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Matt Tamina (0:21)

Hello everybody, it is Matt Tamina coming to you on July 4, 2025. This is not a regular episode of Today on Broadway because as we've been talking about all week, the news was very scarce and especially on Thursday, July 3, there really wasn't much to talk about at all. So as we had kind of anticipated that happening, I had said earlier in the week that I was going to be rolling out a new schedule for our Patreon stuff that I have admittedly not been great about managing. And I know I've said this before and I always want to do everything that we possibly can for our Patreon subscribers. And I have fallen short a number of times throughout the last couple of years. But a lot of that has just been because I haven't had a schedule. You all know that I like spreadsheets. I like having things in order and regimented and planned out. So what I have done is I went ahead and did an official schedule that we're going to mostly stick to. Obviously when it comes to travel and different events and things like that, there is some flexibility in all of this. But the plan is going to be to have one Patreon exclusive episode per month and those will all be available to everybody at the mezzanine tier and above. Some of these are things that we are already doing. Some of them will be things that we have never done before. Some of them will be things that are stuff we've done in the past, but we will do them more consistently. And this will also not include some of the things that we have done around shows. So my travelog episodes, because I don't go to New York every month, I'm not going to plan on doing it once a month. So those will be in addition to to this schedule. Similarly, the reviews that Grace started doing a little bit this past season and will continue to do, those will not be a part of this schedule. Nor will the episodes of Jan Simpson's shows. All the drama and Stagecraft which she normally but not always drops a week in advance in Patreon before they hit the regular feed. Those won't be a part of this schedule either because Jan works with the shows that are currently running for Stagecraft and then thematically picks a Pulitzer Prize winner to do a show in conjunction with something that is happening at the time. So those won't be on a specific schedule either. Although she does try to get an all the drama episode every month. So all of those things, all of the early releases of this week on Broadway and today on Broadway and all of that stuff that is normally in Patreon as well, that will continue. However, we will move into a mostly weekly schedule. Moving forward again, we reserving the right to during weird times of the year, either when I'm traveling or holidays or Tony season. There'll be some flexibility with all of that, but we're going to try as much as we can to stick to this as much as humanly possible. All right, before I get into the rest of our Patreon schedule, I'm going to take a real quick second to talk about our sponsor for this week, surfshark. You all know that I love to travel. Whether it is to New York, whether it is on a cruise, whether it's to Vegas, whether it's to London, which I did for the first time a couple months ago. I love being on the move. The one bad thing about that is, is that a huge part of both my personal and professional life has to do with streaming. Whether that is covering the streaming industry at my day job or streaming tv, movies and sports while I'm on the go. Having access to all of the streaming services and all of the content that I would normally have at home is incredible, incredibly important when I am on the go. Unfortunately, depending on how often you travel, especially abroad, but even inside the United States, if you turn on something that you want to watch, it is quite feasible that you are going to be hit with the dreaded not available in your region screen. It is incredibly frustrating. It's incredibly confusing. But there is a workaround, and of course that is Surfshark vpn. Surfshark lets you choose your virtual location so you can watch any game, any show, any movie, whatever it is, from wherever you are. I've done this many, many times from many, many different locations. And at one point a number of years ago, Grace and I were kicking around doing a recap podcast of the Great British Bake off, and we even did a couple of test episodes, but we started it the very first season. However, if you know the lore of the Great British Bake off, not every season is available in the United States. So I used Surfshark. That's how I first got introduced to Surfshark. I use Surfshark to be able to watch the episodes via streaming services based in the uk. And it literally changed my life because those first few seasons with Mel and Sue on GBBO are absolute perfection. It's still a great show, but Mel and Sue and Mary Berry as one of the judges. There has never been anything as delightful as that. But of course that's not all that Surfshark does. It also protects your connection on public wi fi whether you are reading news at the airport or streaming something from a sketchy hotel signal. Surfshark surfshark keeps it all locked down so it's time to take control of your online security. Try Surfshark risk free today and enjoy their 30 day money back guarantee. Go to surfshark.com tob for four extra months of Surfshark. That's codetobsurfshark.com the URL and code can be found in our show notes. So how this will work Jennifer McHugh and I will continue to do Some Like It Pop and that'll be the first Patreon exclusive episode of every month. Depending on when the first of the month falls, sometimes it'll be during the week, sometimes it'll be on the first weekend. But we try not to do it before the month ends because we often cram in some pretty interesting pop culture stuff at the end of a month. So we want to be able to talk about that in the appropriate month. For example, Jen and I have already recorded the July episode so that'll be coming out this weekend. So you can hear that there. Then in the second week of every month I'm going to do a new show where I talk to somebody, I don't know who, a theater goer of some sort. Maybe somebody that you have heard here on Broadway Radio in the past, Maybe somebody who's on staff here at Broadway Radio or just friends or industry people or influencers. And I'm going to ask them one very simple question. What's the best thing you've seen in the past month? So they will tell us about a show, whether it's in New York, in London, on Broadway, off Broadway, regionally, a national tour, anything that they have seen that they think is the best theater that they have experienced in the past month. So hopefully that will give you a chance to not only hear about some shows that you might not have heard of, but also dive a little bit deeper into them. A lot of times our reviews especially I know mine when I'm doing travelog episodes episodes even if I loved something I maybe give it 5ish minutes, 5, maybe 10 minutes at most, just because I'm talking about a bunch of other shows. But this will focus specifically on one show, one performance. And maybe we'll throw in some honorable mentions, but the bulk of the episode will be focused on one specific thing so we can really have a great conversation, whether it's something that I have seen or not. And honestly, I'm hoping that it's something that I haven't seen so that I can get a better insight and get turned on to something that I might not have had on my radar. And then in the third week of every month, we will bring in one of the people or one of the groups of people that we talk to quite a bit here on Broadway radio for a semi regular conversation. Whether that is doing an episode of the O. Henry Report with Oliver Henry Roth or my group chat with Tony Award winning producer Kaitlin Berg and theater influencer Ashley Hufford. Or maybe talking to our friend Kate Ranking who we've had on here before, or potentially some new friends that we haven't had on the air yet. But it'll just be a chance to talk about what's going on with theater. Maybe we'll make some predictions depending on what time it is, talk about shows that we've seen, talk about theater news, maybe even share some theater gossip and some tea. But this will be kind of a rotating group of folks that we will bring in depending on what's going on in the theater world and who makes the most sense. So this will also give me an opportunity to kind of get to know some of these people a little bit more, who you hear occasionally. But hopefully it'll be a chance to talk to them more often. I do guess I have to let them know that I'm planning on them doing this. So Oliver, I know you're probably listening. So expect a more frequent call for episodes like this moving forward. And then the fourth week of every month will be strictly Grace and Me. This can sometimes be in the form of a Q and A where we answer questions. It can be in the form of us talking about things that are going on in the theater industry. It can be us pulling back the curtain on some sort of specific thing that is happening. It could be us talking about stuff we've heard or it could just be us chatting about whatever. We'll rotate those things kind of through again based off what is happening. And we'll try to get a Q and A in at least once a quarter. And the final month of every quarter will be the debut of the long awaited video session that I will have to get James Marino to show me how to do because I've never done that with multiple people. It'll be something similar to how he runs the live portion of this Week on Broadway for Patreon subscribers, but it will be a video. We can chat, we can talk about stuff. There might be a guest, there might just be us talking. Just depends on what kind of the vibe is and how many people want to be involved. But that is our plan. Moving forward again, things will ebb, things will flow. We will also throw in travelog episodes. We will also throw in reviews. We will also throw in all the dramas and stage crafts and all of those other things. So it really is hopefully going to be a robust opportunity for you to get all of the theater news, conversation and debates and and dialogue that I personally think Broadway Radio does better than anybody else. I know that there are a lot of theater podcasts out there and a lot of them focus more so on interviews than we do, although we obviously have tons of interviews. But we want Broadway Radio to kind of be the place where you go to listen to conversations with folks that you consider to be friends. And to be quite honest with you, I've met a lot of incredible, incredible people who I now consider friends through Broadway Radio, who started as listeners and have now become integral parts of my life. So that's how I have always viewed Broadway Radio. And that is kind of the goal and the focus of what we are doing here with this new kind of revamped and refocused look at Broadway Radio's Patreon. All right, everybody, I hope that you have a wonderful long holiday weekend. I know for many of us, this holiday is a little fraught given the climate of things that are happening around the country right now. So however you choose to celebrate, even if that is just focusing on your friends and family and being together, I hope that it is a wonderful, relaxing, safe and free weekend. And hopefully none of you have any trips to the emergency room because you were holding sparklers or fireworks a little bit too close to your body. We appreciate you all, whether you are listening in the regular feed or on Patreon. And we love doing what we do and it would not be possible without, without your support. So if you want to jump onto the Patreon family, you can head over to patreon.com broadwayradio or broadwayradio.com patreon. That first $5 tier gets you early access to all of the episodes that are in our regular feed at the mezzanine tier and above. You get all of the Patreon exclusive episodes. And depending on how high you go, that's where those video live chats come in, as well as other benefits. So head over there. Join us. We would love to have you. Have a great Friday, a great weekend, have a Grace and I will be off Today on Broadway on Monday as we will be busy celebrating the holiday on Sunday. So we'll be back with Today on Broadway on Tuesday.