Matt Willis is going back to the Kit Kat Club: he takes up the Emcee once more in Cabaret for six weeks from 14 December 2026, playing opposite Sarah Hyland as Sally Bowles.
Matt Willis is returning to the role of the Emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, a part he has played there before. His second stint is a limited one of six weeks, starting on 14 December 2026, and it pairs him with Sarah Hyland, who plays Sally Bowles.
The handover comes straight after Skylar Astin, the current Emcee, plays his final performance on Saturday 12 December 2026. Willis and Hyland then see the run through to Saturday 23 January 2027, which is the last performance for both of them.
Willis said: "To get to step into what felt like a once in a lifetime role for a second time is beyond exciting. I love this show so much and feel honoured to be asked back."
Before the stage, there was the band: Willis was a founding member of the pop-rock group Busted. His theatre work since includes Fiyero in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria, Orin Scrivello in Little Shop of Horrors at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and Nick Hurley in Flashdance at the Shaftesbury Theatre, along with two tours, as Chuck Cranston in Footloose and Dr. Pomatter in Waitress. Television viewers know him from Birds of a Feather and EastEnders, from his win on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, and as co-host of Netflix's Love is Blind UK with his wife, Emma Willis. He also wrote the NTA-nominated documentary Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction and presents the podcast On the Mend.
Hyland is still best known as Haley Dunphy in Modern Family, the role that brought her a Screen Actors Guild award. On Broadway she has played Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, Connie Francis in Just in Time and Jacqueline Bouvier in Grey Gardens, and Off-Broadway she was Audrey in the Little Shop of Horrors revival.
Around them, the current principals are Baker Mukasa as Clifford Bradshaw, Ruthie Henshall as Fraulein Schneider, Robert Hands as Herr Schultz, Ronan Burns as Ernst Ludwig and Lindsay Atherton as Fraulein Kost/Fritzie.
November is a double anniversary for the show. Rebecca Frecknall's staging opened in the West End on 15 November 2021, and the musical itself premiered on Broadway on 20 November 1966. The production went on to take a record seven Olivier Awards in April 2022, and it has now passed its 2,000th performance, the longest run any Cabaret has had in the West End. Tom Scutt designs the set and costumes, with choreography by Julia Cheng, and the score by John Kander (music) and Fred Ebb (lyrics), with a book by Joe Masteroff, includes Willkommen, Mein Herr, Maybe This Time and Money. ATG Productions and Underbelly produce.
Cabaret is booking at the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse until Saturday 18 September 2027. Each ticket comes with a club entry time, so there is a chance to take in the pre-show bars and entertainment before the performance begins.
