After reinvigorating the grosses of 'Chicago,' the former 'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' star has been brought on to ensure the upcoming Bobby Darin bio-musical actually makes money.
The deal is done. Following a lucrative Broadway debut that single-handedly dragged the Chicago box office out of the red, former Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt is officially heading back to the Great White Way. Leavitt has boarded the Bobby Darin bio-musical Just In Time to play Sandra Dee, bypassing a shortlist of Tony-nominated sopranos after producers realized a conservatory degree is financially toxic.
Tracking for the Jeremy Jordan-led production immediately spiked upon the announcement. Sources close to the production confirm the green light was heavily contingent on securing a lead who could draw audiences that have never previously stepped foot inside a theater, much less paid $180 to sit quietly for two hours. By tapping Leavitt, investors have effectively insulated the $18 million capitalization from the grim commercial realities of hiring someone who spent four years at Juilliard studying vocal projection.
We ran the box-office projections on casting a generational talent with perfect pitch and a deep emotional understanding of the text, and the numbers were absolutely blood-curdling.
The rollout will heavily leverage Leavitt’s Hulu-minted infamy. Reps for the musical confirmed her contract mandates a fifteen-minute TikTok dance break seamlessly integrated into a 1950s Copacabana nightclub scene, along with a rider requiring her castmates to engage in at least one highly publicized screaming match about Utah values to drive week-two grosses. Co-star Jeremy Jordan is reportedly already undergoing dialect coaching to learn how to aggressively apologize to an iPhone camera.
The industry-wide pivot away from theater professionals is expected to accelerate through awards season. Insiders note that a highly anticipated spring revival of Death of a Salesman is currently holding chemistry reads for the entire cast of Vanderpump Rules.