From Cynthia Erivo to J. Harrison Ghee and Ben Platt, the Theater Stars Who Lit Up the Carpet at the 2024 Met Gala

This week, a teeming crowd of theater actors, directors, set designers, and producers descended on the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the 2024 Met Gala, taking advantage of a dark night on Broadway to celebrate “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”

Among them? Quite a few 2024 Tony nominees: Cabaret stars Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin; Stereophonic’s Sarah Pidgeon and Juliana Canfield; Appropriate’s Sarah Paulson (along with her former co-star Elle Fanning, who departed the production back in March); An Enemy of the People’s Jeremy Strong; Merrily We Roll Along’s Jonathan Groff; Hell’s Kitchen’s Maleah Joi Moon; and Justin Levine, one of the brilliant creators of The Outsiders. Alex Edelman, meanwhile, is the recipient of a Special Tony Award this year for his “exemplary debut” in Just for Us.

Other attendees currently treading the boards, either on or off-Broadway? The talented young cast of The Wiz—Nichelle Lewis, Avery Wilson, Phillip Johnson Richardson, and Kyle Ramar Freeman—and Cole Escola, whose hysterically funny Oh, Mary! transfers from the Lucille Lortel Theatre downtown to Broadway this summer. There are more gala-goers we’d like to add to this list—Rachel Zegler, who heads to Broadway this fall! Andrew Scott, who should head to Broadway ASAP!—but we’ll try not to get too far ahead of ourselves here.

Others at the museum top-lined theater seasons past. See: Ben Platt and his Parade director, Michael Arden (who worked with set designer Derek McLane—another Tony nominee this year, for his work on Purlie Victorious—to dream up former theater kid Ariana Grande’s spectacular performance at the Met on Monday night); Hugh Jackman of The Music Man; Alex Newell of Shucked; J. Harrison Ghee of Some Like It Hot; Lea Michele of Funny Girl; and Michael Shannon, who—lest you forget—did Waiting for Godot at the Theatre for a New Audience last year.

And then, there were those who haven’t darkened a Broadway stage in a few years, but nevertheless remain treasured members of the community. That group included Challengers star Mike Faist (formerly of Dear Evan Hansen, with Platt); Wicked star Cynthia Erivo (formerly of The Color Purple); 3 Body Problem star Alex Sharp (formerly of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time); and Succession star Kieran Culkin (once upon a time of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth). In short, Monday’s was a highly theatrical crowd, befitting a throughly theatrical evening.

Below, revisit all the theater stars (and theater makers) who attended the 2024 Met Gala.

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