Orville Peck to Perform Unmasked in Broadway Debut as Emcee in Cabaret

Country singer Orville Peck will take the stage without his signature mask when he makes his Broadway debut as the Emcee in Cabaret later this month. In an interview with The New York Times, Peck confirmed that he would forgo the mask for the role.

“The mask is part of my expression personally as an artist and a very big personal part of me,” Peck said. “But I’m here to play this role and to bring respect and integrity and hopefully a good performance to it. It’s not about me.”

Peck added, “Change is good,” he said. “Nothing is permanent.”

Peck, who replaces Adam Lambert in the current Broadway revival on March 31, is stepping into a role first made famous by Joel Grey in the original 1966 production. Eddie Redmayne originated the role in this production, directed by Rebecca Frecknall, which opened on Broadway last year.

During a recent rehearsal of the show’s opening number, “Willkommen,” observed the Times, Peck appeared without his mask, sporting a black t-shirt and short-cropped hair, channeling an energy reminiscent of punk legend Henry Rollins.

“The irony is that if I put my mask on, I’m suddenly not anonymous anymore,” he said. “The weird part is for me to be anonymous. I just take my mask off and walk around like normal and then no one knows who I am.”

In the article Peck also expressed interest in future musical theater roles, such as El Gallo, the bandit narrator of The Fantasticks.