Ariana Grande Visits & Juliet, the Broadway Musical That Features 2 of Her Hit Songs (Exclusive Details)

Ariana Grande returned to her roots over the weekend.

Before launching her wildly successful music career, the 30-year-old singer got her start on Broadway as the star of Robert Brown’s short-lived 2008 musical Jason. 13.

On Saturday night, Grande returned to the Great White Way, this time sitting in the audience at the Stephen Sondheim Theater to watch the Tony-nominated musical & Juliet.

It’s a show that Grande has a connection to. The musical asks the question: “What if Juliet hadn’t died at the end of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet?” and uses a series of pop songs — including Grande’s hits “Problem” and “Break Free” — to tell the story of what happened next in her life.

All songs come from the catalog of five-time Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Max Martin, who was also in the audience Saturday with Grande.

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Ariana Grande with the cast of ‘& Juliet’ including Lorna Courtney, Betsy Wolfe, Paul Szot, Matt Raffy, Austin Scott, Melanie La Barrie, Ben Jackson Walker and Philippe Arroyo.

Bruce Glikas/WireImage

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Saturday marked the first time Grande had seen the show.

After taking part in the performance — much to the fanfare of her fellow audience members buzzing about her presence among them — the two friends went backstage where Grande met Tony winner Paul Szot, Tony nominees Lorna Courtney and Betsy Wolfe and the rest of the cast. .

“She was so sweet and kind and literally brought her Playbill and she asked if anyone had a Sharpie because she wanted the whole cast to sign it,” an on-set insider told PEOPLE, joking, “once a stage girl, always a stage girl!”

While backstage, Grande also met Tony-nominated choreographer Jennifer Weber, who taught the Grammy winner some of the “Problem” choreography from the show. “She was totally game and dancing with the cast,” says the insider.

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Ariana Grande on October 30, 2008, while promoting the Broadway musical ’13’.

Joe Corrigan/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Grande wasn’t the only celebrity in the audience & Juliet on Saturday.

Actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore was also there with her daughters. “The audience was blown away by Ariana,” says the source. “Most people didn’t even realize that Ariana sat down with the songwriter behind all the songs on the show!”

Grande’s boyfriend Ethan Slater is currently in rehearsals for the revival Spamalotstage adaptation of the 1975 film by John Du Prez and Eric Idle Monty Python and the Holy Grail which returns to Broadway some 14 years after the original show closed in 2009.

Slater, 31, will play the dual role of Historian/Prince Herbert, a role created by two-time Tony winner Christian Borle. Other principal cast members include Christopher Fitzgerald (as Patsy), James Monroe Iglehart (as King Arthur), Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer (as The Lady of the Lake), Jimmy Smagula (as Sir Bedevere), Michael Urie (as Sir Robin) and Nik Walker (as Sir Galahad).

Performances begin on October 31 at the St. James with an official opening on November 16.

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Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater.

Art Streiber/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty; Eugene Gologursky/Getty

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A day before the performance begins, another musical associated with Grande and Slater will reach a special milestone Wicked is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The show, currently the fourth longest running in Broadway history, originally opened on October 30, 2003.

It tells the story of what happened between Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West before Dorothy invaded the Wizard of Oz.

Both Grande and Slater star in the upcoming film adaptation of the musical, with Grande as Glinda and Slater as Boq, the love interest of Elphaba’s younger sister, Nessarose (who would later become the Wicked Witch of the East). The two met on the set of the film, the first part of which is scheduled to be released in theaters on November 27, 2024.

PEOPLE confirmed the couple dated in July. Grande and Slater have yet to make a red carpet appearance together, and a source told PEOPLE last month that they are “privately trying to navigate their new relationship.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education