Adam Lambert ended laughter over antisemitic joke in Cabaret

Amidst the contentious political happenings in the United States, Adam Lambert is drawing praise for the way he handled an uncomfortable moment during a recent Broadway performance.

Since last fall, the American Idol alum has been taking on the role of the Emcee in Cabaret. For those unfamiliar with the musical, it centers on nightclub performers during the Nazis’ rise to power in Berlin.

One particular performance within the show sees the Emcee dancing with a gorilla and singing about how much he loves her despite society not approving of their relationship. It’s aimed at the audience of the fictional nightclub, and ends with a joke meant to appeal to the growing antisemitic sentiment among them.

"I understand your objection," he sings. "I grant you, the problem’s not small / But if you could see her through my eyes / She wouldn’t look Jewish at all."

According to attendees, a number of audience members at Wednesday’s matinee performance of the show burst into laughter before Lambert could even finish the line. Playwright David Rigano recounted the moment in an open letter to the actor shared across social media.

"As I was shaking my head that we live in a world that didn’t get the point of that joke, you turned to them and - without dropping character, without dropping the accent - said, 'No. This is not comedy. Pay attention,'" he wrote.

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In a subsequent video reacting to his post going viral, Rigano further explained that, as a big Cabaret fan, he’s accustomed to that moment drawing "shocked or uncomfortable chuckles as the realization sets in," but stressed this was different.

"This was just straight up laughter. And he turned his head, he looked at them, and then the laughter grew stronger, as if they thought he was doing a bit," he explained. "I do not think that this was malicious laughter. I do not think that this was antisemitic laughter. But I do think it was complacent laughter by people who weren’t really getting the point of what the commentary was."

After Rigano’s initial post went viral, Lambert shared it to his Instagram stories, followed by a screenshot of a comment he left in response.

"I really consider it a privilege to be working with such a gifted cast and creative team on a show that has so much to say about what is happening RIGHT NOW," he wrote. "It’s been relevant since it premiered in the late '60s and I HOPE audiences walk away THINKING and feeling empathy towards how marginalized groups can be scapegoated as a political strategy."

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If the actor didn’t miss a beat in his on-stage reaction to the audience’s laughter, it would seem one reason for that is because it wasn’t the first time it had happened. At least one person in Rigano’s Instagram comments drew attention to a reddit post from nearly two weeks prior about the same moment in Cabaret during a different performance.

"People laughed… And it was like time stopped," they recalled. "Because it was so clearly not funny. And Adam Lambert plays it very seriously and with such beautiful nuance that it is so obviously not a funny moment."

Although the specifics of what Lambert apparently said to the audience at that time differed somewhat, the sentiment remained the same. The redditor noted that some attendees were "taking every opportunity to laugh at any mention of Jews," but that after Lambert stopped and drew attention to it, the crowd grew so quiet "you could hear a pin drop on the moon."

"I was sick in my seat for the rest of the show," they added. "I cried for ages after the show was over because it is just so painful to confront the reality of the world we live in now."

Lambert will continue performing as Cabaret's Emcee on Broadway until Orville Peck takes over the role on March 31.