Caissie Levy Is Living Her 'Most Hectic'—and Most Meaningful—Chapter Yet

Caissie Levy is Mother, but not just in Ragtime on Broadway. She has two children, Izaiah and Talulah, and has played mothers in Caroline, or Change, Leopoldstadt, Next to Normal and more. Levy sat down with Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek to discuss how she gets through tough days, being honest on social media and why she loves being Mother.

At Broadway's Vivian Beaumont Theater, where Ragtime is playing, Levy has settled into the kind of rhythm on which she thrives. “I’m someone who really loves a long run,” she told Wontorek. “I like the routine of it. I like having to show up somewhere every day and figure out my way through and learn new things about a piece and sit with a character for a while.” That said, the reality of her offstage life is anything but routine. “There just is no balancing,” she said. “I’m in the most hectic phase of my life.”

Levy explains that she’s learned to approach her days and performances with a kind of self-parenting. “On the days that feel hard, I talk to myself the way I would talk to my kids," she said. "Some days feel easy and some days feel hard. That's sort of the beauty of being on Broadway. It's the challenge and the joy of it at the same time.”

That perspective informed a major decision earlier this season, when Levy stepped away from the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of The Lost Boys in order to remain with Ragtime and prioritize her family. Rather than letting the news quietly circulate, she chose to address it directly on social media. “I tend to be a little more private,” she said, sharing that it would “be braver to just be truthful.” The response from the theater community surprised her. “I honestly did not anticipate that people would be supportive,” she said. “The fact that people rallied behind me and supported Ragtime, and supported The Lost Boys and supported me… I found that really moving.”

Ragtime has proved to be moving in many ways for Levy. In the show, one of Levy’s most emotional moments comes during a line about missing a brother—something that has taken on deeply personal meaning. She took to social media to share that as she delivers the line each night, she often finds herself thinking of her late friend and former Hair co-star Gavin Creel. “I just think about Gavin in that moment,” she says. “I like to think that he's still out there in the rafters or out in the audience blessing us and watching over us.” Despite the immense sadness his passing brought on, happy memories follow in association. “For me, it's him dancing around and being an idiot that instantly comes to mind but also seeing him at his piano, playing some of his own music that he wrote,” she said. “That will always be a religious experience for me.”

Now in her ninth Broadway show, Levy isn’t interested in mapping out a strict path forward. “I feel like every role that has come my way has not been something that I've premeditated or planned or reached for exactly,” she said. “Ragtime was one of the shows I saw as a young person that made me want to do theater. So, in that way it feels super full circle.” What’s next for Levy? She doesn’t know yet, and she loves that.

If there’s a throughline to Levy’s career at this stage, it’s a willingness to embrace uncertainty. “Half the battle of being a theater person and a Broadway person and working over and over, is just not quitting,” she said. “Not letting yourself walk away, even when it’s hard and exhausting.” It’s a philosophy that mirrors the journey of Mother in Ragtime, a woman who meets life’s challenges head-on, even when the answers aren’t clear. “She tells the truth and sometimes that's really messy and difficult but ultimately it's for the greater good,” Levy explained. “I guess that's just also what I'm trying to do with my career, and as a mom, and a wife and a friend.”

Watch the full interview below.

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