Ben Ahlers Reflects on “Gilded Age” Costar Louisa Jacobson and Her Mom Meryl Streep Seeing Him Make His Broadway Debut (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Ben Ahlers is earning acclaim for his Broadway debut in Death of a Salesman while filming The Gilded Age

• Louisa Jacobson and her mother, Meryl Streep, attended Ahlers’ opening night performance on Broadway

• Ahlers credits his costars for supporting him as he balances demanding schedules onstage and on-screen

With his Broadway debut, Ben Ahlers is joining the esteemed club of actors who have pulled double duty, working both onstage and on-screen at the same time.

Following his breakout role as Jack Totter on The Gilded Age, the 29-year-old actor is earning rave reviews, including a 2026 Theatre World Award, for his performance as Happy in the latest revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the Tony Award-nominated production directed by Joe Mantello and costarring Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf and Chris Abbott.

In between his seven performances each week, Ahlers is also filming season 4 of the HBO period drama alongside the likes of Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon, as well as close friends and costars Harry Richardson and Louisa Jacobson.

In fact, the latter, who plays Marian Brook on the series, was among the first to see Ahlers take the stage on the opening night of his Broadway debut. “Louisa came with her mom that same night,” the actor tells PEOPLE, referring to Jacobson’s mother, Meryl Streep, who was also in the audience.

In addition to Streep, 76, Sir Ian McKellen and Robert Downey Jr. have also seen the show. “I’ve had a lot of feelings,” Ahlers says, reflecting on making his debut in front of such an esteemed audience. “This is a completely different scale to have so many people, and so many people I respect, come in to see the show.”

“It’s thrilling to have people that I’ve grown up admiring and idolizing coming through and sharing in our work,” the actor continues.

But nothing is like the support of a longtime friend. Having “been a part of each other’s paths for a very long time” and having developed “such a deep respect and love for one another” during that time, he says it meant a lot to have Jacobson, 34, see the show.

“Louisa’s such a theater creature herself. And so, we have endless conversations and dreams of how we want to continue to build our careers,” he shares, adding that in addition to Jacobson, they have also “really bonded” with Richardson, 33, who plays Larry Russell, during their time working together on the HBO series.

“I feel so lucky to be both working with them now and getting to share this with them at the same time,” Ahlers says.

While not all of his TV costars have made it to one of his performances — particularly given the fact that “many of them have already been filming on The Gilded Age” — for those who have, “to be able to welcome them and show them what I’ve been working on, on this side of the street, has been really exciting.”

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Not only that, but he relishes being able “to spend 12 hours on set with them talking about how they responded to the material specifically.”

But it hasn’t always been easy pulling double duty. Between the long days on set and the passionate performances onstage, there’s very little time for anything else.

“The week of opening, I was out filming The Gilded Age every day. So, I was in that gauntlet,” Ahlers recalls, before gushing that “I was so supported by Christine Baranski, Morgan Spector, Carrie Coon and Cynthia Nixon.”

“They all had such a loving awareness of how difficult doing double duty can be. But they were also so excited and thrilled,” he continues, noting that they provided “me with such a loving reminder of how blessed I am to have that challenge.”

Given that, “I’ll be looking back at this moment in my life with such fondness and probably some bewilderment around how I’m navigating both,” Ahlers gushes.

“But to be held in the kind of comfort of these two productions with such experienced people, such kind people has made the transitions so easy. Because my day-to-day is just filled with some of the greatest artists alive,” he adds. “It’s just constant inspiration. It’s nuts.”

Death of a Salesman is playing at the Winter Garden Theatre through Aug. 9, 2026. Tickets are now on sale.

Read the original article on People