Last Week on Broadway: Monday, Aug. 10, 2026

Summary

Podcast Summary: BroadwayRadio – Last Week on Broadway: Monday, Aug. 10, 2026

Overview

In this episode, host Matt Tamnini recaps the most significant Broadway news from the week of August 3–10, 2026, covering major casting announcements, one-night-only reunions, Off-Broadway premieres, and upcoming productions. The episode is lively, enthusiastic, and rich with insider knowledge and speculation, providing both context and personal insights for theater fans eager to keep up with what’s happening on and off the Great White Way.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. New York City Center Encores’ "You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown" Casting (01:00–03:30)

• Four stars for the upcoming Encores production were revealed:
  • Charlie Brown: David Hyde Pierce
  • Snoopy: Ayo Edebiri
  • Lucy: Danielle Brooks
  • Linus: Jin Ha
• Direction by Sam Pinkleton, choreography by Sonny Minhook Hit, with music direction by Megan Zervilis Bate.
• Notably, it’s the original version of the show (not the updated one with Andrew Lippa's songs).
• Quote: “David Hyde Pierce… is somebody who is perfect.” (Matt Tamnini, 02:30)
• Production runs February 3–14, 2027.

2. "Shuffle Along" Broadway Cast Reunion at Lincoln Center (03:35–05:15)

• The original cast, including icons like Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Billy Porter, will reunite for a one-night concert on September 27 at Rose Theatre.
• Matt laments the show's lack of a cast album, expressing hope for a recording at this event.
• History recap: Show closed early in 2016, with producer Scott Rudin controversially blaming Audra McDonald’s pregnancy.
• Quote: “The opportunity to see these phenomenal artists back together on stage… would be incredibly special.” (Matt Tamnini, 04:45)
• Presale begins September 2, general on sale September 9.

3. Ariana DeBose to Lead "Sweet Charity" Workshop (05:16–06:40)

• Tony Award nominee and Oscar winner Ariana DeBose will star in a new, grittier workshop of "Sweet Charity".
• Directed and choreographed by Jeff and Rick Cooperman, known for Tony-nominated work on "The Outsiders".
• This version will echo the Fellini film’s darker tones, possibly depicting Charity's roots as a sex worker more explicitly.
• Quote: “From what I understand, this will be a little bit more gritty version of Sweet Charity…” (Matt Tamnini, 06:04)

4. Rise of Micro Dramas & "Theater Kids vs. Zombies" (06:41–07:47)

• Micro dramas—short serial videos—are rising in popularity.
• Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita are developing "Theater Kids vs. Zombies" for the microdrama platform ‘A Twist’.
• Premise: High school theater kids must defeat zombies with musical theater.
• Matt humorously questions the logic: “One of the ways to defeat zombies is through a kickball change?” (Matt Tamnini, 07:30)

5. Major Broadway & Off-Broadway Casting Announcements (07:48–11:45)

"Oh, Mary!" – Bowen Yang as Mary Todd Lincoln (07:50–08:25)

• Bowen Yang will take over from Cole Escola for a 12-week run, beginning September 15.
• “This is phenomenal casting, absolutely perfect…” (Matt Tamnini, 08:20)

"& Juliet" – Anthony Gargiula as Francois (08:26–08:50)

• Viral “kitchen singer” Anthony Gargiula joins "& Juliet" on September 15 through December 6.

"Hadestown" – Ben Davis as Hades (08:51–09:36)

• After cast controversy and Geno Seggers’ public apology, Ben Davis will step into the role of Hades at the Walter Kerr Theater starting September 1.
• Quote: “…as good of an apology as you can possibly get for words on social media.” (Matt Tamnini, 09:08)

"Rocky Horror Show" – New Casting (09:37–10:00)

• Jim and Moon will play Rocky and George Salazar will be the new Eddie/Dr. Scott from August 25.
• They replace Josh Rivera and Harvey Guillén.

"The Visitors" at Second Stage (10:01–10:40)

• Cast includes Esko Jolie, Will Pullen, Mary Wiseman, Danny Woolahan, and Celia Keenan-Bolger.
• Play revolves around a woman inviting her siblings over to ask a shocking favor.

"Midnight" by Todrick Hall (10:41–11:19)

• The show transfers from London to Off-Broadway’s Daryl Roth Theater, beginning September 12.
• High-profile, controversial production starring Todrick Hall himself—with notable cast members Autumn Hurlburt, Kennedy Cogle, Jeremy Billow, and JJ Nieman.
• Set in the 19th-century American South, exploring race through interconnected lives.

"Seven Guitars" Revival Casting at Lincoln Center (11:20–11:45)

• August Wilson’s play runs Nov 5–Jan 10, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson.
• Cast highlights: Shantae Adams, Jason Dirden, Russell Hornsby, Kristolyn Lloyd, Michael Potts, Rosalind Ruff, John Douglas Thompson.

6. This Week’s Theatrical Schedule (11:46–13:45)

Openings:

• Tuesday (Aug 11):

  • Revival of Wendy Wasserstein’s "An American Daughter" at Pershing Square Signature Center (through Sept 20).
  • Shakespeare in the Park’s "The Winter’s Tale" at Delacorte Theatre (through Aug 23).

• Friday (Aug 14):

  • Broadway premiere of "Paranormal Activity" at August Wilson Theater.
  • Small cast: Cher Alvarez, Shannon Cochran, Travis A. Knight, Eva Kaminski.

Closings:

• Saturday (Aug 15): "The Saviors" at Atlantic Theatre Company.
• Sunday (Aug 16): "Ragtime" closes its acclaimed revival at Vivian Beaumont.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “David Hyde Pierce… is somebody who is perfect.” (Matt Tamnini, 02:30 – on "Charlie Brown" casting)
• “The opportunity to see these phenomenal artists back together on stage… would be incredibly special.” (04:45 – on "Shuffle Along" reunion)
• “From what I understand, this will be a little bit more gritty version of Sweet Charity…” (06:04 – on "Sweet Charity" workshop)
• “One of the ways to defeat zombies is through a kickball change?” (07:30 – on "Theater Kids vs. Zombies")
• “This is phenomenal casting, absolutely perfect…” (08:20 – on Bowen Yang in "Oh, Mary!")
• “As good of an apology as you can possibly get for words on social media.” (09:08 – on Geno Seggers’ apology for "Hadestown")
• “You had me at Autumn Hurlburt and Kennedy Coghill, so I will absolutely be seated…” (11:13 – on "Midnight")

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:00 – "Charlie Brown" Encores casting
• 03:35 – "Shuffle Along" reunion
• 05:16 – Ariana DeBose and "Sweet Charity"
• 06:41 – Micro dramas & "Theater Kids vs. Zombies"
• 07:48 – Broadway casting updates:
  • 07:50: "Oh, Mary!" – Bowen Yang
  • 08:26: "& Juliet" – Anthony Gargiula
  • 08:51: "Hadestown" – Ben Davis
  • 09:37: "Rocky Horror Show" – new Rocky, Eddie/Dr. Scott
  • 10:01: "The Visitors" (Second Stage)
  • 10:41: "Midnight" (Daryl Roth, Todrick Hall)
  • 11:20: "Seven Guitars" at Lincoln Center
• 11:46 – This week’s show openings and closings

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Final Thoughts

Matt delivers a comprehensive and passionate update for Broadway fans, marked by insider tidbits, humor, and anticipation for what’s coming up on stage. His excitement for new casting—especially David Hyde Pierce, Bowen Yang, and the return of big stars—sets a lively, optimistic tone for the theater community. This episode is a must-listen (or read) for anyone keeping track of New York theater’s ever-changing landscape.

Transcript

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to Last Week on Broadway for Monday, August 10, 2026. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamnini and I'm here to run you through all of the biggest news from the past seven days in the world of New York theater and beyond. I will also get you through a handful of things that are happening in this upcoming week across New York City, but we are going to start at New York City Center Encores because last week four of the stars for the upcoming Encores production of youf Good Man Charlie Brown were revealed and oh, it's a doozy. We already knew that Sam Pinkleton would be directing the original version of the show. Not the updated version that has new songs by Andrew Lippa that helped Kristin Chenoweth win a Tony Award, but the original version based on the Charles Schulz Peanuts comic that features book, music and lyrics by Clark Gessner. Pinkleton will direct, it'll be choreographed by Sonny Minhook Hit and music direction will be by Megan Zervilis Bate and and starring in the show as Charlie Brown will be somebody who, while a bit older than you would normally think someone playing Charlie Brown would be is somebody who is perfect. David Hyde Pierce playing Snoopy will be IO Adebiri, which is awesome. I just finished watching the final season of the Bear and she is exquisite as always. Even though I thought the first half of that season could have been an email rather than five episodes. Joining them as Lucy will be the magnificent Danielle Brooks and playing Linus will be IO's Proof co star Jin Ha. The show will run at New York city center from February 3rd through the 14th. With this casting that means that we will have a couple other people joining the production. We will have a Peppermint Patty and a Schroeder, but we won't have the Sally Brown, which is the role that Kristin Chenoweth did in the Broadway revival. Going from one incredibly exciting star studded short run production to another Last week it was announced that the original Broadway cast of Shuffle along or the Making of the musical sensation of 1921 and all that followed will reunite at Lincoln center in September for a one night only concert. It will happen at Lincoln Center's Rose Theatre on Sunday, September 27 and the original stars of the show, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Brandon Victor Dixon, Norm Lewis, Adrian Warren, Brooke Sashmanskas and Amber Amman are slated to appear. Of course, we never got a cast album for this show, so it would be wonderful if somehow they were able to record this. The show only ran for 138 performances on Broadway. Producer Scott Rudin decided to close the show and in one way or another blamed Audra McDonald's pregnancy for the closing, which everyone at the time knew was a bit of a cop out and obviously with everything that has happened with Rudin since then, looks even more suspicious. But the opportunity to see these phenomenal artists back together on stage and like I said, hopefully get a cast album of some sort would be incredibly special. The member presale starts on September 2nd and the general on sale begins in just under a month on September 9th. Before we get into some casting news, last week it was also announced that Tony Award nominee and Oscar winner Ariana DeBose will lead a new workshop of the iconic musical Suite Charity. This is something that has been in the works and in the plans for a very long time, so I'm excited to see this actually moving forward. It'll be helmed both direction and choreography by the Cooperman brothers, Jeff and Rick Cooperman. They of course were Tony nominated for their work with the Outsiders. From what I understand, this will be a little bit more gritty version of Sweet Charity that hues a little more closer to the Fellini film that inspired the musical. Obviously the original show starred Gwen Verdon and was directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse. And while that is still the show, they are going to lean a little bit more into the grittiness of what is called in the musical a taxi dancer. But in the Fellini film, the character of Kabiria, who is Charity in the musical, is actually a sex worker. So I don't know if they're going to make that a little bit more explicit in this production, but it certainly seems like they're going to be leaning into that gritty original version a little bit more than in the past. Now, I don't know if your algorithms are like mine, but for quite a while now I have been getting served a ton of videos and long extended trailers for these micro dramas. Which might be a little bit in part because I enjoy so many Hallmark movies. But if you didn't know, these micro dramas, which are generally hour ish long movies but divided into 20 to 25 mini episodes, have become very popular online as ways for people to consume short form entertainment on their phones rather than having to watch a full movie on a streaming service on tv. Well, Broadway alum Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband Justin Makita are starting to get into the micro series space with a new musical comedy called Theater Kids versus Zombies. They are doing it for microdrama streaming service A Twist and it follows a group of scrappy theater kids who, when zombies attack their high school, realize that their only hope for survival is to put on the greatest musical of their lives. My brother is a huge devotee of all things zombies. He has never told me that one of the ways to defeat zombies is through a kickball change. So I will have to I guess check this out to see exactly how they can defeat the Walking Dead with a good jazz square. Alright, let's dive into the aforementioned show and casting news and we're gonna start on Broadway because when Omar originally began its run, I had heard the person who was going to replace Cola Scola initially was going to be Saturday Night Live alum Bowen Yang. And in fact I had actually talked about it and teased about it when Bowen said that he was leaving Saturday Night Live. Well, it didn't happen, you know, all those years and months ago, but it will happen. Starting next month, Bowen Yang will take over the role of Mary Todd Lincoln for a 12 week run beginning on September 15th. We don't yet know exactly who will be joining Bowen in the cast, but this is phenomenal casting, absolutely perfect and cannot wait to hear what he brings to the role. In another fairly interesting casting news and Juliet will be bringing in social media star and singer Anthony Gargiula, who is known for his Kitchen singing series when along with friend Jonathan Tilkin have some of the absolute best vocalists in the world just come to the Kitchen and sing with them. Everybody from Lea Salonga to Kristen Bell to Kelly Clarkson, everybody in the world who has an amazing voice has come to the Kitchen and sang with them. If you don't know them, follow along. But Anthony will be joining the production as Francois on September 15th and is currently slated to play the part through December 6th. Moving from the Sondheim to the Walter Kerr. Last week we talked about all of the controversy around the casting and then firing of Geno Seggers over at Hadestown, Seggers has issued an apology and while I realize that all of these apologies of this manner are generally written by publicist and crisis management people, it seemed like as good of an apology as you can possibly get for words on social media. So we'll hopefully take Seggers at his word that he is learning from this and is not the hateful bigot that he portrayed himself to be on social media. But we now know who will be playing Hades alongside the aforementioned Norbert Leo, but Jasmine, Savoy Brown, Amber Amon and Keiko. That will be Tony honoree Ben Davis, who received a Tony Honors for doing La Bohme. He will begin the role as the King of the Underworld at the Walter Kerr on September 1st. Moving uptown a bit to Studio 54, we got a few new replacements over at the Rocky Horror Show. We now know that Jim and Moon will take over the role of Rocky beginning on August 25, and George Salazar will become the new Eddie and Dr. Scott on the same day. They replace Josh Rivera and Harvey Guillen, respectively, who wrap up their runs on August 23rd. Continuing our casting expedition Off Broadway last week's second stage announced the full cast for Bryna Turner's new Off Broadway show the Visitors, that will begin performances in October on October 2 and will open on November 9. It is directed by Broadway star in her own right, Jenna Worsham. The cast will include Esko Jolie, Will Pullen, former Broadway radio guest Mary Wiseman and Danny Woolahan, and the voice of my text message ringtone, Celia Keenan Bolger. The show follows Joanna, who is in her mid-30s and eager to become a parent when she invites her three siblings to her New York City apartment to ask them for a shocking favor. They're all forced to get to know each other as adults, but whether they'll emerge from the visit closer or more at odds than ever is anyone's guess. Sticking Off Broadway Last week the cast was announced for the North American premiere of Todrick Hall's musical Midnight that'll begin performances off Broadway at the Daryl Rod Roth Theater following two sold out engagements in London. Now, I have heard that this show is a hoping to use this Off Broadway run as a catapult to Broadway and that b a ton of people that I know who have seen the show in London loved it. They talk about the fact that it is controversial with a capital C but that it is a really great show. So I'm excited, especially because this cast is full of some folks that I really really love, including my guest from a special episode last week, Kennedy Cogle, another former Broadway radio guest, one of my all time fates, Autumn Hurlburt. They are joined by the voice star Jeremy Billowait, Jimmy Brewer, Dwayne Clark, Tony nominee Sidney Dupont, who starred with Kennedy in Paradise Square, Ayanna George Colby Jordan, Sara Lynn, Marion Kyrian McCarthy and Charlotte Odusanya. Also in the ensemble is a name you might be familiar with in JJ Nieman. Performances will begin at the Daryl Roth on September 12th and is currently scheduled to play through November 8th. Not only is Todrick hall the writer and director of the show, he will be starring in it as well. It is set in the American south during the 19th century and follows 12 interconnected lives of six black characters and six white characters whose relationships challenge the worlds they have inherited and the assumptions they carry. Look, you had me at Autumn Hurlburt and Kennedy Coghill, so I will absolutely be seated to the Darrell Roth when I am in town in October and then moving back uptown to Lincoln Center. Last week the company announced the full casting for the upcoming Off Broadway revival of August Wilson's seven guitars that will begin performances on November 5th. It'll be a limited run playing through January 10th with Ruben Santiago Hudson directing. Featured in the production will be Shantae Adams, Jason Dearden, Russell Hornsby, Kristalln Lloyd, Michael Potts, Rosalind Ruff and the always phenomenal John Douglas Thompson. Alright, let's take a minute real quick to run through this week's theatrical schedule, starting with two openings on Tuesday night. The first one will happen at the Pershing Square Signature center from La Femme Theatre Productions. It will be the Off Broadway revival of Wendy Wasserstein's play An American Daughter. It features Montego Glover, Robert Shawn Leonard, Jean Lichty, Dakin Matthews, Mary Beth Peele, Ryan Spahn and more. The show opens on Tuesday and is currently scheduled to play through September 20th. Also happening on Tuesday night over at the Delacorte Theatre, we will have the official opening night for Shakespeare in the Park's The Winter's Tale is currently playing through August 23rd and features a phenomenal cast including Chuck Cooper, Raul Esparza, Isabel Ferreira, Lily Rabe, Steven Skybell, Marcia Stephanie Blake and more. Then on Friday on Broadway, we have the next addition to the 20262027 season with the official first preview of Paranormal Activity over at the August Wilson Theater. Obviously inspired by the film series of the same name, it features a script written by Levi Holloway and is directed by by Felix Barrett. The cast is just four people, three of whom are making their Broadway debuts. Cher, Alvarez, Shannon Cochran and Travis A Knight with Broadway vet Eva Kaminski rounding out the quartet. Then over the weekend we have two closings, one on Broadway and one off. We will start off Broadway on Saturday, August 15th with the Atlantic Theatre Company's final performance of the Saviors and then on Sunday up at Lincoln Center, Ragtime will end its tour Tony Award winning multi extended run at the Vivian Beaumont. Of course I will have information on all of these shows in the show notes if you want to check that out. All right everybody, that's all that I have for you today. Thank you so much for supporting Broadway radio. If you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio thank you for spending a little bit of time with me and listening. This has been Matt Tamminini and I'll talk to you soon. I love my phone but not my carrier.

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