Rose Hemingway on Entering the Broadway Big Time Opposite Daniel Radcliffe in How to Succeed

Age and Hometown: 27; Philadelphia, PA

Current Role: A Broadway debut performance as Rosemary Pilkington, the secretary who sets her sights on J. Pierrepont Finch (Daniel Radcliffe), in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

New Gal in Town: She’s a Broadway newcomer, but Hemingway prepped for her big break during two years on the road as Sophie in Mamma Mia! and played doomed Mary Phagan in the L.A. revival of Parade, helmed by How to Succeed director Rob Ashford. “Broadway has been my life’s goal, and I feel ready,” the Catholic University musical theater grad says. “Mamma Mia!, in particular, helped me cut my teeth doing a leading role in a big production.” Sharing her debut with Daniel Radcliffe is a bonus: “From the beginning, we had a great rapport. He’s just a good, good guy.” (Click here for more from Hemingway on Radcliffe.)

The Newlywed Game: So far, Hemingway’s lavender dressing room at the Hirschfeld Theatre is bare except for her rose pink costumes, an orchid from the producers and photos of her hot new husband, Geoffrey Hemingway. They found love on the road as Sophie and Sky in Mamma Mia! and married in November, with her brother and seven sisters in the wedding party. Even before the ceremony, the bride changed her last name professionally. (Geoff is a “very, very distant relative” to author Ernest.) “I knew I wanted to take his name legally, and Hemingway is a much prettier name than Sezniak,” she says with a laugh.

Rosemary’s Baby: OK, seriously: What does Hemingway think of performing a song with a title like “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm,” Rosemary’s musical vision of bliss as a suburban housewife? “It’s a satire!” she says with a smile. “If you look at it in a literal sense, it’s like, ‘Oh my god,’ but the song is meant to be a joke. One of my favorite things about Rosemary is that she is as ambitious as Finch. It just so happens that her goal is to marry him, but she’s very much an independent woman, and it’s important to her that they are equal. She wouldn’t be happy to keep any old guy’s dinner warm!”