Lady Gaga Wants to Play Maureen in Rent on Broadway

Anyone with even a glancing impression of Lady Gaga can tell she's a former theater kid, but the "former" part may not always be true. Not satisfied with dominating movie musicals, it seems Gaga may be heading for Broadway one day -- how else is she going to get the "T" in her EGOT, after all?

Mother Monster, or more recently Ally in A Star is Born, sat down with Mary Poppins star Lin-Manuel Miranda to talk about their buzzy awards season films for Variety and the conversation inevitably steered towards the Great White Way.

Miranda: OK. Music, check. Big movie, you're incredible in it, check. Do you ever want to do eight shows a week on Broadway?

Gaga: Check. I'd love that. That was my dream. I think I've seen Rent probably 30 times.

Miranda: Rent's the one that got me writing. I saw it for my 17th birthday. I always loved musicals, but they never took place in the present.

Gaga: I lost my mind when I saw Rent. I used to go -- you stand in line and put your name in, and they call a raffle.

Miranda: They invented the lottery system.

Gaga: I'm like staring at Maureen as she's belting. I'm just like, I just want to be Maureen. For many years, record executives told me I was too theater.

Miranda: Any record executive using "theater" as pejorative, you know you're dead to me.

As a confirmed Little Monster -- although not a Little Auntie, sorry Joanne -- I've been holding out hope Gaga would write and star in her own Broadway musical. But if she has to star in a revival to get her Tony, Rent isn't the worst option. But girl, why not Evita? Gypsy? Cabaret? Rent is so tired...although I did just get a tingle thinking about Gaga singing "Over the Moon."