Musicals Blog

From Broadway Musical Success to Film Star

My new theme is "From Broadway Musical Success to Film Star." I will be writing about three actors and actresses who had great success in at least one Broadway musical before moving to a successful film career. The performers I will be featuring are Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli and Kevin Kline.

There are certainly other film actors and actresses whose successful careers were first launched in Broadway musicals. I've already written about Barbra Streisand, who had enormous success on Broadway and then went on to an even more successful film career. Many popular stars of early movie musicals, such as Fred Astaire, Danny Kaye, Gene Kelly, and Shirley MacLaine, also began their careers in Broadway musicals. A more recent star in this category is Richard Gere, but his early Broadway musical roots were not seen in movies until 2002 with "Chicago."