Calvin Leon Smith to Join CABARET as 'Clifford Bradshaw' in September

Calvin Leon Smith will return to Broadway this Fall as ‘Clifford Bradshaw’ in the Tony Award -winning Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre.

Smith will begin performances on Monday, September 16 alongside recently announced
GRAMMY Award nominee Adam Lambert as ‘Emcee’ and fast-rising star Auli’i Cravalho as ‘Sally Bowles.'

Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood who originated the role of ‘Clifford Bradshaw’ on Broadway and was hailed as “stellar” by Entertainment Weekly, will play his final performance on Sunday, September 14, the same date that Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin, end their limited engagements as ‘Emcee’ and ‘Sally Bowles.’

Smith most recently appeared in James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fat Ham and has appeared in Barry Jenkins’ award-winning television adaptation of “The Underground Railroad,” HBO’s “The Deuce,” and the beloved series “High Maintenance.”

Directed by Olivier Award winner Rebecca Frecknall and designed by 2024 Tony Award winner Tom Scutt, Cabaret also stars two-time Tony Award winner and 2024 Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Bebe Neuwirth as ‘Fraulein Schneider,’ 2024 Tony Award nominee Steven Skybell as ‘Herr Schultz,’ Henry Gottfried as ‘Ernst Ludwig,’ and three-time Helen Hayes Award winner Natascia Diaz as ‘Fritzie/Kost.’

The cast of Cabaret also includes Gabi Campo as ‘Frenchie,’ Ayla Ciccone-Burton as ‘Helga,’ Colin Cunliffe as ‘Hans,’ Marty Lauter as ‘Victor,’ Loren Lester as ‘Herman/Max,’ David Merino as ‘Lulu,’ Julian Ramos as ‘Bobby,’ MiMi Scardulla as ‘Texas,’ and Paige Smallwood as ‘Rosie.’ Swings include Hannah Florence, Pedro Garza, Christian Kidd, Corinne Munsch, Chloé Nadon-Enriquez, and Karl Skyler Urban.

The Prologue Company, the dancers and musicians that welcome audiences to the club, feature dancers Alaïa, Iron Bryan, Will Ervin Jr., Sun Kim, Deja McNair and swings Ida Saki and Spencer James Weidie. The musicians of the Prologue are Brian Russell Carey (piano & bass), Francesca Dawis (violin), Keiji Ishiguri (dedicated substitute), Maeve Stier (accordion), and Michael Winograd (clarinet).

Experience this groundbreaking musical like never before. The denizens of the Kit Kat
Club have created a decadent sanctuary Inside Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre, where artists and performers, misfits and outsiders rule the night. Step inside their world. This is Berlin. Relax. Loosen up. Be yourself.

Cabaret, one of the most revered and successful musicals of all time, has music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood. The show features the songs “Willkommen,” “Don’t Tell Mama,” “Mein Herr,” “Maybe This Time,” “Money,” and the iconic title number.

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club on Broadway is directed by Olivier Award winner and 2024
Drama Desk Award nominee Rebecca Frecknall with club, scenic, and costume design
by Tony Award winner, Evening Standard Award winner, and Olivier Award nominee
Tom Scutt, and choreography by 2024 Chita Rivera Award nominee and Olivier Award
nominee Julia Cheng.

The creative team for Broadway includes Jennifer Whyte (Music Supervision & Music
Direction), 2024 Tony Award nominee, Drama Desk Award winner, OBIE Award winner,
Olivier Award nominee Isabella Byrd (Lighting Design), 2024 Tony Award nominee, Drama Desk Award winner, and Olivier Award winner Nick Lidster (Sound Design), Sam Cox (Hair & Wig Design), Guy Common (Makeup Design), Jordan Fein (Associate Director & Prologue Director), Danny Sharron (US Associate Director), Kayla Lomas-Kirton (UK Associate Choreographer), Ilia Jessica Castro (US Associate Choreographer), Angus MacRae (Prologue Composer & Prologue Music Director), Bernard Telsey, CSA & Kristian Charbonier, CSA (Casting Directors), and Thomas Recktenwald (Production Stage Manager). 101 Productions, Ltd. serves as the US General Manager for Cabaret.

The Broadway production of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club began previews on Monday,
April 1, 2024 and quickly became Broadway’s “hottest ticket” (Washington Post), and
“the Broadway show everyone needs to have an opinion on” (Town & Country). Critics
called the production “an unforgettable and jaw-dropping experience” (Entertainment
Weekly), and “a ravishing, gut-punching, timely revival” (Variety). It was the most
nominated revival of the 2023-2024 season receiving nine Tony Award nominations and
honored with Best Revival nominations by the Outer Critics Circle Awards, Drama Desk
Awards, and Drama League Awards.

When the London production of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club began performances in
November 2021, it electrified the West End with critics calling it “a kill-for-a-ticket
theatrical triumph” (The Telegraph). The production went on to win a record-breaking
seven Olivier Awards and is now tied for the most for any musical revival in Olivier
history. Now in its third smash year, the West End production of Cabaret currently
features Rhea Norwood as ‘Sally Bowles’ and Layton Williams as ‘Emcee.’

Calvin Leon Smith

(Clifford Bradshaw, he/him) co-starred in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fat Ham on Broadway, following an acclaimed run at The Public Theater. Television credits include Barry Jenkins’ award-winning Amazon series “The Underground Railroad,” HBO’s “The Deuce,” and the acclaimed anthology series “High Maintenance.” Smith’s other theater credits include The Animal Kingdom (Connolly Theatre, Jack Serio director); Open Throat (Little Island, Caitlin Ryan O’Connell director), Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Sweat (The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit), The Miser (Moliere in the Park), On The Grounds Of Belonging (Long Wharf Theatre), several plays with The Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Clarence Brown Theatre, and Macbeth at Shakespeare on the Sound. On film, Smith has appeared in Benny & James (Cannes Film Festival premiere), Better Man (Best Actor, Queens World Film Festival), Paper Friends, and RSVP. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School.