It should come as no surprise to viewers of Uncoupled that many of the show’s stars have spent some time on Broadway. After all, the series is filmed in New York, and when you’re casting actors in the Big Apple, you’re going to turn up a few people who have graced the Great White Way. 

What is surprising — and enchanting — is the diversity and breadth of Broadway experience among the Uncoupled cast. There are Tony Award winners and relative newcomers, chorus performers and above-the-title stars. Uncoupled even boasts a few musical legends who — without singing a single note — are bound to captivate the show’s viewers.

Here’s a rundown of all of Uncoupled’s Broadway babies, from Neil Patrick Harris to André De Shields.

Neil Patrick Harris (Michael)
While most Uncoupled viewers probably know Neil Patrick Harris from his TV work on shows like Doogie Howser, M.D. and How I Met Your Mother, the star has spent his fair share of time on New York’s biggest stages. Though he toured the country playing Mark in a production of Rent in 1997, he made his proper Broadway debut in 2001 as Tobias Ragg in Sweeney Todd, and in 2002 starred opposite Anne Heche in Proof. In 2003, he landed the coveted role of Emcee in Cabaret, a part that earned him both critical acclaim and a legion of devoted fans. 2004 saw Harris dipping into the dual role of the Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald in a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. Ten years later Harris returned to the stage in 2014 as the lead in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. That performance would earn him the Tony Award for best actor in a musical.

Harris is clearly a big fan of Broadway, too, and not just because he’s been in so many shows. He’s hosted the Tony Awards four times: in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. 

Marcia Gay Harden (Claire)
Marcia Gay Harden made her Broadway debut in 1993 in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, and her performance as Harper Pitt earned her a Tony nomination for best featured actress in a play. In 2009, she won the Tony for best actress in a play for her take on Veronica in the comedy God of Carnage, in which she starred alongside James Gandolfini, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels. 

Harden has also put in her time off Broadway, acting in plays like The Man Who Shot Lincoln, The Exonerated and Sam Shepard’s Simpatico. In 2001, she played Masha in a production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull that was staged at the Delacorte Theater in New York’s Central Park.

Brooks Ashmanskas (Stanley)
One of the more seasoned stage actors in the cast of Uncoupled, Brooks Ashmanskas has been working on Broadway since the mid-’90s. He played Bud Frump in a Broadway production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in 1995 and 1996, and was in the original productions of Dream and Little Me. He’s played Carmen Ghia in The Producers, Chris in The Ritz and Mr. Dobitch in Promises, Promises. He appeared in the Broadway revival of Gypsy in 2003 and the 2010 revival of Present Laughter. In 2015, he played Brother Jeremiah in Something Rotten! and starred opposite Audra McDonald, Billy Porter and Brian Stokes Mitchell in Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. 

He’s been nominated for a Tony twice. First, in 2007 for best performance by a featured actor in a musical for Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, and then again in 2019 for best performance by an actor in a leading role in musical for his turn as Barry Glickman in The Prom. 

André De Shields (Jack)
A stage veteran for more than 50 years, André De Shields is pretty much a living legend. (There’s a reason he was featured in the Moondance diner scene in Tick, Tick… Boom!, after all.) 

De Shields made his Broadway debut in 1973, acting in two plays that year: Stuart Gordon’s Warp and Rachael Lily Rosenbloom and Don’t You Ever Forget It, the latter of which closed during previews. But he followed that up with a performance as the titular Wiz in The Wiz and choreographed two Bette Midler revues. De Shields returned to Broadway in 1978 for Ain’t Misbehavin’, which ran for more than 1,600 shows and earned him a Drama Desk nomination. (He also appeared in a revival of the play in 1988.)

In 1984, De Shields launched his very own Broadway revue, André De Shields’ Haarlem Nocturne, which combined his own music with standards. In 1997, he returned to Broadway for Play On!, earning both Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his performance as the Jester. He got nods from both again in 2001 for his turn as Noah “Horse” T. Simmons in a musical adaptation of The Full Monty. In recent years, De Shields is perhaps best known for his role as Hermes in Hadestown, for which he won the Tony for best featured actor in a musical in 2019. 

De Shields has also taken a number of non-Broadway musical turns on TV, perhaps most notably in John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch, in which he performed the hilarious “Algebra Song!”

Tuc Watkins (Colin)
Though Tuc Watkins is probably better known for his televised work than his Broadway chops, he has one very impressive stage credit to his name. In 2018, he appeared in the 50th anniversary revival production of The Boys in the Band, as Hank. He acted opposite Andrew Rannells (another Broadway legend) in the show, and the two have been dating ever since. 

Watkins and Rannells also reprised their roles for Netflix’s film adaptation of The Boys in the Band in 2020.

Jonah Platt (Horst)
Jonah Platt is likely best known for playing Elphaba’s love interest Fiyero in Wicked, but he’s also written, produced and directed productions, including One Night Stand: An Improvised Musical. According to his Broadway World bio, he’s also currently at work on a stage musical adaptation of Lois Lowry’s dystopian YA novel The Giver as director, lyricist and co-composer. (You also might have heard of his brother Ben, star of Dear Evan Hansen.)

Colin Hanlon (Jonathan Stein)
In Uncoupled, Colin Hanlon plays one of two Jonathans. On Broadway, Hanlon has taken turns as several different characters in Rent, including Gordon, Mark and Roger. Like Platt, he’s played Fiyero in Wicked, though his turn was for a national tour of the production, and he’s appeared off-Broadway in shows like The Pirates of Penzance and I Love You Because.

Nic Rouleau (Tyler) 
Nic Rouleau started his Broadway career as the understudy for the role of Elder Price in The Book of Mormon; however, he eventually took over the part when Andrew Rannells, who originated the character, left the show in 2012. He went on to play Price in the national tour and on the West End. Additionally, Rouleau was part of the national tours of Hello, Dolly! (Cornelius Hackl), Legally Blonde: The Musical (Emmett) and Toy Story: The Musical (Woody). 

Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
You can’t get much more Broadway legendary than Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who pop up in Uncoupled’s first episode. The pair sing “Colin, Welcome to Your 50s,” at the big surprise birthday party, a fact that’s made all the sweeter considering the song is actually a remixed version of a tune they wrote — “Mama, Welcome to the ’60s” — for the hit Broadway musical Hairspray.  In fact, Shaiman and Wittman are longtime musical directors and have won not only a Tony, but also a Grammy and a Drama Desk award for their work on Hairspray.

Early in his career, Shaiman was an arranger and writer at Saturday Night Live, where he started working with Billy Crystal and Martin Short. Before he met Shaiman, Wittman made his living directing concerts for acts including Bette Midler, Christine Ebersole and Raquel Welch. After the two met at a Greenwich Village club, they started working together and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Over the course of their partnership, Shaiman and Wittman have written and directed musical numbers for Short, Midler, Crystal, Nathan Lane and Patti LuPone. They’ve also worked on a musical adaptation of Catch Me If You Can with Terrence McNally, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and penned nine tracks for Mary Poppins Returns. The duo wrote songs for Neil Patrick Harris when he hosted the Emmys and the Tonys in 2009, making Uncoupled a nice reunion.

Shaiman and Wittman aren’t afraid to get meta, either. They wrote the score for Bombshell, the Marilyn Monroe musical at the center of the TV show Smash, and the song “Save the City,” which was featured in Hawkeye’s in-universe show Rogers: The Musical.

Wittman and Shaiman’s latest project is a musical adaptation of Some Like It Hot, with a book by Amber Ruffin and Matthew López. It’s due to hit Broadway this fall.

The Uncoupled Cast is Ready for BusinessIt's a hot market out there.

Source Images: Barbara Nitke/Netflix, Sarah Shatz/Netflix