Rachel Zegler, Aaron Sorkin, Bradley Whitford, Diego Rodriguez Announced as Speakers at Variety’s Business of Broadway Breakfast

Variety has announced programming for its annual Business of Broadway Breakfast, presented by City National Bank. The program, on Oct. 5 in New York City, will feature Rachel Zegler, Aaron Sorkin, Bradley Whitford and Diego Rodriguez. The event will be hosted by actor Tom Felton (“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”), who is reprising his role as Draco Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” series.

Zegler and Rodriguez will be joined by co-star James Olivas for a keynote conversation about the upcoming, “Evita,” which is set to hit the stage in early 2027. “Evita” tells the story of Eva Perón (Rachel Zegler) and her rise from poverty to become one of the most influential women in Latin America.

Joining Aaron Sorkin and Bradley Whitford for the “A Few Good Men” keynote are Tom Blyth, actor and singer Krysta Rodriguez and six-time Tony Award-winning director Michael Arden. The theater adaptation of Sorkin’s 1992 classic film “A Few Good Men” will be revived on Oct. 8 at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City.

The day’s final keynote will feature the cast and crew of “Dolly: A True Original Musical,”
opening at the St. James Theater on Jan. 19, on what would have been Dolly Parton’s 81st birthday. Producer Adam Speers, director Bartlett Sherr and the cast bring Dolly Parton and Maria S. Schlatter’s book to life following Dolly from Tennessee to the bright lights of Hollywood.

The Producers Panel will feature Amanda Lipitz (“Galileo”), Haley Swindal (“Damn Yankees”), Susan Kelechi Watson (“School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play”) and Brian Lee (“Awake and Sing!” and “Here There Are Blueberries”). The panel will be moderated by Erik Piecuch, Senior VP/team leader of entertainment & sports banking at City National Bank.

Variety will also feature the individuals profiled in its 10 Broadway to Watch list, published on Sept. 30, presented by City National Bank.

“City National Bank is proud to bring together Broadway’s best and brightest to discuss the forces shaping theater today,” said JaHan Wang, head of Entertainment & Sports Banking. “As the leading bank to Broadway, we look forward to helping the community flourish for years to come.”

“Theater coverage has been at the heart of Variety since its founding more than 120 years ago, and we are deeply honored to carry that legacy forward,” said Dea Lawrence, publisher and co-president of Variety. “Each year, we are proud to bring the industry together with City National Bank to celebrate the enduring vitality of Broadway and look ahead to the stories, productions, and voices that will shape the season to come.”

Conversations from the event will be posted on Variety.com and across Variety’s social media accounts after the event.