From Local Stages To The Broadway Spotlight: Samantha Pauly’s Road To Broadway

On February 13, 2020, Samantha Pauly made her (kind of unofficial) Broadway debut as Katherine Howard in Six the Musical. Now, Samantha Pauly stars as Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby: A New Musical on Broadway. But how did her theatre career start? 

disclaimer I had no official interview with her but I got this information from past interviews she’s done 

Most people have the typical “I’ve been doing it for most of my life story” but not for Sam. Samantha started theatre in her Junior year of high school because it “Sounded like fun,” with her first show being The Pajama Game, and continued to participate in her school's production of Chicago the following year. When she was still in high school, she went on a school trip to see Wicked on Broadway, and she realized that she wanted to do professional theatre one day. She then proceeded to attend college at Viterbo University, majoring in Musical theatre, and graduated in 2012.

Samantha’s first professional theatre job was a production of Legally Blonde at the Circa’ 21 Dinner Theatre. And she proceeded to do a lot more theatre jobs for the next few years, when in 2018, she booked the role of Valkyrie in the North American Tour of Bat Out Of Hell. Unfortunately, that was cut short as the tour ended early. Sam was left devastated and not in the best mental conditions and planned to stop doing theatre as “auditions didn’t excite her anymore”. Then, in 2019, Sam was asked to audition for a role in Six the musical, where she declined it three times when her music director, Roberta Duchak, sent her a voice message telling her to at least send in a self tape just in case they go to Broadway. Finally, Samantha caved and sent a video of her singing God Is A Woman by Arianna Grande when she was asked to go to final callbacks. Not too long after, she found out that she booked the role of Katherine Howard. 

Not too long after, she was hand-picked by Jamie Lloyd to play Eva Peron in the West End Regents Park Revival of Evita. In about 2020, Samantha and her Six Castmates were informed that they were going to transfer to Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (now the Lena Horne Theatre). After a few months of previews, the day of their opening finally came.  Unfortunately, that was the same day of the Broadway shutdown due to Covid-19 and they were forced to postpone their opening. During the shutdown, Sam created a “100-day song challenge” where everyday she sang and posted a new song cover ranging from musical theatre to pop music to holiday songs. Not only that, but she also taught voice lessons online. In 2021, Six was finally set to open again on Broadway, making Sam’s official Broadway debut. 

In December of 2022, Samantha left Six the musical. After she left, Samantha started doing solo shows in New York and even went to other states to perform. In 2023, Sam auditioned for The Great Gatsby: A New Musical for their production at Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. Granted, she booked the role of Jordan Baker and originated it when they transferred to Broadway at the Broadway Theatre in 2024. Now, Sam is still playing Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby on Broadway.

Samantha Pauly’s journey to Broadway is a testament to perseverance, confidence, and talent. From her early days of playing roles in Regional Theatres to the Broadway stages, Samantha Pauly’s Journey to Broadway shows that not all success is linear and it takes time. It takes embracing new opportunities, persevering through the hardest times, and staying true to her roots and passions. Sam’s journey proves to aspiring performers that it’s never too late to start, as long as you work hard and put the effort into it. And sometimes, if you’re in the right place at the right time, the right role might find you when you least expect it.