Focus Character: Emcee, Who Is He?

The character I have chosen to design my contemporary look for is Emcee, the Master of Ceremonies who hosts the Cabaret at The Kit Kat Klub. Ordinarily portrayed as wearing a heavy application of clown-like make-up, Emcee is a gender-questionable character; he is flamboyant, overtly sexual and entertaining yet mysterious.

I will be basing my interpretation of Emcee on Kabuki, an infamous member of the Club Culture era who was known for his outlandish costumes and impressive makeup.

Perhaps the most notable Emcee is Alan Cumming who played him in the stage production on several occasions. The picture on the right of Cumming in his Emcee character dress shows him wearing an almost bondage- like harness, a nod to the character's uninhibited sense of sexuality and that of the era. Smoking a cigarette (which would have been fashionable in the 1920s) and staring into some distant corner, it is clear to see that our Emcee is fabulous and yet a total enigma.

I enjoy this veiled quality to the character; we don't seem to know much about him which I feel could prove tricky to design for but will allow creative freedom.

In the 1972 film version of Cabaret (Directed by Bob Fosse), Emcee is played by Joel Grey who would have been in his late 30's to early 40's at the time and I feel this is appropriate to the character as his experience would translate into his risque performances.

Despite being effeminate, Emcee's sexuality is undisclosed which allows us to interpret him in our own way; for me, in the decadent and debauched world of Weimar Berlin, I feel that Emcee would have been Pansexual- unrestricted by gender of gender identity, an idea which will allow a broad approach to the design process.