Ariana Madix on What Made Her “Fall in Love“ with Broadway

Ariana Madix takes musical theater very seriously. In fact, she takes it even more seriously than sketch comedy — a bold declaration that’s sure to tickle the most devoted fans of Vanderpump Rules, the Bravo reality show that first made her famous.

The down-to-earth Florida native has certainly come a long way from her days of slinging drinks at SUR and feuding with frenemies on the beach about the merits of the L.A. improv scene. After all, she’s come out on top in the defining pop culture scandal of the decade, conquered Dancing with the Stars, become the host of the biggest dating show on television and even added an Emmy nomination to her resume as America’s darling of reality TV.

And now, two years after she first rocked Chicago as Roxie Hart, Madix is back on Broadway in Just in Time, lighting up the Circle in the Square Theatre as Connie Francis opposite Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan’s Bobby Darin through November 22.

“I just love this show, and I love the music, and I love the part,” she tells Ticketmaster from a dark, woodpaneled booth on the top floor of a Hell’s Kitchen cocktail bar. The lighting is low in the private room, casting a glamorous aura over the reality TV favorite as she recounts her road back to the bright lights of Broadway.

The opportunity to play the ‘50s-era pop singer came at the perfect time for the star, who just so happens to be on a break in between filming seasons of Love Island USA, the dating competition-turned-pop culture juggernaut she’s hosted on Peacock since 2024. (Coincidentally, she took over the hosting gig from none other than Sarah Hyland, who originally replaced Tony nominee Gracie Lawrence as Connie Francis in Just In Time from October 2025 to last March.)

And while Madix acknowledges that returning to Broadway was “always the plan,” starring in the jukebox musical filled with Darin’s pioneering pop hits feels particularly special for the Vanderpump Rules alum, who spent her childhood hearing her dad work out the familiar chord progression in “Splish Splash” on the family’s piano.

“I played piano, but not nearly as well as my dad,” she says. “It’s funny because in the show, we have the ‘Imitation Medley’ and Bobby talks about imitating all these different artists [like Elvis Presley and Fats Domino]. The piano chords in ‘Splish Splash’ are similar to so many other songs. So that was a very common theme that I definitely grew up listening to.”

Her character’s first big number in the show is “My First Real Love,” the yearning Darin-penned love song Francis released as a single in 1956, but Madix’s own love affair with being on stage sparked at a young age thanks to a (possibly bootleg) school production of Oliver!

“It was like an off-brand script that the school could afford to get the rights to,” she recalls with a laugh. “But they let me have that first line of, like, ‘Please, sir, I want some more.’ I was a little orphan boy and there’s pictures of me with my little newsie cap on. I think that, for me, was my first experience that made me fall in love with it and just want to do it all the time.”

Just In Time also presented new challenges for Madix to stretch her acting muscles. While belting out pop confections like “Ain’t That a Shame,” “Who’s Sorry Now” and ”Mack the Knife,” it’s always in the back of her mind that — unlike her last role as one of the most famous murderesses in the Cook County Jail — Connie Francis was a real person who lived an extraordinary life. (The real-life Francis passed away in July 2025 at the age of 87, just a few months after Just in Time opened on Broadway.)

“I think it’s important to the director of our show [Alex Timbers] and to everyone else that we’re not doing impressions,” Madix says, speaking of the line between the Connie Francis of the history books and the Connie Francis she’s playing onstage at Circle in the Square Theatre. “Because even early on in the show, Jeremy Jordan is introduced as Jeremy Jordan. It’s important that we are paying homage to them without doing some sort of impersonation.”

“But that being said, I’ve been working really hard with a dialect coach as well, because while I know that I’m going to bring myself to the role, I don’t want to say or do anything that brings you right into 2026,” she continues before adding with another chuckle, “I don’t want there to be any moment where I say something that just sounds like…a Florida girl.”

And yet, being authentically herself is precisely what has sent Madix’s star into the stratosphere over the last few years. Just days before our interview, she’d been in L.A., walking the red carpet at the 2026 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in a breathtaking blush pink gown.

The moment was surreal for the one-time bartender, who found herself nominated in a category against veritable icons like RuPaul, Jeff Probst and Alan Cumming — the latter of whom ultimately took home his third consecutive Emmy as host of the other Peacock series currently dominating pop culture, The Traitors.

Yet even in the midst of arguably the biggest triumph of her career, Madix is characteristically humble, quick to share credit for the honor with the entire Love Island crew, who work nearly round-the-clock in Fiji to pump out 30-plus episodes per season.

“It’s a personal nomination because I was nominated for host, but it also feels like a way for our show to be honored as well,” she says. “So it feels like I was able to represent all of what I believe to be the biggest technical feat in that category, of getting the show edited and out and as amazing as it is in less than 24 hours, sometimes.

“So, for me getting to be there and kind of represent for our big 400-person group project, it felt amazing,” she adds. “And my mom got to come with me, and that was huge for me.”

Now that awards season, recouplings and wrangling Islanders at the reunion are all in her rearview mirror for the moment, Madix couldn’t be happier or more at home focusing on her new 100-person group project, which is happening eight shows a week in the basement of Wicked.

“I still always have this feeling, like, when I was on Broadway and then when I left, I just had this feeling of, ‘I want to be in the play!’ she says with a grin. “I always want to be in the play.”

Tickets for Just In Time are available via Ticketmaster.