Recap the Broadway Debuts of 2024

As we ring in the new year, BroadwayWorld is looking back at 2024 and the incredible performers who made their mark on Broadway. Each month, we shined a spotlight on a star making their Broadway debut, from newcomers to seasoned performers. Now, we’re rounding up all of our 2024 Debut of the Month features in one place, celebrating the artists who brought energy, artistry, and passion to the stage this year.

An addition to our featured performers, notable stars who made their Broadway debuts in 2024 include Charli D’Amelio in & Juliet, Ani DiFranco in Hadestown, Shailene Woodley in Cult of Love, Robert Downey Jr. in McNeal, Rachel McAdams in Mary Jane, Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Boulevard, Sean Astin in Elf, Zoey Deutch in Our Town, Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor in Romeo + Juliet, Alyssa Milano in Chicago, Adam Lambert and Auli’i Cravalho in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Michael Imperioli in An Enemy of the People, Grant Gustin in Water for Elephants, Helen J. Shen in Maybe Happy Ending, and more. 

January

On making her Broadway debut in Prayer for the French Republic: 

“It’s very meaningful, it’s kind of surreal that I have so many similarities with Elodie, including my last name. It brought me so much closer to my own roots, digging and unearthing so much of my history that I didn’t even know about. So, it’s been kind of a self-exploratory journey. And that in its own right has been super powerful for me, calling my 95 year-old grandma and really asking her these questions of, “Why did you leave Morocco? What happened in ’56 when you left?” surprisingly, not having had those conversations before. So, it’s been a pretty deep experience for me.”

February

On opening night:

“I was a little bit nervous, but I was just so excited to be able to my first red carpet.” 

March

On what surprised her most about being on stage: 

“The truth is that even when I was doing theater, I was doing maybe two weekends for, like, a school play, which is different than weeks of performances. So, I wasn’t surprised by it, but just understanding how much energy it takes. When I’m up there I’m really engaged in what I’m doing, so I don’t necessarily realize how much energy it takes. I just think learning how to sustain myself throughout the course of this production will be… it wasn’t an unexpected challenge, but one I couldn’t know until I was doing it.”

April

On working with the company of Suffs: 

“Oh my god, they’re family, they’re just absolute family. I love every single person on that stage and in the crew. It makes coming to work so easy, and I cannot think of another company that I’ve been with that has been so empathetic and kind to one another. And that’s one of the things I love hearing when we meet people after the show, they’re like, ‘It looks like you all really love each other up there,’ and it’s because we do. There is so much trust and so much mutual respect, we just gas each other up all the time.”

May

On opening night: 

“I’ve been performing for so long, so I don’t get nearly as nervous as I did when I was a kid doing theatre. But opening night, hearing the chatter of the audience from back stage, I felt so unbelievably nervous. I did some tongue exercises because I felt like my throat was tightening, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t know if I can do this.’ And then it was time to head out on stage, and I just had this moment where I took in the audience, and took in three deep breaths, and I felt this rush once the music started. And then all of what happened during the show was just a blur. The next thing I remember is taking that bow and really getting this huge adrenaline rush of standing in front of a Broadway audience and letting them know who you are. I felt like I could do anything in that moment.”

June

On making her Broadway debut in Home: 

“It feels good, it’s also terrifying! [laughs] In all the best ways, though. This play, Home, it holds every fear that I have as an actor, the singing, playing multiple roles, poetry, miming, everything I’ve ever feared having to do and do well as an actor is all embedded into one play! And so, I face all of my acting fears, but it’s a challenge that I asked for, and so I appreciate how rich and deeper of an artist that the play forces me to be, that it asks me to me. And so, it feels good. It feels terrifying, but it’s all for the greater good! [laughs], so I’m here for it.”

July

Ali Louis Bourzgui (Tommy) on making his Broadway debut in Tommy: 

“I feel so honored to be making my Broadway debut amongst 15 other debuts in my cast of 30. For me theatre has always been about the community aspect. And its ability to remind each other of our capacity for emotion. Our collective debut was a night full of deep emotion as we all achieved something we’ve worked towards for years in front of an audience who could feel that once in a lifetime energy. I couldn’t imagine a better group of people to have this collective experience with.

As the last chord swelled I looked into the lights and thought of all my friends and family whose shoulders I’ve stood upon and who are all a part of my tapestry.”

August

On working alongside the Broadway cast of Hamilton: 

“They are the best! It’s such a warm, beautiful group of people right now, and I kind of have to pinch myself all the time. It’s funny because Trey Curtis, who plays Hamilton, we go way back. We were both first understudies in the show together in Puerto Rico, and we had our first day of Hamilton together. I have so many pictures of us as understudies, playing different roles in the show, and now to be looking at each other, starring on Broadway in the show, it really blows my mind.”

September

On taking his first Broadway bow: 

“For the bows, I remember looking at Julie Halston, she sits right next to me at the end of the play, and I wasn’t crying just yet, but she was, and I think I had it in my head, ‘I gotta hold it together, I can’t be the guy onstage losing his shit in the bows,’ I don’t know why I thought that, I actually really like it when people do that when I watch it. But something about watching her really gave me permission, and that’s been a lot of this process, watching other artists, and seeing the kind of permission they give themselves, and then applying that to myself.”

October

Tommy Dorfman (Tybalt/TheNurse) on what it means to make her Broadway debut:

“Making my Broadway Debut playing both “The Nurse” and “Tybalt” in Sam Gold’s Romeo + Juliet is the greatest gift of my artistic career thus far. I am eternally grateful for this opportunity and am immensely inspired by my fellow company members and the work they’re putting into this show and their characters. I love Broadway. I love this play.” 

November 

On opening night: 

“I got a piece of advice that was, ‘There is going to be a lot of stuff going on, there is a lot of business around an opening, but, for you, you’re going to want to remember this.’ My mantra for that day was just to soak it up, to keep my eyes open, and my heart open, and to try to remember everything. It didn’t feel unlike when I got married, which was about a year ago. I just wanted to try to be there and really take in the experience, because you never really get to do it again. I feel so blessed that I get to be with this project, a project that I deeply, deeply care about, that feels like it resonates with my soul and my entire career.”

December

On working with their legendary company members: 

JS: “Everyone has been really kind and welcoming in this Broadway community. Audra, all the way back in rehearsal, we had this thing where if any adult curses they owe money! So, George [C. Wolfe, director] and Audra are the ones who curse the most [laughs]. Audra threw us a party with the money, she gave us all this ice cream from Cold Stone, we had our own sundae bar, it was really cool!”

MLG: “Audra McDonald, she’s a legend, she’s so nice, she’s pretty, she is really good. And I like Kevin [Csolak] and Danny Burstein, Joy Woods, they’re all super nice, and I love them. My favorite memory is probably bows because we all huddle up together and this huge audience claps for us and this amazing show, and we kind of just honor the show.”