Joel Grey used this makeup kit while portraying the Emcee (Master of Ceremonies) in the 1987-1989 national tour of the musical <i>Cabaret</i>. The cardboard box is decorated with photographs depicting scenes and characters from the show and closes with a rhinestone button. An image of a swastika pasted on the bottom of the case. The box contains cosmetics including eyeliner, rouge applicators, two powder puffs, orange rouge, two false eyelashes, eyebrow pencil, brick red crayon, cigar, stick-to-apply orange, one stick of pink base, one pink powder, "lake" lipstick, and blue makeup.
The musical Cabaret premiered on Broadway in 1966. With music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Joe Masteroff, the show was an adaptation of John Van Druten's 1951 play <i>I Am a Camera</i>, which itself was based on Christopher Isherwood's 1939 memoir <i>Goodbye to Berlin</i>. <i>Cabaret</i> is the story of love triangle centered around Berlin's Kit Kat Klub amidst the decadence, corruption, and political intrigue of the Weimar Republic era. The musical was celebrated for its originality, but was also controversial for its moral ambiguity, frank sensuality, and mature themes, including homosexuality, abortion, anti-semitism, and the rise of the Nazi party. In 1972, director Bob Fosse adapted <i>Cabaret</i> as a critically- lauded and popular film.
For his performances as the impish, leering Emcee in both the stage and film productions, Grey won the Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Broadway Musical in 1967 and Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1972.
