Odds and Ends: Billy Porter Leads Bill Pay The Musical, Adrienne Warren to Star in Imitation of Life & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed.

Broadway Billy
Ramp is bringing fintech to Broadway for one night only with Bill Pay The Musical, a fully staged, original musical comedy celebrating Ramp Bill Pay. Starring Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winner Billy Porter, Billy Zane and Jessica Vosk, it is a show about bills and starring Bills, created for the finance leaders who make sure the bills get paid and the show goes on. The ensemble will include Rema Webb, Karli Dinardo, Katie Griffth, Indya Lincicome, Drew Minard, Shannon Mullen, Cole Newburg, Will Porter and Brandon Stonestreet. The musical will play the Broadhurst Theatre on September 25, directed by Keaton Wooden with a ​book by Kevin Zak and music and lyrics by Jason Michael Snow. It will be choreographed by Antoinette DiPietropolo. Filming is encouraged during the show, so bring those phones out to capture a night you’ll never forget!

Hey There Delilah
The new musical Imitation of Life will star Tony Award winner Adrienne Warren as Delilah in its world premiere at the Griffin Theater at The Shed. Featuring a book by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and a score by EGOT winner John Legend, the musical is directed by Whitney White. Inspired by Fannie Hurst’s 1933 novel and the classic Universal Pictures film adaptations from 1934 and 1959, Imitation of Life follows two single mothers—one Black and one white—and their daughters as they build a shared life while navigating love, ambition and survival in a society divided by race and class. The musical is set against the backdrop of 1920s Atlantic City and 1930s New York. Performances begin on November 21 with an official opening set for December 3. It will play for six weeks through January 3, 2027.

Attention Must Be Paid Across the Pond
Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts will make his U.K. stage acting debut as Willy Loman in a new production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, coming to the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre in summer 2027. Directed by Rebecca Frecknall, the production will also star Paul Mescal—who worked with Frecknall on A Streetcar Named Desire—as Biff Loman, Monica Dolan as Linda Loman and Ciarán Hinds as Ben Loman. Peter Corboy, Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty, Aisling Loftus and Julian Moore-Cook also join the company, with additional casting to come. Before stepping into Willy’s well-worn shoes, Letts’ Pulitzer-winning play August: Osage County will return to the West End in a new production starring Lesley Manville. The National Theatre’s 2027 slate also features 18 productions, including eight world premieres: the Joan Armatrading musical Glorious Madness, James Graham’s Major, The Great Indaba, Samira, The Adeyemis, Mr Loverman, Punchdrunk’s Ghostlight and The Last Wild. Revivals include West Side Story, Suddenly Last Summer with Emma Corrin, Plenty with Emilia Clarke and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Got A Secret?
Ragtime Tony nominee Ben Levi Ross has been cast as Michael Harris in the forthcoming Netflix adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel The Secrets of Secrets. Brown’s 2025 thriller surrounds a symbologist’s race against the clock to rescue a missing scientist and her groundbreaking manuscript. The series will also star two-time Tony winner Cherry Jones as Heide Nagel, Rebecca Hall as Katherine Solomon, Corey Stoll as Everett Finch, Rob Delaney as Jonas Faukman, Abbey Lee as Sasha Vesna and Mamoudou Athie as Michael Harris. Ross made his Broadway debut in Dear Evan Hansen and has performed in Jason Robert Brown’s musical The Connector off-Broadway and the world premiere of Florence Welch’s Gatsby: An American Myth at the American Repertory Theatre.

London Goes Mad
George R.R. Martin’s play Game of Thrones: The Mad King will transfer to London after a sold-out run at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford. Produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and HBO, The Mad King features direction from Olivier Award winner Dominic Cook. The play serves as a prequel to Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books, the basis for the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, and was adapted for the stage by Cook and Duncan Macmillan. “I had a splendid time in Stratford upon Avon for the premier of Duncan Macmillan and Dominic Cooke’s epic new stage production of ‘Game of Thrones: The Mad King,’” Martin wrote on his website. “I’m thrilled to announce that the production will be moving on to London to share the experience with a wider audience. It promises to be an exhilarating journey.” The production’s date, venue and cast will be announced at a later date.

P.S.
We want to extend our congratulations to the Broadway alums who took home awards at this past weekend's Creative Arts Emmys ceremony. Excuse us while we take a page out of winner (and former Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!) Betty Gilpin's book: (Ahem.) Alan Cumming won for Traitors, his sixth victory; Shailene Woodley found Paradise in playing Annie; Mariska Hargitay won two for her brilliant mom Jayne; David Harbour's Floyd Smernitch brought us comfort and pain. We hope you're applauding this winning quintet, put those hands together if you've not done so yet! This whole rhyming shtick has come to a stop. If you've made it this far, you're the tip of the top.