Less than a year after graduating, Charlie Niccolini (Communication ’25) has his name in a Broadway Playbill.
As an understudy for the characters Young Biff and Young Happy, Niccolini will make his debut in the most Tony-nominated play of the season, “Death of a Salesman.” Though he is living a theatre major’s dreams as a 23-year-old, his path to the Great White Way wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Niccolini’s career began before Northwestern — and with a slew of successes. He starred in his first professional show in 2019 as young Prince Edward in “Richard the Third” at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. It was there that Niccolini discovered his love for the Bard.
Landing multiple lead roles in high school plays and being accepted into NU’s musical theater program, Niccolini found himself on a roll.
When he stepped foot on campus, his success continued. Joining THUNK a cappella and starring in three Wirtz Center productions, Niccolini became a known and beloved figure within the theater community.
His hard work culminated in his senior year, when Niccolini auditioned for the Acting and Musical Theatre Showcase — an annual invite-only opportunity to perform in front of industry professionals in New York City. Every year, about 20 seniors book it.
But Niccolini didn’t.
“That matured me five years,” Niccolini said. “And made me think about this thing as a career in a way that I hadn’t before. It made me work harder, not to prove them wrong, but to stay in the game and to prove to myself that this one setback is not the end of it.”
Niccolini performed at NU Faces Senior Showcase in 2025, an event open to all theater seniors who have completed the acting sequence and Music Theatre Certificate program. Talent agents noticed him at this showcase, resulting in his signing with Gray Talent Group.
After signing with Gray and filming countless self-tape auditions, Niccolini booked roles in several commercials — including with Coca-Cola America250, Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Amazon Books.
After graduation, Niccolini’s agent would regularly send audition opportunities. But before a 2025 hiking trip with his best friend and roommate in New Zealand, he told his agent to send him only “stuff that is good.”
That “stuff” included “Death of a Salesman.” Niccolini managed to get a clean audition tape, despite interruptions from the birds and bugs outside their campervan. Lacking a strong connection in “middle of nowhere New Zealand,” he scaled rocks in an attempt to find an area with three bars of cell service and sent his agent the video.
“I’d never read the play, but I knew it was going to be a huge deal,” Niccolini said.
As Niccolini was boarding his flight back to Chicago, he received an email from his agent asking him to hop on a Zoom.
Once Niccolini was back home, he took the Zoom call and received the news: he was going to be on Broadway.
“I would count Charlie as a person who knew what he wanted to do early on and pursued it with singularity,” said Communication Prof. Shawn Douglass, who was also Niccolini’s NU acting sequence professor.
This year, “Death of a Salesman” has become one of the buzziest shows on Broadway, accruing nine Tony nominations and selling out at the box office.
Starring three-time Tony Award winner Nathan Lane and Academy Award nominee Laurie Metcalf, the Joe Mantello-directed revival of Arthur Miller’s classic American tragedy received rave reviews from critics. The production has been praised for its reimagination of the story, which has been revived on Broadway six times since its debut in 1949.
When Communications junior and fellow THUNK member Jocelyn Tisdale found out about Niccolini’s casting, she wasn’t surprised.
“He’s the person who I knew would make it,” Tisdale said.
“Death of a Salesman” is playing at the Winter Garden Theatre through Aug. 9. There are no scheduled understudy shows, Niccolini said.
“I hope, should I go on, that I’ll be able to get two tickets, so my parents could get on the train and be there in a couple hours,” Niccolini said. “But I’m just so grateful to even be a small part of it.”
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
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