Stunt Casts vs. Star Casts vs. A/B/C List Broadway-Names
There’s been a bit of talk on this sub recently about theatre “names” and what drives the success of a production. I’d love to hear other’s thoughts on this and have some discussion because I just find it so interesting! Especially as we look towards the future of Broadway and how the industry can sustain itself. Are Star/Stunt casts the only want to keep Broadway viable, or can shows itself be enough of a draw to keep audiences engaged?
You have shows like Hadestown who have come out of what seemed like a downward slump back in late 2023ish thanks to the repeated Star casting homeruns with people like Lola Tung and Jordan Fisher. They’ve seemed to find a great casting niche of finding actors who are famous enough to carry a show — but aren’t necessarily the “above the title” kind of name that overshadows the production itself.
Then there’s shows like Six, Operation Mincemeat, Hamilton, The Outsiders, etc, who have been able to sustain long runs without the need for “outside broadway” hires. Essentially every person in the OBC and following companies have been within the A/B/C list of Broadway names tiers and the show itself is the appeal, not particularly the actors themself.
Stunt casts I feel like have been frowned upon in the past few years, especially when the stunt-casted-actor is so obviously ill-prepared for the role. I think there’s a fine line between star vs. stunt that we’re going to see maybe less of pure shock-value stunt casts in favor of more thoughtfully curated star casts.
Stunt casts are what I would describe as a big-name celebrity, primarily known for their work outside of theatre, who appeal broadly to a wide-range of people and are generally known enough by the public. More often than not, they’re casted in things out of their range and are not always true Broadway quality. But most of the time, people are there to see that famous person and that’s the sole reason for seeing the show. Stunt cast contracts are typically very short.
Star casts are a bit different in the sense that it’s a well-ish known name from their work in either film/tv/music, but the difference is they can carry a tune and sustain more heavy-hitting roles. They usually have a novice theatre or live performance background and actually can be considered Broadway quality.
Then there’s the A/B/C lists of Broadway names. These are the actors who are really only known within the Broadway bubble, and do mainly just theatre and stage work on Broadway/off-broadway/regionally. Obviously there’s tiers to this — there are some NYC actors who have originated many roles or were in more cult-classic shows, while some have just been career replacements in long-runners.
Some recent/contemporary examples of each tier:
“Stunt” Casts
- Megan the Stallion in Moulin Rouge
- Literally pick anyone who has done Roxie or Billy Flynn in Chicago
- Cameron Dallas in Mean Girls
"Star" Casts
- Lea Michele in Chess
- Lola Tung/Maia Reffico/Jack Wolfe in Hadestown
- Madeline Brewer/Thomas Doherty in Little Shop of Horrors
- Josh Groban in Sweeney Todd
- Isa Briones in Hadestown and Just In Time
- Jordan Fisher in basically everything recently LOL
- Sarah Hyland in The Great Gatsby
A/B/C List Broadway “Names”
- Eva Noblezada, Derek Klena, Nicholas Christopher, Jeremy Jordan, Joy Woods, Hannah Cruz, Solea Pffeifer, McKenzie Kurtz, etc y’all get the vibes haha
Anywho long tangent aside lol — I guess my thoughts are while I love a good star cast done right, I think it’s a bit sad we’re seeing some downfall from the days of when Broadway comprised of self-made, stage-primary actors. Like, earlier today there was an interesting comment about how Eva Noblezada is probably the closest thing to modern-era Broadway leading lady, but even the mainstream public doesn't know about her. Shows that don’t need to resort to star casting are far and few nowadays — and even Six, a show that I felt like could continue to give a platform to new, up and coming actors, has started “star” casting so it just goes to show how things are constantly changing!