Just days after BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical concluded its Broadway run, we spoke with Anastacia McCleskey about bringing her fierce and funny Carol to life—and then bidding her farewell.

From theatre influencers to celebrities like JoJo Siwa to everyday dancers, it seems like everyone has attempted to nail the joyous elbows in Splish Splash. The source of that choreography? Just In Time’s choreographer Shannon Lewis. We sat down with Lewis, Broadway veteran, SNL and Last Week Tonight choreographer, who is making her Broadway choreography debut with the Bobby Darin musical. We chatted about her feelings after seeing the dance go viral, giving choreographers credit, SNL 50, and more.

Holder's play Out of Order is now running at East Village Basement through July 22. In the play, Holder picks index cards out of a bowl with tasks varying from random acts of kindness and audience participation, to discussions about the realities of art making, to narratives about farm animals from a childhood story. If he fails to complete every card, he vows to quit theatre forever. 

Since 2021, Mason Alexander Park — who has recently taken the West End stage in Jamie Lloyd’s The Tempest and Much Ado About Nothing, as well as the current revival of Cabaret — has worked with their writing partner Hunter Bird on a series called The Pansy Craze. Now, the show will be produced as a six-part series on Audible — and you can catch the first three episodes live from June 26 to 28 at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre in New York.

Ella Beatty has had an incredible year in New York theatre. After joining the Tony-winning Appropriate as River when the show transferred theaters, she next joined Jack O’Brien’s much buzzed about production of Ghosts at Lincoln Center Theatre. Now, she is downtown starring opposite Hugh Jackman in Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, a new work that is part of Together, a new theatrical initiative by Jackman and producer Sonia Friedman. I recently sat down with Beatty to discuss summers in the Village, Shakespeare, and Cole Escola. 

Rob Madge is bringing their original solo show My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?) to New York City Center, making the show’s New York premiere after an almost-Broadway run last season. It runs June 12 to 15.

The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical opened Tuesday night at the MAX Theatre in Arlington, Virginia. It’s a full circle moment for Iconis, who is best known, perhaps, for his musical Be More Chill.

The 78th Annual Tony Awards were filled with plenty of memorable moments. We think it’s safe to say that the ceremony was one of the best we’ve seen in years — Cynthia Erivo, are you free next year?

Buena Vista Social Club has thrilled audiences since its first performance, thanks to its music and incredibly moving story of the famed band. Marco Ramirez, who’s nominated this year for Best Book of a Musical, shares some fascinating tidbits from his research trip to Cuba.

Today is a very important day because not only are we just two days away from the 78th Annual Tony Awards, all voting must be completed via an online portal by Noon, ET. So in just a few hours, the Awards will be locked and the waiting begins!There are just over 800 voters this year, and I recently sat down with one of them earlier this week, off the record, to pick their brain on how they think they are going to cast their votes, and where the industry is landing.

The big day is almost here! Today, Theatrely has premiered its new musical video for “Broadway’s Never Been So Alive Before” in celebration of the upcoming 78th Annual Tony Awards. The piece brings together a loving team to celebrate the best and brightest of every single show from the 2024/2025 season. Written by and starring Alyssa Payne, this new song is sure to get you ready for this Sunday! Drew Nichols serves as orchestrator and music production. 

Taylor Trensch dropped out of college after his second year to join the Spring Awakening national tour as Moritz, launching a richly varied stage career of 16 years that has seen Trensch rack up credits regionally, off-Broadway and across eight Broadway shows–-Matilda, Hello, Dolly! and To Kill A Mockingbird among them. A beloved theater fixture—and also a kind, witty little fellow—Trensch has now earned his first ever Tony Award nomination for Lincoln Center Theater’s sumptuous revival of Floyd Collins, running at the Vivian Beaumont through June 22. Theatrely sat down with Trensch to journey through a selection of his many credits, reflecting on gay plays, his dear friend Gavin Creel, and oh so many wigs.

How very! Just before Heathers returns to the New York stage later this month, Yellow Sound Label has announced the release of Heathers The Musical: World Premiere Cast Recording (Deluxe Edition) in streaming and digital formats tomorrow, Friday, June 6. The Deluxe Edition contains the entire original 2014 world premiere cast album and has been completely remastered for 2025.Theatrely has an exclusive first listen to a bonus track: “Kindergarten Boyfriend (Bluegrass Lullaby)” performed by Will Chase. 

Maybe Happy Ending led the pack with six wins at the Drama Desk Awards Sunday night, which were held at NYU Skirball and hosted by Debra Messing and Tituss Burgess. In addition to Outstanding Musical, the robot love story took home awards for Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Michael Arden); Music, Lyrics, and Book (Will Aronson and Hue Park); and Scenic Design of a Musical (Dane Laffrey and George Reeve). 

The Chita Rivera Awards celebrate the stage and screen’s often-overlooked dancers and choreographers. Performers and presenters took the stage to honor her close friend and legendary dancer Ben Vereen with the Lifetime Achievement award.

Molly Griggs just happens to be starring in one of the most buzzed about plays of the season right now. As Bailey Gallagher in Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is The Villain, she heads back to high school as a guidance counselor eight times a week, in this funny and deeply moving new play. I recently caught up with Griggs to chat all things John Proctor, finding her character, and Lorde. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. 

Julia Lester just doesn’t stop. Since making her Broadway debut as Little Red in the recent Into The Woods revival (a role that landed her a Tony Nomination, btw) Lester then went on to impress us as Miss Marmelstein in CSC’s I Can Get It For You Wholesale. Today, putting aside her run on the new Netflix hit The Four Seasons, Lester can be seen eight times a week stealing the show over at All Nighter. Her character Wilma, an artist, brings the laughs and brought Lester a nomination for both a Drama Desk and a Lucille Lortel Award. 

George Clooney to Jennifer Simard to Tom Francis To Mia Farrow and more react to receiving a 2025 Tony Award Nomination this morning

Tatiana Córdoba has taken Broadway by storm and has no plans for stopping. This past Sunday, she opened Real Women Have Curves to rave reviews and we caught up with her to chat about her incredible Broadway debut.

We are about to have a lot of joy this summer! As previously announced, a musicalized new work based on the true story of inventor and entrepreneur is headed Off-Broadway this summer in Joy The Musical. Broadway favorite Betsy Wolfe stars as Joy and Mauricio Martinez is set to star as Tony in the new production. We here at Theatrely have your first look at a new music video of “You Are A Melody To Me” from the show.

Othello is Kimber Elayne Sprawl’s 7th Broadway show, but before this season she had never done a play here in New York City. An illustrious career that ranges from Beautiful to Girl From The North Country to Wicked, Sprawl has made a name for herself but she was ready for a new challenge. Enter Kenny Leon. After starting the season in the company of Home at Roundabout, Sprawl landed Emilia in the much talked about starry revival of Othello currently starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. I recently sat down with Sprawl to chat about her connection to The Bard, transitioning into the world of plays, and her love of the New York Public Library. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. All photos are by Carianne Older/Theatrely. 

If you saw a row of cowboy hats walking up West 48th Street yesterday afternoon, you might have just passed opening night of Dead Outlaw. The new musical opened to rave reviews yesterday at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre and we were on the scene to celebrate Julia Knitel who stars in the new production. Written by Itamar Moses, and featuring music and lyrics from David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, the show is directed by David Cromer and stars Andrew Durand, Jeb Brown, Eddie Cooper, Dashiell Eaves, Ken Marks, Trent Saunders, Thom Sesma, with Emily Fink, Justin Gregory Lopez, Noah Plomgren, Max Sangerman, Scott Stangland, and Graham Stevens as understudies. 

Theatrely chats with Ainsely Melham currently starring in Boop! The Musical on Broadway

Whether you have binged every episode on Netflix or you are walking in fully blind to the Stranger Things universe, there is one thing for certain: you are bound to fall in love with this zany cast of characters. Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a prequel to the series and takes us back 30 years to the late 1950s where we meet this ragtag group and go on one thrilling adventure. I caught up with the cast during rehearsals to chat with them and dive into the world of Stranger Things. 

The curtain is officially up! Last night, Smash opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre and Theatrely photographer Carianne Older was on the scene to celebrate Bella Coppola who stars as Chloe in the hit new musical. 

One thing is for certain, when The Hollywood Reporter calls you one of Netflix’s “go-to writers,” things are going pretty well. Lindsey Ferrentino has been writing works seen across the New York stage for years now, and she’s just getting started. Between The Artist, The Queen of Versailles, multiple film projects, Ferrentino has now been nominated for her first Olivier Award for The Fear of 13 which recently had a critically acclaimed run at the Donmar Warehouse in London starring Academy Award winner Adrien Brody. I caught up with Ferrentino recently to chat about balancing multiple projects, gushing over Adrien Brody, and what she might wear this Sunday to the awards. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Theatrely caught up with Jessica Hecht to chat about her conceiving and reworking Bertolt Brecht’s The Mother