For anyone who watched Owning Manhattan Season Two on Netflix, this announcement feels very special. Real Estate agent Chloe Tucker Caine (who I profiled last year) will make her Broadway debut in Six as Anne Boleyn beginning August 17 2026. Stephanie Jae Park who starred as Eliza in Hamilton will join the company as Catherine Parr. 

They both join the company through February 14, 2027 at the Lena Horne Theatre. 

The current cast of SIX features Khaila Wilcoxon (Broadway and National Tour of SIX, Redwood, Hadestown) who plays Catherine of Aragon, Kirstin Maldonado (member of the vocal sensation Pentatonix) who plays Anne Boleyn through August 9, Jasmine Forsberg (Broadway and National Tour of SIX, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends) who plays Jane Seymour, Olivia Donalson (Broadway and National Tour of SIX, the Dolly Parton musical) who plays Anna of Cleves, Grammy® Award-winner Abigail Barlow (The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical Album, Disney’s Moana 2) who plays Katherine Howard, and Aiyana Smash (Broadway debut, National Tour of Rent) who plays Catherine Parr. The cast also includes Lauryn Adams, Aryn Bohannon, Maggie Likcani, and Taylor Pearlstein as alternates.

From Tudor Queens to Pop Icons, the Six wives of Henry VIII take the microphone to remix five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a Euphoric Celebration of 21st century girl power! This new original musical is the global sensation that everyone is losing their head over!

From one Diva to the next, the St. James is staying booked! Today, it was announced that Dolly: A True Original Musical, a remarkable journey through the life of this trailblazing woman, will come to Broadway this winter with tickets going on pre-sale starting tomorrow, July 8 at 10am ET at dollymusical.com 

Previews are set to begin Monday, December 7 at the St. James Theatre on West 44th Street before an official opening night which will take place on Dolly’s 81st Birthday on Tuesday, January 19, 2027. 

Casting and other details will be announced at a later date. 

Dolly: A True Original Musical features music by Parton that includes some of her iconic hits as well as new songs she has written especially for the musical, a book by Parton and two-time Emmy Award winner Maria S. Schlatter, and is directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher.

Parton’s career is nothing short of extraordinary. Still topping the charts well into her sixth decade of success, Dolly has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, is an inductee in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and is Billboard’s #1 Country Artist of All Time. With over 3,000 songs written and an inductee in both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Dolly has firmly cemented her place in music history. But how did this “Backwoods Barbie” rise to become a living legend?

Dolly: A True Original Musical is the story only Dolly Parton could tell, in her own words and through the songs that shaped her life. From the top of the Smoky Mountains to the top of the world, DOLLY captures how she dreamed, dared, stumbled, and soared. Featuring beloved hits including “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” and “9 to 5,” DOLLY: A True Original Musical takes you inside her life in the spotlight and the music that carried her there.

The creative team for Dolly: A True Original Musical includes Emmy Award winner Mandy Moore (choreography), Tony Award winner Derek McLane (scenic design), Tony Award nominee Jennifer Moeller (costume design), Tony Award winner Donald Holder (lighting design), Tony Award winner Peter Hylenski (sound design), Olivier Award nominee Nathan Amzi and Olivier Award nominee Joe Ransom (video design), Robert Pickens (hair design), Studio Pickens (makeup design), Michael J. Passaro (production stage manager), and Jim Carnahan and Carrie Gardner (casting directors). 

As you enter Ms. Joy’s first grade classroom, you are greeted with a big hello and asked if you want a first bump or a high five. I opted for the high five. After putting my bag in my assigned cubby, I sat down at Clarke’s desk [I was assigned him at the door] and began my morning work. “Draw a picture: When was a moment where you lost control? What did you do?” 

I did as instructed. 

Once we are all signed in and situated, Ms. Joy (a fantastic Julia Greer) lets the class know that it will be her last day teaching first grade — from that moment we hit the ground running with Ryan Drake’s Big Feelings which opened tonight at The Cell’s Gallery Space on 23rd Street. 

The joy of this 85 minute solo piece is not quite knowing where we are headed next. Drake, who I have been following since his lovely Off-Broadway run of you don’t have to do anything back in 2024 has now teamed up with director Sammy Zeisel and created this delicious new work that I haven’t stopped thinking about since leaving the theatre. 

Why did Ms. Joy go to a soccer game of a girl she doesn’t know? Why won’t she be in class tomorrow? I won’t say more but Drake has crafted a remarkably unsettling comedic piece of theatre that I already know will be one of my favorite plays of the year. 

Zeisel, who recently directed Gooey’s Toxic Aquatic Adventure at the Bushwick Starr, delicately balances letting the naturalistic comedy breathe while never losing sight of the darker shadows creeping in around us. It’s a tonal high-wire act that Greer carries out triumpahntly — she’s equal parts Miss Honey and Amy Dunne (I think it's time for a Gone Girl rewatch with Rosamund Pike headed to Broadway.)

In Silin Chen’s stunning hyper realistic scenic design of Ms. Joy’s classroom, you are fully immersed but fear not, as the production website calls it “audience-integrated”, for all those anti-participation audience members, you will be fine. Joyce Ciesel deft sound design — almost imperceptibly — lives underneath the production, quietly shaping the evening with shifts in mood that the audience might not even register. 

Big Feelings is a production worth celebrating and I encourage you to get tickets as it's quickly becoming the show of the summer and at just 20 seats a night, many performances are already sold out. And I mean, tell me every piece of theatre wouldn’t be vastly improved with a snack break. 

Big Feelings is now in performance at the cell on West 23rd Street in New York City. For tickets and more information, visit here.