Cabaret Tickets at the Kit Kat Club, Playhouse Theatre
Tickets for Cabaret are on sale to 18 September 2027 at the Kit Kat Club, which is the Playhouse Theatre on Northumberland Avenue. Inside, the theatre has been completely altered, so it feels like the club the musical is set in, with the audience wrapped round a low, round stage. Skylar Astin plays the Emcee and Sarah Hyland plays Sally Bowles.
From £41About 2 hours 45 minutes, with an intervalAges 13 and up
A musical at the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse TheatreBooking to 18 September 2027
Next available
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020 7193 9050 · Monday to Saturday 8am to 8pm, Sunday 10am to 8pm
Help choosing your seat
Who's Cabaret For?
For you if you like a night out with more to it than a seat and a show. There is a pre-show, three bars and table seats at the front, and the whole building runs more like a club than a theatre.
For you if you want a musical about something serious. It is set in Berlin in 1930, as the Nazis come to power.
Not for you if you want a cheerful musical. The pre-show and the bars are fun, but the story is a sad one and it stays sad to the end.
What Tickets Cost
Tickets start from around £40 and go up to around £390. Most seats are around £95 to £150, and premium table seats start from around £200.
On a weeknight the Upper Circle is the only level under around £80. Above that, Dress Circle and Stalls prices overlap.
Weekends cost more, and the two highest prices, up to around £390, are only charged at the weekend. If your date is flexible, book a weeknight.
Book a few weeks ahead and there are still seats at sensible prices. Leave it late and you are after the last few, because the show usually sells out by curtain up.
Whatever you pay, the pre-show is included.
About Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Cabaret is the Kander and Ebb musical, with a book by Joe Masteroff, based on the play by John Van Druten and the Berlin stories of Christopher Isherwood. This is Rebecca Frecknall's production, produced by ATG Productions and Underbelly. It began previews in November 2021 and opened in December 2021.
It won seven Olivier Awards in 2022: Best Musical Revival, Best Director, Best Sound Design, and all four acting awards for a musical, for Eddie Redmayne, Jessie Buckley, Elliot Levey and Liza Sadovy.
The front rows are small tables with lamps on them, and there are 649 seats in all. The pre-show has its own company of performers, the Prologue Company.
Running time is about 2 hours 45 minutes with one interval. The producer's warning: "This show contains adult content and the appearance of firearms on stage. There is one sudden and unexpected loud noise that occurs near the beginning of Act 2." Expect explicit sexual content, and a story that takes in the rise of the Nazis, antisemitism and an abortion.
What's Cabaret About?
Berlin, 1930. Sally Bowles is an English singer at the Kit Kat Klub, and Clifford Bradshaw is an American writer who gets drawn into her life. The club's Emcee presides over all of it.
A second story runs alongside theirs, between Fraulein Schneider, a landlady, and Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit-seller, two older people who start a romance of their own.
Outside the club, the Nazis are gaining power, and by the second half none of the four can keep it out. The second half is much shorter than the first, and it ends bleak.
Performance Schedule
Cabaret plays Monday to Saturday evenings, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm. Tuesday evenings start at 7pm, half an hour earlier than the rest of the week. There is no Sunday performance. Times may change over Christmas and New Year.
| Day | Matinee | Evening |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | - | 7:30pm |
| Tuesday | - | 7pm |
| Wednesday | 2pm | 7:30pm |
| Thursday | - | 7:30pm |
| Friday | - | 7:30pm |
| Saturday | 2pm | 7:30pm |
| Sunday | - | - |
How a 7:30pm evening runs:
- 6:15pm: the doors open, 75 minutes before curtain.
- 6:20pm to 6:40pm: when to arrive. For a 7:30pm, the theatre asks standard ticket holders to be there by 6:30pm, or earlier if the club entry time on your booking says so. The pre-show and the three bars fill the hour before the musical.
- 7:30pm: the musical starts. The Prologue Company have finished by then.
- About 10:15pm: you are out.
A 2pm matinee runs the same way, from a 1pm arrival to about 4:45pm. A Tuesday curtain is at 7pm, so arrive at about 6pm.
Best Seats for Cabaret
Stalls rows F and G. The Stalls is the level to choose, because it is closest to the action, and these rows beat C, CC, D and DD, which sit directly behind the tables.
The Dress Circle. A view of the whole production, and still close. Seats behind the stage are fine, and worth taking if they cost less than the ones in front.
The tables, rows A, B, AA and BB, from around £200. At the edge of the stage, with the cast working around them, for someone who wants that closeness to be the night.
The Upper Circle. The cheapest level, at the top of the building, with a long climb to reach it.
The full seating plan is in our Kit Kat Club guide.
Call us on 020 7193 9050 and we will tell you what is left on your date.
Cast and Creative Team
Skylar Astin plays the Emcee to 12 December 2026 and Sarah Hyland plays Sally Bowles to 23 January 2027, both in their West End debuts.
Ruthie Henshall plays Fraulein Schneider, Baker Mukasa plays Clifford Bradshaw and Robert Hands plays Herr Schultz.
Rebecca Frecknall directs. Tom Scutt designed the set and costumes and Julia Cheng the choreography.
Book Your Cabaret Tickets
Tickets from around £40, with premium table seats from around £200, and the pre-show included with every one. All-in: the price you pick is the price you pay.
Book tickets • Call us on 020 7193 9050
Dates & tickets
FAQs
Skylar Astin is the Emcee to 12 December 2026 and Sarah Hyland is Sally Bowles to 23 January 2027. Ruthie Henshall plays Fraulein Schneider.
Most seats are around £95 to £150. The range runs from around £40 to around £390, and table seats start from around £200. Call us on 020 7193 9050.
For most people, no. They are the closest seats in the building, but midweek they cost around £245 to £295 against around £125 for Stalls rows F to H. Book them if being that close is the occasion. They are sold in pairs.
50 to 70 minutes before the performance. The doors open 75 minutes ahead and the pre-show fills that hour. It is included with every ticket.
About 2 hours 45 minutes with one interval, so a 7:30pm is out around 10:15pm and a 2pm matinee around 4:45pm.
No. The theatre's own answer is "This is Berlin. Relax. Loosen up. Be yourself." Some guests go all out and others come in smart-casual, and both fit in.
The producer recommends 13 and over and admits under-13s at the parent's discretion, and its family guide says 16 and over suits it best, depending on maturity. The sexual content is explicit; the full warning is in the About section above.
You are seated when it will not disrupt the performance, which can mean up to 30 minutes waiting in the foyer. Readmission is not guaranteed either, so if you think you may need to leave during the show, tell staff before it starts.
No, not at any point. Phone cameras get covered when you arrive, and photography and filming are off limits everywhere in the building from the moment you walk in.
Willkommen, Don't Tell Mama, Mein Herr, Maybe This Time, Money and the title song, Cabaret. Music is by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Maybe This Time came into the stage show from the 1972 film.
At the Kit Kat Club, which is the Playhouse Theatre on Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5DE, rebuilt inside for this production. Embankment station is about two minutes' walk and Charing Cross under five.
To 18 September 2027. That is how far ahead tickets are on sale; no end to the run has been announced.
Yes. The December 2021 press-night reviews ran from four stars to five, and they describe the original cast. The detail is in the News and Reviews tab.
The theatre's own access team handles accessible booking, not us. The captioned performances are on Tuesday 16 February 2027 at 7pm and Saturday 24 July 2027 at 2pm, and the audio described ones on Tuesday 2 March 2027 at 7pm and Saturday 10 July 2027 at 2pm. No BSL-interpreted or relaxed performances are listed. In the Stalls, rows A to D are step-free and rows E and F are one step up.
Tickets and Best Seats for Cabaret
Two main banks of seats face each other across the stage, with Boxes and Slips on the other two sides. Check the letter on your ticket: a single letter, A to K, is one bank, and a doubled letter, AA to GG, is the other.
One bank has the Stalls, the Dress Circle and the Upper Circle. The other stops at the Dress Circle.
The show plays to every side, so there is no wrong bank to sit on, though some rows see better than others. What matters more than usual is the person in front of you: the stage is low and the rows rise only slightly, so a tall head in front can cost you a good slice of the stage.
The tables, from around £200
Rows A and B on one bank, AA and BB on the other, with free-standing chairs at small tables.
The cast work right beside you and you get far more interaction, sometimes more than you want. Book them when being beside the cast is the point of the night. For everyone else, our pick is Stalls rows F and G. Tables are sold in pairs. Given the choice, take the front row over the back, though it makes little difference.
The Stalls
Given the choice, sit down here. The show is interactive, and the closer you are the more involved you feel.
Rows F and G are the pick. They sit higher than the rows around them, and a quirk of the layout brings them nearer the stage. Row GG does the same job on the other bank. In rows F to H, sit two seats in from the end for a better angle.
Rows C, CC, D and DD sit directly behind the tables. C and CC are the harder two, because someone at a table in front blocks more than someone in a seat. They also cost more: midweek, rows C and D are around £155 against around £125 for F to H, so the better view is the cheaper one.
Rows E and DD sit under the edge of the Dress Circle, and their view is unaffected.
Rows G, H and GG can feel enclosed. The theatre asks anyone who is claustrophobic to contact it before visiting.
The Dress Circle
You see the whole production from here and you are still close. The rails and balustrades on this level are thick, so if you are on the short side, book a row in the front half. It is 32 steps up to the front of the level.
Part of the Dress Circle sits behind the stage, and it is a good alternative, especially when it comes in cheaper. Call us and we will compare what is left on both sides on your date.
The Upper Circle
The cheapest seats in the building, in four rows on the single-letter bank. From the top you see the whole circle of the stage at once. It is 85 steps up from the foyer and there is no lift, so if stairs are difficult, book the Stalls.
Call us on 020 7193 9050 and we will find the best seat left on your date.
Seating plan
Dates & tickets
Booking now
Getting to the Kit Kat Club
The Kit Kat Club is the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5DE, between Trafalgar Square and the river. Your ticket may say either name.
Embankment is 2 minutes away, on the Bakerloo, Circle, District and Northern lines. Charing Cross is under 5 minutes, on the Bakerloo and Northern lines and the mainline.
The 91 stops on Northumberland Avenue itself. The 9, 15, 23, 139 and 176 stop at Charing Cross station, about three minutes away, and the 24, 26, 29, 87 and 88 around Trafalgar Square, three to four minutes. The 12, 159 and 453 stop on Whitehall, about four.
Arrive 50 to 70 minutes before the performance. Allow extra time if you are sitting upstairs, because every level above the Stalls is reached by stairs.
Bags are checked on the way in, so leave large bags and luggage behind. The cloakroom is in the basement, next to the toilets, and charges per item. There are three bars: the Gold Bar in the foyer, one at Dress Circle level and one in the basement.
The steps to each level, the step-free entrance and everything nearby are in our Kit Kat Club guide.
Cabaret Cast
Skylar Astin and Sarah Hyland took over the two leads on 21 September 2026, from Jamie Muscato and Marina Tavolieri.
| Role | Performer |
|---|---|
| Emcee | Skylar Astin, to 12 December 2026 |
| Sally Bowles | Sarah Hyland, to 23 January 2027 |
| Clifford Bradshaw | Baker Mukasa |
| Fraulein Schneider | Ruthie Henshall |
| Herr Schultz | Robert Hands |
Skylar Astin was in Spring Awakening on Broadway, and on screen he is known for the Pitch Perfect films and So Help Me Todd. Television audiences know Sarah Hyland from Modern Family, and she appeared in The Great Gatsby on Broadway.
Joe Atkinson covers the Emcee. The producers cannot guarantee any particular performer on a given date, and nothing has been announced for the Emcee after 12 December 2026 or for Sally after 23 January 2027.
The opening company
Eddie Redmayne played the Emcee and Jessie Buckley played Sally Bowles when the production opened in 2021, with Omari Douglas as Clifford, Liza Sadovy as Fraulein Schneider and Elliot Levey as Herr Schultz.
Redmayne won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2015 for The Theory of Everything, and Buckley won Best Actress in March 2026 for Hamnet.
Creative team
Music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, book by Joe Masteroff. Directed by Rebecca Frecknall. Set and costumes by Tom Scutt, choreography by Julia Cheng, musical supervision by Jennifer Whyte, lighting by Isabella Byrd, and sound by Nick Lidster. Casting by Stuart Burt.
Cabaret Reviews
No star-rated review of the December 2021 press night went below four. The Evening Standard, the Telegraph, the Independent, the Financial Times, WhatsOnStage and The Stage gave five, and the Guardian, The Times, the Observer and Time Out gave four.
Those reviews are of the original cast, Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley, who left in 2022.
Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times (5/5) called Jessie Buckley's Sally the performance of her career. Nick Curtis in the Evening Standard (5/5) found Redmayne's Emcee part tribute to Joel Grey, who created the role, and part grotesque.
Arifa Akbar in the Guardian (4/5) wrote that Liza Sadovy's Fraulein Schneider and Elliot Levey's Herr Schultz become the production's heart. Richard Maguire for The Reviews Hub (4.5/5) noted that the small space keeps Julia Cheng's choreography economical.
The casting of the Emcee did not win everyone over. Quentin Letts's review in the Sunday Times (4/5) ran under a headline calling Redmayne miscast. And in 2021 the critics came back again and again to the price of the top tickets.
Every verdict is in What the Critics Say.
Sources: Evening Standard, The Telegraph, The Independent, Financial Times, WhatsOnStage, The Stage, The Guardian, The Times, The Observer, Time Out, The Sunday Times, The Reviews Hub.
Gallery
Cabaret
Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre