CULTURE n a lot of ways, I have been prepar- nostalgic charms of mid-twentieth-century ing for this character my entire life,” theater. And they will get their full dose of says Maya Hawke, who plays the hum-along familiarity this spring, when New tenacious, theatrical Jo March in York’s Lincoln Center Theater revives the the miniseries adaptation of Little classic tale, led by Six Feet Under’s Lauren Am- “ Women, premiering next month on brose and The Crown’s Harry Hadden-Paton. NOM A PBS Masterpiece. Over matcha lattes DUMEZWENI Farther downtown at the Imperial Theatre, in a Brooklyn coffee shop, the 19-year-old Tony winner Jessie Mueller and Joshua Henry explains that she was diagnosed with dys- lead this season’s revival of Rodgers and I L AUREN lexia as a child. “Jo was a big inspiration to Hammerstein’s 1945 musical Carousel, about me,” she says, “as far as having the drive RIDLOFF a small-town carnival worker, Billy Bigelow, to pursue my love for reading and writ- who’s prone to violence against his wife and ing, even when it was challenging.” Like L AUREN daughter. Jo, Hawke is passionate about the written AMBROSE How will these Broadway classics be re- word and spends much of her time draft- JESSIE ceived given today’s #MeToo zeitgeist, when ing screenplays, songs, and poetry. MUELLER our tolerance of crummy, entitled men has While Hawke compares her struggles finally hit its threshold? Do Higgins and Bi- with writing to “pulling teeth,” acting has gelow have a place here? Those are the ques- always felt “like swimming, breathing, or tions tasked to the shows’ casts and creative kissing.” Which is no surprise, considering K ATE teams. “We inevitably look at [My Fair Lady] her parents are Uma Thurman and Ethan ROCKWELL through a current lens, and we’re drawing Hawke. But being born to A-listers—their ASHLEY out the class divide,” Ambrose explains. “It PARK divorce when she was six years old made JOSHUA brings color to the surface, like how marriage tabloid headlines—has left her wary of JACKSON and class-based values can imprison a wom- ERIKA HENNINGSEN TAYLOR SNOWBALL the spotlight. So, she says, her decision to LOUDERMAN an and make life inherently unequal for her.” drop out of Juilliard’s prestigious acting After all, she reminds us, “Eliza becomes EFFECT school after one year in order to film Little even better at Henry’s game than he is.” With Frozen, Jennifer interpretations of the Women in Ireland was truly about the ONSTAGE NOW PLAYING: This season’s dramatic revivals similarly Lee became the stories and sagas. work, not the fame: “The world of celeb- REVIVAL OF THE FITTEST shine a light on disenfranchised communities, first woman to both I got lost in them. codirect a Walt Disney ELLE: Did today’s rity that comes with the world of art is not In My Fair Lady’s final number, linguistics pro- but without the blaring misogyny: Angels in Animation Studios social climate influence particularly interesting to me.” fessor Henry Higgins has been abandoned by America, Tony Kushner’s early-’90s two-part feature and make a the show? Spring Theater film grossing more than JL: We can call out That said, Hawke is happy to seek ad- his pet project: Eliza Doolittle, the poor Cock- triumph, follows gay men grappling with AIDS $1 billion worldwide. the Duke of Weselton vice from her industry-seasoned parents. ney woman whose vowels and eccentricities diagnoses during the Reagan administration. So, naturally, she’s and enjoy poking At one point during filming, she won- he’s tempered to pass her off as royalty. “Will For the fiftieth anniversary of The Boys in the penned the Broadway fun at someone as horrible and dered if she should focus more on where Preview I take her back, or throw the baggage out?” he Band, a troupe of Hollywood actors (Jim Par- adaptation, too. Just you wait, Henry Higgins: This Broadway season is The writer-director misogynistic as he is. the lighting was positioned or on her nar- sings, leaning into his sordid metaphor for the sons, Zachary Quinto, and more) portray a offers a peek behind ELLE: What do Patti rative instincts in the scene. Their wise an encore-rousing spectacle of Disney, Harry Potter, Mean Girls, young flower-seller (who’s perhaps an early spectrum of gay Manhattanites, and in 1980’s the curtain. Murin (Anna) and ELLE: What’s new for Caissie Levy (Elsa) add? counsel: “Do both!” and more. By Brianna Kovan iteration of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl). Children of a Lesser God, a deaf woman fights the Broadway show? JL: When Patti walked England because she needed safety for her Today, most theatergoers return to My to maintain her autonomy, led by Lauren Rid- Jennifer Lee: in, I felt like Anna was CENTER STAGE: children. When you grow up not looking like Fair Lady not for morality lessons, but for the loff and The Affair’s Joshua Jackson. There are 12 new in the room. She’s T-shirt, Gap. Her songs, including a dream. And we’d own Topman NOMA DUMEZWENI the people around you, you don’t make any jacket, vintage “Monster,” where Elsa thought a lot about Levi’s, and South African–British actress Noma Dume- ruffles. It’s assimilation. I discovered the- contemplates, “Am the majesty and grace sneakers. zweni made her Broadway debut last month ater at 13 and found my tribe. I a monster? Would of Elsa, but when PINK PIRANHAS the world really be Caissie came in, she as adult Hermione in the London transfer of ON REPRESENTATION: My daughter, Qeiva, The burn book is back, courtesy of this volatile foursome bringing Tina Fey’s 2004 Mean Girls to life. better off without brought the warmth Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Here, the loves the Harry Potter audiobooks. She’s me?” You can’t do that was missing for Olivier Award winner’s take on the iconic role. a mixed-race girl. We watched one of the CADY HERON GRETCHEN REGINA KAREN SMITH that in a Disney film. this desperate-for-love, NAME: Erika Henningsen WIENERS GEORGE NAME: Kate Rockwell [Laughs] But onstage, wounded character. THE PART: My Hermione leads with honesty, films, and she said, “It’s worth seeing black HOMETOWN: Moraga, NAME: Ashley Park NAME: Taylor HOMETOWN: you can be more ELLE: Why doesn’t Elsa first and foremost. But this is my version of people in the world of magic.” Young girls California HOMETOWN: Louderman Cincinnati raw. It’s Broadway; get a love story? her. She’s such a rich character. Every young and boys have now recalibrated their ver- PREVIOUSLY: Les Ann Arbor, Michigan HOMETOWN: PREVIOUSLY: Bring It On: it’s 90 percent adult JL: That’s not Misérables (Fantine) PREVIOUSLY: Bourbon, Missouri The Musical (Skylar); Rock audiences. everyone’s journey, woman—regardless of color, size, buckteeth, sions of Hermione. FAVORITE MUSICAL: Sunday in the PREVIOUSLY: Bring It On: of Ages (Sherrie) ELLE: Where did you and romantic love no buckteeth—we all tune in to Hermione. BIG APPLE–BOUND: New York has a totally In the Heights Park With George The Musical (Campbell) FAVORITE MUSICAL: find inspiration for the is not the only goal. MEAN-GIRL MOMENT: (Celeste No. 1); FAVORITE MUSICAL: Aida Falsettos new material? ELLE: What makes the I get to explore so many different facets of different energy than London, where people “A real-life Cady transferred The King and I (Tuptim) MEAN-GIRL MOMENT: MEAN-GIRL MOMENT: JL: We [visited] best characters? her, because when one moment shifts, three were hearing the new Harry Potter story for to our school, and the cool FAVORITE MUSICALS: “A girl put a centipede “A girl stole my diary Norway, Finland, JL: When you can parallel universes can splinter off alongside the first time. Now that the book [whose de- girls started spreading Wicked; West Side Story down my straw once. on the bus and pro- and Iceland for two project onto them. rumors. I did nothing. MEAN-GIRL MOMENT: Our boyfriends were ceeded to read it out weeks. Iceland was We joke, “Are you an each other. but coincided with the London show’s] has Indifference in the face of “Whatever do you mean? twin brothers, so we loud—until I tackled her founded mostly by Anna or an Elsa?” HER JOURNEY: My mum [sought asylum] in been out, I’m a bit terrified! These two pages: Henningsen, Park, Louderman, and Rockwell: Joan Marcus; and Jackson: Getty Images; Lee: Art Streiber Dumezweni, Ambrose, Ridloff, Mueller, meanness is just as bad.” Teenagers are so nice!” felt competitive.” and took it back!” Vikings but has its own I am such an Anna. 189.