Fat Ham's Calvin Leon Smith to Replace Ato Blankson-Wood in Cabaret on Broadway

Calvin Leon Smith will return to Broadway this fall as Clifford Bradshaw in Cabaret. He takes over the role from original cast member Ato Blankson-Wood, who plays his final performance at the August Wilson Theatre on September 14, the final performance date for the show's Tony-nominated stars Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin. Smith will begin his run on September 16 alongside the recently announced Adam Lambert (Emcee) and Auliʻi Cravalho (Sally Bowles). 

Smith was last seen on Broadway in James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fat Ham. His TV credits include Barry Jenkins' The Underground Railroad and HBO’s The Deuce. He joins a cast that features Bebe Neuwirth as Fraulein Schneider, Steven Skybell as Herr Schultz, Natascia Diaz as Fraulein Kost/Fritzie and Henry Gottfried as Ernst Ludwig.

With a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb and a book by Joe Masteroff, Cabaret is based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood. It features the songs "Willkommen," "Don’t Tell Mama," "Mein Herr," "Maybe This Time," "Money" and the iconic title number. For this production, guests are invited to explore the Kit Kat Club and meet its seductive denizens before curtain time.

Cabaret is directed by Rebecca Frecknall, with scenic and costume design by Tom Scutt. The production also features choreography by Julia Cheng, lighting design by Isabella Byrd, sound design by Nick Lidster and music supervision by Jennifer Whyte, while Angus MacRae composed the original music for the Prologue. The production collected a total of nine 2024 Tony nominations including Best Revival of a Musical.