This Spring Is Erika Henningsen's Season to Shine

Yahoo

01-05-2025

Erika Henningsen has been experiencing fame from all angles this spring. On a recent sunny morning in New York, the actress was in the heart of Times Square, fielding polite compliments on the street during a photoshoot. 'I love your work!' one man offered, passing by as Henningsen posed with the area's iconic signage in the background. On the other side of the street, it was Henningsen doing the fawning as she stooped down to pet a pair of corgis out for a walk. It turned out to be Dash and Lili, an Insta-famous dog duo who boast half a million Instagram followers.
You never know who you'll run into in New York, or where you'll run into them.
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Henningsen is currently starring in Broadway musical 'Just in Time,' the new immersive jukebox-style production led by Jonathan Groff as the '50s-era crooner Bobby Darin, which is already drawing a famous crowd. 'Last night I looked out [in the crowd], I was like, oh, that's Steve Martin right there,' she says. 'I don't get nervous, it's just a very odd experience to clock people whilst you're also telling the story and to have to tell your brain, 'OK, cool, that person is here and you love and respect and admire that person, but keep going.''
The show's actors get up close and personal with audience members, particularly those seated at cabaret-style tables at the center of the theater. In one scene toward the end of the show, Henningsen sits down in character next to an audience member as she watches Groff onstage. ' I always love that moment because I think we break the rules,' she says. 'Like, not only are you gonna watch, you're actually gonna be a scene partner to me now.'
Henningsen, who originated the role of Cady Heron in the 'Mean Girls' Broadway musical, hadn't set out to do a jukebox musical. 'It was never actually something on my bucket list,' she says. The actress was intrigued by the duo of director Alex Timbers and Groff, as well as writer Isaac Oliver's approach to the book, who 'basically subverts the entire expectation of what this jukebox bio musical is gonna be,' she says.
'I think he cracked the code on how do we give people a way in if they don't know who Bobby Darin is? How do we give them a way in if they don't know who Jonathan Groff is? Somehow the show is able to meld the worlds of theater fans who have known this whole cast for their various things, and then also the people who are here to hear this classic era of music.'
Henningsen first received the script while she was upstate shooting 'The Four Seasons' for Netflix, which premieres on Thursday. The eight-part miniseries was written by Tina Fey, who leads the series in an ensemble cast that includes Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, and Will Forte.
' Tina has always been so encouraging of her actors,' says Henningsen of the 'Mean Girls' playwright and creator. 'She leads with a very steady but light hand. So you always know everything's always on schedule, everybody's kind. There's never any drama.'
Onscreen, there's plenty of drama to be found. The show is a remake of the 1981 film of the same name, in which three longtime friends and their partners are reunited over the course of four eventful couples' trips. 'Everybody involved wanted to capture the idea that your friends can be going through loss, can be going through personal chaos and turmoil on the inside, and then something will happen that makes you and your friend laugh because of an inside joke from 20 years ago,' says Henningsen.
Return to the idea of fandom and Steve Martin: while on set in Puerto Rico with her costars, Henningsen, Fey, and Carell began discussing the idea of being starstruck by people they admire in the industry.
' For me, that person was Tina Fey when I was in 'Mean Girls.' Steve is the nicest person ever, I immediately felt at ease, but I still put him on a pedestal, because he's just such a wonderful comedic actor,' she says. 'But it was funny because both of them said Steve Martin was that for them. It was such a weird kismet moment to be like, 'oh my God, I'm tongue tied around you — and the people that I also admire feel the same way.''
Starring in 'Just in Time' is also a little bit nostalgic for Henningsen, who was in high school when 'Spring Awakening' came out, the production that earned star Groff (a notorious performance-spitter) his first Tony nominations.
'That was when all the YouTube bootlegs started happening for the show,' says Henningsen. 'There was a moment onstage last night where we get in a fight and — he actually doesn't spit on me that much — but there was this one moment where the character erupts, and I got spit on in a way that made me flinch,' she adds. 'And I just remember thinking like, 'oh my god, you watched YouTube videos of this when you were 17 years old, and now you are the person experiencing that.' It's kind of a weird, wild, full circle.'
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