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Welcome to Last Week on Broadway for Monday, January 26, 2026. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammanini. I have a whole host of news for you today, which is good because there's not a lot going on this coming week in terms of new things happening on or off Broadway in and around New York City. But last week we did get a slew of show and casting news. So I will run through all of that. Of course, depending on where you are listening from, I hope that you have survived Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse, what are calling it. I know generally when I look at weather forecasts for snow or down here in Florida for hurricanes, it's usually not nearly as bad as is forecasted. But I know a lot of people in my life, especially friends from Ohio and friends in Tennessee, where it actually ended up being more snow, ice and rain and all of that stuff than had been forecast. So I hope wherever you are, you are safe. You have power. You, you have all of the things that you need to stock up on, food, toilet paper, milk, eggs, all of those things that everybody rushes out to buy before some sort of impending natural disaster. But stay safe, stay warm, even if you work on Broadway and are forced to go out in this weather, which has been a little bit of a point of contention for some folks over the last few days. I hope you are safe, but let's dive into the news. And I had a lot to choose from as what was going to lead, but because I have been teasing this one, I'm going to start over at the Circle in the Square Theater where the replacement for Jonathan Groff in the role of Bobby Darin has officially been announced. I've been teasing this now for weeks, more than a month or so at this point, but the one and only Jeremy Jordan will take over the role beginning on April 21. He will replace Grof, who plays his final performance on March 29. Obviously, there will be about three weeks between Groff leaving Jeremy stepping in. So I'm assuming that Matt Magnussen, who has been Groff's standby and understudy, will take over in that time. But Jeremy currently returned to the role of Jay Gatsby in the Great Gatsby on Broadway. He will be in that role through March 7th. That gives him a few weeks with Eva Noble Zada as she will return to the show as well. From there, let's head over from the Circle in the Square over to the Todd Haymes Theater, where we got additional casting for the upcoming Broadway revival of Noel Coward's Fallen Angels from the Roundabout the last week we already knew that Rose Byrne and Kelly o' Hara were going to star in this production, but we found out a handful of other stars who are going to be a part of it when it Begins performances on March 27th. It is currently scheduled to play through Sunday, June 7th, which is Tony Sunday. Of course, the big one, at least perhaps for me, is the fact that actor and daytime talk show host Mark Consuelos will be making his Broadway debut in the production as Maurice Duclos. And I first became aware of Mark Consuelos when he played Mateo Santos on All my children some 30, 35 years ago. Of course, that is where he met his now wife Kelly Ripa, who played Hayley Von Santos. They got married on the show and now they host Live with Kelly and Mark. I don't know if he is going to continue to do that show during the run of this Broadway play, but still pretty cool. I've been a fan of his for a long time. He's also been on Riverdale and 911 and a ton of other things over the years. But excited to be able to see him on stage. He is being joined by the always delightful Tracy Chimo along with Tony Award nominee Christopher Fitzgerald and star of stage and screen Asif Manvi. While you might know him from the Daily show, it's important to remember that he played the role of Ally Hackam in the Not Sexy Oklahoma. But the revival before that for which Shuler Hensley won the Tony Awards. So returning to his Broadway roots as well, this is the complete cast directed by Scott Ellis. So looking forward to seeing this one when it begins. Performances in a few months. Now away from the casting side of things, we got some information for a show that a lot of people have been talking about and wondering about. I think we've even talked about it a little bit here on Broadway, but Cast the Jellicoe Ball officially announced how their seating is going to work. One of the things that had often been talked about when they were trying to decide whether or not the show was going to come to Broadway as well is how were they going to be able to maintain the catwalk aspect of the show that was so integral to the staging when it was off Broadway at Pac nyc. I'd originally, to be quite honest and frank with you, I had heard that it was going to go into the Al Hirschfeld Theater where Moulin Rouge currently is and Moulin Rouge was going to close. They were going to keep kind of that open Setup on the floor where the cancan seats are and they're going to have the catwalk come out into the audience. But we now of course know that that did not happen and the show is going to be playing at the Broadhurst Theater. They are not doing anything wild with taking out seats and building a catwalk into the audience. But what they have announced that they are going to do is they are going to bring seating up onto the stage. They're going to call them Runway seats and they are going to bring this catwalk out into in front of the stage. And then I guess from based off of the diagram that they put up on social media, which I will have there in the show notes as well, where maybe the pit normally is, there is going to be banquet seating. So there is going to be some seats on the ground, not a ton. And then they will have the regular orchestra. So we are going to get something similar to what we had off Broadway. It's not the exact same, but I think it's going to be really interesting. Rachel Hauck, who I think is brilliant, I she did the work for, for Hadestown and I obviously love that. So I'm sure they're going to be able to figure all of this out and make this really, really work. What's interesting is, is when I saw it at PAC nyc, the judges table was in between the end of the catwalk and the audience that was in front of the of the catwalk. Obviously there was things on the side. However, now the judges table is going to be completely upstage of the catwalk. So everybody in the audience, at least from the traditional orchestra and mezzanine will be able to see the judges table. And off Broadway they had, you know, some celebs and stuff like that come in to do the judging. I saw, I don't remember everybody, but I know Carrie Young was, was one of the judges when I was there. So I think this would be very cool. If you want to check it out, I have the press release as well as the Instagram picture in the show notes. Getting back to some show and casting news. Last week, the upcoming Broadway production of Stephen Adley Girgis Dog Day Afternoon announced a handful of other stars that were going to be joining the production. We already knew that Jon Bernthal would be playing Sonny and Evan, Moss Bacharach would be playing Sal. Joining them will be John Ortiz as Detective Ferreira, Jessica Hecht as Colleen and Spencer Garrett as Sheldon. Jessica Hecht, obviously somebody who a lot of theater fans know and while you might not know immediately the names John Ortiz, although he has worked with Stephen Adley Girgis before in Jesus hopped the A train between him and Spencer Garrett. I guarantee when you look at them you're like, oh yeah, I know those guys. You see them in so many things. There will be additional casting announced before performances begin at the August Wilson Theater on March 10. The show is currently scheduled to run through June 28 and is being directed by Rupert Gould. Now to circle back to a story we talked about last week. We got the majority of the casting announcement for the 6 Queens 5.0, but at the time I mentioned that we didn't know who was going to be playing Jane Seymour. My word on the street friends had told me that Kelsey Watts, multiple time former Broadway radio guest, would be staying in the role of the third Queen to marry Henry viii. But then it set said in the press release that all current Queens on Sage Queens at least would be ending in February. So that left us with a little bit of a question mark. But we did get confirmation shortly thereafter that another multiple time Broadway radio guest, Jasmine Forsberg, would be returning to the role of Jane Seymour on February 16th. She's going to be joining new cast members Dylan Mulvaney and Abigail Barlow. She'll be reuniting with Olivia Donaldson, who played Anna of Cleaves with her both on tour and on Broadway. And then all of them are going to be welcoming back original Broadway cast members Adriana Hicks and Anna Zulli. So I don't know what the reason was that Jasmine did not get announced with the rest of the cast. While I of course think Jasmine is a star and have been a fan of hers and a friend of hers for a long time, I don't think she warrants necessarily her own press release, especially with Adriana Hicks and Anna Azuli coming back to the production. So I imagine that there was some sort of scheduling, some sort of contractual thing that just wasn't ready at the time. Kelsey Watts did say when she announced a few days after the initial press release came out that she wasn't going to be returning, that she had another announcement that she couldn't quite make it. So I wonder if she was kind of on the fence about waiting to see if something was going to happen and whether or not she was going to come back. But nonetheless looking forward to seeing Jasmine back over at the Lena Horne Theater because you know, I will be sat for that now. Sticking with this six news, unfortunately, but perhaps predictably, when the announcement came out that Dylan Mulvaney would be taking over the role of Anne Boleyn and six on Broadway. There were a ton of Neanderthal knuckle draggers who decided that they were going to voice their biased and bigoted perspectives on this casting, especially targeting the six social media accounts. But the producers pretty quickly made a statement calling out this bigotry and bullying and temporarily limited access to the show's X account to make sure that there wasn't too much vile spewed. In the statement, the producers said, quote, while we welcome passionate engagement with the show, aggressive, threatening or abusive behavior is never acceptable as a production. We unequivocally condemn bullying in all its forms and remain committed to fostering a respectful, supportive environment for everyone involved. We are incredibly excited to welcome our incoming Broadway cast and we cannot wait to see them take the stage on her own. Mulvaney released a video on Instagram talking about the whole situation and said, quote, being a trans person in 2026, when this world is working against us in what feels like every way, for me to be able to step out onto a Broadway stage as Anne Boleyn and perform an iconic historical character's role in a show that is so rooted in celebrating femininity, I think it's a miracle. So miracles are possible. And I know I have a lot of privilege working for me and I have this platform which no doubt helped me get here, but sometimes we have to take a different route to get where we're supposed to go in life. So if I had to go viral and find myself in a far right media firestorm and spend many years and many tears wondering why that was happening, I would do it all over again if it meant that I got to be on stage now again, we talked about this when the announcement came out. Back before her transition, Mulvaney was a professional musical theater performer, having been in the national tour cast of Book of Mormon. But I also think it is kind of interesting that had six or some version of six been done contemporaneously with the, you know, the. The Tudor era, all of the queens would have been played by men, essentially putting them in drag at least. So having a trans actress in this role, especially the most controversial of all queens, I think is really a casting stroke of genius. So I will, as I said, whether it was Jasmine was going to be in the cast or not, I was going to undoubtedly see this cast in one of my favorite shows. So looking forward to that. Now, if this casting got some negative social media backlash, I do wonder what's going to happen when Omar goes on tour. Across the country. It announced this week that it will begin its national tour this fall in Hartford, Connecticut, before also hitting stops in Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and other stops to be announced. I think obviously a lot of those cities will be very friendly to the topic and whoever ends up playing Mary Todd Lincoln, but very excited to see how this plays across the country and I'm really hoping that it comes to Florida so I can see whatever cast ends up being in Omar on the Road Heading back to Broadway Last week, Chicago announced nearly a dozen new cast members that will be joining the production in the coming weeks. Some of them have already been a part of the production in the past, and some of them will be making their Chicago debuts. Returning to the show beginning Today, Monday the 26th are Sophie, Carmen Jones as Velma Kelly and Jacqueline B. Arnold as Matron Mama Morton. And rejoining the cast of Next Monday on February 2nd will be Greg Hildreth as Amos Hart, as well as a handful of ensemble members. But also joining the cast for the very first time as Mary Sunshine will be Michael Kilgore. Now, if you know the role of Mary Sunshine, at least in this production of Chicago, they go out of their way to hide what is a surprise for the show. So for this run, Michael, who has one of the best voices working on Broadway, is being billed as M. Kilgore. So if you see that, don't be confused, it is Michael Kilgore, obviously. Also on February 2nd, that will be the first performance of Secret Wives of Mormon Lives and Dancing with the Stars celebrity Whitney Levin. All right, let's head off Broadway real quick. And two of the most popular shows from last fall and last season are going to be making returns off Broadway. The first one will be Mexicus, which had a twice extended run off Broadway at the Manettelane Theater last fall. Fall it is now going to play at the Daryl roth Theater from March 6 through May 17. Hopefully that gets extended as well because this was one of the most critically acclaimed shows all season long and I'm hoping to have an opportunity to see that when I'm in town this spring. Another show that had many, many extensions off Broadway last season is the Bedlam Theater Company's new musical Music City. This show is going to move from the Upper west side's West End theater where it had previously played, down to a venue on West 42nd street near 10th Avenue, which is currently vacant, but it used to be the home of New York's Playboy Club. It is being transformed into a fully functional Nashville bar called the Wicked Tickle. Okay, whatever. It will serve as an immersive space so audiences can come into the bar, they can get a drink and it will really fully immerse you in the world of a Nashville bar, which is so important. The fabric of what Nashville is. Of course, they have their own Broadway. That's a different type of entertainment thoroughfare in Music City, but I think that is kind of cool. The performances will begin on March 23rd with an official opening on April 8th. The show features songs by multi platinum songwriter J.T. harding. And then while it is not technically off Broadway, I do think we should probably mention the fact that Magic Mike Live is coming to New York City this fall. It was created and directed by the star of the Magic Mike franchise of films, Channing Tatum. It is going to play in a custom built venue near Times Square at 268 W. 47th St. Beginning performances on Oct. 8. There are versions of this show playing in both Vegas and London. It is a 90 minute show that is described as being a combination of world class dance, athleticism and acrobatics layered with music and comedy grounded in a message of confidence, celebration and empowerment. The cast will be led by Sebastian Melo Tavera as Mike. Now you might remember that there was supposed to be a Magic Mike musical coming to Broadway written by Kit and Yorkie. And then right when they were going to start performances either at an out of town tryout or rehearsals on Broadway, I don't remember exactly. The plug got pulled because it apparently wasn't very good. So it'll be interesting to see what this not a musical, very different thing is going to look like in New York City. And then moving up to Lincoln Center Theater, we got the casting announcement for the upcoming new musical by the Lazores called Nightside Songs that'll begin performances on Valentine's Day February 14th at the Claire Tow Theater. It is going to be directed by Tabi Megar who directed the Lazores, We Live in Cairo Off Broadway as well. It'll feature Robin DeJesus, Brooke Ishibashi, Jonathan Raviv Garrett, Mary Testa and Chris St. Louis. And then finally we got some exciting news for all of you Phantom fans out there because Masquerade has announced a new 14 week extension that will now carry it through July 5th of this year and the introduction of some new cast members. Quentin Earl Darrington, Ryan Vona and Adi Morales will step into the revolving roles of Phantom and Christine. Dan Hoy will join the cast as one of the Raul with Liz Pierce as Madame Giry and Cooper Stanton as Bouquet. Bouquet. I'm not sure the pronunciation of that name, but nonetheless, I still haven't seen this. I'm hoping I'm gonna see it in the spring when I am in town, as I start to look forward to when I will be coming to town. All right, let's wrap up with a look at what's going to be happening in theater this week. First, starting on Wednesday, January 28th off Broadway, assuming everything with Snowpack Apocalypse allows this to happen, will be the first performance of the new dance show 11 to Midnight. It is from the viral choreography dance creators Cost and Mayer along with Hideaway Circus. It is going to be playing the Orpheum Theater for what is said to be a 12 week only run from January 28th through April 19th. Also on Wednesday here in Orlando over the Dr. Phillips center will be the opening night for a three week run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It began performances this past Saturday and is going to be running through February 15th. I know that many of us have very complicated, or to be quite honest with you, not that complicated feelings about all things Harry Potter related. I personally choose not to give any money to anything related to Harry Potter or J.K. rowling. From a professional perspective, I will be there for opening night. So I will will have a review of the show because that is my job. That is what I am paid to do and what I am invited to these shows to do. But I also recognize that for many of us it is a very uncomfortable thing. As I've talked about many times before, I have real no emotional connection to Harry Potter. I've never seen the movies, never read the books. I have seen Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway once. But being here, especially in central Florida where Harry Potter is such a big deal with the wizard world over at Universal, I imagine that this will be a very, very hot ticket. And while I hope that the people who go enjoy it, I also think it's very important to remind people that J.K. rowling, who is a billionaire, actively uses the money that she makes from everything, but especially the Harry Potter extended universe to pump funds into bigoted anti trans campaigns where she has kind of made herself the patron for for what is known as TERFs or Trans Exclusionary radical feminists. So somebody who tries to pit trans and non binary people against women as a way to justify their prejudice and their bias and their bigotry. So I will be going on Wednesday. I will be doing a review for this but for me personally, I cannot condone or encourage anybody spending money on anything Harry Potter related. But I know especially here in central Florida that there are many people who will be excited about this show. So I just want you, as you are trying to weigh the moral equation of your nostalgia versus giving money to J.K. rowling, just keep that in mind. And especially as we see so many different examples around the world, and especially in our country, of people taking marginalized groups, be they trans and non binary people or immigrants, and using them to scapegoat their evil and hatred. Please keep that in mind. Then on Sunday we will have the first Off Broadway performance of the Tragedy of Coriolanus out in Brooklyn at Theater for a New Audience. This one is being directed by Ash K. Tata and is expected to play through March 1st. Then we will have the closing of Liberation and Mamma Mia. Both great shows. Please go see me if you have the opportunity. And then also out in Brooklyn, the Tommy Kail directed production of Anna Christie, which stars his wife Michelle Williams, will close as well. All right everybody, that is all that I have for you on this episode of last week on Broadway. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for supporting us. If you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio broadwayradio.com Patreon thanks again for listening and we'll talk to you soon.