Sarah Hyland is back on stage in New York City for the third time in a year and a half. In May 2024, she played Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors Off-Broadway, followed by a turn earlier this year as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby on Broadway. Now she portrays the real-life singer Connie Francis in Just In Time opposite Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff at Circle in the Square Theatre, taking over the role from Tony Award–nominated Gracie Lawrence.
“The show is so good, and Jonathan is like an alien. I don’t know how he does this show eight times a week,” she says. The Alex Timbers–directed musical centers around Groff as Bobby Darin, the legendary singer who went from teen idol to global sensation. Set in an intimate jazz club, the story focuses on his two loves — Connie Francis and Sandra Dee — before his death at 37 due to complications from heart ailments.
“It’s so amazing for people who grew up with Connie Francis and Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, to see these characters come to life on stage and remind them of their childhood,” Hyland says. “On the flip side, it’s so amazing to have younger people who don’t know who they are come to the show and become a new fan of their music.”
The theater has always held a special place for Hyland. Fans might remember her younger days playing Molly in the 1999 ABC-TV movie version of Annie. “Even when I was little, all I wanted to be was on Broadway,” the 34-year-old actress recalls. She got her Equity card in a regional production of Annie in 2002 before making her Broadway debut in Grey Gardens in 2006. It was around this time that she met Groff; they were in similar audition circles. In 2009, at 19 years old, she landed the role that made her a bona fide celebrity: Haley Dunphy on 11 seasons of the hit sitcom Modern Family on ABC.
Five years after Modern Family went off the air, Hyland has reclaimed her place where it all started: on the stage. She tells Broadway Direct all about transforming into the late singer, her jump scare mid-performance thanks to Cole Escola, and how she was originally cut from Annie.
How did the role of Connie Francis come about?
Connie came out of nowhere for me. I had just finished my run in [The Great] Gatsby and I really did not think that I was going to be coming back to New York and doing another show so soon at all. My poor husband and dog!
What is it like transforming into her every night?
The costumes and the wigs are just so beautiful. I feel like Connie immediately when I put on that big, beautiful A-line skirt.
What qualities of Connie Francis inform your portrayal of her?
I just see her as this force of nature in all ways of life — in her talent, in her loyalty, in her passions, and in love. There’s a certain attitude that you have growing up here in New York and New Jersey. I just see her as this kind of spicy force to be reckoned with, who is severely protective over the people she loves. At the end of the day, even really strong people can be hurt as well.
The solo “Who’s Sorry Now” is very powerful and such a showstopper. What research did you do into who Connie was, or any of her songs?
I grew up listening to her music and, of course, watched Where the Boys Are. Revisiting her music was really important to me, and so I just play her records nonstop at home.
It’s really interesting, a lot of the parallels that she and I have. Both starting at a very young age in this entertainment industry. She bonded with her dad over the accordion and playing variety shows at such a young age. By the time that she meets Bobby, it’s kind of old hat for her. She hadn’t made it big yet, but it’s still a recording session, and selling songs is old hat at that point. I think by the time I was 17, I had been working for well over a decade and hadn’t made it big yet, but everything was old hat to me. It’s really fun to revisit that in my life as well.
The audience at the Circle in the Square is so central to the musical. Do you have any fun stories about interacting with the crowds up close?
I get stage blindness, where I can’t really see people’s faces, so I think that helps me a lot. I freaked out the other night because there was a golden retriever service dog, and it took everything in me from petting this sweet puppy that was being so good throughout the whole show.
In the eulogy section of the show, I look at one person every single night in the eyes. I have no idea who’s going to be sitting there. A couple weeks ago, I got an insane jump scare by saying my line and looking directly into the eyes of Cola Escola. I got so excited and then immediately terrified that I was going to mess something up after. Then, I met them backstage and said hello and sorry for the interaction. That’s been a fun one.
Do you like when you know who’s in the audience, or would you rather not know?
I’m a person that likes to know. I’m just a masochist, I guess.
Did you know Cole was in the audience that night?
I actually didn’t. No one told me.
What I find fascinating is that you were on Broadway at the same time as Audra McDonald (in Gypsy) earlier this year, who played Grace Farrell in the ABC version of Annie in 1999, and now with Kristin Chenoweth (in Queen of Versailles), who played Lilly St. Regis. Have you talked to them at all about this?
I don’t think I put that together, to be honest. I have a friend who is on [Stumble on NBC] that Kristin’s doing. And so I was like, “Tell Kristin I say hi,” but I haven’t seen her in a while. I see Audra fairly more times than not. It was not lost on me as an 8-year-old in Annie, the caliber of people that I was surrounded by: Alan [Cumming], Kathy [Bates], Victor [Garber], Kristin, Audra. It was insane.
What do you remember about auditioning for the movie?
The first callback was a dance callback and I was cut.
My mom was confused because I used to be a big dancer when I was a kid. I was really sad. I was crying because I really wanted to be in it. My mom asked what I wanted that’ll make me feel better. So, we got Blimpies and I was freezing. I had a 104 fever. I was really sick. And she thought that’s why I got cut, because I was sick. So, I said goodbye to it.
I think they had about eight or nine more rounds of callbacks for the orphans. And this is the story that I’ve been told by [director] Rob [Marshall] and the casting directors. Rob still couldn’t find his Molly. And the casting directors told him that he cut her at the first dance callbacks. He was like, “No, she couldn’t remember the dances.” And they’re like, “I’m telling you, that is your Molly.” So they brought me back in for the final callback. I was healthy, and I was just cast in there. It’s because of Rob Marshall. He’s the director who taught me how to cry on cue. I will forever be grateful for that production. I not only had the time of my life filming that, but I learned so much, and it was probably one of my favorite projects I will ever work on in my entire life.
You seem to have found a home on the stage, with Little Shop of Horrors, The Great Gatsby, and now Just In Time. What keeps bringing you back?
I love the theater. I love the theater community so much. Even when I was little, all I wanted to be was on Broadway. All of my best friends in the industry were all in Broadway shows and they all wanted to be doing what I was doing, and I wanted to be doing what they were doing. When I finally was able to get my Equity card in 2002 at the Paper Mill Playhouse [in Millburn, New Jersey, as Annie in Annie], I was like, “This is it! I made it!”
