BY MICHAEL MUSTO | Nothing is more exciting to theater queens than a bona fide Broadway diva belting out a song and making it magical. I get chills! And despite the constant cries of, “We miss Merman and Martin! The Golden Age is a faded memory!”, we happen to be going through a pretty fascinating time in musical diva history right now. Despite the special financial challenges involved in mounting musicals, there are still enough divas who, it seems, will always command attention–and it’s time we gave them their flowers.
Let me preface this list by saying that I have an all-time Hall of Fame of Divas who are transcendently important, whether they’re working in a musical at the moment or not. They include Betty Buckley, Bette Midler, Lillias White, Andrea Martin, Donna Murphy, Debra Monk, Jennifer Holliday, Kate Baldwin, Christine Ebersole, Ariana DeBose, Judy Kuhn, Jessie Mueller, Karen Ziemba, Tonya Pinkins, Donna McKechnie, Alice Ripley, Glenn Close, Cady Huffman, Rachel Bay Jones, Orfeh, Judy Kaye, and Jackie Hoffman.
But here I’m focusing on the best Broadway musical divas who are (semi-) currently doing their stuff right before your eyes, spanning back to the last five years or so (or The Last Five Years, in the case of Adrienne Warren). My rankings are based on the divas’ talent, star power, and credits. Some ladies might rank lower than you expected, but I’ve weighted this list based on how much they’ve gotten to show us up to now. As they amass a longer resume, they might steadily ascend the chart like tapdancing Taylor Swifts. In any case, as the smoke clears from the public feud between two of my top choices (and another named diva), this might be the right time to pit them all at each other again, but in a friendlier way. Here are my top 30:
#1: AUDRA MCDONALD | Are six Tonys (four for musicals) not enough for you? When she didn’t win yet another one in June, were you weirdly convinced that she was a complete washout? Please! Audra is our queen, delivering thrillingly sung and acted performances in Carousel, Ragtime, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Porgy and Bess, and Gypsy (though her Rose’s Turn ultimately needed a chill pill). Yes, she is easily comparable to Merman and Martin, plus she has bravely broken color barriers.
#2: SUTTON FOSTER | Astounding versatility is Foster’s specialty; she can pull off deadpan drollery, riotous slapstick and dark dramatics. A Tony winner for Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes (despite being miscast in the latter, imho), she most recently got kudos for revivals of Sweeney Todd (replacement) and Once Upon A Mattress. She’s so formidable, she turned Hugh Jackman straight! Kidding.
#3: PATTI LUPONE | Even if Patti eschews musicals from now on, her diva-dom is cemented. The mouth that roars—both onstage and off—Patti is not only a three-Tony winning legend, she’s a high octane personality whose complaint about this ranking will arrive in 1…2…3…
#4: BERNADETTE PETERS | Precision and personal charm have given Bernadette longevity; she was the only true old friend to resurface in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends. She also has a great way with a Rodgers and Hammerstein song—or with just about anything.
#5: KELLI O’HARA | An eight-time Tony nominee, Kelli finally won in 2015 for The King and I (her sixth try), giving the awards their Susan Lucci moment. O’Hara has a sensational soprano, but from the beginning, she’s avoided being a garden variety ingenue by daring and doing.
#6: VICTORIA CLARK | With five Tony noms under her belt—and two wins (The Light in the Piazza, Kimberly Akimbo)—Clark is easily one of our top talents, a performer (and director) with sensitivity and class. She does non-singing roles too. (Witness the recent Punch.)
#7: ANNALEIGH ASHFORD | Ashford excels in “straight” plays (Tony award for You Can’t Take It With You), but she really goes to town in musicals, scoring, for example, in two Sondheim revivals—Sunday in the Park with George and Sweeney Todd. Her seriocomic gifts are always inspired.
#8: IDINA MENZEL | Part of the legendary original Broadway cast of Rent and a Tony winner as the green goddess Elphaba in Wicked, Menzel valiantly tried to make a hit out of the grief-stricken star vehicle Redwood last season, but it went
“Timber!” She’s forged a big career outside of theater too (Let It Go still rings in my ears, even when it isn’t playing), but she’ll always come back to Broadway, for us.
#9: KRISTIN CHENOWETH | That coloratura voice! Those comic chops! Kristin is a genius (Wicked, On The Twentieth Century), despite her failed attempt to reclaim her tiara in Queen of Versailles, a fancy floppo which just had a closeout sale. I still say it’s a travesty that she only has one Tony (though after her not very “Popular” remarks about Charlie Kirk, I wouldn’t be surprised if it stays that way.)
#10: STEPHANIE J. BLOCK | A Tony winner for her unassailable interpretation of the one-named superstar in The Cher Show, Block has also been nominated for stopping the show in The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Falsettos. As with any true diva, her talents keep revealing themselves. (On a side note, she’s married to Sebastian Arcelus, the original Buddy in Elf!)
#11: BETH LEAVEL | Camping it up as the title character in The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), Leavel won the Tony and established herself as one of the most potent musical stars we have. Her dizzyingly funny performance as narcissistic leading lady Dee Dee Allen in The Prom (2018) cemented her stature, and this year, she was yet another diva to grace that inevitable Sondheim revue.
#12: EVA NOBLEZADA | A leading lady on a roll, Noblezada has already grabbed attention in the Miss Saigon revival, as well as in Hadestown, The Great Gatsby and Cabaret (replacement). Quietly yet forcefully, she’s emerged as a rising contender whose starry reliability could eventually rival that of the divas of yore.
#13: JENNIFER SIMARD | A deadpan delight, Simard has scored three Tony noms–for Disaster!, Company and Death Becomes Her, which she’s currently lighting up with her quirky talent. Madeline Kahn lives.
#14: LEA MICHELE | Some credits as a girl were followed by a breakthrough performance in 2006’s Spring Awakening and then her rapturously received triumph as a Funny Girl replacement in 2022. With more shows to come—like this season’s Chess revival, for which she’s been praised for singing rather loudly—Michele will undoubtedly keep achieving checkmates.
#15: BEBE NEUWIRTH | A Tony winner for Sweet Charity and Chicago (and a nominee for the latest Cabaret revival), Neuwirth has long brought wit and sass to her performances. She’s become an institution—and hopefully one day she’ll star in Dr. Lilith, the Musical.
#16: ADRIENNE WARREN | A slam-dunk Tony winner for her fiery Tina Turner in Tina, Warren is one of our brightest lights, besting her leading man, Nick Jonas, reviews-wise, as Cathy in last season’s revival of The Last Five Years. She feels like the future of Broadway, not just the present.
#17: LAURA BENANTI | Benanti can do it all, from romcom to screwball comedy to her hilarious Melania Trump parody on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. What’s more, she won a Tony for impossibly redefining the title role in Gypsy. I would have ranked her higher, except her last real Broadway role was in 2019.
#18: LEA SALONGA | The original Miss Saigon, Salonga has won awards on both sides of the pond. The screen voice of Jasmine in the movie Aladdin and the title character in Mulan, she shines on Broadway, most recently contributing her star power to.,..yep…that Sondheim revue.
#19: SARA BAREILLES | Raves for stepping into her own show, Waitress, were followed by more raves for Into the Woods. Singer/songwriter Bareilles could settle into a great career as a Broadway diva if she wanted to.
#20: MEGAN HILTY | A go-to spunk dispenser, Hilty spent the last year getting big laughs as the self-adoring diva battling Ms. Simard in Death Becomes Her. And she Dolly Partoned it up in 9 to 5. She is fun to watch.
#21: LACHANZE | A Tony winner for her luminous Miss Celie in the original Color Purple, LaChanze has also emerged as a producer for shows like Kimberly Akimbo and Buena Vista Social Club.
#22: VANESSA WILLIAMS | Kiss of the Spider Woman (replacement), Into the Woods, Sondheim on Sondheim…and –perhaps Broadway bound—The Devil Wears Prada. The former beauty queen has earned the right to be called upper tier.
#23 MICAELA DIAMOND | Success in The Cher Show and then a Tony nomination for Parade signal a bright future for the 26-year-old star.
#24: FAITH PRINCE | Most recently playing a supporting role in BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, Prince is a queen, having delighted audiences for years, most memorably as Miss Adelaide in 1992’s Guys and Dolls revival (Tony award). More Faith, please!
#25: LILLI COOPER | An alternately funny and poignant presence, Cooper has scored in Spring Awakening, SpongeBob SquarePants and Tootsie. Her equally magnificent dad is Tony winner Chuck Cooper.
#26: SHOSHANA BEAN | One of Broadway’s best known Elphabas, Bean has been twice Tony nominated—as Billy Crystal’s daughter in Mr. Saturday Night and as Maleah Joi Moon’s overburdened mom in Hell’s Kitchen. She is unsung theater royalty—with pipes for days–and has bagged the Dianne Wiest role in The Lost Boys, a new musical.
#27 – #30: TIE) CAROLEE CARMELLO; SHERIE RENE SCOTT; EMILY SKINNER; CAISSIE LEVY | If you don’t know their names, you need to see more shows! Whether in leads (Parade) or colorful supporting roles (1776, Suffs), Carmello is a particularly long running treasure who deserves her own wing at the Museum of Broadway. And what the hell, let’s add Carmen Cusack, Ruthie Ann Miles, Lesli Margherita, Sierra Boggess, Nikki M. James, Robyn Hurder, Natalie Venetia Balcon, Lindsey Mendez, Jenn Colella, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Kecia Lewis, Ann Harada, Annie Golden, Phillipa Soo, Mary Testa, Bonnie Milligan and Joy Woods.
Furthermore, Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple), Nicole Scherzinger (Sunset Boulevard), Helen J. Shen (Maybe Happy Ending) and Jasmine Amy Rogers (BOOP! The Musical) each has only one Broadway acting credit to her name, but what credits they are! Future Hall of Fame status seems guaranteed.
MICHAEL MUSTO | Musto is a columnist, pop cultural and political pundit, NYC nightlife chronicler, author, and the go-to gossip responsible for the long-running (1984-2013) Village Voice column, “La Dolce Musto.” His work appears on ChelseaCommunityNews.com, W42ST, and other sites. Follow Musto on Instagram, via @michaelmusto.
ANDREW WERNER (photos) | Trusted by leading brands, institutions, and cultural organizations and recognized for his polished approach to fashion, event, and portrait photography, NYC-based Werner’s work has been published in Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and elsewhere. He is founder of Fleur’d Pins, a handcrafted luxury lapel flower house. Follow: @AndrewWerner.
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