Rosie O'Donnell and Kristin Chenoweth Join Dance Moms Parody Musical Reading
Rosie O'Donnell will play Abby Lee Miller and Kristin Chenoweth will play Cathy Nesbitt-Stein in a New York reading of The Pyramid: An Unauthorized Dance Moms Musical on Monday afternoon, 19 October.
A reading means the actors perform the script aloud with music and minimal staging, usually for industry guests rather than a paying audience. Unauthorised means the show was made without official approval from the television series it spoofs, according to Variety.
O'Donnell teased the project in a recent TikTok video. She said she and Chenoweth had signed on for a new musical but did not name the show. O'Donnell recently wrapped a limited run as the narrator in the Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The musical takes aim at Dance Moms, which premiered in 2011 on Lifetime and ran for eight seasons before ending in 2019. Miller, the formidable dance coach at the centre of the series, later served time in prison after being charged with multiple financial crimes. Chenoweth's character, Cathy Nesbitt-Stein, was a rival dance mum who quit the series after the first season.
The Pyramid began far from Broadway. It was originally conceived by James Stryska and Isabel Grace as a viral social media concept that gathered more than 5.6 million views. Stryska and Grace then developed it alongside cowriters Erica Molfetto and Molly Russo.
The stage production is led by television producer and casting director Logan Clark. Clark began his career working on the original Dance Moms series. His company, The Casting Collective, is overseeing a nationwide casting initiative to find young performers for the musical.
Tye Blue, the Tony-nominated co-creator of Titanique, joined earlier this year as creative producer. The production is supported by Daisy Theatricals, founded by Randall and Allyson Jane Simmons, with The Bartos Group serving as production counsel.
For fans, this means a long-running joke has come full circle. Back in 2016, O'Donnell had suggested Chenoweth to play a mum in a Dance Moms-inspired musical comedy about an eccentric dance teacher with a kids dancing chorus, according to BroadwayWorld. Ten years on, both stars are in the room to try it out.
