Remember the name Frankie McNellis, because she’s about to become the next big thing after her role in Netflix’s 13: The Musical! Frankie plays Lucy in the movie musical — and her voice is seriously no joke! Keep reading to find out more on the young star.
Who Does Frankie McNellis Play in 13: The Musical?
13: The Musical was originally a 2008 Broadway musical starring Ariana Grande, Liz Gillies and Graham Phillips. Based on the 2007 novel by Dan Elish and Robert Horn, it tells the story of Evan Goldman, a 12-year-old boy who moves from New York City to Indiana following his parents divorce. This is made even worse as he’s about to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah, a Jewish celebration commemorating his 13th birthday. As he just moved to an entirely new town, Evan tries his best to fit in and make new friends, but things turn sour quickly.
Frankie plays Lucy, a cheerleader known for being quite the diva. Her “best friend” is Kendra (played by Lindsey Blackwell), who is also on the cheerleading squad with Lucy. Throughout the musical, Lucy is crushing hard on Brett (played by JD McCrary), who actually has feelings for Kendra in which she returns. At one point of the musical, Frankie has a solo called “Opportunity,” where she shows off her impressive performance and cheerleading skills, all while scheming as Lucy for an “opportunity” to make Brett her boyfriend.
Fun fact: in the original Broadway musical, Victorious actress Liz Gillies played the role of Lucy!
Who Is Frankie McNellis?
Frankie, 16, is a young actress most well-known for her roles in Black-ish and Netflix’s Honey Girls, which starred Ashanti and Tessa Brooks. When she was 9 years old, Frankie was a finalist for Arizona’s Got Talent until meeting her manager and moving to Los Angeles in hopes to make it in the entertainment industry. In 2019, she joined the famed Pentatonix formed kid’s acapella group called AcaPop! KIDS. She’s also a trained dancer, and shares dancing videos of herself on her Instagram.
In an interview with Medium in July 2022, Frankie revealed the story on how she booked 13: The Musical.
“Booking 13: The Musical is an absolutely insane story. It was my first day on the set of Honey Girls, and I was running back and forth between set and the car, where I was doing my callback. On my last trip to the car, I received the news that I booked the job and I immediately started crying. Robert Horn asked me if I even knew what role I booked, and I had no idea! He said Lucy and I freaked!”
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