Jake Shears and Rebecca Lucy Taylor cast in the West End's Cabaret

The West End's production of 'Cabaret' has turned to the celebrity realm with their latest casting news. Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters and Rebecca Lucy Taylor, aka Self Esteem, will play the two leading roles of Emcee and Sally Bowles, respectively.

'Cabaret' is at the Playhouse Theatre, with a closing date of June 29 2024, with Shears and Taylor joining the cast Sep 25. The pair's final show date will be 20 January 2024.

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome. @Jakeshears (Emcee) and @SELFESTEEM___ (Sally Bowles) join "the hottest of tickets" (Vogue) from 25 September until 20 January.

Tickets: https://t.co/fOJQQjDT5a pic.twitter.com/ZdbEyHnzm4

— Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (@kitkatclubLDN) August 15, 2023

The show has seen massive success from its opening night onwards, gathering excitement amongst the theatre world and beyond due in part to its original casting: award-winning actors Eddie Redmayne and the Jessie Buckley as the two leads. The production was well-received, sweeping at the Olivier awards, and the production is still going strong, as a series of talented actors replaced Redmayne and Buckley after their departure last March.

However, this is the first celebrity duo to hit the Kit Kat Club since Redmayne and Buckley, and it isn't hard to see why the producers cast them. Both artists have been involved in real-life cabaret and will be playing singers as accomplished singers themselves. Taylor has done some screen acting in the past, so she has some experience with acting, though the role requires some hefty acting chops.

The Scissor Sisters was a near-staple of the 2000s rock scene with their genre-defying indie rock, opening for U2 on their Vertigo tour and playing some massive Dublin and Belfast shows with Franz Ferdinand. The band split in 2012 after announcing a hiatus, and frontman Jake Shears pursued a solo career with an album of his own.

Taylor's project Self Esteem has recently gathered massive success, her latest album Prioritise Pleasure earning her a Mercury prize nomination in 2022. In February she played a sold-out gig in 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin, though she seems to be taking a break in favour of the West End.

Both the production and the two stars have a hefty social media following, so tickets for the pair's performances will undoubtedly sell quickly. You can find tickets here.