this collection highlight the marketing approaches, multiple cast changes, press coverage, special events, and ticket pricings from 1998 to 2004 and features drafts of scripts, photographs, playbills, invitations, reviews, publicity materials, and business files. The collection also includes documents pertaining to equity concerns, rights and legal agreements, reports from each performance and the development of the show, such as costume and set design.
The musical Cabaret based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1939 short story collection, The Berlin Stories, and the 1951 adapted play I Am a Camera, is centered around a nightclub in Berlin in the 1930s just before the Nazi rise to power. The musical includes music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and features a book by Joe Masteroff.
The original production of Cabaret was directed by Harold Prince and starred Joel Grey as the Master of Ceremonies and Jill Haworth as Sally Bowles. The show first premiered on Broadway in 1968 to great acclaim and went on to receive eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The musical was then adapted for the screen in 1972 starring Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles and Joe Grey as the Master of Ceremonies. It was later revived on Broadway with Joel Grey reprising his role.
1998-2004 Digital Files span 840GB with 3,461 files and 323 folders.
31 Hollinger Boxes
6 Orchestration Boxes
Digital files include stage management records, production photographs (which include original and replacement cast members), media and marketing pieces, show art, etc.
Access Restrictions: Individual items that have restrictions are indicated. Otherwise, open for research to approved scholars.
Preferred Citation: Cabaret 1998-2004, Roundabout Theatre Company Archives
Library of Congress Subject Heading Roundabout Theatre CompanyMendes, SamMarshall, RobRichardson, NatashaCumming, Alan, 1965-Wilson, Mary LouiseO'Hare, Denis, 1962-Rifkin, RonKander, John Cabaret Ebb, FredMasteroff, Joe Cabaret Planning of Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Cabaret.
Planning of Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Cabaret.
Artistic, design documentation and opening night of Cabaret.
Costume bible prepared for the 1998 production. Includes fittings photos, measurements and costume notes for Alan Cumming, Alma Cuervo, Bill Szobody, Brian Duguay, Bruce Katzman, Christina Pawl, Denis O'Hare, Erin Hill, Fred Rose, John Benjamin Hickey, Joyce Chittick, Kristin Olness, Leenya Rideout, Linda Romoff, Mary Louse Wilson, Michael O'Donnell, Michele Pawk, Molly Ringwald, Natasha Richardson, Raul Esparza, Ron Rifkin, Susan Egan, Taina Elg, Vance Avery, and Victoria Cave.
Box contains articles and press clippings for Cabaret during 1998.
Box contains marketing, advertising, and notices prepared by press agents for appearances made by Cabaret cast in 1998.
Box contains production/artistic materials, AEA correspondence, and marketing for Cabaret 1999.
Box contains materials from 1998 pertaining to Cast Recording, move to Studio 54, and house seat requests.
Box contains reports and correspondence from stage management and general management for Cabaret 1998.
Box contains house and SM reports as well as ticketing, casting and schedule memos.
Box contains marketing materials for Cabaret 1999.
Box contains marketing (TV commercial, product launch), appearances, use of Cabaret logo and house seats.
Box contains production, general management, marketing and design elements.
Box contains production, general management, reports, marketing and ticketing.
Box contains stage management and house reports and marketing for the period January-December 2001.
Box contains production, general management, reports, marketing and ticketing.
Box contains press appearances and notices for 2001.
Box contains general management documents, including design, scripts, correspondence, AEA issues, casting and DAT tape correspondence.
Box contains press and marketing for 2002.
Box contains artistic, production management, casting, press and marketing for 2003.
Box contains house and stage management reports.
Box contains house and stage management reports for 2003.
Box contains house and stage management reports, house seats, press and load out/final performances documentation.
Box contains early communication on Club Expo, designers, blocking scripts, Rob Marshall's notes to actors, Henry Miller's Theatre and Studio 54 builds, and select costume and props source invoices.
Box contains books used in research and preparation for the 1998 production.
Includes:
Mein Kampe by Adolf Hitler (translated by Ralph Manheim). Houghton Mifflin: 1971 -- The Making of the 20th Century: Weimar and the Rise of Hitler by A.J. Nicholls. St. Martin's Press, 1979 -- Motherland: Beyond the Holocaust, A Daughter's Journey to Reclaim the Past by Fern Schumer Chapman. Viking Press, 2000 -- A Historical Dictionary of Germany's Weimar Republic, 1918-1933 by C. Paul Vincent. Greenwood Press, 1997 -- Berlin, 1910-1933 by Eberhard Roters. Rizzoli, 1982 -- The Berlin of George Grosz: Drawings, Watercolours and Prints 1912-1930 by Frank Whitford. Yale University Press, 1997.
Box contains books used in research and preparation for the 1998 production.
Includes:
Playbill for Cabaret (Broadway revival 1987)
A Clockwork Orange (directed by Stanley Kubrick) VHS
Hotel Adlon (Berlin) menus and hotel information (bar references)
General Research Info (folder 1) visual references, articles, Cabaret research notes
Dialect Info (folder 2) German phoentics for March 2003
Dialect Emcee (folder 3) SM "master" CDs with Emcee dialect, 2003 and Emcee Ad Libs 2003
Dialect Kost (folder 4) 2003
Dialect Sally (folder 5) SM CD's with standard British Accents and dialect samples circa 2003
Standard British Accents (folder 6) xerox copy from Gillian Lane-Plescia's British for North American Actors 1997
German Accents (folder 7) German and Dutch Accents for Actors (CD by Gillian Lane-Prescia, 2001) and German text phonetics 2003
Books:
The Making of Cabaret by Keith Garebian. Mosiac Press, 1999 -- Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany 1933-1939 by David Schoenbaum. W.W. Norton, 1980 -- The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood. New Directions, 1954 -- The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation by Ian Kershaw. Edward Arnold Press, 1985 -- The Weimar Republic Sourcebook, edited by Anton Kaes, Martin Jay and Edward Dimendberg. University of California Press, 1994 -- The Origins of the Second World War edited by Esmonde M. Robertson. Macmillan Press, 1985 -- Berlin Cabaret by Peter Jelavich. Harvard University Press, 1993 -- Divine Decadence: Facism, Female Spectacle, and the Makings of Sally Bowles by Linda Mizejewski. Princeton University Press, 1992
Box contains SM blocking script, Donmar Warhouse blocking script and Director's Notes by role.
Box contains multiple versions of the script, including Donmar Warehouse (dated June 1996) and the Tams-Witmark prompt script from 1987.
Box contains casting sessions and casting idea lists, select sales and ticketing analytics and two company/cast photos (Natasha Richardson and Alan Cumming and Susan Egan and Michael C. Hall), photo of Studio 54/Cabaret marquee by R. Costa, two copies of Kit Kat Kalendar 1999 with Jennifer Jason Leigh as Sally Bowles, and a bag with various Cabaret lapel pins, disco ball keychains, flask with Cabaret etched in, Cabaret pill box with "love Brooke xx" etched on back (opening night gift from Brooke Shields), and 2001 Tony Awards "talent" lanyard.
Binder contents of press packet for the national tour 1999-2000 and 2016.
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