Hani Furstenberg to play Fraulein Kost in Cabaret

The Roundabout's revival of Kander & Ebb's Cabaret will welcome Hani Furstenberg to the role of Fraulein Kost from 22 December 2014. Gayle Rankin will play her last performance on 21 December.

Hani Furstenberg is perhaps best known for her screen credits, which include 'The Loneliest Planet,' 'Campfire' and 'Yossi & Jagger.' She has also appeared off-Broadway in Lucy Thurber's 'Stay' and Adam Rapp's 'Though The Yellow Hour.'

The current cast of Cabaret includes Emma Stone as Sally Bowles, Alan Cumming, who is reviving his Tony Award-winning performance as the Emcee, Linda Emond as Fraulein Schneider, Danny Burstein as Herr Schultz, Bill Heck as Cliff Bradshaw, Aaron Krohn as Ernst Ludwig and Gayle Rankin as Fraulein Kost.

Cabaret features a book by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. It is based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood. The musical tells the story of Sally Bowles a female entertainer at the Kit Kat Klub in Weimar Republic era Berlin, who romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.

The revival is based on the 1998 revival and features direction by Sam Mendes and choreography by Rob Ashford. Studio 54 is transformed into the Kit Kat Klub with Cabaret-type seating as well as traditional theatre seating, to recreate the decadent environment of the notorious pre-war Berlin Nightclub. The original design team also returned for the 2014 production featuring set and club design by Robert Brill, costume design by William Ivey Long, lighting design by Peggy Eisenhauer and Mike Baldassari and sound design by Brian Ronan. Patrick Vaccariello is the Musical Director.

Cabaret's score includes the classic songs "Willkommen," "Maybe This Time" and "Cabaret." John Kander and Fred Ebb are two of the most successful and prolific collaborators in the American Theatre and are currently represented on Broadway with the award-winning revival of 'Chicago.'

The Roundabout's production of Cabaret opened on Broadway on 19 Mar 1998 starring Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson and won four Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical. Alan Cumming received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall received Tony nominations for direction and Rob Marshall received a Tony nomination for choreography. The production went on to play for six years and 2, 378 performances before finishing its run on January 4, 2004.

The original production of Cabaret premiered on Broadway in 1966 and won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, in addition to the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Outer Critics' Cricle Award, the Variety Poll of New York Critics, and London's Evening Standard Award. The original Broadway production played 1166 performances.

- by Tom Millward