Since making her West End debut in 2011, two-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo has led stage shows like Sister Act, I Can’t Sing!, Dessa Rose, and, most notably, The Color Purple in London and on Broadway, where she won a Tony Award. New York Theatre Guide's critic wrote of her performance: “What is remarkable about this production is Cynthia Erivo. Period. Erivo has taken this entire production upon her very capable shoulders, and, like Atlas, she holds it high with grace and perfect balance.”

In summer 2025, Erivo played the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl in L.A. In 2026, Erivo returns to the West End in a solo version of Dracula adapted by Kip Williams (whose The Picture of Dorian Gray earned Sarah Snook a Tony and an Olivier).

As a kid, Ariana Grande was a member of Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theater, where she played the title role in Annie and appeared in productions of Beauty and the Beast and The Wizard of Oz (how apt!). In 2008, 14-year-old Grande made her professional debut as Charlotte in Jason Robert Brown’s 13 on Broadway before going on to TV and pop stardom.

Before the Wicked films, Grande returned to her theatre roots on screen one other time, as Penny Pingleton in NBC’s Hairspray Live! in 2016.

Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey began his career as a child actor and is equally at home in classical plays, contemporary drama, and musical theatre. His London musical credits include creating the role of Tim Price in American Psycho, Jamie Wellerstein in The Last Five Years, and Jamie in Marianne Elliott’s gender-switched production of Company, for which he won an Olivier Award.

In 2025, Bailey played the title role in Shakespeare's Richard II. With so much theatre under his belt across the pond, we hope a Broadway debut is in the cards next.

Ethan Slater is best known for creating the title role in SpongeBob SquarePants the Musical, for which he received a Tony Award nomination and won Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. He went on to play various roles in the 2023 Broadway revival of Spamalot, and New York Theatre Guide's critic raved: "Ethan Slater proves himself one of the best physical comedians on Broadway right now in a variety of bit parts, making each one feel larger than life."

Also a theatre writer, Slater co-wrote the musical Edge of the World with Nick Blaemire and the play Marcel on the Train, in which he stars off Broadway in spring 2026, with Marshall Pailet.

Jurassic Park and Independence Day actor Jeff Goldblum is actually a stage wizard. He made his Broadway debut in 1971, acting in the ensemble of a Tony-winning musical adaptation of Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona. He went on to appear in The Moony Shapiro Songbook, The Pillowman, and The Seminar on Broadway and Speed-the-Plow and The Prisoner of Second Avenue in London's West End.

His last NYC stage appearance was in 2013's Domesticated with Lincoln Center Theater, and to see him return would be wonderful!

While Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh’s professional career has unfolded on screen rather than on stage, she originally aspired to become a professional ballet dancer. Following an injury, she went on to study choreography and modern dance at what is now Manchester Metropolitan University in northern England.

The Game of Thrones star made his stage debut in 1995 and has since performed off Broadway in Richard III at The Public Theater, A Month in the Country with Classic Stage Company, and the title role in a musical adaptation of Cyrano by his wife Erica Schmidt. He reprised the role when Schmidt's adaptation was made into a 2021 film directed by Joe Wright.

In 2025, he played the pompous steward Malvolio in a starry Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night; New York Theatre Guide’s critic described him as “an ace clown.”

Newcomer Marissa Bode made her feature film debut as Nessarose, making history as the first disabled actor to play the character (who uses a wheelchair) in any version of Wicked. She began performing as a child in community theatre productions in her native Wisconsin, and she is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

Best known for her role as Lettie Lutz in the movie musical The Greatest Showman, Keala Settle was Tony-nominated for her Broadway performance as Norma Valverde in Hands on a Hardbody. Her other credits include originating the role of Becky in Waitress on Broadway and making her West End debut as the Nurse in & Juliet.

In 2025, she played toilet inspector Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown, part of New York City Center's Encores! series of limited-run musical revivals.

One of the West End’s most celebrated talents, Sharon D. Clarke provides the voice of Elphaba’s childhood nanny Dulcibear in Wicked. She is a three-time Olivier Award winner who originated the roles of Killer Queen in We Will Rock You and Oda Mae Brown in Ghost. In 2024, she played Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest at London's National Theatre.

Clarke has also appeared on Broadway in Caroline, or Change (Tony nomination) and Death of a Salesman.