Cabaret: Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams

Roundabout Theatre Company has officially announced that three-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams ("My Week with Marilyn," "Blue Valentine," "Brokeback Mountain") will make her Broadway debut starring as 'Sally Bowles,' in its upcoming revival of Cabaret by Joe Masteroff, John Kander and Fred Ebb. She will star alongside Alan Cumming, reprising his Tony Award-winning role as the 'Emcee.'

Academy Award-winner Sam Mendes (director) and Academy Award nominee Rob Marshall (co-director/choreographer) will return to recreate their Tony-nominated direction and choreography from the Roundabout's 1998 Tony Award-winning production.

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.

Cabaret open at Studio 54 on 24 Apr 2014, following previews from 21 Mar 2014, and will play a 24-week limited engagement through to 31 Aug 2014.

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.

For this production, Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall will convert Studio 54 into the grittty 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.

Sam Mendes said,

I'm delighted to be stepping back into the Kit Kat Klub one more time, and to be having the opportunity to re-explore and re-discover this extraordinary musical alongside two equally extraordinary performers.

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 1998 revival of Cabaret played at Studio 54 from 11 Dec 1998 through to 04 Jan 2004, and won four Tony Awards: Best revival; Best Actor (Alan Cumming as 'Emcee'); Best Actress (Natasha Richardson as 'Sally Bowles'); and Best Featured Actor (Ron Rifkin as 'Herr Schultz').

Alan Cumming is the second actor to return to the role of 'Emcee' on Broadway. Joel Grey originated the role in the musical's 1966 Broadway premiere, and returned to the role in the 1987 Bradway revival. Both productioins were directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Ronald Field.

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.

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.