Recently, strolling down Broadway has felt more like scrolling through Netflix. Names like Daniel Craig, Keanu Reeves, Sarah Paulson, Eddie Redmayne, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning, Daniel Radcliffe, Rachel McAdams, Lola Tung, Nick Jonas and countless others have all been written in Broadway’s flashing lights over the past few years. MTA subway advertisements urge commuters not to miss Steve Carell in “Uncle Vanya” or George Clooney in “Good Night, and Good Luck” while Sandra Oh waltzes around the stage of a star-studded Shakespeare in the Park production for those lucky enough to possess coveted tickets.
Broadway is no stranger to stardom — it has produced its fair share of Barbara Streisands and Jonathan Groffs — and celebrity casting has been present since the early 2000s. But the craze seems to have reached new heights in the years following the pandemic. Screen actors have begun to replace lesser-known stage actors in lead roles across almost every recent Broadway production. The phenomenon isn’t limited to Broadway stages, either. The Brooklyn Academy of Music presented Paul Mescal in “A Streetcar Named Desire” last spring, and both “Euphoria” actress Maud Apatow and “Modern Family” star Sarah Hyland stepped into the role of female lead Audrey in an off-Broadway revival of “Little Shop of Horrors.” Celebrity casting occurs so often that Broadway.com even has a subsection entitled “Stars on Stage” to make it easier for people to find the shows that feature their favorite movie stars.
The sheer quantity of A-listers in the theater has unsurprisingly sparked controversy. In the debate over whether Hollywood celebrities belong on Broadway stages, one major argument dominates the defense of their increased presence: They bring in the bucks. Many believe that the allure of Hollywood stars has helped theaters draw audiences back in a post-COVID-19 economy. In an article investigating Hollywood’s role in Broadway, Rosa Sanchez, senior news editor at Harper’s Magazine, writes that many find themselves “plagued with entertainment opportunities and anxious about spending money” after the pandemic.
To compete with streaming services that feature A-listers on demand, theaters have turned to a competitive alternative: the chance to see them live. And their strategy seems to be working. Three of the 2024–25 season’s highest-grossing shows — “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (starring Sarah Snook), “Othello” (Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal) and “Good Night, and Good Luck” (George Clooney) — all featured celebrities. Additionally, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” “Othello” and “Glengarry, Glen Ross” (Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk) were the shows with the highest average paid admissions of the season. Without these celebrity headliners, this season’s average admission price would have been $125.03 — which is $3.40 less than the 2022–23 season.
Furthermore, the outliers — those with significantly greater average paid admission — from the past few seasons almost always featured celebrities in their casts. For 2023–24, it was “Merrily We Roll Along” (Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathon Groff) and “Cabaret” (Eddie Redmayne). The year before, it was “The Music Man,” with leading man Hugh Jackman.
The 2024–25 season now holds Broadway’s all-time record for highest gross at a whopping $1.89 billion, a record previously held by the 2018-19 season with around $1.83 billion. Without the celebrity component, it’s clear that Broadway may not have staged such a comeback.
Despite celebrities’ financial help, many still doubt their place on Broadway. Some believe their presence is a classic example of stunt casting — the practice of hiring big names as a gimmick to attract paying customers — rather than an act of artistic integrity. It’s also my belief that it commoditizes the experience; a show’s creative value is eclipsed by its casting. The first thing mentioned about a given show is who you were lucky enough to see in it. Name-dropping celebrities seen on stage obscures the experience of the show itself and replaces it as the primary topic of conversation surrounding Broadway. There’s also the fact that celebrities aren’t being hired because there is a lack of local stage talent; rather, they are replacing cultivated stage actors in major roles.
Behind the curtains, many Hollywood stars have also had a hand in the production process of Broadway shows. Prolific music producer Jack Antonoff composed songs for Sam Gold’s recent “Romeo + Juliet,” starring Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor. Likewise, Mindy Kaling, Mariah Carey and Angelina Jolie have all recently produced Tony-winning musicals, leading many to the conclusion that Broadway has grown a bit obsessed with Hollywood. Even some of the shows themselves are about celebrities: “MJ the Musical,” “Dolly: A True Original Musical,” “The Cher Show,” “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” “A Beautiful Noise” and “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” are all examples of a newly popular genre of musical biopics’. Shows like these cover the pages of Broadway ticket websites, while long-running originals like “The Phantom of the Opera” have closed. It’s even hard not to feel cynical about Leslie Odom Jr.'s return to “Hamilton” when it now seems like a shameless financial appeal, regardless of his Broadway beginnings.
Seeing as Broadway is a hugely important part of the New York City economy, it’s crucial that it continue generating revenue and creating jobs. Simultaneously, we must wonder what is at risk for Broadway’s ‘real’ actors — and for the artistry and authenticity that the theater has long represented. After the COVID-19 pandemic, as Broadway seems to be a new career milestone for Hollywood actors and their names begin to replace smaller ones on playbills, the question begs to be asked: What are we willing to surrender to keep Broadway alive?
