It’s official: Country crooner Orville Peck is bidding auf wiedersehen to his signature mask during his upcoming run in Broadway‘s Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.
In an interview with The New York Times on Monday (March 17), Peck revealed that he didn’t want the audience to feel distracted during his performance as the enigmatic Emcee in the revival of Kander & Ebb’s 1966 hit show. “The mask is part of my expression personally as an artist and a very big personal part of me. But I’m here to play this role and to bring respect and integrity and hopefully a good performance to it,” he said. “It’s not about me. I’m not trying to make it The Orville Peck Show.”
While the singer added that he was anticipating being “a little shook” to perform without his mask during his first show, the decision to lose his famous face wear was not a difficult one to make. “I wouldn’t have necessarily done this for just anything. But this is probably my favorite musical of all time,” he said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Peck discussed the timely politics of Cabaret, noting that the show’s themes surrounding the rise of fascism amid societal ignorance ring eerily true today. “Regardless of whatever your politics lean, I don’t think anybody can come see the show and not agree that it is frighteningly similar, if not exactly what is happening at the moment,” he said.
Peck is set to take over the starring role from Adam Lambert, who himself took up the mantle of the Emcee from the production’s original star Eddie Redmayne in 2024. Peck will be joined on stage by Tony-nominated actress Eva Noblezada in the role of Sally Bowles, taking over from Moana star Auli’i Cravalho. Both Peck and Noblezada will make their debuts in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club on Monday, March 31.
