Rosie O’Donnell Joins the Producing Team of
London Bound Musical
Indigo
Emmy Award winner and autism advocate signs on to co-produce the new musical, which is planning a London premiere in 2027
Emmy Award-winning entertainer and longtime autism advocate Rosie O’Donnell has joined the producing team of Indigo, a new original musical about an unconventional family told through the eyes of a non-speaking autistic teenager. The announcement was made today by the production, led by Lorenzo Thione, Joey Monda, and Jay Kuo of Sing Out, Louise! Productions.
O’Donnell decided to join the production in reaction to her experience of the UK premiere of the show, which took place at the Leicester CURVE in 2025.
“INDIGO is the most beautiful and authentic depiction of autism in a kid as I have ever seen. This story needs to be seen by the world.” – Rosie O’Donnell
“Rosie has spent years speaking candidly and with humour about neurodivergence to millions of people, in her own voice and on her own platforms,” said Thione. “Now she is bringing that voice and the community she has built to Indigo and inviting them to experience this incredible story for themselves. We couldn’t be prouder of welcoming Rosie to the Indigo family.”
A DIRECT LINE TO THE NEURODIVERGENT COMMUNITY
O’Donnell has built one of the most direct parent-to-parent channels on autism and neurodivergence anywhere on social media. On TikTok, where she posts as @rosie to an audience of roughly 3 million followers, she speaks candidly and near daily about neurodivergence, about parenting a child on the autism spectrum, and about how autistic people are portrayed and misrepresented, on screen and in the press.
Her advocacy extends well beyond social media platforms. In 2025 she produced Unleashing Hope: The Power of Service Dogs for Children with Autism; a documentary that followed families, including her own, through the Guide Dogs of America service dog program. It was released on Hulu during Autism Awareness Month.
ABOUT INDIGO
Elaine is starting to forget. Beverly wishes she wouldn’t remember. Emma just wants her family back.
Heralded as “a thing of beauty that lifts the spirits and warms the heart,” Indigo is an emotional exploration of the true meaning of family in a complex, neurodiverse, and not always easy world. Three generations of women navigate a life of mistakes, broken promises, and ultimately, their need to reach one another. Emma’s internal experience, in a world awash with color, allows the audience to experience life from her perspective, even while she remains silent to the outside world, as a non-speaking neurodivergent teen. A celebration of empathy, family bonds, and embracing new perspectives, Indigo feels like a story that’s familiar and relevant to each and every one of us.
The musical tackles deeply meaningful human subjects: autism, Alzheimer’s, addiction, loss, and the unbreakable ties of family. It does so with a stunning score and breathtaking design that immerses audiences in Emma’s sensory world of color and light.
Indigo has a book by Kait Kerrigan (The Great Gatsby, The Time Traveller’s Wife), music & lyrics by Scott Evan Davis (ASCAP, MAC & MTI Award winner), is conceived by Jay Kuo, Lorenzo Thione & Scott Evan Davis, with direction by Catie Davis (Beetlejuice, Moulin Rouge, Company); music supervision & orchestrations by Brad Haak (Mary Poppins, An American in Paris), scenic & video design by Tony & Olivier Award-winner Andrzej Goulding (& Juliet, Life of Pi, Groundhog Day), lighting design by Jake DeGroot, and sound design by Matt Peploe (Starlight Express, We Will Rock You).
A COMMITMENT TO AUTHENTIC REPRESENTATION
From its earliest days, Indigo has been developed in close collaboration with the autism and neurodivergent communities. Composer and lyricist Scott Evan Davis has a longstanding personal connection to the autism community, as an educator and board member of Epic Players, the pre-eminent US neurodivergent theater company, and the production has engaged neurodivergent artists throughout its creative process, both on and off the stage. In Leicester, as in every iteration prior, the actors who have played the leading role of Emma are themselves neurodivergent; a casting commitment held since the first national search.
O’Donnell’s involvement deepens that commitment. She comes to the work not as an observer, but as a parent and advocate who has used her platform to support neurodivergent kids and their families, in addition to her long-standing involvement with stage and film.
“When we first conceived Indigo, our goal was never to explain autism to an audience. It was to tell the story of a kid who is not a victim, who is not broken and doesn’t need to be changed. It was to invite an audience in to feel what Emma feels and to see the world from her eyes,” said Davis. “Rosie has spent years speaking up for neurodivergent kids to be seen for who they really are. Having her on our team is a reaffirmation of our goal and commitment.”
ABOUT ROSIE O’DONNELL
Rosie O’Donnell is an Emmy Award-winning comedian, actress, producer, and advocate. She hosted and executive produced The Rosie O’Donnell Show for six years, winning 12 Daytime Emmy Awards across its run for Outstanding Talk Show Host and Outstanding Talk Show, and later served as a moderator on ABC’s The View.
She has hosted the Tony Awards three times (1997, 1998 and 2000), winning a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special for the 52nd Annual Tony Awards. On Broadway she has appeared in Grease, Seussical, and Fiddler on the Roof, and served as lead producer of Taboo.
In 2003 she founded Rosie’s Theater Kids, which provides free theater and life-skills instruction to New York City public school students. The Tony Awards honored her with the Isabelle Stevenson Award in 2014 for her commitment to arts education, and in 2015 First Lady Michelle Obama presented Rosie’s Theater Kids with the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award at the White House.
She most recently produced the documentary Unleashing Hope: The Power of Service Dogs for Children with Autism for Hulu and reaches an audience of millions on TikTok as @rosie, where neurodivergence and autism representation are recurring subjects.
ABOUT SING OUT, LOUISE! PRODUCTIONS
Sing Out, Louise! Productions is a New York-based theatrical production and general management company led by Lorenzo Thione, Joey Monda, and Jay Kuo.
Sing Out, Louise! producing credits include the Broadway productions of Days of Wine and Roses and Allegiance, which starred George Takei and Lea Salonga and was based on the true events of Mr. Takei’s life, and later that of the box-office-breaking London run of the same, in which Takei made his West End debut at 86. In addition, its co-production credits include Hadestown (Tony Award), The Inheritance (Tony Award), A Strange Loop (Tony Award), Slave Play (Tony Nom), & Juliet(Tony Nom), Mrs. Doubtfire, The Notebook, and many more, in both the US and the UK.
In addition to Indigo, Sing Out, Louise! is currently developing the original musical Midnight at the Palace (Edinburgh Fringe, 2025), and the original play, Relentless (Syracuse Stage, 2025),and is currently working to bring the Olivier Award-winning Showstopper! The Improvised Musical to the Broadway in the 2027/2028 season.