Exclusive! Jessie Mueller to Star Opposite Matthew Broderick as Nice Work's New Leading Lady

Broadway.com has learned exclusively that The Mystery of Edwin Drood star Jessie Mueller has landed her next big gig, playing rough-and-tough showtune-singing bootlegger Billie Bendix in the Gershwin musical Nice Work If You Can Get It. The 2012 Tony Award nominee will start performances on April 2, replacing Kelli O’Hara, who is leaving the hit show on March 31 to headline the new off-Broadway musical Far From Heaven at Playwrights Horizons.

Mueller will star opposite Matthew Broderick, who has extended his run as wealthy playboy Jimmy Winter in the musical through June 15. The 1920s musical also stars two-time Tony Award winner Judy Kaye, Terry Beaver, Robyn Hurder, Stanley Wayne Mathis, Brad Oscar, Chris Sullivan and Jennifer Laura Thompson. Blythe Danner, who joined the cast for a limited stint in December in the cameo role of Millicent Winter has now extended her run through April 28.

A Chicago native, Mueller made her Broadway debut opposite Harry Connick Jr. in the short-lived 2010 revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, earning a Tony nomination for her acclaimed performance. She was also seen as Cinderella in last summer’s Into the Woods at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park and will appear opposite O’Hara in the New York Philharmonic concert staging of Carousel at Avery Fisher Hall from February 27 through March 2. She will finish her run as Helena Landless in Drood when the revival plays its final performance at Studio 54 on March 10.

Learn more about Mueller by watching her 2012 interview on the Broadway.com talk show Show People below!