Bret Hanna obit

Bret Hanna-Shuford, Broadway Actor and Social Media Influencer, Dies at 46

He and his partner, Stephen, created their joint social media page the Broadway Husbands, where they documented their lives as a gay parents. 

He was not on the list.

Bret Hanna-Shuford, the former Broadway actor and one-half of the social media group the Broadway Husbands, has died. He was 46.

Bret died Saturday after a battle with a rare and aggressive form of lymphoma and HLH in Orlando.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that early this morning we said goodbye to the most amazing man, husband and Papa in the universe,” his husband, Stephen Hanna-Shuford and the Broadway Husbands Instagram account shared. “Bret Hanna-Shuford left this world peacefully with love surrounded by his family. Our hearts are broken but we will continue to make him proud of us.”

Bret had an established Broadway credit list, including features in Beauty and the Beast, Wicked and companies of Cirque Du Soleil’s Paramour, Amazing Grace, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Little Mermaid. He and Stephen created their joint social media page Broadway Husbands, where they documented their lives as a gay parents.

Born in Beaumont, Texas, he earned his BA in theater from Wagner College in 2001. He went on to have an extensive career as a Broadway actor and performed on the Disney Cruise Line. He also acted in several television shows, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2018), Only Murders in the Building (2023) and The Good Fight (2020). Bret also appeared Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.

Bret and Stephen met in 2007 and wed in 2011 at the Greenwich Town Hall in Greenwich, Connecticut. They welcomed their son, Maverick, in 2022. Their family recently moved to Orlando, where Bret began his graduate studies at the University of Florida.

Penguin Workshop recently optioned Bret to pen the children’s book Good Night, Break a Leg. The description for the book reads, “Leap, soar, and dance into the joyous life of a little boy whose dads are dazzling Broadway performers in this lyrical, rhyming picture book from one of Instagram and TikTok’s Broadway Husbands.” Illustrated by Elena Hager, publication is projected for this summer.

In addition to his husband and son, survivors include his parents, Preston and Deanna; and his brothers, Todd, Eric and Bart.

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