Sarah Hyland Returns to Her Theater Roots in The Great Gatsby on Broadway

After more than a decade of making us laugh as Haley Dunphy on Modern Family, Sarah Hyland is leaving her sitcom days behind and stepping back into the world of live theater. Beginning February 10, she’ll take on the role of Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby at the Broadway Theatre.

Trading her comedic chops for a role brimming with complexity, Hyland is diving into the world of 1920s glamour and tragedy. Daisy Buchanan is a woman full of contradictions—charming on the outside but deeply torn on the inside. As Hyland put it in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “Daisy feels trapped by her circumstances, and I’m excited to explore all the emotional layers that come with that."

Hyland isn’t a stranger to the stage, though. Before she was playing the snarky sister on Modern Family, she was performing on stage. At just 11 years old, she starred as the title orphan in Annie at Paper Mill Playhouse. She went on to make her Broadway debut as Jacqueline Bouvier in Grey Gardens in 2006, and just this past year, took on the lead role of Audrey in the off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors.

Theater, as Hyland has said in numerous interviews, has always felt like home. “It’s where it all started for me. It’s always been my first love,” she told Variety. And now, with The Great Gatsby, she’s stepping into one of the most famous roles in American literature.

Hyland will lead The Great Gatsby opposite the recently announced Ryan McCartan, who begins performances on January 21. The musical's current cast features Eva Noblezada as Daisy Buchanan, Jeremy Jordan as Jay Gatsby, Noah J. Ricketts as Nick Carraway, Samantha Pauly as Jordan Baker, Sara Chase as Myrtle Wilson, John Zdrojeski as Tom Buchanan, Charlie Pollock as George Wilson and Eric Anderson as Wolfsheim (through January 5). Terrence Mann will play the role of Wolfsheim from January 8 through April 20.

The show features music and lyrics by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen, a book by Kait Kerrigan and is directed by Marc Bruni and choreographed by Dominique Kelley.