Jamie Muscato, who earned acclaim last year for playing the title role in The Great Gatsby at the London Coliseum, has now taken on the Emcee in Cabaret. The contrast between the two characters is stark: Gatsby, a polished illusionist of the Jazz Age, and the Emcee, a shape-shifting, Mephistophelian host in decadent Berlin as the Nazis rise.
A Role of Freedom and Truth
Muscato describes the role as an opportunity to explore freedom. “It’s amazingly left-field if you look at what I’ve done before,” he admits. “But I was able to be so free with it because as long as you’re telling the truth with the Emcee, as long as you’re having the most fun — until it’s not — you’re on to a winner.” In the classic story, the Emcee serves as both light relief and a mirror to the creeping fascism. “I see him as a filter of what is happening around him. At the beginning when there’s so much joy and you’re allowed to be who you are, he accepts that and gives it out. As things get darker, I see him malfunctioning. It’s an important, dark and unfortunately relevant story which needs attention to be paid to it.”
From Am-Dram to West End
Brighton-born Muscato always wanted to act, starting with amateur dramatics. “I had three or four am-dram groups… being a boy, it was embarrassing going into singing.” While auditioning for drama schools, he landed his first West End role at 18 in Spring Awakening as a swing covering six leads. “It’s one of the hardest jobs in theatre and was a baptism of fire.” He went on to lead roles in Les Misérables, Heathers, and Moulin Rouge!, building a fanbase that led to solo shows. After Gatsby, he played Dexter in the stage adaptation of David Nicholls’s One Day in Edinburgh, a role he will return to in the West End after Cabaret.
Technical Mastery and Future Plans
Muscato approaches each role with deliberate technique: “Gatsby had to sing perfectly because that’s how he lives his life. With the Emcee, he’s on the edge, he can be slightly shouty with his vocal, and with Dexter there’s moments where I want him to sound nice and perfect and other times at the edge.” Looking ahead, he aims for the big screen. “I want to act forever and test myself in a variety of mediums. I think after One Day I’ve earned myself a break from theatre — 100 per cent I want to do films!” Muscato is in Cabaret until September 19, and One Day — The Musical from November 17.
