The 2021-2022 Broadway season is approaching its close now that the Tony nominations have been released. The winners will be announced on June 12th and will be broadcast on CBS and Paramount+. Over 30 new productions opened this season, from plays and musicals to revivals. Many of these productions featured some of the biggest names on stage and screen.
There are plenty of celebrities, perhaps best known for their film and television work, who are currently performing eight shows a week on the Great White Way.
Vanessa Williams
Williams is currently appearing in Selina Fillinger's new farce POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive alongside an all-female cast that includes Julianne Hough, Lea DeLaria, and this year's Tony nominees Rachel Dratch and Julie White.
Williams has appeared in several Broadway shows before, including a Tony-nominated turn as the Witch in a revival of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. She is perhaps best known for her television roles as the villainous Wilhelmena Slater on Desperate Housewives. POTUS is currently running on Broadway until August 14th.
Debra Messing
Messing stars in Noah Haidle's new play Birthday Candles presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company. In this intimate piece, Messing plays Ernestine Ashworth from age 17 to 101 as she celebrates her birthday and contemplates life from year to year.
Best known for her playing Grace Adler on NBC's Will and Grace for over ten years, Debra Messing comes from a theatre background, having received her MFA from NYU's graduate acting program. Messing also won acclaim for her Broadway debut in John Patrick Shanley's Outside Mullingar in 2014.
Beanie Feldstein
Feldstein returns to Broadway in the leading role of Fanny Brice in the first-ever Broadway revival of Funny Girl, the musical that launched Barbra Streisand's career. Although the production has had a mixed reception (via The New York Times), Funny Girl includes such timeless show tunes as "Don't Rain On My Parade," "People," and "The Greatest Star."
Beanie Feldstein previously appeared on Broadway in the revival of Hello Dolly starring Bette Midler, but she is widely known for her performances as lovable high school students in Monica Lewinsky in Ryan Murphy's Impeachment: American Crime Story on FX this past fall.
Billy Crystal
The popular comedian is currently leading the musical theater adaptation of his film directorial debut Mr. Saturday Night. Crystal has received two Tony nominations this year for acting and for co-writing the musical's book. The story follows the comeback of an aging stand-up comedian.
Billy Crystal previously appeared on the New York stage in his solo performances of 700 Sundays. His career includes well-received hosting gigs at the Academy Awards along with memorable comedic turns in Monsters Inc. films.
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell was slated to begin performing in the new revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo in March 2020. The delayed production finally opened two years later, with Rockwell earning a Tony nomination for his work opposite Laurence Fishburne and Darren Criss.
Rockwell has continually returned to New York theater throughout his career, along with a thriving career in Hollywood that includes critically acclaimed work as George W. Bush in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, for which he won the Academy Award for Best ing Actor.
Jesse Williams
The Grey's Anatomy actor is making his Broadway debut in a revival of Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out. Williams plays a major league baseball player who comes out as gay in a drama that features much-discussed full-frontal nudity.
Williams came to prominence as Dr. Jackson Avery on the long-running Shonda Rhimes series, but he is also well known for his activism and advocacy work. His bold decision to appear on Broadway without formal theater training paid off well, as he received a Tony nomination for his performance. Take Me Out is a strictly limited engagement that will close on June 11th.
Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick
It is impossible to discuss these two actors separately, as the married couple is currently performing on stage together in a revival of Neil Simon's Plaza Suite. The comedy is divided into three acts, with each actor playing three different characters over the course of the evening.
Parker, fresh off her return as Carrie Bradshaw in the Ferris Bueller's Day Off and for his Broadway performance opposite Nathan Lane in The Producers.
Mary-Louise Parker
Two-time Tony winner Mary-Louise Parker returns to the Great White Way in the long-overdue Broadway production of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer-Prize winning play, How I Learned To Drive. The play, lauded for its complex portrait of child sexual abuse, originally premiered off-Broadway in 1997, with Parker and David Morse. The critically acclaimed revival reunites the original lead cast on Broadway 25 years later.
Mary-Louise Parker won acclaim for her film work in Fried Green Tomatoes and her television work in the Weeds.
Hugh Jackman
The multi-talented actor is headlining the newest revival of The Music Man opposite Tony winner Sutton Foster. One of the most commercially successful productions since Broadway reopened, The Music Man received mixed critical reviews despite a strong audience response (via The New York Times).
Hugh Jackman's Broadway debut in The Boy From Oz won him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2004. He has also appeared in a number of movie musicals, including X-Men franchise, for which he played the character in ten films.
Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig reunites with director Sam Gold in the new Broadway revival of William Shakespeare's Macbeth opposite Ruth Negga. The experimental production received mixed reviews despite praise for its lead performances (per The New York Times). The revival is a limited engagement and will close on July 1oth.
Craig's turn as Macbeth marks his first major role since finishing his run as James Bond in Knives Out, a role he will reprise in its sequel.
