The best of times is now for Wayne Brady's NYC stage career

The Emmy Award winner stars off Broadway this year in the musical La Cage aux Folles, through June 28, and the play Ms. Blakk for President this fall.

Summary

• Wayne Brady stars in two Off-Broadway shows in 2026: the musical revival La Cage aux Folles and the New York-premiere play Ms. Blakk for President
• Brady discusses what motivates him creatively and why his stage work is his favorite part of his career
• Brady is an Emmy winner for Whose Line Is It Anyway? and host of Let's Make a Deal on TV
• He has starred on Broadway in shows like Chicago; The Wiz; and Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Moving back and forth between television and theatre, Wayne Brady seamlessly goes with the flow. That’s fitting, since his career is rooted in improvisation. Malleability is a must.

At 54, the Los Angeles-based star from Georgia is famous for winning an Emmy for Whose Line It Is Anyway? and hosting the game show Let’s Make a Deal, as well as for notching a half-dozen key roles on Broadway and others beyond. He’s also a Grammy nominee.

“Work is a very happy place for me,” Brady told New York Theatre Guide. “As long as I have enough work to take care of my family and have time time to sit with my family, then I’m good. I’m a very simple guy.”

Still, he’s got his priorities. While TV has made him a household name, working in the theatre is next-level. “I’d rather be on stage than anywhere else,” he said.

Fortunately for Brady, and Off-Broadway audiences, he’s double-booked for star turns on stage this year: Up now, a New York City Center Encores! staging of the musical La Cage aux Folles through June 28, followed by the play Ms. Blakk for President in the fall.

Each assignment checked the requisite boxes to get a green light, according to Brady. “When I take on a project, I’m looking for that thing that moves not just my career needle, but my heart,” he said. “I ask myself, ‘Do I really want to tell this story? Is it going to make me happy? Is it going to bring joy to the audience watching?'”

“That sounds a little Pollyanna, maybe,” he continued. “But, you know, A) for where I am in my life, and B) for where the world is, I like it when art can intersect with activism. I feel lucky to have that when I go to work.”

In director Robert O’Hara’s revival of La Cage aux Folles, a Jerry Herman/Harvey Fierstein Tony-winning Best Musical from 1984, Brady and Billy Porter play Georges and Albin, longtime partners and St. Tropez drag club owners with a 24-year-old son. The couple is compelled to defend love, family, and authenticity against prejudice.

“Maybe five years ago, I was talking to my friend Tituss Burgess about how fun it would be to do La Cage,” said Brady. “We thought about an all-Black version. We talked to Harvey [Fierstein], and everybody liked the idea, but the timing wasn’t right. It wasn't until I really sat down with the director, Robert O'Hara, and we were talking about what it means to tell the story right now that I truly went, ‘Oh man, I’ve got to do this.’”

Georges, like the show, involves thematically rich elements of comedy, identity, and politics. “That’s a sweet spot for me,” said Brady. “Billy and I were joking last night off stage. I was talking to him about my kids; I have a 23-year-old and 3-year-old. Billy said, ‘Oh, you really are Georges. I said, ‘Yeah, I am.’ When I get a chance to play these roles that let me really be me with a costume on, it’s a joy.”

In 2004, Brady donned a dapper black suit to play crafty lawyer Billy Flynn in Chicago in his debut on Broadway, where his subsequent roles included drag queen Lola in Kinky Boots (a role that had won Porter a Tony Award), the title character in The Wiz, and nightclub impresario Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

Asked to share his most memorable moments on stage, Brady recalled his 2017 run as Aaron Burr in a Chicago run of Hamilton. “My proudest moment is singing 'Dear Theodosia' on stage with my daughter in the audience,” he said.

On the flip side, a memory of getting a hobbling hamstring cramp during the lead-up to “The Schuyler Sisters” caused him to facepalm. “I slithered off stage like a snail as the music was going and dancers were stepping over me. Later, I thought, ‘There’s a lesson in this. The show goes on.’”

This October at Vineyard Theatre, Brady takes on the title role in the New York debut of Moonlight Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney and two-time Tony nominee Tina Landau’s Ms. Blakk for President, a multi-character work described in a review of its 2019 Chicago run as “part drag pageant, part drag ball and part lip-sync extravaganza.”

The show draws from the true story of drag activist Terence Alan Smith, also known as Joan Jett Blakk, who ran for president in the early '90s during the AIDS crisis to spotlight gay rights. Yes, that really happened.

“I consider myself a pretty well-read guy, but I didn’t know this story,” said Brady. “I was honored that Tina and Tarell thought of me as the vessel to bring this story to life here in New York. There was no way that I could say no.”

“To be able to spread the word about love and acceptance, that is the biggest job flex that I could ever hope for,” Brady added. “To be able to have my job intersect with educating people about just loving other people, no matter what they look like or who they love.”

Of course, juggling TV, theatre, and music (he’s recording a Christmas album this summer), comes with strategizing and challenges. Staying in the moment and appreciating it full-tilt is key, Brady said, as he reached for a lyric from a crowd-rousing La Cage anthem.

“The best of times is now,” he said. “The best of times is always now.”

Get La Cage aux Folles tickets now.

Check back for information on Ms. Blakk for President tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Photo credit: Wayne Brady and the cast of La Cage aux Folles off Broadway. (Photos by Joan Marcus)