Naturi Naughton-Lewis is heading back to Broadway. The actress and singer will join the cast of The Great Gatsby as Jordan Baker beginning July 31 at the Broadway Theatre, marking her first return to the stage in 20 years.
Naughton-Lewis succeeds original cast member Samantha Pauly, who plays her final performance in the role on July 26. The casting comes two decades after Naughton-Lewis made her Broadway debut as Little Inez in Hairspray, following her time in multi-platinum R&B group 3LW.
“20 years ago, I made my Broadway debut in Hairspray and now I get to come back to the theater as a new woman with new money as the fabulous Jordan Baker,” said Naughton-Lewis. “The Great Gatsby is a classic and I can’t wait to party with a live audience.”
Now in its third year at the Broadway Theatre, The Great Gatsby follows eccentric and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the lost love of his youth, Daisy Buchanan. Set against the glitz and excess of the Roaring 20s, the story unfolds through a cast of fascinatingly complex characters driven by longing, ambition and extravagance. Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal 1925 novel, which has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and continues to sell more than 500,000 copies annually, the production brings the classic to the stage for the first time as a musical.
The show stars Reeve Carney as Jay Gatsby, Eva Noblezada as Daisy Buchanan, Corbin Bleu as Nick Carraway, John Behlmann as Tom Buchanan, Linedy Genao as Myrtle Wilson, Charlie Pollock as George Wilson and Matthew Saldívar as Meyer Wolfsheim.
The musical features a jazz and pop-infused score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen, a book by Kait Kerrigan, direction by Marc Bruni and choreography by Dominique Kelley.
Naughton-Lewis is best known for her six-season run as Tasha St. Patrick on the Starz series Power and its spinoff Power Book II: Ghost. She most recently starred in and executive produced the Starz series The Nowhere Man.