Theater News

Broadway Vets Join Glee's Final Roster

The newest New Directions are revealed…and they’ve got Broadway chops.

Los Angeles
The cast of Glee, premiering its sixth and final season January 9 on Fox.
The cast of Glee will premiere its sixth season on January 9 on Fox.

For its sixth and final season, Fox's Glee has cast a handful of Broadway alumni to join the band of abnormally attractive, multitalented nerds who make up the award-winning New Directions glee club. As time churns on at McKinley High School, students must be replenished, so here's who we have coming down the hall this academic year:

Laura Dreyfuss costarring with Ben Hope in the Broadway cast of Once.
Laura Dreyfuss costarring with Ben Hope in the Broadway cast of Once.

Laura Dreyfuss: On Glee she'll go by the name of Madison, a new Cheerio and twin sister to the equally quirky Mason (we'll get to him in a minute). Dreyfuss has been hiding in the background on the New York theater scene for quite a while, performing with the company of the national touring and Broadway productions of Hair in 2010 and 2011 and joining the ensemble of off-Broadway's What's It All About? Burt Bacharach Reimagined in 2013. However, she had her standout moment on Broadway in 2012, taking over the lead role of Girl in the Tony Award-winning musical Once. You may remember this YouTube moment she shared with her costar Ben Hope shortly after taking the spotlight.

Billy Lewis, Jr. performing at Broadway hangout Joe's Pub.
Billy Lewis Jr. performing at Broadway hangout Joe's Pub.
(via billylewisjr.com)

Billy Lewis Jr.: Lewis will play Madison's twin brother, Mason, the other half of what promises to be a very upbeat pair. Lewis has yet to make his Broadway debut, but he has toured the country with productions of Hair, Spring Awakening, and Queen's We Will Rock You. Maybe he'll be the one to finally bring the rock musical to Broadway after building up a fan base of loyal Gleeks.

Samantha Ware shows off her Helen Hayes Award with her Book of Mormon costar Christopher John O'Neill.
Samantha Ware shows off her Helen Hayes Award with her Book of Mormon costar Christopher John O'Neill.
(© Shannon Finney)

Samantha Ware: Known theatrically as "Samantha Marie Ware," the actress will jump into the role of Jane, a righteous, humorously humorless girl who settles for the New Directions after her gender keeps her out of the all-male Warblers. Ware had her first big break as Nala in a Las Vegas production of The Lion King and made her Broadway debut in 2012 replacing Tony Award winner Nikki M. James as Nabulungi in The Book of Mormon. She went on to perform the same role in the touring company — a performance that earned her a Helen Hayes Award earlier this year. Even without any screen credits to her name, Glee should be a welcome vacation from life on the road.