The big “get” this year isn’t the Tony Award. It’s the first spot on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
And the winner is … “Cabaret.”
Alan Cumming and the rest of the cast will perform the classic opening number, “Willkommen,” on the show on April 10.
Now in previews at Studio 54, “Cabaret” doesn’t open until April 24. Why this revival, last staged in 1998, needs more than a month of previews is beyond me. It appears the Roundabout Theater Company is taking a page from the Public Theater’s playbook, running shows for as long as it can without having to deal with those pesky critics.
But I digress.
In fact, one of my spies reports that the production is “f - - king awesome.” Broadway newcomer Michelle Williams gets good marks, though she’s yet to break hearts the way the great (and much missed) Natasha Richardson did back in the day. But Cumming, I’m told, is even better than he was the first time around. He’s put on a little weight — “there’s a paunch,” my spy says — but that makes him even seedier. The whole production is pretty seedy, apparently, which is exactly as it should be.
I’ve criticized the Roundabout for producing “Cabaret” just to earn a quick buck, and I stand by that criticism. This is a nonprofit theater company that should be taking risks, as it did in 1998 when it produced this revival, which was co-directed by a couple of relative unknowns, Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall.
However, “Cabaret” is a great musical — and this production ranks among my top 10 theater experiences — so if a new generation goes nuts for it, my carping is immaterial.
As for “The Tonight Show,” the “Cabaret” performance is the first of several that Fallon plans in the run-up to June’s Tony Awards. Fallon loves musicals, and when he moved his show to New York, he made it clear to his producers that he wanted Broadway in the mix. His ratings are strong, and he could do for the theater what Rosie O’Donnell did with her daytime talk show in the ’90s.
Here are a few suggestions for other Broadway segments on the “Tonight Show”:
n The producers of “Beautiful” have finally persuaded Carole King to do some publicity for them. Why not have her and the wonderful Jessie Mueller (who plays her in the show) do some songs together? That would bring the house down, and would cinch Mueller’s Tony Award.
n “Bullets Over Broadway” is turning into a real crowd-pleaser. Maybe Woody Allen could swing by for a chat, as he used to do when Johnny Carson was doing the show in New York in the ’60s, and bring on the cast to perform “Yes, We Have No Bananas.” Wait. Scratch that. Much better to have the gangsters come on and sing “Tain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do.”
n I’m a fan of “After Midnight,” the Duke Ellington-Cotton Club revue at the Brooks Atkinson, and dancing doesn’t get any better than the amazing Julius “iGlide” Chisolm and the equally amazing Virgil “Lil’O” Gadson doing their bit from the show.
n Finally, I’d suggest that, right before the Tonys, Fallon and his producers invite a theater reporter on to handicap the horse race and discuss the best and the worst of the season. It should be somebody who’s charismatic and funny, someone who knows the ins and outs of Broadway and can make the whole crazy business accessible to “Tonight Show” viewers. Someone who has achieved, after all these years, some measure of celebrity from his articles and media appearances. And so, please welcome to the “Tonight Show” . . . Pat Healy!
MARK this on your calendars, please: On April 13, I’ll have a chat at the SVA Theatre on 23rd Street with Rupert Holmes, who wrote “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” It’s a benefit for the New York Theatre Barn, a nonprofit company that develops new musicals written by up-and-coming young talents. Holmes will be at the piano, playing some of his best-known tunes. I’ll be leaning on the piano, sipping a “Piña Colada.”