When she was still just a child, Meg Donnelly gave off a serious theater kid vibe. At 5, her favorite musical role wasn’t the sunny “Annie.” It was Mimi from “Rent,” the struggling erotic dancer who is also a heroin addict.
Donnelly grew up to become a film and TV star through her breakout role in Disney’s music-filled “Zombies” franchise and the ABC sitcom “American Housewife.” She’s also appeared on “The Masked Singer” and has a new EP, “dying art.”
This week, the New Jersey-raised actor returned to her first love — theater. Donnelly made her Broadway debut Tuesday in “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” playing cabaret star Santine. She’ll be aboard the jukebox hit until March.
The show is about the goings-on in a turn-of-the-century Parisian nightclub, updated with tunes like “Single Ladies” and “Firework” alongside the big hit “Lady Marmalade.”
The Associated Press got a chance to ask Donnelly about her big night and how it fits into her blossoming career. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: What was your debut like?
DONNELLY: It was really surreal. I feel like I’ve been working towards this since I was a little girl. When I was younger, Broadway was the only option. I was a full theater kid — that’s all I wanted to do. And, you know, life just took me in different directions. But this is something that I feel I was born to do and just being on stage last night, it kind of all just makes sense.
AP: You’re in the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Do you think you ever saw a show there before?
DONNELLY: I definitely do. I saw “Kinky Boots” twice. I love “Kinky Boots.” And I think I saw “Kiss Me Kate” there, too.
AP: What’s your favorite musical?
DONNELLY: My favorite musical of all time is “Rent.” I saw it a lot when I was younger — maybe when I was too young — and my dream role has always been Mimi, which is really funny. So when I was like 5 or 6 auditioning for theater, they would be like, “What’s your dream role?” And everyone would be, like, “Annie” or “Matilda” and I’d be like, “Mimi!” They’d be like, “Oh my God, this kid!” So, it is very full circle because “Moulin Rouge” is based on the same opera as “Rent.” Satine is kind of Mimi.
AP: So much of your career makes this a natural step. You played a young woman who sang in a school production of “Little Shop of Horrors” on “American Housewife” and everything about the “Zombie” franchise screams musical theater. How do you describe your path here?
DONNELLY: There’s not a right or wrong path. You know, there’s so many things in my career where I’m like, “Oh, I wish I’d done that” or “Maybe I should have gone that way.” I’m a very chronic over-thinker. But it really doesn’t matter. I will say, being a part of Disney definitely changed my life.
AP: Another Broadway-adjacent step was when you were in the cast of NBC’s live telecast of “The Sound of Music” in 2013. You were the understudy for Louisa von Trapp, right?
DONNELLY: Yes, I understudied Louisa and Ella Watts-Gorman, who played Louisa, was so talented and amazing. I was praying that nothing happened to her. We weren’t really taught much. We knew the music, but that was pretty much it, so I was like, “Dear God, please, let everything go OK.”
AP: Audra McDonald starred in that, right?
DONNELLY: Oh my god. Listening to her sing on set was one of the best gifts I’ve ever been given.
AP: What about your own music?
DONNELLY: That is something that I really want to pursue. I feel like writing my own music is just so therapeutic for me, and I love performing on stage. Having to do a new show every single night and making everything different and feeding off the energy of the different crowd — that’s what I want to do with my own music as well.
AP: You did theater growing up alongside Helen J. Shen, who created her part in “Maybe Happy Ending,” right? Would you also like to originate a role one day?
DONNELLY: That was such a cool thing to watch her go through and it’s so personal, something that she built with them. That would be really, really cool. Just to have that connection to it as well. So, yeah, originating would be really like that would great.
