Tag: The Prom

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Creative

Where’s That Cast Now? Spamalot Edition

Photo by Joan Marcus

With Spamalot having returned to Broadway 18 years after its debut, readers may be curious about what the original 2005 cast is up to now. Below, Broadway’s Best Shows is celebrating the original cast of the spoof-filled musical and the careers they’ve enjoyed since.

Hank Azaria

A voice acting legend for his 30+ years of work on The Simpsons, Azaria made his Broadway debut as Sir Lancelot in Spamalot. He later appeared in the 2007 Aaron Sorkin play The Farnsworth Invention on Broadway and has appeared in many TV shows and movies, most recently starring in Brockmire and The Idol, while continuing on The Simpsons.

SNL alum Taran Killam plays Lancelot in 2023, with Beetlejuice’s Alex Brightman set to take over the part in January 2024.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Christian Borle

Borle had maybe the craziest track in a show where everyone played 2-5 characters. In the program, he was listed as “Historian, Not Dead Fred, French Guard, Minstrel, Prince Herbert.” He went on to Legally Blonde, and Falsettos, two performances seen far and wide after they were recorded for television, and has two Tonys, for Peter and the Starcatcher and Something Rotten. He was nominated again for 2023’s Some Like It Hot. Oh yes, and he was on Smash. 

Spongebob’s erstwhile simple sponge Ethan Slater steps into the track in 2023. 

Photo by Joan Marcus

David Hyde Pierce

Pierce was possibly the most famous actor coming into Spamalot, after eleven years on Frasier. While he had acted on Broadway before, he learned to sing and dance for the production. After his turn at the Round Table, he won a Tony for his performance in Curtains, appeared in Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike, and worked opposite Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly! He can currently be seen at The Shed in the final Sondheim musical Here We Are, and on the MAX series Julia. 

Michael Urie plays his role in the 2023 production. 

Photo by Joan Marcus

Sara Ramirez

Ramirez has recently reentered the zeitgeist with their attention-grabbing role as Che Diaz on And Just Like That, but theater fans know them as the Tony-winning Lady of the Lake in Spamalot. In the intervening period, they worked on eleven seasons of Grey’s Anatomy as Callie Torres, breaking barriers for queer representation in television. 

Beetlejuice’s Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer steps into the part for 2023. 

Photo by Joan Marcus

Christopher Sieber

After his Tony-nominated stint as Sir Galahad in the original Spamalot, Sieber did a series of impressive physical comedy roles, including originating the role of Lord Farquaad in Shrek, garnering another Tony nom, replacing as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, and rolling around the floor of the Jacobs doing martial arts with Jennifer Simard in 2022’s Company revival. The role of Trent Oliver in The Prom was written specifically for him.

Broadway stalwart Nik Walker takes over the role in 2023.

Tim Curry

Tim Curry made his fourth Broadway appearance, as King Arthur, in Spamalot. His post-Spamalot work is sadly limited, due to a stroke in 2012, although he did make a winning turn narrating the 2016 Rocky Horror Picture Show remake. He has also worked extensively as a voice actor, including in the critically acclaimed animated series Over the Garden Wall.

James Monroe Iglehart (Aladdin, Hamilton) plays the part in 2023.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Michael McGrath

McGrath, Spamalot’s loyal Patsy and a beloved New York character actor, appeared in an incredible nine Broadway shows afterward. Most recently he understudied Matthew Broderick in Plaza Suite, and starred as Ladislav Sipos in Roundabout’s 2016 revival of She Loves Me, among many other credits. Sadly, McGrath passed away in fall 2023.

Christopher Fitzgerald (Waitress) plays Patsy in 2023. 

And a special bonus…

Hannah Waddingham

Waddingham starred as the Lady of the Lake when the production moved to London, and also came to New York near the end of its run. In 2020, Waddingham vaulted to stardom as football club owner Rebecca Welton on Ted Lasso, winning an Emmy for her performance. She was also the “Shame Nun” on Game of Thrones and a helicopter parent on Sex Education. 

Waddingham is releasing a Christmas special on Apple TV, and an accompanying album, both out on November 22nd.

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Rising Stars

There’s no one way to become a Broadway star–some blow up at the beginning of their careers, while others work for decades before their big break comes. We want to highlight some of the former understudies, and mid-run replacements, originating roles this season, as well as one director making her debut this season. The Broadway to Hollywood pipeline is real (we’ll get into that in a different article). But we’d like to hang onto the below talents in the theater space for as long as we can!

Julie Benko as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Photo by Evan Zimmerman/MurphyMade

Julie Benko

Julie Benko became an internet darling in 2022 and 2023 as the alternate Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Lea Michele was out every Thursday evening, and fans would flock to see Benko’s equally excellent Fanny. Before that, she understudied all five of Tevye’s daughters in Fiddler on the Roof, and was a backup Cosette in Les Mis. This fall, Benko gets to originate a role on Broadway for the very first time, in another very Jewish project, as Ruth in the new Barry Manilow musical Harmony.

Isabella McCalla & Caitlin Kinnunen in The Prom. Photo by Deen Van Meer

Isabelle McCalla

McCalla, a former Jasmine in Aladdin, played the soft spoken love interest Alyssa Greene in 2018’s The Prom. She can currently be seen as Maizy in Shucked, while original star Caroline Innerbichler takes maternity leave. Her breakout moment might be coming next year – McCalla received glowing reviews for Water for Elephants’ Atlanta tryout, and it’s likely that she’ll move from 40th to 45th Street when Elephants starts performances at the Imperial on February 24th. 

Santino Fontana and Julia Lester in I Can Get It For You Wholesale. Photo by Julieta Cervantes

Julia Lester

Julia Lester started her acting career on television, breaking out as wry theater geek Ashlyn on Disney+’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Theater audiences were introduced to her in summer 2022, playing Little Red Riding Hood in the Encores! Revival of Into the Woods, which later transferred to Broadway. After becoming one of the youngest Tony nominees ever for that performance, she can be seen this season in the Classic Stage Company revival of I Can Get It For You Wholesale, as the beleaguered secretary Miss Marmelstein.

Sky Lakota-Lynch in Dear Evan Hansen.

Sky Lakota-Lynch

Lakota-Lynch made his Broadway debut replacing Will Roland as Jared Kleinman in Dear Evan Hansen, the only actor of color to play the part on Broadway. In spring 2023 he starred as Johnny in The Outsiders at La Jolla Playhouse, based on the classic novel about working class 1950s teenagers. The Outsiders starts performances at the Jacobs in March 2024. 

Heather Alicia Simms and Billy Eugene Jones in Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch. Photo by Marc J. Franklin

Billy Eugene Jones

Jones has been an understudy on Broadway seven times, including in Kenny Leon’s 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Earlier in 2023, he was both Rev and the ghostly Pap in Fat Ham (the equivalent of Claudius and Hamlet Sr. in the show’s rewrite of Hamlet) making a memorable entrance in an all-white ensemble billowing smoke. After nearly two decades on Broadway, Jones was singled out by critics for his performance as Gitlow Judson in Purlie Victorious, currently at the Music Box. 

Whitney White in the rehearsal room. Photo by RJ Eldridge

Whitney White

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, by Jocelyn Bioh, premiered on Broadway in October 2023. Many critics attribute the play’s success to Whitney White’s direction, which balances a dozen different characters with wildly different personalities, keeping the tone comic but not cartoonish. White makes her Broadway debut with the show, after directing downtown hits like What to Send Up When It Goes Down at the Public and Our Dear Dead Drug Lord at Second Stage.

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best “Broadway Week” Shows

The Mayor’s Office for Tourism and Conventions’ annual Broadway Week promotion is almost upon us, which means that you can now get 2-for-1 tickets to select Broadway shows for performances between September 4-17! (Yes, Broadway Week is actually two weeks long. Lucky us!) 

Unlike TDF’s Half Price Ticket Booth, which only offers same-day discounts, the Broadway Week tickets can be purchased up to a month in advance. Use code BWAYWK23 to access this exciting offer today. Participating shows are also offering premium orchestra seats, usually $250-$400, for just $125 with code BWAYUP23. Check the official website for full details. 

Here are some of the shows we recommend catching while this offer lasts:

HADESTOWN

The 2019 Best Musical Tony Award winner recently welcomed new cast member Solea Pfeiffer in the lead role of Euridyce! Betty Who and Philip Boykin join the company Sept. 5 as lovers Persephone and Hades, respectively. See them alongside Lillias White as Hermes and Reeve Carney as Orpheus.

SOME LIKE IT HOT

This toe-tapping big band musical is from Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman (the composer-lyricist duo behind Hairspray!, Catch Me If You Can, and Smash) and book writers Matthew López and Amber Ruffin. With direction and Tony Award-winning choreography by Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Aladdin, The Prom), this one is not to be missed!

KIMBERLY AKIMBO

Last season’s Best Musical stars two-time Tony Award winner Victoria Clark as Kimberly herself, with music by Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Caroline, or Change, Shrek: The Musical) and a book & lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire in an adaptation to his 2001 play of the same name.

PURLIE VICTORIOUS: A NON-CONFEDERATE ROMP THROUGH THE COTTON PATCH

Leslie Odom, Jr. (of Hamilton Tony-winning fame) stars as the titular role in this first ever revival of Ossie Davis’ landmark 1961 satire, directed by Kenny Leon. Two-time Tony Award nominee Kara Young co-stars as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins. Performances begin Sept. 7!

HERE LIES LOVE

The immersive disco bio-musical with music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim tells the life story of former Filipino first lady Imelda Marcos. Here Lies Love is a fascinating parable about fascism, the media, and the effects of 20th century American cultural dominance and empire on so-called “Third World” countries like the Philippines. We recommend using your Broadway Week discount to splurge on a Dance Floor ticket, where you’ll be inches away from the actors and part of the storytelling. Good luck getting the title song out of your head. 

SIX

This UK export retells the story of the six ex-wives of King Henry VIII, with a pop concert twist. The Tony-winning score by Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow features pop-powered showtunes such as ‘Heart of Stone,’ ‘Don’t Lose Ur Head,’ and the iconic ‘Megasix’ encore to wrap it all up.

THE COTTAGE

Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) makes his directorial debut with this brand new England countryside-set comedy by Sandy Rustin. The cast features Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) in his Broadway return since appearing in 2012’s Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, Laura Bell Bundy in her Broadway play debut after leading the 2007 musical Legally Blonde, Lilli Cooper (POTUS, Spring Awakening), Nehal Joshi (Flying Over Sunset, All My Sons), Alex Moffat (Saturday Night Live), and Dana Steingold (Beetlejuice the Musical).

BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL

Time travel back to 1985 (and beyond) for this musical adaptation of the classic film, straight from its hit world premiere in London’s West End! Casey Likes (Almost Famous) is Marty McFly and Roger Bart (The Producers) is Doc Brown, reprising his acclaimed performance on the other side of the pond.