Broadway power couple Eva Noblezada and Reeve Carney on sharing the stage in 'Cabaret'

Original Hadestown performers Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada reunite in Kander and Ebb’s musical masterpiece Cabaret.

Summary

• Eva Noblezada and Reeve Carney star in the West End production of Cabaret
• They met as part of the original cast of Hadestown
• They play Sally Bowles and the Emcee in Cabaret

When Eva Noblezada and Reeve Carney met seven years ago, they were journeying to the Underworld every night as star-crossed lovers Orpheus and Eurydice in the original London cast of Hadestown. Love also blossomed off stage, and unlike Orpheus, Broadway’s power couple has never looked back, tying the knot in New Orleans in October. “As long as four years ago, we had ideas about [what we wanted to do],” says singer-songwriter Carney (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark) of the wedding that counted original Hadestown cast members such as Patrick Page in attendance.

The pair took their career-defining roles to Broadway in 2019 and, earlier this year, returned to London with the show’s stars André De Shields, Amber Gray, and Page, filming a proshot that is yet to be released. But it is Carney and Noblezada’s collaboration on a different West End musical that currently has the theatre kids talking.

They are appearing opposite one another as the Emcee and Sally Bowles in Rebecca Frecknall’s Olivier Award-winning production of Cabaret — which is going into its fifth year in the West End — joining a long list of famous performers in the roles such as Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley (who both won Oliviers), Rebecca Lucy Taylor and Jake Shears, and Billy Porter and Marisha Wallace.

“It’s so cool because no matter who you see, they bring out a part of Sally that is unique and different. The story changes,” says Noblezada of the cabaret performer, who bewitches young American writer Clifford Bradshaw when he moves to Berlin.

Noblezada’s previous roles have taught her to focus on her own interpretation: at the tender age of 17, she was cast as Kim in the West End revival of Miss Saigon, following in the footsteps of Lea Salonga who originated the role in 1989. “Because Kim was my first big role, I was always being compared to Lea — thank God — and Jo [Ampil], and all these amazing legends of the role. I had to learn very quickly that I can’t focus on what I need to do to be different because I’m already different.”

This is Noblezada’s second time performing as Sally, as she switched places with Wallace this summer after playing the role on Broadway. She says there is a big difference between the two productions. “The August Wilson Theatre was huge. It was so big that at one point, you look out and there’s just an abyss. I think it’s good to have an intimate space [like the Playhouse Theatre, which has been reconfigured for Cabaret to be in the round] where you can play off the audience.”

She feels this, in particular, during the musical’s title song “Cabaret”: “It’s super revealing and super vulnerable,” and because British audiences are less demonstrative in their reactions, “I feel a huge desire to reach out and ask, ‘Do you like it?’ ‘Is this okay?’ Which is a little bit Sally-coded, but also Eva-coded, which is a big no-no for me — I don’t want to bring any people-pleaser, Eva energy into this role.”

Carney also feels the intensity of performing in such an intimate venue: “In the West End, it really feels like you’re actually in the Kit Kat Club. And the audience are certainly patrons of the Kit Kat Club in 2025, but it’s a pretty small shift to make them patrons of the club in 1930. We’re actually in communion with each other — it’s so rewarding and challenging.”

When asked how it feels to perform in a show that has so much modern-day relevance, Noblezada says: “You can’t ignore the fact that we’re actors in 2025 living in a world where these themes are happening right outside our doors. The writers of this story [John Kander and Fred Ebb] knew that it would be important for as long as the musical shall live, but I think they’d be shocked to see how relevant it is.”

Carney says he finds it “concerning, alarming, saddening, disappointing, and discouraging” to see how much the musical is in conversation with world issues, but that it is also “great to be in a piece of art that feels necessary”. He continues: “You hope that it’s not too late to show people how we can all make this world a better place for everyone, not just one group.” Carney and Noblezada are relishing the opportunity to share a stage once again, though they recognise how different it is from their star turns as young lovers in Hadestown.

“It’s so weird, I feel like I barely see him,” says Noblezada. The Emcee and Sally’s interactions are relatively limited in the show, with the former often skulking in the shadows and observing the action. But there are some golden moments thanks to this casting, such as the fresh irony of the Emcee’s line about Sally, “Only yesterday, I said, ‘I want you for my wife’”, as well as the electric number “I Don’t Care Much”, in which Sally tries to ignore the increasing threat of fascism within Nazi Germany, represented by the cruel Emcee.

“It’s crazy how cold he is because we know each other so well,” continues Noblezada. Carney finishes her sentence: “But there’s a level of trust that we have in each other.” Both agree that the worst part about starring in the show together is that they can’t always watch each other’s performances. “I’ve seen her 10 times as an audience member,” says Carney of Noblezada’s run as Sally on Broadway. “But there’s so much I’m not seeing now.”

“One day I’ll go on as the gorilla,” jokes Noblezada (referencing the giant ape that makes an appearance in the sinister Emcee number “If You Could See Her”) so that they can increase their stage time together.

While discussing the shows they’d love to star in together next, a flurry of musicals are mentioned, from Sweeney Todd and The Rocky Horror Show to a gender-swapped The Phantom of the Opera. “There’s so much more,” says Noblezada excitedly. “But we don’t want to give it all away!”

Book Cabaret tickets on LondonTheatre,co.uk

This article first appeared in the December 2025 issue of London Theatre Magazine.

Photo credit: Eva Noblezada and Reeve Carnet in Cabaret. (Photo by Marc Brenner). Inset: Noblezada and Carney in Hadestown. (Courtesy of production)