Watching the ’80s cult classic Heathers or the movie musical Mama Mia! doesn’t conjure up images of casts filled with Black and brown faces. While the movie Wicked features a Black woman in one of its leading roles, it’s hard to believe that the first African American woman to play Elphaba on Broadway full-time wasn’t cast until March 2025. However, Broadway is evolving, with Black actresses proudly stepping into roles traditionally envisioned for white actresses, bringing with them their own fresh perspectives and a whole lot of talent.
Lorna Courtney as Veronica Sawyer in Heathers: The Musical, Lencia Kebede as Elphaba in Wicked, and Jalynn Steele as Tanya in Mamma Mia! are not only breaking ground, but they’re also delivering performances that have audiences up on their feet and cheering for a Broadway moment they can relate to.
Bringing Diversity to Well-Known Roles
It’s the dark, clique-run world of Westerberg High, and Lorna Courtney is teaching a masterclass in how to play Veronica Sawyer in Heathers: The Musical. She’s bringing new depth to the existential challenge of identity and belonging that is the high school experience. “Diversity in theater is so great because with it comes new ideas and different aspects and understanding,” she shared. “I get to play the role of Veronica through the lens of a Black girl who has felt othered and marginalized throughout my life, just like Veronica.” It’s that personal connection that allows her to infuse Veronica’s journey with a “certain level of truthfulness and vulnerability.”
Jalynn Steele can relate. She’s playing Tanya, one of Donna Sheridan’s two best friends and former bandmates, in Mamma Mia!. On stage, she infuses this well-known character with her own persona and a dash of culture. “I get to bring my own special uniqueness to a well-known and beloved character that has been portrayed in numerous ways,” she shared. “She’s a blend of Black women who inspired me growing up. These women, whom I saw on TV and admired for their comedy, beauty and uniqueness, went on to create iconic characters of their own: Jackeè Harry, Jasmine Guy, Tichina Arnold, Tisha Campbell, and Phylicia Rashad are just a few of the women who influenced what I created in some way or another.”
Lencia Kebede is the first Black actress to play Wicked’s Elphaba on Broadway full-time. “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world! There was always power in this role, but it feels even bigger now because of how I relate to the character,” she exclaimed to EBONY. “Like Elphaba, I cannot change the fact that I am perceived and or treated differently than most people around me because of what I look like, so I bring a uniquely personal understanding to the character’s pains and dreams alike.” She literally rises in the role in Elphaba’s big number, “Defying Gravity,” gaining an incredible perspective on how her casting affects the audience. “When I’m twenty feet in the air and I see a little Black or brown girl staring up at me, it hits me every single time that I am up here for a reason.”
Show-Stopping Moments
What really makes a Broadway performance memorable is that show-stopping number, and these three ladies have their favorites.
In Wicked, Elphaba’s “No Good Deed” is Kedebe’s time to shine. “I find it to be the most layered moment for the character, and that makes it very exciting and fulfilling for me,” she shared, tapping into a major character arc turn for Elphaba. “I love that in facing her life’s biggest pains, she finds her freest self and resigns from owing anything to the world. It is the first time in the show where she is completely defenseless—she can no longer hide from her feelings about herself and the world…She finally grants herself true agency.”
Mama Mia! star Steele loves to perform “Does Your Mother Know,” a sequence where she truly shines as she schools a young man about his crush on her. “I’m riffing, dancing, kicking, and singing all over the place!” she exclaimed.
Yes, Courtney loves to perform “Seventeen” in Heathers, “but I have so many other favorite numbers in the show that I don’t sing,” she declared. Think “Candy Store” and “Meant to Be Yours,” but what she really enjoys? “I love the audience’s reactions during ‘Dead Gay Son!’”
Heathers: The Musical is playing at New World Stages, Wicked is playing at the Gershwin Theatre and Mamma Mia! is playing at the Winter Garden Theatre, all in New York City.