Nick Orlando

Academy Award-winning actress and Broadway veteran Estelle Parsons is back on Broadway in David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. She most recently starred on Broadway in August: Osage County, and then went on to tour with the production. Parsons has received multiple Tony nominations for her work in The Seven Descents of Myrtle, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, Miss Margarida's Way, and Mornings at Seven.

Each month, BroadwayWorld shines the spotlight on stage actors making their Broadway debut as part of our 'Debut of the Month' series. This month, BroadwayWorld is showcasing 25-year-old actress Sheila Vand, who is making her Broadway debut, reprising her roles as Hadia and the Iraqi Teenager in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, starring Robin Williams.

Having just wrapped up his role as Albin in La Cage Aux Folles on Broadway, Tony and Oliver Award winner Douglas Hodge is on his way back to New York. This time, he's heading to the legendary Café Carlyle for the debut of his cabaret show, which will run from March 15th through March 26th. BroadwayWorld reporter Nick Orlando spoke with Hodge about his run on Broadway, working with Kelsey Grammer, and what he has planned for his debut engagement.

Today, Broadway World is featuring David West Read, a young, yet already established playwright. His most recent play, The Dream of the Burning Boy, is currently part of the Roundabout Underground and is playing at the Black Box Theatre in New York City. Read is a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at The Juilliard School, and a recent graduate of the MFA program in Dramatic Writing at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. His work has been featured in the Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Repertory, the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, NYU's Festival of New Works, the Toronto Fringe, and the SummerWorks Festival.

Sanjaya Malakar was one of the most memorable contestants during Season 6 of 'American Idol.' Since then, he went on to tour with the top 10 finalists from his season, wrote a book, 'Dancing in the Music in My Head,' and released an EP. Malakar is now making his New York stage debut in the off-Broadway hit musical, Freckleface Strawberry, at New World Stages. The musical is based on the popular children's book by Julianne Moore.

Michael Balderrama has danced beside some of the biggest names in the music industry--Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey and Gloria Estefan, to name a few. He came to New York in 1999 to star in Saturday Night Fever, and has since taken on roles in many other Broadway musicals, including Movin' Out, Urban Cowboy, Hot Feet, and most recently, In The Heights, for which he won the 2007 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Next up, Balderrama will join the cast of the new LCT3 show When I Come To Die, where he will play prison guard Cooper. Previews begin January 31st, with opening night set for February 10th.

This month, BroadwayWorld is showcasing actress Sara Topham, who is making her Broadway debut as Gwendolyn in Roundabout Theatre Company's production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Previously, she was part of this production at The Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

This month, Broadway World is showcasing actor Heather Lind, who is reprising her role as Shylock's daughter, Jessica, in The Merchant of Venice. She previously took on this role when she was cast in the Shakespeare in the Park production this summer. Lind graduated in 2005 with a B.A. in Theatre Performance & Philosophy from Fordham College at Lincoln Center and received an M.F.A from NYU earlier this year.

Michael Urie, best known for his charming portrayal of Marc St. James on ABC's 'Ugly Betty,' will star as Mozart in Amadeus at the Meymandi Concert Hall in Raleigh, North Carolina. The show, which will play this weekend only, marks the first-ever collaboration between the North Carolina Symphony and PlayMakers Repertory Company. In 2009, Urie received a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor when he originated the role of Rudi Gernreich in the off-Broadway play, The Temperamentals. And, beginning in February 2011, he will be taking on the role of Prior Walter in the first New York City revival of Tony Kushner's Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes.

Actor and comedian Jackie Hoffman is currently starring as Grandma Addams in The Addams Family, and later this month, Hoffman will be bringing her all-new solo show, 'Jackie Five-Oh!: A Celebration of Jackie Hoffman's First 50th Birthday,' to Joe's Pub. The show will feature Hoffman's trademark humor and original songs, including two that she wrote for Grandma Addams. Hoffman won the 2003 Theatre World Award for her role in Hairspray and has previously appeared on Broadway in Xanadu.

This month, Broadway World is showcasing actor and recording artist Justin Guarini, who is making his Broadway debut as Carlos in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, based on the 1988 film of the same title.

Each month, Broadway World is shining the spotlight on a stage actor making their Broadway debut as part of our 'Debut of the Month' series. This month, we are showcasing actors Joseph Alessi and Annette McLaughlin, who are making their Broadway debuts in Brief Encounter.

Barrett Foa has starred in two of the decade's most popular Broadway shows, Avenue Q and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and was in the original Broadway cast of Mamma Mia!. Foa moved to Los Angeles nearly two years ago, kicking his television career into high gear with guest starring roles on 'Entourage,' 'The Closer,' and 'Numb3rs.' He can currently be seen on the CBS drama 'NCIS: Los Angeles,' where he plays tech genius Eric Beale.

Since September 2009, Beth Leavel has been lending her big Broadway voice to ABBA's hit songs, starring as reluctant mother-of-the-bride Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia! She has previously appeared on The Great White Way in Young Frankenstein, 42nd Street, The Civil War, Showboat and Crazy for You, and her performance in The Drowsy Chaperone earned her a Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award in 2006.

This month, as part of our 'Debut of the Month' series, Broadway World is shining the spotlight on Maria Elena Ramirez, who is making her Broadway debut as Rachel Jackson in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which begins previews on September 20th and opens on October 13th.

Three-time Tony Award nominee Marin Mazzie and her husband, Broadway veteran Jason Danieley, are starring in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Next to Normal, where they portray married couple Diana and Dan Goodman. Mazzie and Danieley first appeared on stage together in 1996 in the off-Broadway play, The Trojan Women: A Love Story.

This month, as part of our 'Debut of the Month' series, BroadwayWorld is shining the spotlight on actor Justin Bartha who is making his Broadway debut as Max, a timid assistant to opera company manager Saunders (played by Tony Shalhoub), in Broadway's Lend Me A Tenor.

Broadway actress and jazz vocalist Luba Mason will be taking on the role of Mrs. Young from the 1998 Broadway production of The Capeman. This concert version, directed by Tony Award nominee Diane Paulus, will play the Delacorte Theater for three shows only. Mason has appeared on Broadway as Velma Kelly in Chicago (with Brooke Shields), Hedy LaRue in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (opposite Matthew Broderick), and Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde.

Krystal Joy Brown is taking on the role of Eve in the World Premiere of Falling for Eve, a new musical with book by Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro, at the York Theatre at Saint Peter's. Brown made her Broadway debut in Hair and began her career as Mimi in the national tour of Rent. Recently, entertainment reporter Nick Orlando called Brown to talk about her exciting life, new show and what she has in the works.

Haylie Duff made her Broadway debut in 2006 as Amber von Tussle in Hairspray. She is now back in New York and starring in Nora and Delia Ephron's production of Love, Loss and What I Wore. Duff earned a Teen Choice Award for her role as Summer Wheatly in the cult classic 'Napoleon Dynamite,' and has also served as an executive producer and mentor to contestants on MTV's reality show, 'Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods.'