'It's Been a Long Time Coming': From Newark to Broadway, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez Arrives at The Rocky Horror Show

Currently starring as Columbia in The Rocky Horror Show, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez’s Broadway debut feels less like an arrival and more like a homecoming. The full-circle moment was set in motion long before she shone under the lights of Studio 54. It winds its way through the streets of Newark, New Jersey, where her artistry first took root. To understand the gravity of this moment, Rodriguez and Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek went back to where it all began.

Rodriguez recognizes the gift that is making her Broadway debut in a place steeped in such meaning. “It's amazing,” she says of The Rocky Horror Show's home at Studio 54. “We get to not only have our debut here, but also, the history that's behind this place is astounding.” The production itself, she adds, matches the setting perfectly: “I feel like it has just the right amount of allure and mystery that Rocky Horror harbors.”

Columbia, the glittering, off-kilter character she inhabits eight shows a week, has become a playground. “She's treating me well,” Rodriguez says. “She's a little unhinged. I'm not as unhinged, but I like tapping into her when I can.”

Standing outside the building that housed the Youth Arts Conservatory program, she recalls arriving there at just 11 years old. “This is home for me,” Rodriguez says. “This is the first place I auditioned, and one of the places I got my start in the arts.” After an audition with a now go-to, Lauryn Hill’s rendition of “Killing Me Softly,” Rodriguez was granted admission to the program. “It was so fun,” she says. “I found my people.”

For four formative years, she trained as a vocalist at Newark Arts High School, surrounded by teachers and peers who would go on to careers in Broadway and beyond. “Whichever [program] you feel most comfortable in, they put you in it, and it's just like, excuse my language, but balls to the walls, honey,” she says. The support at home matched that comfortable intensity. “Very hands-on,” she says of her parents, noting their history with queer culture and the fact that they were responsible for her introduction to The Rocky Horror Picture Show film.

At the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Rodriguez took the stage in student productions—most notably Rent, where she first played Angel. “The first time I got to do a real musical here was Rent, actually.” Similarly to Rocky Horror, that experience would prove prophetic. After being encouraged by mentors, she eventually auditioned for the off-Broadway revival—and landed the role.

Still, her journey wasn’t linear. At one point, after three years without booking work, Rodriguez came close to walking away entirely. “I think I'm giving up,” she remembers telling her mom. “I'm just going to go to my regular life, we're going to work a 9-to-5.” Just two days later, everything changed. “That's when we got the call.” The role was Blanca Rodriguez-Evangelista in Pose, a performance that would make her a household name. And when it rains, it pours. She had to make the decision to join the cast of Pose, or play Papa Ge in Michael Arden’s 2017 Broadway revival of Once on This Island. In the end, Rodriguez won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series (Drama) for her performance in the third and final season of Pose.

Fame arrived gradually. “It didn't hit me until, I would say, about the third season,” she admits, recalling moments when fans began recognizing her in public. Still, she embraced the connection. “I'm naturally a person that loves humans,” she says. “I will hug you in a heartbeat if you're giving me the right energy.”

Throughout it all, her grounding force has remained her family, especially her mother. “She is one of the biggest and strongest representations of womanhood I could ever see,” Rodriguez says. “I'm thankful that I was birthed from her to know what womanhood is.” Even now, she turns to her for mom for guidance. “I go into her room, and I lay on her bed, and I just go, 'What do I do?' And she always gives me great advice.”

Back in Newark, the connections run deeper than training and memory—they’re embedded in legacy. Rodriguez proudly points to her roots in a city that has produced icons like Whitney Houston. “I'm going to always represent,” she says. “I'm like Whitney. I'm going to support. I'm going to rep. I'm going to always talk about how Newark is a place where so much talent is just secreting from.”

Walking down Sara Vaughan Way, even family history seems to echo that artistic lineage. Discovering her connection to jazz legend Sarah Vaughan only deepened the sense of destiny. “My grandmother Josephine is her actual blood cousin, so she's technically my family member,” she says. Now, standing on a Broadway stage, Rodriguez carries all of it with her—the training, the setbacks, the breakthroughs and the community that shaped her. The eight-show week is demanding, but familiar, and when she walks through the stage door each night, there’s a quiet recognition of the journey that led her here. “It's been a long time coming,” she says. “It's been a long time coming.”

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