While the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Broadway in March 2020, the New York City theater scene has bounced back since its partial reopening in September 2021. By April 2022, all 35 theaters were showing plays or musicals, and attendance had been holding steady for several weeks. More than 265,000 people attended the 35 productions for the week ending April 24 with combined box office revenues of $34.2 million.
Shows scheduled for the 2022 season include Skeleton Crew, The Music Man, Take Me Out, Funny Girl, and Macbeth. Some of these shows, in addition to several others, feature a star-studded cast with Broadway veterans and well-known film and TV actors. The following is a look at five actors better known for the screen who were cast in Broadway productions for 2022.
1. Hugh Jackman (The Music Man)
One of the most notable male Broadway stars, Hugh Jackman is equally known for his work in cinema. The 53-year-old Australian has portrayed the iconic X-Men character Wolverine in X-Men (2000), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and Logan (2017). He has also starred in films like The Prestige (2006), Australia (2008), The Greatest Showman (2017), and Bad Education (2019). In 2012 he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for Les Misérables.
As a stage actor, Jackman starred in The Boy from Oz (2003), A Steady Rain (2009), and The River (2014). He won the Best Leading Actor in a Musical Tony for The Boy from Oz and hosted the Tony Awards in 2004, 2005, and 2011. Jackman was cast as Harold Hill in the Broadway revival of The Music Man, which opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on February 10.
2. Daniel Craig (Macbeth)
Like Jackman, Daniel Craig is primarily known for portraying an iconic action film character. The English actor has portrayed 007 agent James Bond in five films, including Quantum of Solace (2008) and No Time to Die (2021). He has garnered more than 70 film acting credits to his name since 1992. His latest role as the titular character in Macbeth, which opened on Broadway on April 28, is quite the departure from Bond but not out of the ordinary for Craig, who waited tables as a teenager with the National Youth Theatre in the United Kingdom and has appeared on Broadway in Betrayal (2013) and Othello (2016).
Ruth Negga, an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Olivier-nominated actress, is starring opposite Craig as Lady Macbeth. Negga has appeared in the films Loving (2016) and Passing (2021), as well as the AMC series Preacher, among other film and TV projects.
3. Debra Messing (Birthday Candles)
Best known for playing Grace Adler on the popular NBC sitcom Will & Grace, Debra Messing is starring opposite Enrico Colantoni and John Earl Jelks in Birthday Candles, a Roundabout Theatre Company production that opened at the American Airlines Theatre on April 10. Messing portrays Ernestine Ashworth, who relives memorable moments on her birthdays spanning from 17 to 101. Variety called the production a “true gift,” while the Daily News hailed it a “must-see show.”
Jelks replaces Andre Braugher, who was set to make his Broadway debut in the role when the show was announced in 2020. The original premiere date was pushed back twice due to the COVID pandemic.
4. Sam Rockwell (American Buffalo)
A New York Times Critic’s Pick, American Buffalo stars three prominent film and TV actors: Laurence Fishburne, Darren Criss, and Sam Rockwell. The revival of David Mamet’s classic production opened on Broadway on April 14. Rockwell plays Teach, a friend of pawnshop owner Donny (played by Fishburne) who conspires with his pal to steal back a valuable coin that Donny had previously sold for $90. Rockwell has appeared in more than 100 film and TV projects, including Moon (2009), Seven Psychopaths (2012), and the TV mini-series Fosse/Verdon (2019). He won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Academy Award for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).
In addition to his impressive film credits, Rockwell is a veteran stage actor who has appeared in several Off-Broadway and Broadway productions, including Goose-Pimples (1998), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (2005), and A Behanding in Spokane (2010). Fishburne is an Academy Award-nominated actor who has also won a Tony Award and Emmy Award, while Criss won an Emmy Award and Golden Globe for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.
5. Mary-Louise Parker (How I Learned to Drive)
Following the success of How I Learned to Drive as an Off-Broadway production, Mary-Louise Parker reprised the role on Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Parker, a two-time Golden Globe winner for performances in the Showtime series Weeds and TV miniseries Angels in America, played the lead role of Li’l Bit in How I Learned to Drive‘s first showing Off-Broadway. For this role, she earned a Lucille Lortel Award and Obie Award. Parker is also a two-time Tony winner, winning in 2001 for Proof and 2021 for The Sound Inside.
She has also appeared in films such as Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), The Client (1994), and Golden Exits (2017). She stars opposite David Morse, who has appeared in TV projects such as The Morning Show, The Deuce, and True Detective.