Rachel Zegler spent Sunday night, November 8, on a Broadway red carpet that wasn’t hers. The “West Side Story” star turned out for opening night of “Wanted” at the James Earl Jones Theatre, where Bradley Jaden made his Broadway debut. She was photographed embracing him at the afterparty, seven weeks after the two were first spotted holding hands in the West Village at the end of September.
Rachel Zegler Celebrates Bradley Jaden’s Broadway Debut
Jaden plays the villainous love interest in “Wanted,” a new musical about twin sisters on the run in Texas in 1893. Solea Pfeiffer and Liisi LaFontaine lead the show as Mary and Martha Clarke, Black women who pass for white.
Bradley Jaden built his name in London. Just Jared lists West End runs in “Les Misérables,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Wicked.”
New York got its first proper look at the British actor over the summer. He starred in “Les Misérables: The Arena Concert Spectacular” at Radio City Music Hall and picked up the nickname “Hot Javert.”
Zegler was not a last-minute guest. Page Six spotted her in the audience at the show’s first preview in mid-October. Later that night she was seen at a party inside the Levi’s store in Times Square with Jaden and castmates Pfeiffer, LaFontaine and Luke James.
Two visits to the same show in a month. That is a person who wanted to be in the room.
The Couple Was Spotted Together at the Afterparty
Pier Sixty hosted the afterparty, and the guest list was crowded. Ben Vereen, Gayle King, Vanessa Williams, Billy Porter, Anika Noni Rose and Yvette Nicole Brown were there, along with Knicks players Miles “Deuce” McBride and Jordan Clarkson.
According to a source who spoke to Page Six, Zegler stayed close to Jaden all night. The same source said “Rachel was calling and introducing him as her boyfriend” as they moved through the room.
Rachel Zegler and Bradley Jaden are officially dating, according to sources. The label so far comes from one unnamed partygoer.
Still, introductions matter. Rachel Zegler introduced Bradley Jaden as her boyfriend at the afterparty. The first is private. The second puts a name on it in front of people whose opinions travel.
New couples tend to reach that moment unevenly, and the person doing the introducing usually carries more of the risk. Rachel Zegler has done this in public before. She dated her “West Side Story” co-star Josh Andrés Rivera from 2021 to 2024, a relationship that played out under the same cameras.
Zegler’s Instagram Stories Cheer on Jaden’s Opening Night
Her Instagram Stories said more than any party guest could. Zegler posted a video of Jaden taking his opening night bow and wrote “You are everything, @bradleyjaden.” She added three heart emojis.
Another story showed her on the carpet, urging people to go see the show and joking that anyone who did would come back as a lotus flower.
Seven weeks in, and the first public post is about his night, his bow, his show. Rachel Zegler did not post a couple photo or a caption about Bradley Jaden. She put the camera on him.
Early in a relationship, that kind of support is the clearest signal available, and it costs the poster something. Every comment, every screenshot, every headline afterward is now attached to her account. She posted anyway, on the night that mattered most to him.
Her own big night is coming. Zegler, fresh off playing Eva Perón in Jamie Lloyd’s “Evita” in the West End, begins performances in the Broadway transfer at the Winter Garden Theatre on February 27. Two actors, two Broadway shows, eight performances a week each.
Neither has said how they plan to share a city that runs on curtain times. For now, Jaden has a show that just opened and Rachel Zegler has one that starts in February.
Sources: Page Six, Just Jared
