Warmth and tenderness unfold on Ilana Glazer’s face before they cover their eyes and shake their head. The multihyphenate, who uses they/them and she/her pronouns, is reflecting on one of their true loves, and it feels like a rom-com montage is about to take shape. No, they’re not reminiscing about their first love. They are speaking about New York City.
“I just love New York,” they gush, opening their eyes and laughing. “I literally love every inch of the state.”
Despite the laughter, their tone is earnest and serious. “The city just continues to give to me and I continue to work to expand myself to receive it,” Glazer says.
For those who have been following Glazer’s career, it’s clear that New York City loves Glazer right back. The mutual love is on full display in their breakout hit TV series, Broad City, which they starred in and cocreated with Abbi Jacobson. Set against a backdrop of mid-2010s NYC, the comedy series followed the adventures and shenanigans of the two twentysomething women, with the city quickly becoming a strong supporting character.
Currently, Glazer is expanding to embrace another staple of NYC culture: Broadway. This spring, they’ve made their Broadway acting debut playing Shirley Wershba in Good Night, and Good Luck, written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, and directed by David Cromer. The play, which opened April 3 at the Winter Garden Theatre, is based on the 2005 film of the same name. The story focuses on journalist Edward R. Murrow and a band of CBS News reporters as they go head-to-head with U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare.
Though Glazer won a 2022 Tony Award as a producer for Best Musical winner A Strange Loop, they admit that they have taken Broadway for granted during the 20 years they’ve lived in New York City. Still, they vividly remember family trips to see Broadway shows as a child. Their mom would clip a newspaper coupons for half-off discounted children’s tickets for Glazer and their brother, and their family would “get their butts to Broadway on Tuesday nights” from their home on Long Island. Glazer and their brother would hang their Playbill collection on the wall leading to their home’s basement, where they played as kids.
“I was in such awe of Broadway as a kid,” Glazer says. “My focus on my comedy career at a very young age didn’t leave room for me to take in the magic of Broadway as a consumer. I am so grateful for the opportunity to get to be up close and personal with the Broadway community. I’m overflowing with gratitude to be in this excellent, elevated production. I feel so fortunate to be a part of it.”
“Broadway actor” is just the latest addition to their already impressive resumé of screen actor, stand-up comedian, director, producer, and writer. However, this renewed proof of Glazer’s creative expansion was unexpected. When their agents set them up to play Shirley in the two-day private reading of Good Night, and Good Luck, Glazer approached it as a learning experience, simply content with being in the room. As they soaked in the scene and enjoyed the provided doughnuts, Glazer was captivated by the experience and the script. Afterward, they wrote a thank-you note to Clooney and Heslov, and their agent encouraged them to include a line about their interest in continuing on with the role in the future. The reply to Glazer’s note? An offer to play the role for the Broadway run.
While some may be intimidated by taking on an artistic endeavor in unfamiliar terrain, Glazer wanted to face the challenge head-on and use the opportunity to “learn how to open myself up to something I don’t know so well.” They have been taking copious notes (“every moment, every inhale, every exhale”) as inspiration for their future work.
“My writing process has completely transformed since starting the rehearsal process in February,” they say. “The organizing principle of George and Grant’s writing is elegance. There’s a lot of information and heavy themes being conveyed [in Good Night, and Good Luck], but the priority is through elegance, which often means minimalism. [Witnessing that,] I am feeling more secure with fewer words. I’m feeling more confident in an audience’s ability to trust me as a writer.”
As much as they are learning, Glazer has their own expertise they’re bringing. Having worked across the entertainment industry, they have diverse acting experience to offer. Beyond their screen-acting knowledge, they’ve been relying on their improv foundation to help construct the realistic chatter of the CBS newsroom onstage. As Glazer shares improvised-but-focused background dialogue with other actors, they are still “following the ball” and the energy that is being passed on other parts of the stage.
And, of course, there is Glazer’s live stand-up skill set. Just before beginning their Broadway journey, Glazer performed 52 shows during a 48-city stand-up comedy tour, which was filmed and released on Hulu as Ilana Glazer: Human Magic.
Live stage performances for stand-up and Broadway have similar elements that are “dialed differently,” explains Glazer, like how much they play to — or for — the audience. There were also logistical components that Glazer arrived at the Winter Garden understanding, like what it feels like to perform in a large theatre, since they had played similar stages during the tour. And both require a startling amount of meat — literally. The physicality of live performance for both stand-up and Broadway has Glazer burning up calories, which has them craving meat in their diet. “I literally need meat!” they exclaim, waving their hands for emphasis.
The cosmic nature of Glazer’s journey to Broadway does feel like a story that could only be written in New York City. Amusement and disbelief flit across Glazer’s face as they describe the divine timing of the tour as a precursor to their Broadway debut: “God’s writing is so funny to me, that the tour really prepared me for this. I never would have thought that was going to prepare me for this, but it did.”
They stretch their arms out wide to express the magnitude of their astonishment, their eyes smiling with gratitude, and it feels like they’ve belonged on Broadway all along.