Jennifer Jason Leigh on Broadway?

I did not see her in Cabaret (nor did I hear good things about her performance), but I thought she was very good in both Proof and The House of Blue Leaves (a revival I considered underrated).

A few movies aside, I am not a fan of her film work. I was surprised by the subtlety she showed on stage. I do agree with the poster below that Anne Heche was the better replacement in Proof. She was as good as Parker and arguably better, but Leigh was good.

Updated On: 7/15/25 at 10:12 PM

I saw her in Cabaret and was underwhelmed, but she had the unenviable job of following up Natasha Richardson who gave one of my favorite live performances of all time. So while I didn’t love Leigh’s Sally, I don’t know that my 18-year-old self would have been much more open to anyone’s performance at that time.

Having been a HUGE fan of Jennifer Jason Leigh’s film work, I was beyond stoked when she was announced to replace the glorious Natasha Richardson in CABARET. This was when the revival was still in its original home at the Henry Miller Theatre. A few weeks into her run the theatre experienced a major flooding which prompted the move to Studio 54 and forever changing that venue which is now a legitimate Broadway house.

Anyway, by the middle of Act 1, her trademark mumbling of her dialogue accompanied by her thick British accent made me realize she’s basically a one-trick pony: speak in an awkward character voice and speak your dialogue between gritted teeth and voila, you’re a deep brooding actress. Boy was I heartbroken discovering this as I was a huge fan.

I thought she was terrific in both. Her Sally, with a mix of naivety and street sense was strikingly different from Richardson and ultimately wrenching. I thought Heche was the revelatory replacement in PROOF, where both the brilliance and potential imbalance came through even more than with Parker.

Okay but I also saw her live. lol. And Natasha. And their cover Linda. And many Sallys over the years in the Mendes production in NY, on tour, the current West End, the current Broadway, and regionally.


By you saying you were “such a fan” going in before seeing her live and then dogging on her, I thought I was going to watch that compilation and have a response like, “oh yeah you were young then and she really wasn’t as good as you remember.” But she was good live. And she’s good in the compilation. And I’d take her Sally over many others’… And I barely knew who she was when I saw her.

xx

I’d love to see her do a Broadway comedy. Her “His Girl Friday” type chemistry with Bruce Campbell and John Mahoney in HUDSUCKER PROXY is my favorite performances of hers. (Bruce Campbell should also do a play!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgX1clgR-7w&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD

She could probably play a lot of those Laurie Metcalf roles, but sales-wise means about as much or less than Laurie (which is to say, not much).