Long Island's Andrew Barth Feldman to star as Roman emperor Nero in new London musical

Andrew Barth Feldman is making waves again: The Long Island prodigy is taking his talents across the pond to star as the lead in "NERO," a highly anticipated new musical slated to open at the Southwark Playhouse in London this November.

The Manhasset native and Lawrence Woodmere Academy graduate, who scored his first big Broadway role at age 16 as the lead in "Dear Evan Hansen," turned 24 in May and now is set to take on the world as the tyrannical, self-indulgent Roman emperor.

With book and lyrics by Tony Award winner Steven Sater and music by fellow Tony Award winner Duncan Sheik, the show is to be directed by Lindsay Posner and is described on the Southwark Playhouse website as "a thrilling new musical that reimagines one of history's most notorious figures for a modern age."

Feldman is the lone actor cast so far, the show set to run from Nov. 2 to Dec. 5 at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant, one of two theaters operated at the site near the Elephant and Castle tube stop in the London neighborhood known as the "Piccadilly of the South."

The playhouse was founded in 1993 and is considered one of London's leading studio theaters. The Guardian described it as "one of the most important venues on the London fringe," noting it provides "a vital home from emerging artists and companies ... "

For Feldman, the show is yet another steppingstone in a skyrocketing career that first saw him burst onto the national scene playing Frank Abagnale Jr. in the high school production of the musical "Catch Me If You Can" at Lawrence Woodmere as a sophomore in 2018.

He not only won the National High School Musical Theatre Award, presented by The Jimmy Fund to the nation's best actor in a high school production, but his performance was spotted by Stacey Mindich, lead producer of "Dear Evan Hansen," who asked him to audition for the lead role in the Broadway hit.

Following his meteoric rise in "Dear Evan Hansen," Feldman worked Actor's Fund fundraisers during the COVID-19 pandemic, attended Harvard University, but did not graduate, released his first single, titled "Every Pretty Girl," and replaced Tony Award winner Darren Criss as Oliver in the smash hit "Maybe Happy Ending."

Now, he'll bring theatre-goers a new take on an infamous Roman emperor, the playhouse describing the show: "Long before his name became synonymous with tyranny, Nero was an artist, a performer, and a reluctant heir thrust into unimaginable power. As ambition collides with family, love, and political intrigue, a young ruler's desperate search for identity spirals into madness, forging one of history's most infamous legends."

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.