Michaela
Kennen
Areas of Expertise
- Dialect
- Voice
‘Cabaret,’ Starring Eddie Redmayne, Sweeps Olivier Awards.

LONDON — A revival of “Cabaret” that has been the talk of London’s theater world since opening in December, on Sunday swept the Olivier Awards, Britain’s equivalent of the Tonys.
Starring Eddie Redmayne in his first London role in a decade, “Cabaret” collected seven awards during a ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Its haul included best musical revival, best actor in a musical (Redmayne), best actress in a musical for Jessie Buckley as Sally Bowles, and best director for Rebecca Frecknall.
Britain’s newspaper reviewers sometimes struggled for superlatives to describe “Cabaret.” Nick Curtis, writing in The Evening Standard, summed it up with a simple: “Wow. Just wow.”
Matt Wolf, reviewing the show for The New York Times, said that Frecknall had made a “remarkable entry into musical theater” after several lauded stage productions here, including of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” and Tennessee Williams’s “Summer and Smoke.” “Frecknall pulls us into a hedonistic milieu, only to send us out nearly three hours later reminded of life’s horrors,” he added.
The musical has gained as much attention for its staging as its performances, with audiences made to enter the Playhouse Theater through a side door, only to discover the building has been transformed to look like a 1920s Berlin nightclub.
Of the actors in its original cast, Redmayne won particular plaudits. Arifa Akbar, writing in The Guardian, said he was “electric,” adding: “He gives an immense, physicalized performance, both muscular and delicate, from his curled limbs to his tautly expressive fingertips.”
Featured Credits
- Bodies
- Zero Chill
- Odyssey
- Millie Inbetween
- Midsummer Murders
- Grantchester
- Everybody's Talking About Jamie
- Brimstone
- Broken
- Cosi
- Nine
- Exam
- CabaretPlayhouse Theatre
- Everybody's Talking About JamieAppolo, Sheffield Crucible & UK TOUR
- The Man In The White SuitWyndham Theatre
- The Special RelationshipSynergy Theatre
- Orpheus In The Underworld - English National Opera
- Pagliacci - English National Opera
- Summer & Smoke - Duke Of Yorks
- Guys + DollsSheffield Theatre
- The Importance of Being Earnest - Vaudeville
- Sheffield Crucible Theatre : The Last King Of Scotland, The Steel, The Wizard of Oz, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf
- National Theatre: If Not Now, When? Oslo, The Beaux Stratagem, The History Boys, Market Boy, Caroline or Change, Therese Raquin, The Alchemist, The Rose Tattoo, Playing With Fire
- RSC: The Hypocrite, The Comedy of Errors, Hecuba, Oppenheimer
- Shaftesbury: Motown The Musical, Memphis, Hairspray
- The Young Vic: Things of Dry Hours, The Brothers Size, Vernon God Little, The Glass Menagarie, The Government Inspector, Euridyce
- Queens Theatre: Haunting Julia, Kiss Me Quickstep, Abigail's Party
- Royal Court: Routes, The Nether Truth and Reconciliation, The Victorian In The Wall, The Witness
- Mirror Circle Transformation - Home Manchester
- Neville's Island - Duke Of Yorks
- The Village, The Wolves - Stratford East
- South Downs - Harold Pinter
- Chimerica - Harold Pinter
- Country Girl - Apollo
- Lover Never Dies - Adelphi
- Caberet - Lyric
- And Then There Were None - Gielgud
- Butley - Duchess
- Witness For The Prosecution - County Hall
- Knives In HensThe Donmar Warehouse
- Future Conditional
- The BelieversTheatre Royal Plymouth
- Love, Love, Love - Paines Plough
- Damsel In Distress - Chichester Festival
- The Beaux StratagemThe National Theatre
- She Loves MeMenier Chocolate Factory
- Dreams Of ViolenceSoho Theatre
- The Sunshine BoysSavoy Theatre
- High School Musical
- Market Boy
- Caroline, or Change
- A View From The Bridge-Theatre Royal Bath
- A Streetcar Name DesireAlmeida
- Whose Afraid of Virginia WoolfTheatre Royal Bath
- Suddenly last SummerNew Venture Theatre
- Sons of the ProphetHampstead Theatre
- The NarcissistMinerva Theatre
- Crazy For YouChichester Festival Theatre
- The Breach- Hampstead
- Hedwig and the Angry InchLeeds Playhouse
- The ChairsAlmeida