Amber Riley may be one of the most accomplished theater performers to come out of Glee, but she says a move to Broadway is not happening anytime soon. The actress and singer recently explained that she has no interest in taking on the traditional eight-shows-a-week schedule unless major changes are made to the industry.
The actress shared her thoughts in a post on Threads after responding to a discussion about how demanding theater work in New York can be. Riley said the current model pushes performers too far, especially singers who are expected to perform at the top of their range multiple nights a week.
“It’s not,” Riley wrote when agreeing that the schedule is unhealthy. “That’s why when people hassle me about it, I say when the culture changes maybe I’ll do it.”
She added that “asking people to sing at the top of their range 8 shows a week without proper support or compensation” is “absolutely not.”
Riley also warned that even experienced performers can suffer serious vocal injuries under those conditions.
Best known for playing Mercedes Jones on Glee, Riley built a reputation for powerhouse vocals before expanding into theater. In 2016, she was cast as Effie White in the first West End production of Dreamgirls at London’s Savoy Theatre. The production became a major success and ran through 2017.
Riley’s performance earned her the 2017 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, along with an Evening Standard Theatre Award and a WhatsOnStage Award. A live recording of the production was later released, and Riley remained active in the U.K. theater world by forming the musical supergroup Leading Ladies with Beverley Knight and Cassidy Janson. Their album, Songs from the Stage, reached the Top 20 on the U.K. charts.
Although she has never appeared in a Broadway production, Riley has worked onstage in the U.S. before, including the off-Broadway production of Cotton Club Parade and a 2014 Hollywood Bowl staging of Hair.
