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Broadway favorite Derek Klena<\/a> is stepping into a very different spotlight.\n<\/p>\n The Tony-nominated star, 34, has joined the Savannah Bananas<\/a>, the breakout baseball team at the center of the fast-growing Banana Ball exhibition league, which blends athletic competition with full-scale entertainment.\n<\/p>\n Klena \u2014 best known to theatergoers for leading roles in Jagged Little Pill<\/em>, Dogfight<\/em>, Anastasia<\/em>, Moulin Rouge! The Musical <\/em>and Wicked<\/em> \u2014 announced the news on social media with a characteristically theatrical flourish, sharing a music video to Instagram on Monday, Dec. 29 as a joint collaboration with the team.\n<\/p>\n <\/span> In the clip, the actor performs a cover of “Go the Distance” from Disney\u2019s Hercules<\/em>, but with updated lyrics that marks his journey from the theater to the sport.<\/p>\n “I will find my way, I can go the distance \/ I\u2019ve embraced the stage but that\u2019s not all I know,” he sings. “And though every mile has been worth my while \/ I would go most anywhere to find the greatest show.”\n<\/p>\n After discovering a bright yellow baseball branded with the Bananas logo in his bag, Klena soon emerges on the field in full Savannah Bananas gear, proclaiming in song that “destiny and fate have led me right where I belong.”\n<\/p>\n According to the video, Klena has a background in baseball, having played it as a kid.\n<\/p>\n His path to Broadway began in New York\u2019s Off-Broadway scene, where he emerged as a standout in the 2012 revival of Carrie<\/em>. That performance quickly put him on the radar of acclaimed songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who cast him as the romantic lead in Dogfight<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n He soon made the leap to Broadway, joining the 10th anniversary company of Wicked<\/em> as Fiyero before originating the role of Michael in Jason Robert Brown\u2019s The Bridges of Madison County<\/em>. In addition to his stage work, Klena has appeared on television series including Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt<\/em>, Quantico<\/em>, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver<\/em>, Blue Bloods<\/em>, Law & Order: SVU<\/em> and The Carrie Diaries<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n <\/span> Klena’s background in performance will surely come in handy in his new venture.<\/p>\n The Savannah Bananas are the flagship team of Banana Ball, a league founded in 2023 that reimagines baseball as a high-energy, fan-first spectacle.\n<\/p>\n Games feature choreographed dance numbers, playful rule changes, elaborate walk-up routines and constant audience interaction\u2014often drawing comparisons to the Harlem Globetrotters, but with baseball bats instead of basketballs.\n<\/p>\n Designed with short attention spans and viral moments in mind, Banana Ball has found a massive following online, with TikTok<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> clips regularly racking up millions of views. What began with the Savannah Bananas has since expanded into a six-team league, including rivals like the Party Animals, turning the once-quirky experiment into a full-scale touring phenomenon.\n<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for <\/strong>PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/strong><\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n The Bananas, based in Savannah, Georgia, routinely sell out stadiums across the country, drawing crowds that include die-hard baseball fans, families and first-timers curious about the showmanship. Their games prioritize pace and entertainment, with no bunting, no mound visits and (best of all) a two-hour time limit.\n<\/p>\n Banana Ball\u2019s preseason begins February 26, with the regular season kicking off April 16. For ticket information<\/a>, visit the team’s website.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n NEED TO KNOW Tony-nominated actor Derek Klena is joining the Savannah Bananas, a viral baseball team known for its theatrical games Klena announced the news with a music video featuring a reimagined version of “Go the Distance” from Disney\u2019s Hercules The Savannah Bananas blend baseball with entertainment, drawing comparisons to the Harlem Globetrotters and millions … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Broadway-Star-Derek-Klena-Joins-the-Savannah-Bananas-the-Viral.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15340,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15338\/revisions\/15340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBruce Glikas\/Getty<\/p>\n
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\nCindy Ord\/Variety via Getty<\/p>\n
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