Tracee Ellis Ross to make Broadway debut this summer
Tracee Ellis Ross will make her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing this summer.
Tracee Ellis Ross will make her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing.
The Black-ish actress is set to tread the boards in New York this summer when she takes over the lead role in the one-person drama at the Hudson Theatre from Mariska Hargitay, whose own run starts next week.
Every Brilliant Thing officially opened in March with Daniel Radcliffe, who earned a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for his work on the production, and the Harry Potter star will take his final bow on 24 May, before Mariska takes over on 26 May until 5 July. After that, Tracee will star in the show from 7 July until 9 August and producers are delighted to have the 53-year-old star on board.
Co-writer Duncan Macmillan said in a statement: "I’ve been a fan of Tracee’s work for a long time and knew her quick-wit, intelligence and emotional depth would be the perfect fit for Every Brilliant Thing.
“We are beyond thrilled that she has chosen to make her Broadway debut with us this summer. We can’t wait to welcome her to the Hudson Theatre, and for audiences to experience her unique take on the play.”
Law + Order: SVU actress Mariska previously hailed the production an "extraordinary gift".
She said in a statement: “I read Every Brilliant Thing and cried, rejoiced, laughed, cried some more, and loved it so much.
“I’m always drawn to themes of healing and renewal, especially when the journey is rendered in all its complexity. It feels like an extraordinary gift to make my Broadway debut, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, with a play that affirms life so emphatically.
"For me, the triumph of this beautiful piece of work—this luminously brilliant thing—is that through a deeply personal story, we experience the universal endeavour of keeping ourselves pointed towards light, compassion and hope.”
Every Brilliant Thing revolves around a child reacting to their mother's suicide attempt and making a list of the things that make life worth living, with the audience encouraged to join in by shouting out the list.
As the child becomes an adult, their list continues to develop but it is now the older ones in need of a reason to be hopeful.
The play debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014 and has been performed in more than 80 countries, with the likes of Minnie Driver, Sue Perkins, Sir Lenny Henry and Ambika Mod stepping in as the lead when co-writer Jonny Donahoe Jonny stopped performing it in 2017.
The structure of the play can be tailored for specific audiences, with 90s Greek popular culture references included when Melina Theo starred in an adaptation in Greece and a specific brand of ice cream mentioned during Oliver Chong's Singapore performances.
