Grammy-winning rapper, songwriter, and actress Megan Thee Stallion is bringing her talents to a Broadway stage. From March 24 to May 17, she will be taking over the role of Zidler in Moulin Rouge! on Broadway. This role —originated by Danny Burstein, who won the 2020 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance — is traditionally male, so Megan Thee Stallion will be the first woman to become the owner of the famed cabaret.
Moulin Rouge! is a unique opportunity for Megan Thee Stallion, marking her stage debut. She has, however, previously been featured in a musical, appearing in Dicks: The Musical alongside Bowen Yang and Nathan Lane in 2023. This unconventional musical movie was the first step in Megan branching out from her usual artistry. She commented on this departure from her rap roots in a statement, explaining that “Broadway demands a different level of discipline, preparation, and storytelling, but I’m up for the challenge and can’t wait for the Hotties to see a new side of me.” The Hotties, the name she uses for her fans, are sure to show up as the casting announcement has amassed over 430,000 likes on Instagram and thousands of excited comments.
Megan Thee Stallion’s portrayal of Zidler will be one of the final interpretations since Moulin Rouge! is set to close on July 26. The musical, based on Baz Luhrmann’s iconic film, will have played 2,265 performances over a seven-year run, ranking among the 50 longest-running Broadway productions. The show continues to be staged on the West End in London and on the North American tour, both of which have been running since 2022.
Megan Thee Stallion stepping into the role of Harold Zidler is another entry in the long list of stunt casting on Broadway, a practice of casting celebrities in theater productions to boost ticket sales. Moulin Rouge! resorts to this tactic often, with notable examples being singer-songwriter JoJo, Meg Donnelly from Disney’s Zombies, and actor-comedian Wayne Brady. These famous actors further the notion of Moulin Rouge! as a pop culture spectacle since its score is also composed of chart-topping hits. The 2001 movie features songs by David Bowie and the Police, though the stage show adds new mashups, drawing from Katy Perry and Beyoncé’s discographies.
The trend of stunt casting is noticeable all across Broadway, not just in Moulin Rouge. Apart from Bob the Drag Queen in this musical, six currently running shows feature blatant stunt casting. With 26 plays and musicals on Broadway, about one in four productions are using celebrity actors as a promotional tactic.
Death Becomes Her, based on the 1992 film starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, is one of these musicals, as Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child fame portrays Viola Van Horn. In Six: The Musical, internet personality Dylan Mulvaney is making her Broadway debut as Anne Boleyn. Tom Felton is currently reprising his breakout role of Draco Malfoy as an older version of the character in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Another Harry Potter star, Daniel Radcliffe, is on Broadway right now in the 13-week run of Every Brilliant Thing. Modern Family actress Sarah Hyland returned to New York theater a few years ago in Little Shop of Horrors, followed by The Great Gatsby and her current show, Just in Time. Chicago, known for its stunt casting, recently added an influencer from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Whitney Leavitt.
The increasing number of famous actors is likely due to financial and marketing factors. The modern media landscape relies on cheap, short-form media, with people turning to TikToks and Instagram Reels for entertainment. As such, Broadway producers are trying to recruit creatives with preexisting social media presence to get younger theatergoers to pay for an art form that traditionally caters to a middle-aged audience. The casting of Golden Globe winner Rachel Zegler and Heartstopper’s Kit Connor in Sam Gold’s Romeo + Juliet proved that this strategy can be lucrative, with the play recouping an initial $7 million investment, despite 80% of shows failing to recoup. Additionally, 14% of tickets for this star-led play were purchased by people aged between 18 and 24, making it the youngest ticket-buying audience in Broadway history.
With the massive losses from COVID between 2020 and 2022, it makes sense that producers are playing it safe and hiring actors with established fan bases that can guarantee sales. It is the logical and profitable choice. However, it also diminishes theater as an art. That’s not to say that celebrity actors will all be bad at stage acting, but notable performances, such as Cameron Dallas’s in Mean Girls, have led me to view this practice more critically.
Performing on a Broadway stage is the dream of musical theater majors across the country, so it can be disheartening to see people get this opportunity simply through viral TikToks when it is so difficult for others. I personally love hearing about young actors making their Broadway debuts and reading Playbill bios where cast members explain their years of hard work. The increase in stunt casting will likely make the industry even harder to break into for these new faces, since they can’t just sell seats by having a notable name. Despite that, hypocritically, I am very excited for Megan Thee Stallion as Zidler and eagerly await reviews (and also bootlegs) of her foray into theater.