'It feels like being a kid': Michelle Williams on her Broadway debut singing and dancing in a revival of Cabaret
Nearly 23 years since her first on-stage role in a San Diego rendition of The Wizard of Oz, Michelle Williams is making her Broadway debut.
The 33-year-old actress stars in the Roundabout Theatre company's revival of Cabaret, the hit 1966 musical set in pre-WWII Berlin, which opens April 1st at Studio 54.
Playing Sally Bowles, a fame-hungry performer at the Kit Kat Klub who takes up with a bisexual American writer, Ms Williams admits that nerves haven't set in yet. 'Honestly, it feels like being a kid,' she told Vogue, before adding: 'Now let’s see if I can be a kid onstage eight times a week.'
Michelle WIlliams, 33, stars in the Roundabout Theatre company's revival of Cabaret, the hit 1966 musical set in pre-WWII Berlin, which opens April 1st at Studio 54
Photographed in between rehearsals for the magazine's April isse, the Oscar-nominated star of Brokeback Mountain and Blue Valentine admitted that she had been looking for a starring role in a musical ever since she played Marilyn Monroe in the 2011 hit film My Week with Marilyn.
'Singing and dancing take you out of your head -- you’re too busy doing too many other things to be thinking, "How am I doing?" You’re just doing,' she said.
'It’s like meditation. When Cabaret came along, with these gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous songs -- they’re so simple, but they tap into something deep and emotional -- I knew that I wanted to follow that thing I tasted a few years ago.'
Playing Sally Bowles, a fame-hungry performer at the Kit Kat Klub who takes up with a bisexual American writer, Ms Williams (pictured at a preview of the musical) admits that nerves haven't set in yet
'Singing and dancing take you out of your head -- you¿re too busy doing too many other things to be thinking, "How am I doing?" You¿re just doing,' she told Vogue
Ms Williams spent four months before rehearsals working with singing and dancing coaches, and also spent a few of days in Berlin walking the same streets haunted by Christopher Isherwood, whose Berlin Stories inspired the musical.
The mother of one snapped iPhone pictures of the apartments where he lived with Jean Ross (his model for Sally Bowles) and spent several evenings at old-world cabarets.
'Berlin was the epicenter of sexual freedom,' said Ms Williams says. 'Everything was permitted, all kinds were allowed -- and I’m sure they were having a really great time before evil took root.'
Ms Williams spent four months before rehearsals working with singing and dancing coaches, and also spent a few of days in Berlin for research
This Cabaret, which runs until June, is a re-creation of Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall’s Tony-winning 1998 Cabaret revival, and sees Alan Cumming reprise his role as Emcee for the second time.
Mr Cumming described Ms WIlliams as having 'a vulnerability and fragility -- but also a kind of steeliness -- that I find fascinating.'
'She’s always completely in the moment, and because of that you believe every word that comes out of her mouth.' he added.
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