The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button Musical Is Heading To New York

Benjamin Button is heading to the theater. The Olivier Award-winning West End production of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1922 short story, is going abroad, staging an off-Broadway run at New York’s Public Theater. Bustle has an exclusive look at pre-rehearsal photos of the cast, featuring Tony nominee Andrew Durand and Six alum Kelsee Kimmel.

Before the first night of rehearsals, the American company gathered at New York’s Seaport District, the U.S. equivalent of the show’s setting in Cornwall, England, signaling a marked departure from the 2008 Oscar-nominated film. Now that they’re in the swing of rehearsals, the leads tell Bustle that the production’s ambitious scope is starting to set in.

For Durand, who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2025 for his leading turn in Dead Outlaw, the titular role presents a new but exciting challenge: visually and physically depicting a man who’s aging in reverse. But unlike the film’s star Brad Pitt, Durand will not be relying on “disturbing” CGI of an old man’s face on a baby’s body. Instead, he’s using tried-and-true “theatrical magic” to tell his character’s story.

“We don’t use makeup,” he says. “The only sort of thing that we use really is costume-changing. When he starts out as an old man, maybe the jacket that he wears is a bit oversize, and I have a cane. But it’s mostly about physicality, the way I manipulate my voice and sort of move in space.”

Kimmel, who plays Benjamin’s future lover, Elowen Keene, also takes on an unexpected new responsibility. Benjamin Button marks her first time doing what she describes as an “actor-musician show,” as Elowen is part of an onstage band that tells the show’s narrative while performing new songs from writers Jethro Compton and Darren Clark.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a rehearsal room with this many skill sets,” she says about her co-stars, or rather, bandmates. “I probably play the least amount of instruments in the room, and I play three. There are people who play over 20 instruments and are only playing eight instruments in the show. It’s just bonkers insane.”

Brandon J. Ellis, Matt Wolpe, Britney Coleman, Trevor Lindley Craft, Katie Horner, Morgan Morse, Claire-Frances Sullivan, Sachiko Mae, and Kris Saint-Louis complete the American company.

While Durand and Kimmel haven’t performed for audiences just yet, the pair are already finding some healing in Benjamin Button. “I personally am finding it very cathartic to be in the show,” he says. “There are a lot of things that happen that are so relatable to the human condition, love and loss and life. I think people will walk away wanting to call their parents if they’re still around and say, ‘I love you.’”

For Kimmel, the show has made her rethink her approach to aging, noting how her character’s bond with Benjamin surpasses any concern about his future. “A huge theme of this story is that [age] just really doesn’t matter,” she says. “What’s at the forefront is their connection as two people and their love for one another. We live in a world with really intense beauty and aging standards, and stripping all of that away is really refreshing, to say the least.”

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button begins previews on Oct. 8, with opening night set for Oct. 21. Tickets are nearly sold out, but the production just announced a two-week extension and will run at the Public Theater until Dec. 6. Tickets for the new shows will be on sale to the general public starting on Sept. 24.

Photos courtesy of Marc J. Franklin.