10 Broadway Talents to Watch
Each new Broadway season brings an exciting group of fresh talents to the spotlight — and this season is no exception. Variety is proud to announce the 2024 edition of its annual 10 Broadway Stars to Watch, with this year’s roster of standouts set to be honored at our annual Business of Broadway Breakfast, hosted by Cole Escola of Broadway’s summertime smash “Oh, Mary!”
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At the event, Variety will celebrate the fall season with exclusive conversations with Nicole Scherzinger of “Sunset Boulevard,” Daniel Dae Kim and David Henry Hwang of “Yellow Face,” and Jim Parsons, Zoey Deutch, Michelle Wilson, and Ephraim Sykes of “Our Town.” Attendees will also toast the rising cohort of artists, creators, producers and agents set to light up the coming season.
Here are the 10 Broadway Stars to Watch honorees for the 2024-25 season, part of the Variety Broadway Impact 2024.
Evan Cabnet
When Evan Cabnet became the artistic director of Second Stage Theater this month, it wasn’t just a big shift for the enduring non-profit institution; Cabnet’s rise also marked the start of a trend that will see two more of New York’s most influential nonprofits get new leaders this season.
A director who specializes in new work, Cabnet arrived at Second Stage after eight years as the head of Lincoln Center’s LCT3 space, which is dedicated to emerging artists. “What’s so exciting is that with our Broadway space, Second Stage is able to take contemporary works and canonize them,” he says.
Attorney
David S. Berlin, Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham
Influences
André Bishop, Todd Haimes, Jim Houghton
Auli’i Cravalho
This fall, two big things are happening at once for Auli‘i Cravalho. Just as she’s recording a new song and finishing ADR for the upcoming “Moana 2” — reprising the title role she played in Disney’s 2016 animated smash — she’s also making her Broadway debut in “Cabaret.”
As Sally Bowles, Cravalho is breaking free of the high schooler parts she’s often played and taking on her heftiest theater challenge yet. “I didn’t even know Broadway was a thing when I was growing up on a tiny island in Hawaii,” she says. “Now I have this deep respect. It’s an honor to get my ass kicked by Broadway every night.”
Manager
Amalea Chininis, Artists First
Influence
Her background and community as a mixed-descent artist
Glenn Davis
As co-artistic director at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre (alongside Audrey Francis), Glenn Davis oversees the storied troupe’s work outside the Windy City, particularly productions that transfer to Broadway. Now entering his fourth season in the post, Davis has grabbed national attention with premieres of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose,” coming to Broadway this fall, and “Little Bear Ridge Road,” a show that brought Laurie Metcalf back to Steppenwolf. (Also an actor, Davis starred in “Purpose” at Steppenwolf.) “We consider Steppenwolf a major launching pad for new work and new artists, and we want to continue that tradition,” Davis says.
Agents
Innovative Artists, CAA
Influences
Maya Angelou, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Marcus Gardley, Davis’ grandfather John Davis
Kate Diaz
It’s a delightful surprise to a rising composer from the Chicago area — one who’s carved out a niche writing scores for film, TV and other media — that she’s about to make her Broadway debut as the composer of “Redwood,” a musical co-written with Tina Landau and starring Idina Menzel. “I wasn’t raised going to theater,” says Kate Diaz. “I was a guitar kid.”
When Landau went scouting for someone outside the theater world for a partner on “Redwood,” she landed on Diaz, who writes songs that the composer describes as “indie pop-rock meets a cinematic score.” She enjoyed making a musical so much that she hopes to do it again. “It’s been very trial by fire, but it’s been so fun and inspiring,” Diaz says.
Agents
Jack Tantleff, Paradigm
Influences
Paul McCartney, Jon Brion, Tommy Emmanuel
dots
From its collaborative business model to the lowercasing of its name, the design collective dots does things differently. The trio of Santiago Orjuela-Laverde, Andrew Moerdyk and Kimie Nishikawa, all international artists who met while studying at New York University, emerged from the pandemic into sudden omnipresence, first Off Broadway and now on it, where the triumvirate designed the sets for “An Enemy of the People,” “Oh, Mary!” and “Romeo + Juliet.”
In a sector dominated by solo freelancers, dots has created a model for collaboration and stability. “We’re stronger together,” Moerdyk says.
Agent
Jamie Kaye-Phillips, Paradigm
Influences
Their teachers, including Paul Steinberg
Mike Lavoie and Carlee Briglia
Nowadays, there’s a healthy Off Broadway market for smart, story-driven, often daring comedy — and much of the credit goes to the shows of Mike Lavoie and Carlee Briglia, who, in the past 15 years, have quietly become go-to producers for comedy stars like Mike Birbiglia, Rachel Bloom, Alex Edelman and Kate Berlant.
Georgetown alums who met while working with Birbiglia, Lavoie and Briglia have been involved in shows that have gone on to Broadway, such as “Just for Us” and “Oh, Hello.” But their first official Broadway credit comes with “Oh, Mary!,” which exploded into the cultural zeitgeist on the back of a massively hyped Off Broadway run and became one of the summer’s biggest hits. “We’re so thrilled to be a part of the broader Broadway community,” Briglia says. “It’s such a specific, loving place where we’re all just trying to make good work.”
Attorney
David C. Manella, Loeb & Loeb
Influences
Scott Morfee and Barrow Street Theatre
Jasmine Amy Rogers
It’s like the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me, and it keeps happening.” That’s how Jasmine Amy Rogers describes playing Betty Boop in “Boop!,” the new musical that earned raves in a pre-Broadway run in Chicago — and gave Rogers a breakout role that got the whole industry’s attention.
The Boston-born actress fell in love with performing at a young age, and after roles around the country including the “Mean Girls” national tour, she’s relishing the opportunity to bring Betty to Broadway. “Betty’s a fun, flirty, smart, creative and loving woman,” Rogers say. “We all know that woman. For a lot of us, it’s ourselves.”
Agents
Tim Sage, Rachel Altman, Ellen Gilbert, Paradigm
Influences
Audra McDonald; Saoirse Ronan; her mother, Jacquelyn Sinclair
Ally Shuster
When Ally Shuster was in grade school, her mother would pull her out of class to catch Wednesday matinees of Broadway shows like “Les Misérables” and “Guys and Dolls.” Now the CAA agent represents many of the names stepping up to define post-lockdown Broadway.
Last season, Shuster represented four directors making their Broadway debuts, while this season sees high-profile gigs for clients Whitney White (“The Last Five Years”), Jamie Lloyd (“Sunset Blvd.”), Lear deBessonet (“Once Upon a Mattress”) and Michael Arden (“Maybe Happy Ending”). Also on Shuster’s list are composer duo Barlow & Bear, breaking big as the songwriters for “Moana 2,” and multi-hyphenate Lucy Moss, now on the West End following up her Tony-winning breakout, “Six.”
“Advocating for artists and taking the business stress off their shoulders so they can create art is the greatest job in the world,” Shuster says.
Influences
Her mother, Marjorie Shuster; Spanx founder Sara Blakely
Jen Silverman
“Most people would describe me as a downtown playwright,” says Jen Silverman. “I never thought I would have a play on Broadway.” But after cultivating a reputation for form-busting work like the darkly comic Gothic tale “The Moors,” the nonbinary writer steps up to Broadway this season in a new production of their 2017 comedy “The Roommate,” starring the head-turning duo of Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow. Like all their plays, this one reveals Silverman’s fascination with social contracts and whether change is truly possible.
Also on the docket are a second novel and the musical adaptation of the Darren Aronofsky film “Black Swan.” But first, Silverman is getting used to being on Broadway: “During the first preview I sat there and thought, ‘This is the strangest miracle I have ever witnessed.’”
Agent
Rachel Viola, UTA
Influences
Caryl Churchill, David Adjmi, Richard Siken
Joy Woods
If you’re plugged into New York’s acting community, you probably already know the name Joy Woods. She’s been turning heads since she landed Off Broadway, a year after graduating high school, in the 2019 revival of “Little Shop of Horrors.” Her career has since picked up steam with Broadway gigs in “Six” and last season’s “The Notebook.” After the release of the “Notebook” cast recording, Woods went viral when her performance of the song “My Days” spawned a summer TikTok trend.
All of this sets her up for big things, wherever she chooses to focus next. “I have a lot more time to figure out what my lane is,” she says. “I’m really content now to try everything and explore.”
Agents/managers
Marc Anthony Ferre, Dustin Flores, Daniel Hoff Agency
Influence
Janelle Monáe
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