*Currently starring as Jane, the leading lady in the Broadway musical A Bronx Tale, 26-year-old Ariana DeBose has been on the fast track since she moved to the Big Apple in 2011, when she was only 19.
A Bronx Tale is based on the 1993 movie, which depicts life in an Italian-American community during the turbulent era of the 1960s. The production is directed by two-time Academy Award winner Robert DeNiro and four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks, who is also directing Bette Midler in the current smash Broadway revival of Hello Dolly. A Bronx Tale was written by Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri, who partly based the story on his childhood. Both DeNiro and Palminteri starred in the 1993 screen drama. The creative team of A Bronx Tale also includes other multiple award winners, including lead producer and music mogul Tommy Mottola. DeBose stars opposite Bobby Conte Thornton, who plays Calogero, Jane’s interracial love interest.
DeBose joined the cast of A Bronx Tale after her successful run in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: An American Musical, which broke box office records and changed the course of American musical theater. The show received an unprecedented 16 Tony Award nominations, winning 11 awards, including Best Musical. Hamilton received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Grammy Award for Best Theater Album.
DeBose, who was in the original company of Hamilton, was involved with that show from its early stages during the developmental workshop. She performed during the opening run at the New York Public Theater, through the Broadway debut with the original cast up until her departure in July 2016. DeBose says it’s been an experience of a lifetime to join the cast of A Bronx Tale and work closely with DeNiro and Zaks.
“He [Robert DeNiro] was very present during our rehearsal process and our previews,” says DeBose. “It was amazing to work with both of them, and they worked great together as a team. Bob was very much into the details, and yes, he let me call him Bob. He’s a very easygoing man, and he came off to me as a big teddy bear. He is tough, but he’s a nice man who likes to act. We got along well. He can be a man of few words, but when he does speak, you know to listen. I didn’t approach him initially. I was trying to rate the room, but he was lovely. He came up to me and said, ‘Hi, I’m Bob. We’re really excited to have you.’ He has a very kind spirit. He still comes to visit the show fairly frequently.”
Before DeBose’s role in A Bronx Tale, she was cast primarily as a dancer and as an ensemble member. “I did a lot of dancing in Hamilton,” says DeBose, “When people come to see A Bronx Tale, they say, ‘Wait, we didn’t know you sing.’
“When I arrived in New York at 19 years old, I figured out very quickly that I could work often if I did a lot of different things,” says DeBose. “If I could not just dance, if I could sing and act, that meant I could, as a young person, be an onstage cover. I could be in their ensemble and work, and be more valuable if I could also play a part-time lead. That’s how I look at understudying. It’s like you’re a part-time lead. You’re not a full-time lead.”
For now, DeBose is strictly focused on her role as a leading lady. With eight shows a week and limited time to explore other opportunities, she says. “I’m taking this time to enjoy the work, because it’s not often you get to, and it’s not often I get to play a part like Jane that requires me to keep it fresh every night.”
During her run in A Bronx Tale, DeBose did manage to tape a few episodes of Viacom’s hit show The Breaks on VH1 and CBS’ Blue Bloods. Before A Bronx Tale officially opened, she participated in a workshop titled The Donna Summer Project, a Broadway-bound musical produced by Mottola and The Dodgers. According to published reports in Michael Riedel’s column in the New York Post, DeBose “was terrific as Summer at the height of her fame.”
DeBose made her Broadway debut in the role of Nautica in the 2012 production of Bring It On: The Musical, loosely based on the 2000 film. After Bring It On, and with only a few months off during shows, DeBose joined the cast of the four-time Tony Award-winning revival of Pippin as the Leading Player. She was the second person to play the role after Patina Miller, who won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. “It was a wonderful role [Leading Player] for me and right up my alley,” she says. “Patina turned the role into a song and dance female who was strong and flew in the air. She did everything but maybe breathe fire within that show. She was so impressive and inspiring.” In 2013, DeBose was cast in Motown: The Musical in the role of Mary Wilson of the Supremes.
Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, and raised in the state capital of Raleigh, DeBose’s journey to New York City was somewhat unorthodox. After high school, she delayed her enrollment to college to participate in a short stint on FOX’s sixth season of So You Think You Can Dance, where she placed as a top 20 finalist. After only three months at Western Carolina University as a musical theater major, she headed to New York City, where she landed a job the same day she arrived.
With grace and wisdom beyond her years, DeBose not only took advantage of the right opportunities at the right time, but embraces her life with a spirit of positivity and gratitude. “I could not be more excited about my journey,” she says. “I’ve been incredibly blessed. I know I’ve gotten to do so many things that a lot of people haven’t gotten to do, and that is not lost upon me. I know that every job that comes is supposed to teach me something. Some of my mentors have shared that when you learn all your lessons and when you’re ready for more responsibility to play a leading role, then it’ll come, it always does. They taught me to keep saying yes and to keep showing up, and when the right role comes along, I’ll be ready.”
Gwendolyn Quinn is an award-winning media consultant with a career spanning more than 25 years. She is a contributor to BlackEnterprise.com, Black Enterprise’s BE Pulse, Huffington Post, EURWEB.com, and Medium.com. Quinn is also a contributor to Souls Revealed and Handle Your Entertainment Business.
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