Phaedra Parks and Other ‘Real Housewives’ Stars Are Taking Their Drama Off-Broadway
Lisa Rinna, Cynthia Bailey, and five more Bravo veterans join Parks in Neil Simon’s ‘Rumors,’ with two rotating casts and performances starting Jan. 9, 2027.
ByBernadette Giacomazzo
October 29, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Phaedra Parks and seven other Real Housewives veterans will star in an Off-Broadway revival of Neil Simon’s Rumors, with performances beginning Jan. 9, 2027, and opening night set for Jan. 25.
- Parks, Lisa Rinna, Dolores Catania, and Stacey Rusch lead the first cast through Feb. 28; Cynthia Bailey, Eileen Davidson, Carole Radziwill, and Candiace Dillard-Bassett take over March 2 through April 21.
- Director Zhailon Levingston connects the dinner-party farce to Housewives’ “delicious chaos” as private lives become public spectacle, with seven cast members preparing for their New York stage debuts.
Phaedra Parks is bringing her talents from The Real Housewives of Atlanta to the New York stage, where she’ll join seven other Housewives veterans for a revival of Neil Simon’s Rumors.
According to Variety, Parks, Cynthia Bailey, Candiace Dillard-Bassett, Lisa Rinna, Dolores Catania, Eileen Davidson, Carole Radziwill, and Stacey Rusch have signed on for the Off-Broadway production, which begins performances Jan. 9, 2027. The women will rotate through two separate casts, bringing together personalities from several Real Housewives franchises for a limited theatrical engagement.
Parks will play Claire in the first cast, alongside Rinna as Chris, Catania as Cassie, and Rusch as Cookie. Their performances run through Feb. 28. Beginning March 2, Bailey takes over as Chris, Davidson plays Claire, Radziwill assumes the role of Cookie, and Dillard-Bassett portrays Cassie. The second cast will perform through April 21.
And the material isn’t exactly unfamiliar territory for women whose television careers have involved their share of accusations, secrets, and confrontations.
Originally staged on Broadway in 1988, Rumors follows four wealthy couples whose dinner party goes completely off the rails. Their host is discovered in an alarming condition, his wife has disappeared, and the police are on their way. What follows is a series of increasingly complicated attempts to cover up what happened.
The production’s director, Zhailon Levingston, sees a natural connection between Simon’s comedy and the Bravo franchise.
“Without changing a single word of Simon’s brilliant text, we can reveal something new in the piece: The delicious chaos that unfolds when private lives become public spectacle,” Levingston said in a statement.
Levingston, who recently won a Tony Award for Cats: The Jellicle Ball, recalled first experiencing Rumors as a child.
“I can still remember the overwhelming sound of laughter filling the theater,” he said, calling Simon’s work “a masterclass in the architecture of laughter.”
The production also represents a significant career move for most of its cast. Seven of the eight women will make their New York stage debuts. For her part, Rinna previously appeared on Broadway as Roxie Hart in Chicago.
For Parks, the announcement follows her return to RHOA, where she recently defended her reputation during the <a href="https://comicvibe.com/dark-matter-season-2-when-to-watch-the-finale-on-apple-tv/” title=”'Dark Matter' Season 2: When to Watch the Finale on Apple TV”>Season 17 reunion. Andy Cohen intervened in her dispute with Slutty Vegan founder Pinky Cole, telling Cole that Parks would have contacted him directly if she’d wanted to escalate their disagreement to network executives.
Parks has also expanded her reality television résumé beyond Atlanta, appearing on Peacock’s The Traitors, where she met her current boyfriend, The Challenge veteran CT Tamburello.
Opening night is scheduled for Jan. 25, with casting for the male roles still to be announced.
