Over at the Kit Kat Club, the change in “Cabaret” is apparent in the show’s first moments. The Emcee, as played by the singer-songwriter Adam Lambert, is nothing like the Emcee as played by the film star Eddie Redmayne, who opened the current Broadway revival last spring after it transferred from London.
Lambert, in his Broadway debut, turns out to have theatrical chops: He’s lending his Emcee not only vocal shapeliness but also puckish warmth. The alienation so central to Redmayne’s interpretation has been replaced by humanity.
To Rebecca Frecknall, the show’s director, Lambert’s rock-star charisma was part of his appeal.
“What I didn’t anticipate was how naughty and funny he was going to be and how much he was going to enjoy that relationship with the audience,” she said by phone. “There’s also just something brilliant about what he brings of his personal identity to the role — having a queer, Jewish artist step into that space with that material.”
Set in Berlin during the rise of the Nazis, “Cabaret” starts out light and decadent and grows steadily, stealthily darker, with gut-punch songs like “If You Could See Her,” a satire of antisemitism. There’s also the ballad “I Don’t Care Much” — recently released as a single — which Lambert describes as “a real emotional moment” of “struggle with indifference” for the Emcee.
“They were so kind to raise the key to make it more of a torch song for me,” Lambert said.
With music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Joe Masteroff, “Cabaret” became a hit with its original Broadway production in 1966. Lambert, 42, has known the musical ever since he was a theater kid growing up in San Diego, when his voice teacher showed him the movie adaptation.
After finding fame in 2009 as a contestant on “American Idol,” he has built his subsequent career as a globe-trotting solo artist and the frontman of Queen. But his original trajectory aimed toward Broadway, he said. His performance as the Emcee — opposite Auli’i Cravalho (“Moana”) as Sally — comes more than 15 years after he quit his job as an ensemble member and Fiyero understudy in the Los Angeles company of “Wicked” to audition for “American Idol.” He did briefly dip back into musicals to play Eddie (the Meat Loaf role) in the 2016 TV remake of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
In November, Lambert sat down to chat in the music room of the building in Dumbo, Brooklyn, where he owns a condo. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Who is the Emcee to you?
I, jokingly backstage, named him Rudolph. [In a German accent:] “Rudolph!” My version of him, there’s a little bit of me in there. I think he’s queer for sure. He’s a provocateur. He has been working in nightlife for a long time. He’s traveled all around Europe. And knows all these dancers and colorful characters. He almost wants to be Sally. He’s almost envious of how fabulous she is, of how gorgeous she is.
How is it to play that character arc?
It’s kind of therapeutic. In the beginning I get to be big and crazy and let out all this excess energy and be silly and no holds barred. Then we get into Act II and I can channel any sort of frustration I have. It’s super meta. Look at what’s going on right now in our country. Look at the election. I take all of my frustration with everything and I put that into the second act.
“If You Could See Her” is really tricky. It’s a vaudeville number that’s silly. There’s a person in a gorilla costume. The audience is giggling at the top of it, as they should, because it’s all cute.
And because some of your audience hasn’t seen “Cabaret” before.
That’s the thing when you don’t know the material. It’s tricky to make sure people are listening to everything. There was a point earlier in my run where I was getting a lot of laughs on “wouldn’t look Jewish at all,” that line.
That’s disturbing.
But I realized that I was playing that monologue all for laughs — the monologue leading up to that. In the middle of the song, [the Emcee] has a speech and says, “Is it a crime to fall in love? Can we ever be sure where the heart truly leads us? All we are asking is ein bisschen verständnis — a little understanding. Why can’t the world ‘Leben und leben lassen’ — ‘Live and let live’?”
None of that’s funny. It’s all very, very real questions that he’s asking the audience. It’s my job to make them understand that there’s some depth to this satire that we’re playing. I’m getting no laughs now. Every once in a while you hear like one person chuckle. Maybe it’s nerves, maybe they’re uncomfortable, but I’ve quieted them all down.
It’s such a politically charged musical.
It’s about a group of people who are on the fringe of society getting their rights taken away. That’s what’s going on right now. The thing that I like so much about the show is that it feels important. It’s not just frivolous escapism. It is at the beginning, to prove a point. But by the second act, we’re talking about some real [stuff] here. Not only the politics of scapegoating and fascism and blame, but also the misogyny. And abortion is right at the heart of Sally’s story. It’s a thinking piece of musical theater. You’re humming some songs, yes. But you walk out going, “Whoa!”
How much freedom did you have to make the role your own?
I really loved Eddie’s take on this sort of demented puppet master ventriloquist dummy. But that didn’t resonate for me as what I was going to do. I was like, the Emcee’s probably a little drunk. He’s probably a little high on something. And he’s in this permissive environment. He’s horny. That’s who he is in my sense of him.
Have you ever been an M.C. or a club host?
Not necessarily. But when I do the Queen stuff, I talk to the audience. If I do my own shows, I talk to the audience. So breaking the fourth wall and talking to a crowd, that feels really comfortable for me.
With classic works of theater, so much is about tradition: who has played the role before and how. Do you compare yourself to other Emcees?
I have big respect for everybody that’s done it. But no. When I was younger as a theater performer and even as a recording artist, I had the tendency to look and compare myself to people. And it made me miserable. It limited me, and it made me get in my head and second-guess myself. One of the things I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older and more mature is like, no, no, no. Got to do you. That’s what the audience is going to respond to the most. That’s what’s going to make you the happiest as a performer and feel as free as possible.
Do you have your eye on any other stage roles?
Well, I’m writing a musical. I haven’t really said in the press what it’s about yet. It’s sort of under wraps. But I saw a documentary about somebody and it really inspired me. That’s who the musical is about.
Are you collaborating with somebody?
Have I said this publicly? I could give you a scoop. Taylor Mac, who is a brilliant writer, is who I’m collaborating with on it.
So Taylor’s writing the book?
Yeah.
And you’re writing the music?
And lyrics. And collaborating on the story. I’ve also collaborated with a lot of musicians on the writing of the music. My experience as a songwriter has always been in the pop world. You just write a song with a handful of people. So I went about it the same way.
You’ve been in the public eye for 15 years. How have you evolved as an artist?
I think I trust myself more. Early on, I had a fair dose of impostor syndrome when it came to the celebrity thing. Coming off of “Idol,” I was like, “Yes, this is a dream that I’ve had. Yes, this is amazing. Oh my God, this is so cool. What am I doing here?”
The word theatrical was used against you back then.
It was like a euphemism.
A euphemism for gay?
Probably. I was like, “And?” Because up until that point, it was commonly thought in the industry that it would work against you. I was part of a wave of people that were proving that wrong.
But respect is a funny thing, especially in the music space, because I’ve always gotten respect for my talent. But talent isn’t really all it’s about, to be respected in that space. It’s about numbers. You can work really hard and make a whole album, and it’s only valued at the rate of how many people have heard it. Whereas we can value this piece of theater because of what it’s about and what it represents. And not just how many tickets are being sold.
Right. Although that, too.
That, too. It is showbiz. But it’s an important piece of theater, and everyone knows that.
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