“Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club” review: Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin dazzle in jaw-dropping Broadway revival

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome to the hottest new show on Broadway.

Before the end of the world, before Eddie Redmayne casts a spell with an impish grin and a slightly askew party hat, and before Gayle Rankin brings down the house with a thunderous performance of “Cabaret,” theatergoers are welcomed into Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club through a series of neon-drenched alleyways and offered a shot of cherry schnapps. In many ways, it’s a perfect representation of what they are about to experience: sweet, shocking, intoxicating, and leaves a lingering impression long after it’s finished.

More than three years after opening on London's West End and winning seven Olivier Awards, including Best Musical Revival, director Rebecca Frecknall’s celebrated take on the legendary musical has transferred to Broadway in a gritty, haunting production that is jaw-droppingly gorgeous from start to finish. The revival, which opens tonight, has set up shop at the August Wilson Theatre and no expense has been spared transforming the space into a glitzy, Weimar-era Berlin nightclub that's complete with bustling bars and intimate table seating that surrounding a contained, circular wooden stage for a theater-in-the-round experience.

Attendees are encouraged to visit the show early in order to soak up its immersive atmosphere and take in its prologue — a unique pre-show event directed by Jordan Fein that follows a collection of dancers and musicians wade through the crowds performing songs, dancing up and down staircases, and teasingly toying with audience members. That fun continues during the show's intermission too, which sees the Kit Kat Club performers bring a group of lucky theatergoers upon the main stage to play games and dance with them in a charming conga line.

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club — which features a book written by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb — follows young, queer American writer Clifford "Cliff" Bradshaw (the stellar Ato Blackson-Wood) as he travels to Berlin in hopes of finding inspiration for his next novel. On his first night, he's introduced to the Kit Kat Club and "the toast of Mayfair" Sally Bowles (Rankin), and the pair strike up a fast friendship that blossoms into something more after she decides to move into his apartment without telling him. While Cliff's stern, yet secretly warm landlady Fräulein Schneider (Bebe Neuwirth) is initially unimpressed by the development, she ultimately agrees to the deal — after all, she's much more focused on spending time with the kind, older Jewish gentleman that rents a nearby room, Herr Schultz (Steven Skybell). But this beautiful, Bohemian bubble that they've all ensconced themselves within can only endure for so long amid the Nazis ascent to power.

The evening kicks off with a drumroll and then a literal bang as perfectly timed cymbals crash together just as lighting designer Isabella Byrd reveals the Kit Kat Club's fantastically flamboyant master of ceremonies (Redmayne) standing perfectly posed underneath a single spotlight. The Oscar-winning actor, reprising the role that won him an Olivier award, somehow manages to imbue the character with both a youthful innocence and a sinister side, donning a wide grin and contorting every inch of his body into peculiar shapes that simultaneously draw you in and make you want to rear back. He paints the Kit Kat Club as a place where you can leave reality behind during the production's phenomenal opening number "Willkommen," but even he's unable to keep the horrors that are unfolding outside the club's doors from slowly taking center stage.

Redmayne, both a literal Emcee for the club’s patrons as well as metaphorical representation of the spirit of the time period, soaks up the spotlight like it was made for him. He revels in the dark duality that Cabaret presents, gleefully ripping off his clothing and leaping offstage during its vivacious first act, only to end up staring despondently into the darkness from the set's edge in its second. And speaking of clothing, Cabaret has some of the most breathtaking costumes currently on Broadway — courtesy of the phenomenal scenic, theater, and costume designer Tom Scutt —  including a see-through skeletal ensemble that Redmayne sports during his knockout performance of "Money" is one of the most delightfully frightening looks of the evening, from his stark makeup all the way to his elongated, bejeweled fingernails attached to the end of each glove.

While the Emcee adores all of the Kit Kat Club’s endlessly talented ensemble, it’s easy to see why he holds a special fondness for the cabaret’s headliner, Sally Bowles. Rankin is nothing short of spectacular as the ostentatious performer, knowing when turn on her character's charming nature and when to pull back the curtain to reveal a weariness that makes it feel as if life's hardships have been weighing on her shoulders for centuries. Still, when the curtain lifts and the spotlight beams down upon her, Rankin ensures that Sally transforms into an unforgettable star with her coquettish performances of "Don't Tell Mama" and "Mein Herr." However, it's her rendition of "Maybe This Time," soft and full of hopeful surrender, that truly makes Sally's eventual arc within the musical that much more affecting.

Meanwhile, Neuwirth’s Fräulein Schneider and Skybell's Herr Schultz’s bring a sweet romance to Cabaret, only for theatergoers to witness as their bond is slowly tarnished by outside forces beyond their control. As an older woman, the fiery Fräulein Schneider sings about feeling hopeless to the changing of the political tides in the searingly poignant "What Would You Do?", while Herr Schultz swears that his proud German citizenship will protect him from the dangers that loom ahead — a devastating declaration that is made even more heartbreaking given that viewers are aware of what lies ahead. Instead, it is only Blackson-Wood's clever Cliff who is able to see the situation clearly and understand that the writing is on the wall.

Frecknall, who recently completed another celebrated West End revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, leans heavily into the spookiness of Cabaret's second act and refuses to pull her punches. In one scene, the Emcee interrupts a tender moment between Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz to step upon a glass only for the stage to plummet into darkness as explosions ring out around them, reminiscent of Kristallnacht. When the lights return, the pair can only stare at one another in shock as debris rain down upon them. And, while Cabaret is no stranger to exhibiting wonderfully risqué behavior onstage, Frecknall also ensures that the sex work depicted within the musical is shown as a means of survival for its performers too, who spin through Julia Cheng's dazzling onstage choreography with passion and gusto.

There’s a reason why Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is one of the hottest tickets on Broadway right now. It’s an unforgettable, immersive experience that lures audiences in with visions of sweet, sweet hedonism before bowling them over with a harrowing, unflinching tale that will have them reflecting on present day parallels and their place within the world long after they leave the theater. Come to the Cabaret, ol’ chum. There’s nothing quite like it. A

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.