ELLE: Broadway Newcomer Justin David Sullivan on Their Groundbreaking Role in &Juliet

Justin David Sullivan’s story feels like the plot of a Broadway musical. Think 42nd Street, when soon-to-be-star Peggy Sawyer gets off a bus and lands a role in Pretty Lady on Broadway, or “N.Y.C.” from Annie, where the star-to-be belts out the lyrics, “three bucks, two bags, one me.” Sullivan’s story is something like that. It’s a character arc twinkling in the hearts of every Iowan or Minnesotan high schooler, who is probably starring as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz or Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. It’s moving to New York, securing an agent, and then landing not only a role, but the role. Sullivan, who uses he/she/they pronouns, did exactly that, and now stars as May in &Juliet, the Max Martin jukebox musical playing at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.