Theatre Interviews with Top Broadway Stars

‘The Prom’ is personal for director Ryan Murphy

When Ryan Murphy went to see The Prom on Broadway, he was struck by the audience's reaction. The story of four theatre stars who band together to fight for a young lesbian who is told she can't take her girlfriend to the school dance inspired joy and celebration. But there was one audience member who it felt particularly personal for: himself. "The thing that was interesting to me is the heroine is from Indiana where she is denied, going to her poem and halfway through the musical, I realized...

Meryl Streep shares what she loves about starring in movie musicals

Meryl Streep is no stranger to the movie musical. The Oscar winner has starred in Mamma Mia!, Into the Woods, and now The Prom, Ryan Murphy's Netflix adaptation of the Broadway musical about a group of Broadway actors who go to middle America to fight for a young lesbian's right to take her girlfriend to the prom.While Streep is an undeniable tour-de-force and triple threat, her favorite part about musicals is, surprisingly, not the singing. "More than anything I love the dancing because I'm not...

Kerry Washington is excited to play the villain in ‘The Prom’

When you hear the word "bigot," the last person you think of is television and Broadway darling Kerry Washington, who has committed herself to projects with a social justice bent like the recent Hulu mini-series Little Fires Everywhere and the Broadway play-turned-Netflix adaptation American Son. But that's exactly how Washington would describe her character in Netflix's The Prom, another activist-minded movie that adapts the musical about a small-town lesbian who can't bring her girlfriend to...

Keegan-Michael Key on what it was like to kiss Meryl Streep in 'The Prom'

If you had told Keegan-Michael Key in theatre school that one day he would be kissing Meryl Streep on screen, he would have thought you were crazy. The comedian of Key & Peele fame plays school principal Mr. Hawkins, who falls for Streep's Dee Dee Allen in Netflix's The Prom."When you're a kid in theater school and you're 22 years old, if your future self came back and said, 'I just want you to know that in 2020, you're going to be Meryl Streep's love interest in a movie,' you'd just be...

Interview with Come From Away stars Jim & Emily Walton

They say every cloud has a silver lining and in times of a crisis, this shines through in the form of human kindness and a spirit of community. Although we are technically in self-isolation for the time being, the efforts communities around the globe have made to support each other, both financially and emotionally, have been truly moving. There is arguably no better show that personifies this sentiment than the smash hit musical Come From Away, which officially opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld...

Interview with Ain't Too Proud star Jelani Remy

As we "Get Ready" for Broadway theaters to re-open (hopefully sooner rather than later), we caught up with one of the stars of the smash hit musical Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations. Many Broadway fans will know Jelani Remy from his three-year-long run as Simba in Disney's The Lion King on the Great White Way, but in the last couple of years, the young New Jersey native has left the comfort of the Disney Theatrical nest in search of new theatrical opportunities.Following...

Interview with Sing Street star Brenock O'Connor

As we await the Broadway premiere of Sing Street, the new stage musical based on the 2016 film of the same name, we caught up with the show's leading man Brenock O'Connor.Sing Street marks the Broadway debut for the gifted young Brit, who will celebrate his 20th Birthday next month. But millions and millions of fans around the world will recognize his face thanks to his TV role as Olly on the fantasy juggernaut that is HBO's "Game of Thrones."Like many young actors, Brenock's roots lie in the...

Interview with To Kill a Mockingbird star Taylor Trensch

At just 30 years of age, Taylor Trensch has forged an incredible career on the Broadway stage, often playing characters much younger than himself. It therefore came as no surprise that he would eventually be cast as Dill Harris in the Broadway premiere of Aaron Sorkin's record-breaking adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird at the Shubert Theatre, where the "children" of the story play such pivotal roles.Having made his Broadway debut as the lovable Boq in Wicked and having starred as...

Interview with Tina: The Tina Turner Musical star Daniel J. Watts

Daniel J. Watts previously worked with his current leading lady Adrienne Warren during New York City Center's 2009 production of The Wiz. Fast forward a decade later and these longtime friends now find each other face-to-face at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre as rock 'n' roll's infamous pairing of Ike & Tina Turner, tearing the house down as well as tearing at each other to portray the iconic former couple's trailblazing career onstage, as well as their well-documented, abusive relationship...

Interview with Beetlejuice star Alex Brightman

Last night the Great White Way was re-christened the Great Fright Way as the new Broadway musical Beetlejuice celebrated its official opening at the Winter Garden Theatre. Topping the bill of this highly anticipated adaptation of the 1988 Tim Burton cult classic is Tony Award nominee Alex Brightman, who now finds himself in the very same theatre where his Broadway career shot to stardom in School of Rock back in 2015. Following roles in the likes of Wicked, Matilda, and Big Fish (another Tim...