Debra Messing (Will & Grace) returns to the stage as Ernestine Ashworth, who spends her 17th birthday agonizing over her insignificance in the universe.
Soon enough, it’s her 18th birthday. Even sooner, her 41st. Her 70th. Her 101st. Five generations, dozens of goldfish, an infinity of dreams, one cake baked over a century. What makes a lifetime…into a life?
A writer of "freewheeling ambition" (Charles Isherwood, The New York Times), Noah Haidle makes his Broadway debut with a poignant new play as fearless in scope as it is tremendous in heart.
Birthday Candles Cast
- Ernestine
- Debra Messing
- Matt
- Andre Braugher
- Kenneth
- Enrico Colantoni
- Joan/Alex/Beth
- Crystal Finn
- Alice/Madeline/Ernie
- Susannah Flood
- Billy/John
- Christopher Livingston
Birthday Candles Creative
- Playwright
- Noah Haidle
- Director
- Vivienne Benesch
- Set Design
- Christine Jones
- Costume Design
- Toni-Leslie James
- Light Design
- Jen Schriever
- Sound Design
- John Gromada
- Original Music
- Kate Hopgood
- Alec Baldwin
James Costa and John Archibald
Linda L. D’Onofrio
Peggy and Mark Ellis
Jodi Glucksman
Sylvia Golden
Angelina Lippert
K. Myers
Katheryn Patterson and Tom Kempner
Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater
Ira Pittelman
Mary Solomon
Lauren and Danny Stein
Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust
The Tow Foundation
Birthday Candles was originally commissioned and produced by Detroit Public Theatre (Detroit, MI; Producing Artistic Directors: Courtney Burkett, Sarah Clare Corporandy and Sarah Winkler).
Birthday Candles was developed as part of Chautauqua Theater Company’s New Play Workshop series, 2017, underwritten by the Roe Green Foundation.

Presented at
American Airlines Theatre℠
227 West 42nd Street
between 7th and 8th Avenues