Upon being cast, the 25-year-old actress felt 'like a child, beaming from ear-to-ear, being taken to Disneyland for the first time'.
- Sep 11, 2014
AceShowbiz - "High School Musical" star Vanessa Hudgens will headline another musical, but this time she's making a big leap to Broadway. It was announced that Hudgens would play the titular character in Broadway-bound revival of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's "Gigi".
Set to debut at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. early next year, "Gigi" is set in Paris at the turn of the last century. A teenage girl was being groomed to serve as a companion to a bored and wealthy playboy until the pair realize that they have fallen in love.
Lerner and Loewe adapted the story from a 1958 MGM movie which won nine Oscars. Eric Schaffer ("Million Dollar Quartet") is directing while Joshua Bergasse ("On the Town") is choreographing. The cast also includes Corey Cott, Kate Burton and Victoria Clark.
Hudgens has begun memorizing lines and will master ice skating soon for the role. In a phone interview with the AP she said, "I think, as an actor, the ultimate dream is to be on Broadway. I think it's the true test. There are no second takes. You've got to bring everything you've got for the most critical of audiences. It's an honor, if anything. I'm over the moon."
Hudgens recalled growing up doing musical theater and said it's "what brought me out of my shell. So being onstage is something I feel very comforting." The 25-year-old added, "I've never been so ecstatic about a project before. I genuinely feel like a child, beaming from ear-to-ear, being taken to Disneyland for the first time. It's something that I actually feel I was born to do."
The pre-Broadway engagement in D.C., which tickets go on sale September 22, will run from January 16 to February 12 next year. The musical will then open at Great White Way in Manhattan on dates which will be announced later.
