Will the real Sheldon Cooper please stand up!?
The worlds of Young Sheldon and The Big Bang Theory can crashing together on Thursday, March 26 as Iain Armitage and Jim Parsons reunited and posed together for a rare photo.
It was a special occasion, and not just for fans of the two sitcom stars. Parsons, who originated the role of Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory before Armitage played the role in its prequel spinoff, was on stage at the St. James Theatre in New York City where Titanique had its first preview performance on Broadway.
A parody of the blockbuster 1997 film Titanic, the hilarious and irreverent musical reimagines the story of star-crossed lovers Jack and Rose through the perspective of Céline Dion and her catalogue of hits.
Parsons has stepped into the heels of Rose’s mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater (immortalized on screen by Frances Fisher). The Emmy winner joins a cast that includes co-creators Marla Mindelle (Dion) and Constantine Rousouli (Jack) as well as Melissa Barrera (Rose), Deborah Cox (Unsinkable Molly Brown), John Riddle (Cal), Frankie Grande (Victor Garber) and Olivier Award winner Layton Williams.
Playing a female character on stage is something Parsons previously told PEOPLE he hasn’t done since the ’90s, when he was a young actor in Houston and was cast in a series of Charles Busch plays.
“Those plays were very similar to Titanique tonally. You know, irreverent, campy, silly stupid fun. But I was playing a female role back then and I wasn’t out at the time,” Parsons explained. “And doing those roles in drag was when I realized I had a lot in me as a performer, as an actor, that I was muting because I was trying to hide who I was and I was afraid of revealing myself.”
The openly gay star called the experience life-changing, “kind of a moment in seeing in color, where you can’t see in black and white again.”
Now, 30 years later, he said he was “really curious” to revisit that experience.
“I do admit, I’m in heaven,” he said. “A lot of things feel familiar and a lot of things feel new. Because I’m very different now. But there is a part of me that I accessed back then that I feel like is here, too. And I’m having an absolute blast.”
Titanique is playing a 16-week limited engagement on Broadway. Opening night is set for Sunday, April 12, and the production will run through July 12, 2026.
Directed by co-creator Tye Blue, the musical features songs like “Because You Loved Me,” “All By Myself,” “I’m Alive,” “To Love You More,” “Taking Chances,” and, of course, “My Heart Will Go On” — all performed with jokes that hit harder than an iceberg.
The musical has had a long road to Broadway. First conceived a decade ago, it began as a buzzy, underground delight, with staged concerts in Los Angeles and New York before opening Off-Broadway in 2022. International productions in Sydney, Toronto, Montréal, Chicago, Paris, São Paulo and London’s West End have opened since —the latter, in 2025, winning the Olivier Award (England’s equivalent of a Tony Award) for Best Entertainment or Comedy.
This marks the return to the boards for Parsons, who led Our Town last season. The 53-year-old has five other Broadway credits, including The Normal Heart (2011), An Act of God (2015), The Boys in the Band (2018) and 2024’s Mother Play, which earned him his first Tony Award nomination.
“He has managed to be in so many other weird, interesting and different things, making a name for himself in that way too,” Armitage, 17, explained to Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos on Live during a 2024 appearance after seeing Parsons in Mother Play. “When I watch him on stage, I’m not watching Sheldon, I’m seeing him as his character, which is so impressive. Some people can’t do that and he really can.”
As for Armitage, the actor has yet to appear on Broadway himself, but his father — actor Euan Morton— is a stage veteran. Morton, 48, received a Tony nomination for his debut, playing Boy George in 2003’s Taboo. He has four additional stage credits to his name, including a six-year run as King George in Hamilton.
Tickets for Titanique are now on sale.