Hollywood star: ‘Like an ugly duckling who finally finds her family’

Hollywood star Keala Settle has joined the cast of the Sydney production of & Juliet. There’s a reason she didn’t need to be asked twice.

There was no need to ask Broadway star Keala Settle twice to join the Australian cast of & Juliet.

The Hollywood actor will take over from Casey Donovan in the role of Angelique for a three-week stint until the production wraps at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre on July 12.

“I have felt like this my whole life, when I get on a plane and come to Australia and New Zealand, it is like an ugly duckling who finally finds her family after all of these years,” Settle told The Daily Telegraph.

“You travel the world and every place you go has a different culture and in order to survive, you go into those cultures and you become whatever you have to become to survive. When I come here I can be exactly who I am.”

Settle previously performed the role on London’s West End. She is known for her work in Broadway productions including Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Les Miserables and Waitress.

Pictured is Actor Keala Settle, of The Greatest Showman fame, in Sydney to take over from Casey Donovan in & Juliet. Picture: Tim Hunter.

On the big screen, she played bearded lady Lettie Lutz in The Greatest Showman alongside Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and Zendaya.

She will next be seen in the movie adaptation of Wicked, playing Miss Coddle.

&Juliet is a coming-of-age jukebox musical that flips Shakespeare classic Romeo and Juliet on its head and explores what would have happened had Juliet not ended it over Romeo.

Keala Settle (centre, purple dress) with other circus performers in a scene from Twentieth Century Fox's film The Greatest Showman.

It is told to the music of modern pop songs like Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time, Katy Perry’s Roar, and the Backstreet Boys’ hit Larger Than Life. The production had its star-studded premier at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre on Thursday.

Juliet is played by Lorinda May Merrypor.

“From the top of it to the very end of it, especially in these times, it is like the only real celebration of joy that I have ever come across in my personal life so whenever I have an opportunity to be a part of it wherever it is in the world, I will jump at it and hold on to it,” Settle said. “It is so full of love and acceptance and empowerment across the board, every gender, every human being that exists, everyone will always find something in this show to walk out with that they can take with them to help them on their own journeys.”

Keala Settle, Zendaya, Hugh Jackman, Michael Gracey and Zac Efron at The Greatest Showman Australian Premiere held at The Star in Pyrmont. Picture: Christian Gilles

Settle, meanwhile was born in Hawaii to a British father and a New Zealand mother. She has family in Sydney and has been in rehearsals with the & Juliet cast since arriving in the country earlier this month.

Her first performance as Angelique is scheduled for June 19.

“I was in floods of tears,” she said of meeting the cast, who performed a traditional Maori welcome. “It just really made me weep with gratitude and humility and joy and a lot of excitement.”