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Grace and Matt’s top theatre of 2024
00:16:57
Any and all feedback is appreciated:Grace Aki: grace@broadwayradio.com | @ItsGraceAkiMatt Tamanini: matt@broadwayradio.com | @BWWMatt Patreon: BroadwayRadiohttps://www.patreon.com/broadwayradio For a transcript of this episode,
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- [00:04]
A
Bring out the old, bring in the new. A midnight wish to share with you. Your lips are warm, my head is light. Were we alive before tonight? I don't need a crowded ballroom Everything I want is here if you're with me. Next year will be the perfect year.
- [00:46]
B
Hello, everybody, and welcome to a new episode here on Broadway Radio. We are just a couple days away from 2025, so, Grace, you and I are going to look back at some of our favorite theater of the past year. As I'm looking at my list, I don't even remember seeing some of these things, but, like, I'm so glad to go back and, like, see these shows that I loved. We don't really have necessarily, like, how we're going to do this. We're just going to, like, kind of throw out maybe three to five things a piece. We can rank them, we can not rank them. It doesn't matter. But we're going to talk about some shows that we absolutely loved. So I'll start off and I'm going to throw out something that is. Is not something that most people listening to this saw because it was down here in Florida. I saw a production of Beautiful over at the Malta Jupiter Theater that happened, I mean, just a little over a year ago. It was in. In early to mid January. It had Briana Barnes, who I interviewed here on the podcast. Nicholas Rodriguez was in it as well. And it was just a. I. I love that show because I think it's just like one of the early examples of how jukebox musicals could be successful and bio musicals can be successful because it's a really funny script. Things go very quickly. But Brianna Barnes is fantastic. She has gone on to play Carol a number of times and I think might actually be doing it right now. So I loved this production of Beautiful. I saw another production of Beautiful at Papermill Playhouse with our friend Kira Kennedy as Carol, who's also kind of doing a lot of those as, like, once you kind of get into that role, you get to do it quite, quite a bit. But, yeah, just really good. Like, I love that show and I love good productions of it. So regional productions of Beautiful were high on my list last year. Grace.
- [02:40]
C
I mean, that is surprising only because I've never seen it. So it's wild for it. Like, it is just being done all across the country. I think that Beautiful and Jersey Boys are the two shows that everyone's like, you get it. You're doing them, you know, but, yeah. So I love.
- [02:57]
B
But they all sell well. They always sell well. So, yeah, Jersey Boys is good.
- [03:02]
C
I just haven't seen Beautiful, so I don't know.
- [03:05]
B
Yeah, you should. All right, so give me something on your list. Doesn't have to be like a five through one kind of thing. Just give me something that was on your. Towards the top of your favorite theater experiences from this past year.
- [03:17]
C
I had never seen the hit Andrew Lloyd Webber show Cats. I'd never seen it in film. I'd never seen it in. Because it was just something that I was really not interested in. I like real cats, Matt. You know, I have a cat. I love Cats. I don't need to see people trying to do that. I don't need to see your actor piece on, you know, the Alexander method of you being a cat. Like, Alexander technique. Like, I don't need that. But what I saw downtown at the Pac of Cats, the Jellicle Ball, was extraordinary. The direction was extraordinary. And this is not something that is like a new take for guys. Like, everyone that I know felt similarly, but what an amazing way to experience that piece for the first time. And now I don't want anybody else to do it. I don't want to see any other versions. That's it. It's definitive. It was amazing.
- [04:10]
B
Yeah. Katz was also one of the highlights of. Of my year as well. I'm going to throw in a musical here that I hope has another life because it is. It's not a Broadway type thing at all, but it is so different and so unique, but so engaging that I ate it up. I loved it. It's called Three Houses and it was at Signature. It was written by Dave Malloy and directed by Annie Tippie. It featured Margot Siebert, Mia Pack, JD Mollison, Ching Valdez, Iran, Henry Stram and Scott Stanglund. And it was basically about how these three individual people kind of ended up isolated in their own places, in their own homes during the pandemic and how that changed who they were and changed their lives. It's ethereal, it is bizarre, it is weird, it's a little bit magical. But it is so different because, like, each person has their own third of the musical and they don't really overlap at all. The characters kind of come in and out as they play other people, but, like, they all just have their own little section of the show where they basically sing for 30 to 40 minutes by themselves the whole time. And it is mesmerizing. It is certainly a unique piece of theater that I don't think we see anything like we've ever seen anything like before, and that is not a surprise from Dave Malloy, but Signature Theaters, Three Houses was incredible. And I believe there's a cast album. Off the top of my head. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe there's a cast album or at least one coming. So you should definitely take a listen and. And. And see what that's all about. All right, Grace, what else is on your list?
- [06:04]
C
Yeah. So here's the thing, Matt. Am I not gonna not mention the heart of rock and roll? I have to. You have to. I have to. And this actually was part of my top of the year because I have known about the show for so many years. I know that, you know, my partner and other people have worked on the show for. For many, many moons. And even if it wasn't the longest run that we all wanted, it got to Broadway. The people that put it together love Hughie and love the show. And I loved getting to have a great time at the theater. I laughed and cried and clapped every single time I went to see it. And I miss it. I really do. It was such a joy. It was a joy machine. And, yeah, I just feel like that was. That has to be in my top of the year. Like, I have such great memories of going to see that show with friends and family and getting to see F, like, rock on stage. Not as I'll do a snowman or, you know, a child that was hungry for a chocolate river. Like, it was nice to see F as a grown adult person with a voice. So I miss that show a lot, and it's definitely in my top for the heart of rock and roll. It was also when USA Today's top of the year, top 10 shows of the year. USA Today said heart of rock and roll. So just saying.
- [07:26]
B
Love that. And correct me if I'm wrong, I feel like we're gonna get an opportunity to hear F sing some Huey Lewis in another show coming up, Right?
- [07:37]
C
Hour of Love may or may not be in there. I do not know for a fact, but I do know for a fact.
- [07:43]
B
Yeah, if you are either in Florida or in New Jersey, you might have a chance to see that very soon. All right, I'm gonna throw in a couple things. Like, I loved I saw Hadestown again a couple times this year, but I loved the cast with Maya Rafico and Jordan Fisher and. And Philip Boykin. They are great. Saw six a couple times. Loved that. Also, I loved Teeth. Like, I was late to the party and didn't see it at Playwrights. Saw it off Broadway Loved teeth. So those are all up there. But in terms of, like, my upper echelon, there are three shows I'll start. Because you were talking about a Broadway musical. I'll start with a Broadway musical. And it's Sunset, like Sunset Boulevard is such a staggering thing that I don't really know that we are going to appreciate how special it is for a while. It is such a unique experience, not just because of the video element and the going outside element, but just the buzz that I felt when I was in the St. James. And full disclosure, I was supposed to be at the St. James again this past week, but ended up in the hospital instead, so I couldn't go check it out for a second time, although I do have tickets to see Mandy Gonzalez in January. It is just such a special thing when you can make theater feel like a rock concert. And not necessarily because the music's super loud or not because there's like, you know, disco lights or EDM music pounding in the pre show, but just because people are on the edge of their seats excited for the experience. And I've never been to a Taylor Swift concert, but I imagine the giddiness that I felt in the St. James, not just from me, but from everybody around me in the pre show, to see Nicole Scherzinger on Sunset Boulevard is not dissimilar from what people felt when they were sitting in a big stadium ahead of the ERAS tour. And that is something that is very special and it's hard to do, and somehow Jamie Lloyd and his team and his cast have captured that. So I hope that it still feels the same six months after the show's been open. A year, two years. Who knows how long this thing is going to run. But it was such a special and unique experience that it's something that I'm going to remember and treasure for a long time. All right, Grace, what else is at the top of mind for you?
- [10:08]
C
You know, if you look at my Spotify wrapped, you'll see that three of my top five songs are from Stereophonic. I would be insane to not say Stereophonic because that.
- [10:17]
B
It's on my list, too.
- [10:18]
C
Yeah, yeah. Like, it's just an incredible play. It came out of nowhere for me because I did not get to see it at. What was it? Signature or Playwrights.
- [10:27]
B
Or Playwrights. Playwrights.
- [10:29]
C
Yeah. I'm like one of those on 42nd. And I just. It lived up to every bit of hype for me, and that's not often. Right. I think that there's kind of this, like, Aggressive hive mind of theater being like, this is the best thing. And then I'm always like, well, we'll see about that. And this really was like. I loved it so much. The performances were spectacular. So I have to say Stereophonic.
- [10:53]
B
Yeah, that was undoubtedly on my list as well. So stereophonic, you said it. It's great. I saw it both off Broadway and on Broadway and it is a magical piece of theater. All right, Grace, since you talked about Stereophonic, I'm going to talk about. Well, I'm going to talk about two shows together, one of them mainly. But the two shows I'm going to pair together here is. I'm going to pair them because they both occurred in the exact same space that only seats about 40 to 50 people. The first one, which is not at the top of my list, but it's towards the top of my list, is a small play called Animal Kingdom that happened upstairs at the Connolly Theater. And it's in a small intimate space. It featured David Cromer, Tasha Lawrence, Lily McInerney, Uli Schlesinger and Calvin Leon Smith. It had to do with a family going through family therapy at an in person clinic, at an inpatient clinic where their son was. Was living. Loved that play. It was fantastic. But the other show that happened in that exact same space is actually my number one show of 2024. I saw it three times and that was pre existing Condition. I saw it originally with Tatiana Maslany and then I saw it later with Edie Falco. And it is a show that really just kind of broke a lot of of rules for me because of how intimate it was. The main character, known as A is dealing with a domestic violence situation and kind of going through all of the emotions. It was written by one of our great actors, Marin Ireland, and directed by Maria Dizzia, who is also a Tony nominated actor. So it was very interesting to see this show that has such great actor input from all sides, where you could feel that everything that you saw on stage was designed to make the actors better. And it was so raw and so obvious. Tatiana Maslany opened the production and I think that gave her a little bit of an advantage over Edie who came in during an extension where she just. It just felt so exposed and so incredible. The show is done with a. The main character with a script in hand, but Tat never needed it other than when it was clearly directed. But it just felt so authentic. And it was very clear that Marin had poured everything in her life and in her history. If you want to read about that. You can read about it in multiple places, including the New York Times, but it was just very moving. But to be also so close where like, the first time I saw it, like, Tatiana Maslany, like, spent the first couple minutes, like 2ft away from me, sitting on the ground or kneeling on the ground next to me. And to be in a room with these great actors that also included Greg Keller, who went on to co star in Yellowface on Broadway. After that, Dale Orlander Smith, and Sarah Steele, who was a guest on the show here as well. It was just very powerful. So I love that. I love kind of the breaking the mold of what you can do with theater in these tiny, tiny spaces. So preexisting condition. I loved Animal Kingdom in that same space. I also loved. But yeah, so that was my pre existing condition was my favorite thing that I saw this year. All right, Grace, anything else from you that you want to make sure that you shout out before we wrap up 2024?
- [14:26]
C
No, I just want to say that, like, I really love where we are with comedies. I know that sounds like really stupid, but after seeing oh Mary and On My Way to see all in, and also having seen maybe Happy Ending, which is just the world to me, I really like where we are with some of these comedies. There was a while where I was like, I don't think we're funny anymore. But you know what? I have a lot of hope now because of some of these shows.
- [14:56]
B
Yeah, definitely. Oh Mary was just on the outside of my list. Other things like the Notebook and Suffs and Outsiders were up there as well. So Jonah, I want to mention Jonah as well, which is an off Broadway show that I thought was spectacular. Just a lot of really, really good stuff. So it was a very, very good year for theater and I appreciate everyone, like following along and listening to our thoughts on it, not just on this episode, but throughout the entire year as well. All right, everybody, let us know what your favorite pieces of theater were from the 2024 calendar year. We are heading into another year where it is going to be incredible, incredibly exciting with tons of unique and engaging shows filled with stars of both stage and screen. So hopefully this time next year, we'll have just as much excitement over everything that we've seen in 2025 as we do for 2024. Have a great rest of your day and we'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.
- [16:05]
A
It's New Year's Eve and hopes are high. Dance One year in Kiss One Goodbye, Another chance, Another start. So many dreams to tease the heart we don't need a crowd Everything we want is he and face to face we will embrace the perfect he.