Orville Peck Is Baring His Soul, and His Face, in Cabaret on Broadway

There鈥檚 a certain power in a persona, and few modern musicians have wielded it as effectively as Orville Peck. Since the release of his first album, Pony, in 2019, the South African singer has cultivated a larger-than-life image: A deep-voiced outlaw drenched in reverb, singing queer country ballads full of longing, and wearing (most iconically) a mask. Usually fringed, leather, and reminiscent of the Lone Ranger, Peck鈥檚 mask has kept the singer鈥檚 eyebrows and nose out of the spotlight for years.

So when it was announced in January that Peck would be joining the vibrant revival of Cabaret at the August Wilson Theatre as the Emcee鈥攁 role steeped in subversion, theatricality, and sexual spectacle鈥攆ans were left wondering: Would he perform unmasked? The answer, to the surprise of many, was yes. 鈥淚t was scary leading up to it. But honestly, it's been very easy, because I wanted to disappear into this role,鈥� Peck tells 半岛体育. It鈥檚 a bold move for an artist who has built a career on the tension between revelation and concealment. Since adopting the Orville Peck moniker, he has remained elusive about his real name, background, and face.

When it comes to playing Cabaret鈥檚 newest Emcee (through July 20), this isn鈥檛 Peck's first theatrical rodeo. Long before he became a country music sensation, he was immersed in the world of theatre. He studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and even made his West End debut in the farce Peter Pan Goes Wrong, though fans scanning the program won鈥檛 find his real name. Returning to the theatre has felt 鈥渓ike riding a bike, which is really lovely,鈥� Peck affirms.

This production is a return for Peck in another way. Cabaret has long been a part of his artistic journey. He first encountered Cabaret as a child growing up in South Africa, watching the film adaptation and discovering his love for Bob Fosse. By the age of 14, the Emcee had become a dream role. 鈥淚 was a Kit Kat boy, and I played the gorilla,鈥� he laughs, recalling a production of Cabaret he did in his 20s. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I really started to fall in love with the depth of the piece.鈥�

Despite the absence of Peck鈥檚 physical face cover in the show, he sees Cabaret as a production layered with 鈥渕etaphorical masks.鈥� 鈥淚 think there are characters in the show who decide to put on a mask by the end of the production and assimilate and hide or conform for various reasons, whether that is to feel a part of something, empowered by something to survive, or to hide,鈥� he explains. For Peck, this idea plays out most vividly through Sally Bowles (currently played by Eva Noblezada). 鈥淪ally is very much someone who wears a mask. When we see her sing 鈥楳aybe This Time,鈥� it's her removing that mask for a moment, where she shows that she's not just a shallow party girl with no thoughts or feelings about the world,鈥� Peck explains. 鈥淚 think she shows and reveals to us that she, like everyone, is just looking for love and acceptance.鈥�

But while Sally comes off as quite playful and bombasic, the Emcee is a more slippery and unsettling figure who can take drastically different forms based on the actor playing him. 鈥淓ddie [Redmayne], Adam [Lambert], even the understudies, David [Merino] and Marty [Lauter]鈥攚e all not only portray the Emcee completely uniquely, but we all look slightly different with regards to our wigs and our makeup, everything,鈥� notes Peck. 鈥淎dam had this beautiful, very mugged, almost drag makeup plot鈥e had this gorgeous Marcel wave period wig. We knew that that probably wasn't going to work for the way that I was portraying my Emcee.鈥�

The look of Orville Peck鈥檚 Emcee draws from many corners of his life. One of the more obvious changes made to his character's costume is swapping the character鈥檚 traditional bowtie for a bolo tie鈥攁 nod to Peck鈥檚 country roots and his inspiration from the Lone Ranger. But a lesser-known influence is his past in the punk scene; he used to be a drummer in Vancouver鈥檚 punk circuit. 鈥淔or the makeup,鈥� Peck shares, 鈥渨e wanted it to look like I had done it the night before, and I washed it off鈥攖hat it was messy and broken down and not had a lot of care put into it. My wig is made to look kind of sweaty and grungy.鈥�

This punk influence also seeps into the emotionality of Peck鈥檚 Emcee. His leader of the Kit Kat Club is steeped in a punk-rock hostility and macho outlaw air that would be envied by a Tom of Finland painting. 鈥淔rom the beginning,鈥� Peck recalls, I made it very clear with the production team that I was going to take this bombastic, aggressive approach and that of a frustrated person.鈥� This interpretation draws from his youth. 鈥淚 think I draw on my days of being in punk bands. I was a teenager when I started playing that kind of music,鈥� Peck recollects. 鈥淚 think I had a lot of anger and resentment of my own鈥攏ot in the same way that I think my Emcee has, but I definitely had a lot of shit to work through in those years of my life. I think something like punk music and that whole community spoke to me because I felt like it was a way to healthily express that anger and that frustration that I felt.鈥�

On the other side of the coin, Peck鈥檚 Emcee is also deeply shaped by the tension between internalized repression and the temporary freedom found onstage. Unlike previous 1998 and 2014 Broadway revivals of Cabaret where the Emcee ends up in a concentration camp at the end of this show, the 2024 Broadway revival takes a completely different approach. By the musical's conclusion, the colorful and openly queer Emcee has joined the Nazi party. While most viewers question how this could be a possible end for this character, Peck has an explanation. In the confines of the Kit Kat Club, his Emcee 鈥渇inds freedom in his expression and the ability to be queer, diverse, and colorful.鈥� But when he steps outside of the space, his 鈥渁nger, resentment, and internalized issues about not being able to be who he is in society鈥� grow exponentially. Where Peck has turned those struggles into something empowering, his Emcee uses his personas like a poisonous flower鈥攁 beautiful, charismatic front used to manipulate and gain power. 鈥淭he Emcee鈥檚 job is to win people over and then betray them,鈥� Peck explains.

Peck, who has been openly gay since childhood, has been in many spaces where he is one of the few, if not the only, queer person in the room. Whether that was in the punk scene of his youth or in his early country career facing the old boys club of Nashville, the musician has taken the times in his life where he felt othered and turned it into power. According to Peck, there is a key difference in creating art in a safe space versus an unsafe space. 鈥淐reating art in a space that doesn't feel safe or you may not be welcome in, I think that creates an equally important type of art. Even though it may at times be harder because you don't have that just freedom of expression, having the courage to still go ahead and force that kind of expression in those spaces requires a bit more courage.鈥�

Although the Emcee and Peck both draw from personal experience to shape their on-stage personas, it鈥檚 how they channel those experiences that leads them down different paths. 鈥淲hen you're playing somebody that is seemingly the bad guy or villainous or sinister, I think you have to first understand that no one is just born that way or no one is just purely that. I think there are experiences, traumas, and frustrations in people's lives that lead them to those crossroads. It's about deciding which way you're going to turn at them. And I think for my Emcee, for whatever reason, he decides to go the opposite way, which is to choose to align himself with something that is inherently evil, but it makes him feel powerful, which is something that he's never felt.鈥�

Peck, by contrast, made a different choice: 鈥淚 definitely had a lot of periods in my life where I didn't feel empowered, and I felt different and othered, as many people do. I think I happily turned that into my power and decided to become my truest self proudly.鈥�

So you can say the Cabaret is a full-circle moment for Peck, a chance for him to be in a queer, inclusive space that he so longed for in his youth鈥攊n a musical he鈥檚 long loved. 鈥淚 think it's really important in art, especially (and just in culture generally), that we are able to look at something and see a part of each of ourselves, no matter who we are, where we come from, what we believe in, who we love, or what we identify as the color of our skin, no matter what it is.鈥� He continues, 鈥淎nybody, in any walk of life, could come and see this production of Cabaret, for instance, and they will see one character on that stage that they relate to or see themselves in. And it will help them understand the story better and help them understand themselves better, and try to understand the message that we are trying to get across in this production. Because if you go to the show and you don't see yourself there, how can you relate to it? How can you leave the show with any new information if you don't feel like this pertains to you?鈥�

For the Orville Peck fans hoping to see the singer with his signature mask, don't fret. Once the show has concluded, and it's time for bows, Peck dons a mask that matches the Emcee鈥檚 final costume. Explains Peck: 鈥淚'm not playing the role anymore. I wanted to just be clear that I was coming back out as myself.鈥� So if you want to literally see Peck as you鈥檝e never seen him before, come to the Cabaret.