Broadway Cast Creative Team

Broadway: Hamilton, Book of Mormon, The Performers, Shrek: The Musical (Drama Desk Nomination), Passing Strange (Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk Nomination, Theatre World Award, AudelcoAward) Cymbeline, Well. Off-Broadway: Loves Labour’s Lost; (Shakespeare in the Park) By The Way, Meet Vera Stark (Second Stage); Passing Strange (The Public Theater); Fabulation (Playwrights Horizons); Pericles (Red Bull, Culture Project). London: How to Act Around Cops (SoHo Theatre). Regional: Judgment Day (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), A Doctor in Spite of Himself (Intiman Theatre), Life is a Dream (South Coast Rep), The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare Theatre Company; Helen Hayes Nomination),The Caucasian Chalk Circle (SCR), The Tempest (STC; Helen Hayes nomination), A Midsummer Night's Dream (STC), The Rivals (STC), The Silent Woman (STC), H.M.S. Pinafore (Berkshire Theater Festival), Black sheep (Barrington Stage), Sundance Theater Lab, 2005. Film: Sisters (with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler), Limitless (with Bradley Cooper & Robert De Niro), He’s Way More Famous Than You, Redhook Summer (dir. Spike Lee), Passing Strange (Spike Lee). Television: “Billions,” “Girls 5Eva,” “The Good Fight,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “Unforgettable,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” Training: The Juilliard School.

Merle Dandridge most recently starred as Desiree Armfeldt in the critically acclaimed production of A Little Night Music at the Pasadena Playhouse. Coming up, Merle has joined the cast of Amazon Prime Video’s “Citadel” for season 2 of the series. Most recently on screen, Merle reprised her role of Marlene, leader of the fireflies, in HBO’s adaptation of “The Last of Us,” based on Naughty Dog's video game of the same name. “The Last of Us” recently received 24 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama series. Merle can also be seen as Chief Ross in ABC’s “Station 19.” Merle starred as Grace Greenleaf in Oprah Winfrey’s hit series “Greenleaf” which ran for five seasons, and she recently appeared as Zarina Killebrew in Apple TV+’s “Truth Be Told.” Other television includes HBO’s “The Flight Attendant,” FX’s “Sons of Anarchy,” CW’s “Starcrossed,” and NBC’s “The Night Shift.” 

In the video game space, she is known for Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us” and “The Last of Us Part II” as Marlene, the leader of Fireflies, Evelyn and the Nun in “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End,” Legion Commander and Winter Wyvern in “Dota 2,” Alyx Vance in “Half-Life 2,” and Katherine Collins in “Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture” for which she won the 2016 BAFTA for “Best Performer.”

Born in Japan, raised in Nebraska, and schooled in Chicago at Roosevelt University, Dandridge began her acting career with leading roles on Broadway in Spamalot (Lady of the Lake), Rent (Joanne), Aida (Aida), Tarzan (Kala) and Jesus Christ Superstar. More recently, Merle took on the role of Pharaoh in The Manhattan Concert Productions’ presentation of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Lincoln Center. She is also the first woman to play the role of Papa Ge in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Ahrens and Flaherty’s Once on This Island, which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Musical Theater Album. She has toured the U.S. and Europe six times and has been featured in several regional theatre productions (including multiple stints at The Geffen and Pasadena Playhouse). She has also performed at The Hollywood Bowl, Boston Pops, and at Royal Albert Hall.

Broadway credits include Chicago, Amazing Grace, Dr. Zhivago, Jesus Christ Superstar, Dracula the Musical,The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), The Lion King, Art, The Sisters Rosensweig. Off-Broadway: Aaron Marks’ Another Media, Treasure Island, Jeffrey, Beau Jest (Outer Critics nomination), Richard III, Othello. National tours: Finding Neverland, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby, Urinetown. Recent regional credits: Sweeney Todd (Provincetown Theatre), I Hate Hamlet (Bucks County), The Sting (Papermill Playhouse), My Paris (Long Wharf), Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (La Jolla Playhouse). TV and film include “Elementary,” “Law & Order,” “Frasier,” and Julie Taymor’s Fools’ Fire.

Hailey Kilgore is an American singer, dancer and actress. Best known for her Tony and Grammy nominated turn as Ti Moune in the Broadway revival of Once on this Island Hailey has since gone on to star in multiple films including the critically acclaimed Respect opposite Jennifer Hudson and the feature Cinnamon in which Hailey stars in the lead role. The film made its debut to rave reviews at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. On the TV front, Hailey currently stars as Jukebox in Starz's “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” and has had multiple memorable arcs on Steven Spielberg's “Amazing Stories” on Apple and NBC's “The Village.” Hailey's first EP “Desire and Devotion” was released in '23. Hailey is represented by Circle Management + Production and Independent Artist Group.

Grammy-winning artist Allison Russell is a weaver of stories and tales through the medium of music. Since the release of her first solo album three years ago, the self-taught singer, songwriter, poet, activist, and multi-instrumentalist has redefined what artistry means in the 21st century. From her devastatingly moving celebration of survivors’ joy through Outside Child to the body-shaking, mind-expanding, soulful expression of Black liberation that is The Returner, Russell’s music exceeds all reasonable (and unreasonable) expectations and affirms her place among today’s most vital artists. 

Various honors include her Grammy win for Best American Roots Performance for the powerful single “Eve Was Black” alongside 7 additional nominations, the Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, the Americana Music Association’s 2023 Spirit of Americana Award & 2022 Album of the Year Award, two International Folk Music Awards, three Canadian Folk Music Awards, and four UK Americana Music Awards. 

Alongside the Rainbow Coalition Band ⎯ a talented ensemble of Black and POC, queer, and historically marginalized musicians from across the U.S. ⎯ Russell uses the power of music in order to spread her message of the “Beloved Community” and is dedicated to lifting others upwards as her own star climbs higher.

Colombian-American actor and singer Carlos Valdes received rave reviews for his starring role opposite Mae Whitman in the Hulu musical series “Up Here” from Tommy Kail (Hamilton, “Fosse/Verdon”) and the EGOT-winning team from Frozen, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. Valdes made his television debut starring as Cisco Ramon / Vibe in both "The Flash” and “Arrow” from Greg Berlanti, appearing in more than 100 episodes.  He then went on to star among an ensemble cast including Julia Roberts, Sean Penn and Dan Stevens in the acclaimed limited series "Gaslit” from Emmy-winning producer Sam Esmail and creator Robbie Pickering. After graduating from the University of Michigan musical theatre program, Valdes started his career on the stage in the national tour of Jersey Boys, and then made his Broadway debut playing Andrej in the Tony Award winning musical Once, in which he also performed on piano, guitar, ukulele, bass, and percussion.

Lillias made her Broadway debut in Barnum. Other Broadway credits include Cats, Carrie, Dreamgirls, Once On This Island, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Chicago, and FELA! (Tony nomination). For her role in The Life, she won Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Off-Broadway, White performed in the New Group’s Black No More, the Public Theater’s Romance In Hard Times (Obie Award), Dinah Was at the Gramercy Theatre, Second Stage Theatre’s Crowns (Audelco Award) and Texas In Paris at the York Theatre Company. Concert performances include the critically acclaimed cabaret show at 54 Below called The Lillias White Effect, Funny Girl, Hair, Dreamgirls, and South Pacific, which was broadcast on PBS in “Great Performances.” She also has appeared in concert at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center, and has toured internationally with her one-woman show, From Brooklyn To Broadway. Television appearances include a regular role on “Sesame Street” (Emmy Award); recurring roles on FX’s "Grotesquerie," Netflix’s “The Get Down” and “Russian Doll,” and guest star appearances on “New Amsterdam,” “Search Party,” “Gotham,” “Person of Interest,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Law & Order,” and “NYPD Blue.” Her screen credits include Heartworm, The Drummer, Disney’s Hercules, Anastasia, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Game 6, Pieces Of April and Then She Found Me. Lillias holds an honorary Ph.D in Fine Arts from the City University of New York.