Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Entertainment
Entertainment

From Real Housewife to Real Wicked: NeNe Leakes to Make Broadway Debut in ‘Cinderella’

Posted byBy Taylor Gordon | Published on: CommentsComments (1)
NeNe Leakes Broadway Debut

Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for Cirque du Soleil

NeNe Leakes just signed on to play wicked stepmother Madame in the Broadway adaptation of Cinderella in November.

While it has been confirmed Leakes and the rest of The Real Housewives of Atlanta cast will be returning for the Bravo TV show’s seventh season, Leakes will have to take a short break from her time in front of the reality-show cameras.

On Nov. 25, Leakes will step in to take the wicked role from former The View co-host Sherri Shepherd who will start out playing Madame on Sept. 9.

The Broadway run will conclude in January 2015.

Taking on an acting role will be nothing new for the dramatic reality star.

Leakes has already had a guest role on the Fox show Glee as well as joined the NBC show The New Normal for the 2012-13 TV season.

Other TV appearances for Leakes include the NBC reality show competition Celebrity Apprentice in 2011 and Dancing with the Stars on ABC earlier this year.

More recently, she also hosted a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas in June.

With a resume like that, the production team behind the Broadway show is sure that Leakes will be able to hold her own on the stage alongside actress KeKe Palmer.

Palmer is making history as the first African-American woman to play Cinderella on Broadway.

“I feel like the reason I’m able to do this is definitely because Brandy did it on TV,” Palmer told The Associated Press when she received the major role. “In me doing this, it shows everybody that everything is possible … Every girl’s dream is that story, so to be able to play [Cinderella] is going to be a dream come true for me. Not to mention that Stuart Weitzman made the glass slippers I’ll be wearing.”

The show will be directed by Mark Brokaw and, according to Broadway.com, this won’t be your average Cinderella story.

“This Cinderella features a completely re-imaged book by (playwright) Douglas Carter Beane and additional Rodgers and Hammerstein songs originally composed for other musicals,” Broadway.com reports.

No reports have been able to confirm why Shepherd has decided not to perform for the entire show run.

 

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top