For decades, she has coached others to follow their dreams, but somewhere along the way, Cheryl Porter had nearly forgotten her own. “This is history, baby. Are you kidding?” says the viral sensation and vocal coach in disbelief. At 52 years old, she is claiming her moment.
Now making her Broadway debut in the long-running jukebox hit musical & Juliet, Porter is no stranger to performance. For over 30 years, she sang and taught professionally around the world, built the Cheryl Porter Vocal Method, and became “Mama Cheryl” to almost 23 million followers on TikTok. Even though she felt a calling to teach and was proud of her career, Porter had one thing she hadn’t done.
“You’re always coaching, you’re always teaching singers to follow their dreams … but maybe you’ve left some dreams of yours as well,” she recalls feeling. Determined to remember herself, she bought a bracelet that says “I am a singer.” “Just to remind me every day, you’re not just a coach but a singer, as well.”
That promise to herself soon met an unexpected opportunity. As fate would have it, after Porter purchased that bracelet, the producers of & Juliet reached out to ask if she would audition. At first, Porter declined the offer. “I thought it was a joke… I was like, ‘No, I’m not interested because I’m really busy.’” They called again. She declined a second time. After a third call came, and with encouragement from student and viral singer Ellie Banke, who sent Porter’s information to casting, Porter agreed. Then, one day, the news arrived: She had been cast.
“I sat there in shock for about 10 minutes. After the shock wore off, I started crying for like another half hour…This dream that I had since I was a little girl is actually coming true.”
Porter stars in & Juliet as Angélique, Juliet’s nurse in the pop musical retelling of Shakespeare’s classic. For Porter, the role could not be a better match. “She has also put her own aspirations and dreams and love aside because of her love of Juliet. That’s a story in my life, yes,” Porter admits. That is why her favorite moment comes at the show’s end, when Juliet tells Angélique, “You have to start living your own life. I will be fine.” Angélique replies, “I know you will,” and exits.
For Porter, the line is more than performance. “That was her permission to say, hey, now it’s my time.”
Sharing the stage with Broadway icons has deepened the experience. Her frequent partner in the show is James Monroe Iglehart, who won a Tony Award for playing the Genie in Aladdin. “I literally flipped out,” Porter said. “I’m like, who are you to be on stage with the Genie? You ain’t nobody.” But Iglehart reassured her immediately. “His first words to me, he said, ‘You deserve to be here. If you’re here right now, it’s because you’re supposed to be. This is your moment to shine.’” His generosity reminded her that she truly belonged.
Porter began performances on August 7 and has loved the experience so much, she extended her end date by over a month to December 7. And throughout, her students and fans have been a steady presence in the audience. Porter described a student from Ecuador who flew in as soon as Porter’s casting was announced. Another fan, an 87-year-old woman from Toronto, arrived in a wheelchair to see her. “This dream is for me, but it’s also most definitely for them, because they believed in me for the last 15 to 20 years,” she said. Each performance is a continuation of the community she has built over decades.
But with so many friends, students, and fans in attendance each night, Porter admits to feeling overwhelmed by the responsibility, especially during her character’s big solo in the second act of the show, the power ballad “Fuckin’ Perfect.” But the number has since become her anthem. “Every night I look forward to it… The message of & Juliet is that no matter what you are, no matter where you are, no matter what you’re doing, you are fucking perfect to me. And I have the greatest honor of singing it.”
Porter’s Broadway story is not one of overnight success. It is the story of a woman who has spent her life uplifting others, who quietly placed her other dreams on the shelf and discovered that it was still waiting for her decades later. “It's a reminder for myself, my students, all of my beautiful fans, and my family,” she says. “I’m living this dream for me, and I'm living this dream for each one of them.”
Her journey is a lesson that a dream never expires. It may take years. It may arrive in an unexpected form. It may knock three times before you open the door. But it is never too late to step back into it. Cheryl Porter, with her bracelets and her stars, her cappuccinos and her soaring voice, is living proof of that.
James Monroe Iglehart in & Juliet
James Monroe Iglehart in & Juliet
Cheryl Porter in & Juliet
Cheryl Porter in & Juliet
Cheryl Porter, Gianna Harris, and company of & Juliet
Nathan Levy and James Monroe Iglehart in & Juliet
James Monroe Iglehart and Cheryl Porter in & Juliet
James Monroe Iglehart and Cheryl Porter in & Juliet
