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As we ring in the new year, BroadwayWorld is looking back at 2025 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 2025 Debut of the Month features in one place, featuring performers such as Christopher Lowell, Amalia Yoo, Chiara Aurelia, John Carroll Lynch, and more.
An addition to our featured performers, notable stars who made their Broadway debuts in 2025 include Lesley Manville in Oedipus; George Clooney in Good Night, and Good Luck; Ike Barinholtz, ERIC ANDRE, Abbi Jacobson, and Jon Stewart in All Out: Comedy About Ambition; Bob Odenkirk, Bill Burr, and John Pirruccello in Glengarry Glen Ross; Ne-Yo in Hell’s Kitchen, and more!
January
On making his debut in Cult of Love:
“That’s the best thing about it. This play is just so extraordinary. To be on Broadway in any capacity is such an honor, but to be on Broadway with a show that I love so much, that I think is such a work of art, is icing on the cake. To be able to do a show that is hyper-realistic, where I get to sing on Broadway, and make people laugh, and also have this deep emotional catharsis, what more could I ask for?”
February
On what stood out from opening night:
“It was such an overwhelming night, to be honest. We had a little bit of a group meeting as a cast before we went out because there were so many things happening, and we looked each other in the eyes and we said, ‘We have to do the show, we have to do our show and keep our eye on the ball in terms of that.’ So I think we did that. And I kept my head in the game of the show and of telling the story of Elham.”
March
Da’Von T. Moody & Wesley Wray in BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
On taking their first Broadway bows:
Da’Von: “Singularity. Gravitational singularity. Time and space break down in that moment, it doesn’t exist.”
Wesley: “There was nothing like it, taking that first bow. I mean, my ears were ringing, it was so much showering of love, and Afro-Latin appreciation. It was all really just a blur.”
Da’Von: “We are making our Broadway debuts as principals, in an OBC. Like, what do you mean? That’s crazy!”
April
Gabrielle Nevaeh in STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW
On the dynamic in the rehearsal room:
“I remember meeting Louis McCartney, who plays Henry, for the first time. I was sitting in the corner, and I was in my emotional tornado of, ‘Oh my gosh, I hope these people like me, I hope I’m doing a good job,’ and Louis came in, and he just gave me the biggest hug. He told me how he felt when he first started out doing the production in the West End, and he made me feel really seen in that moment.”
May
On finding out he booked Smash:
“Well, I was in school, on my way to class, and I actually had another audition that day, and I hadn’t told my professor yet, and I knew that she wouldn’t be happy about it because I would have to miss class [laughs]. I was about to walk in the door, trying to figure out what I had to say, and literally with my hand on the doorknob I checked my phone and saw a message from my manager saying, ‘Do not go to that audition, answer your phone right now.’ I was like, ‘What was this about?’ Because I had auditioned for Smash only the day before, so I really wasn’t expecting to hear back so quickly.”
June
Amalia Yoo in JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN
On what she learned from the character of Raelynn:
“She’s taught me so many things. I think something so beautiful about her is that throughout the play she has a huge personal awakening, and she begins to challenge the beliefs she’s been taught her whole life. It’s really inspiring to get to play this person who’s so brave, and trying to be there for everyone in her community, and also be there for herself. She lets herself change her mind, and I think that personal belief systems can change, and she’s open to that change. She doesn’t judge herself, and she doesn’t always say the right thing, but she’s human, and she’s trying, and that’s the most beautiful, important thing. It’s taught me to examine belief systems that I grew up with, and that I assumed to be true, to start questioning those things.”
July
On what it means to share a part of Hamilton’s impact:
“It means a lot. I go back to when I first heard the album, before it was released on streaming, I heard it on NPR first, where you had to listen all the way through. I just remember being in a college dorm, and I was like, ‘Man, what is this? I’m going to be in this!’ So, to be able to say that in 2015, and now in 2025 I’m living out the big dream on Broadway it means a lot. I’m at a loss for words, I’m just very grateful. Very blessed.”
August
Chiara Aurelia in JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN
On what she remembered most from her first performance:
“I mean, it’s honestly kind of a blur! We did my put-in a couple hours before my first show, so it was really my first time running through it with the whole cast as one piece. And there were definitely fears and worries, ‘Is it all going to come together?’ Usually in rehearsal you’re working on scenes isolated from one another, so I think it was pretty nerve-wracking, but really exciting. You can kind of feel the tingle of nerves through your whole body, you’re just trying to get from one scene to the next, but it’s such a dream come true that by the time we made it to the bows it was really exciting.”
September
On her interpetation of the character of Rosie:
“When I first played Rosie, it was in 2012, and that is almost 13 years ago. I was late twenties, which, as we know, these characters skew 30s/40s, but I was late twenties, and I thought I knew a lot about the world [laughs]. I brought what I could to the role at that point in time, but the gift of it all was getting to play the role again after that much more life happened. I feel like the first time around I was not as seasoned as an actor, and I was maybe focused a bit more on the jokes and getting a laugh. Rosie is characterized as the clown, the comic relief, the funny one, and I think this time around I wanted to really dig into the character and embrace her more as a well-rounded person, and someone with insecurities.”
October
On what he hopes audiences will take away from Hadestown:
“Here is my real hope: That every night our performance of this beautiful script moves people to remember what we’re up against, and to remember their strength, and our collective strength. Because this is so much more than a love story gone sad, it’s about the number of times we as a people have to rise up and stake a claim for ourselves, and be brave, and do it again, in spite of the fact that it might not turn out—but it might. It might turn out this time. We’ve got to keep going. We’ve got to keep standing up.”
November
John Drea in LITTLE BEAR RIDGE ROAD
On working alongside his fellow cast members, including Laurie Metcalf:
“The cast! I love everybody in the cast. Laurie Metcalf—the greatest actor in the world. Micah [Stock], he goes to terrifyingly vulnerable places in this play, to the point where I don’t think I’ve ever met an actor more brave, more willing to take a risk. And Meighan Gerachis, I’ve gotten to work with her more than a few times over the last year, and you can never catch her acting – she’s in incapable of a single false moment on stage. I’ll drop everything to work with her. I love everybody in the show.”
December
On what he’s heard from audience members:
“My sister-in-law came the other day, and she said the perfect thing afterwards, she said, ‘I wanted to throw up and cry and the same time.’ People are shuddering, honestly, when you see them afterwards. I have not been in a piece that has this kind of power, in terms of the audience’s experience. The end of this play really shakes everybody to their core.”
