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welcome to Last Week on Broadway for Monday, June 22, 2026. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammanini. I'm going to run you through all of the news that we have missed over the past seven days and we are going to start on Broadway with everybody's favorite Peruvian bear. That's right, Paddington. Because Paddington the Musical has confirmed after winning seven Olivier Awards in the west. And it will set up shop at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, which I have been teasing for quite a while. Quite a while. Beginning performances on March 30th of next year ahead of an April 18th opening. Obviously based on the classic children's books as well as the films, the show features music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher and a book by Jessica Swale with direction from Luke Shepard. Sonja Friedman Productions is the lead producer on the show. And what makes this show especially unique is the fact that obviously a walking talking bear is the star. But unlike what we have seen so often with with not only Broadway shows, but shows all around, when you're dealing with anthropomorphized animals, especially those in an otherwise real world, is instead of having direct puppeting on stage, where you see the artist doing the puppeting instead, what we have here is a different type of puppeting, but it is still puppeting. What you have in Paddington the Musical is actually two different people playing the role of Paddington. The first is a little person inside the costume that you see on stage. The other is somebody backstage monitoring what is happening on stage and actually delivering the dialogue. There is a bit of mystery as to how those two things work together, as the production has never exactly confirmed who's controlling the facial expressions and all of those things as well. But hopefully we will get more of those details when the show makes it to New York. But nonetheless, this has been an incredibly well reviewed show from both critics and audiences. At the Oliviers. It tied for the most wins of any musical in the awards history, including Best New Musical best direction, a number of technical awards, and James Hamid and Artie Shah shared the best actor win and Victoria Hamilton Barrett and Tom Eddin also won supporting Oliviers as well. There's been no confirmation on who will be playing the parts on Broadway, but nonetheless, I know there are many, many people excited about this show. If you listen to our Tony's Prediction episode with Oliver Roth, he said that when he saw the show in London, he was so excited and so impressed that he jumped on as a producer for the Broadway production. And he tends to have some really good taste in shows. So we will see what happens with Paddington the Musical moving forward. But we are now just about nine months away from performance beginning over at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. What I will think is very interesting is the fact that yes, we know that it's going to the Al Hirschfeld Theater, but as of now, Moulin Rouge is closing on August 30th, so clearly they're going to have to do at least some renovations to take down that expansive Alex timbers and Derek McLean set at the Al Hirschfeld to get it back into a normal proscenium configuration. But does that mean that they need to have six months before Paddington loads in? I don't know. Maybe we'll see an extension for Moulin Rouge. I would be surprised if we got another show in there due to the extensive loadout that they'll have to do for Moulin Rouge. But maybe we get a holiday show in there, I guess. But I will keep an eye on whether or not Moulin Rouge extends again. Maybe now that Chess has closed, maybe Errant of Eight comes in in the fall to do a two, three month run through the holidays to wrap up the show in January. That would not be out of the realm of possibilities. That would not be a surprise to me whatsoever if that is in fact what happens. But keep an eye over at the Al Hirschfeld Theater not only for this fall, but also of course with Paddington, one of the early frontrunners for the Tony Award for best musical in 2027. Another show that we now know all of the performance details about is Billy Crystal's 860. We already knew that it was coming to Broadway. This is his latest one man show. We now know that it will play a limited 14 week engagement beginning on Thursday, October 1st over on Broadway at the Imperial Theater. The official opening night is set for October 21st. Obviously, as we'll talk about here later in the show, Chess closed on Broadway on Sunday at the Imperial. And and we now know that Billy Crystal will be taking up shop next in just a few months. The show is set in the aftermath of the Palisades fire that took Billy's home. 860 I believe is the street address for his house. So if you are like our beloved Grace Aki and need to see all things Billy Crystal, tickets are now on sale to the general public over at Telecharge. Next up, we've got a couple of fun Broadway returns and about a year after Leslie Odom Jr. Returned to the Broadway cast of Hamilton, one of his original co stars, Christopher Jackson, will be doing the same. He will return for a limited engagement as George Washington beginning on September 8th at the Richard Rodgers Theater and he will play into the new year, wrapping up his run on January 3rd. I believe Leslie extended once or twice, so perhaps there could be an opportunity for cjack to do that as well. I'm not sure that Chris will have the exact same impact on the box office that Leslie did just because Aaron Burr is the lead of the show, not just the narrator, but really the emotional engine of the show and George Washington is a featured supporting part. But I do think that this will do incredible things over the Richard Rodgers for the box office. C Jack is not only beloved inside the Hamilton community, but inside the Broadway community as well for his decades of work in in the industry. So expect tickets to be very expensive and very hard to get. I did go see Leslie last fall in the role during my annual trip with my college friend Heather. I sent her this announcement, said are we doing it again? And she said I don't know. We saw, we saw cjack in Hell's Kitchen last year. I don't know that I can justify another 450, $500 ticket to Hamilton and I agreed. So we won't be going to see Chris Jackson in Hamilton, but I'm sure that there will be many, many people that do so they're not going to be missing us. Over at the Richard Rogers, another great star returning to Broadway, not in a role that she has previously played, but last week we found out that Sheri Renee Scott will be joining the Broadway production of the Rocky Horror Show. She will replace Juliette Lewis as Magenta beginning on my birthday, June 26th. Juliette Lewis wrapped up her run last week and in the interim her understudy Anania will be pulling playing the part. But Sheri Renee Scott will take over on June 26th and presumably will stick with the production through its current closing date, which thanks to some extensions is now November 29th. I imagine that Juliet Lewis was contracted just for that initial run, although her final performance was on a Tuesday last week on the 16th. So I don't know. That seemed like a fairly unusual final performance date. But nonetheless, Sherri Renee Scott back on Broadway playing Magenta of all things, just seems incredible. And honestly, to put her her next to the likes of Amber Gray and Rachel Dratch seems just absolutely like a fever dream of excitement for a lot of people, myself included. So I did not get to see Rocky Horror in the spring because of dates and when they could get me in. So I might try to head over to Studio 54 and see it this fall. Sticking with some more Broadway casting news, last week we found out who will be joining the phenomenal Meg Statler in Omar on Broadway. Meg will begin performances at the lyceum Theater on July 6, and she will be joined by Broadway alum Barrett Foa as Mary's tutor and Ryo Kamibayashi as Mary's husband's assistant. Barrett has been seen on Broadway in Avenue Q, in Spelling Bee, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Chess, Mamma Mia. He also did Godspell off Broadway. Ryo has been on Broadway and most recently the Penzance musical, as well as in the original Broadway production of the Outsiders. Coincidentally speaking of Juliette Lewis, who I did just a few minutes ago, a film in which she originally starred is being turned into a musical that will headline the MCC theaters 2026, 2027 season. And that is what's Eating Gilbert grape, originally a 1991 novel by Peter Hedges, then adapted into a 1993 film that starred not only Lewis but Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. The show will begin performances a year From now in June 2027 at MCC. Directed by Anne Kaufman, it features a book by Peter Hedges, who wrote that original novel, along with a score by Adrian Ensco, Christopher Sears, Sydney shepherd and Regina Strayhorn. Ensco, Sheppard and Strayhorn are a group, a collective known as Bandits on the Run, a Brooklyn based indie Americana band. And then Christopher Sears is a longtime friend of the group who is also collaborating on that project. Also in MCC's 40th anniversary season will be the world premiere of A Tempest at Our Kitchen Table by Anne Washburn, who also wrote Mr. Burns, a post electric play that'll be in performances on September 25, also directed by Kaufman. And then in January of 2027, the theater will feature the New York premiere of Lloyd Suz play the Hart Cellars, which will be directed by Mae Idralis. Sticking off Broadway last week we found out that Midnight, a new musical written and directed by Todrick hall, will move from London to Off Broadway's Daryl Roth Theater this spring. It has had two runs in London and our friend Kate Ranking loved the show over there. So I'm excited to see what this one is on all about. Performances will begin on September 12th. The limited engagement is currently scheduled to play through November 1st. It follows six black characters and six white characters whose lives in the American south of the 19th century are interconnected, their relationships pitting them against the worlds they have inherited and the assumptions they carry. Moving from the Daryl Roth to the midce Newhouse Theater last week we found out the complete cast for the upcoming Off Broadway revival of the Whoopee Model. Now again, this was a show that at one point was just written and performed by Whoopi Goldberg. But with this Lincoln Center Off Broadway revival, we already knew that Kerry Washington and Kara Young were going to lead this production. Now we know that Joining them will be Dominic Fishback, Tony Award winner Keisha Lewis and Danielle Pinnock. This is an absolutely loaded cast. Dominic Fishback is a rising star on screens large and small. Obviously Keisha Lewis is a Tony Award winner and a Broadway icon at this point and Danielle Pennock is one of the stars of one of the most popular sitcoms on television, Ghosts. The three of them join Kerry Washington, who is an icon, and of course Kerry Young, who is kind of like the patron saint of Broadway radio at this point. Very exciting. The performances will begin in just a few weeks on July 7th with an opening night just less than a week later on July 13 is being directed by Whitney White and it just feels like an absolutely vital and exciting production of something that, you know, otherwise it's tough to imagine seeing a solo show written and performed by one person ever again if they aren't going to be the one to do it. So to have a cast like this take on this material is really exciting and should be really fun to follow. Continuing with the Off Broadway theme, beginning performances on October 20, perfect for spooky season will be the New York premiere of Danny Robbins play 222 A Ghost Story. Now this is a show that has been around for a number of years. It's had seven different West End engagements, two record breaking UK tours and over 30 productions around the globe. The show follows Jenny, who believes that her new house might be haunted, but her husband Sam doesn't agree with her. When they welcome their friends Lauren and Ben for a housewarming dinner, the debate stirs up all kinds of emotions beliefs, skepticism, and much, much more. Over the years we've talked about horror based shows and while this one isn't necessarily going to be horror in the same sense of like Stranger Things, the First Shadow, or even the Lost Boys, diving into ghost stories on stage I think is always really fascinating. Performances will begin on October 20th and it is currently scheduled to play through January 17th. Now speaking of horror, also Off Broadway, last week it was announced that Masquerade, which has extended again through January 31, will welcome a number of new Phantoms. Austin Colby will be one of the Phantoms through July 23rd. He will be joined by Derek Davis and Nicholas Edwards. These three new Phantoms will be joined by Claire Layden as a new Christine, Mark Bannack, Gregory Lee Rodriguez, Courtney Balance, Stephanie J. Park, Tanner Quirk, and Stephanie Rooning Sharer as different roles throughout the production. And our final little casting news that we have. Last week it was announced that Nina White will join the production of the 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee currently playing at New World Stages. She will replace Jasmine Amy Rogers as Olive Ostrovsky. Beginning performances on August 10th. Jasmine will wrap up her run on August 9th. I don't know for sure if you will get explicit confirmation why Jasmine is exiting the production on Tuesday, but from everything I've heard, we will get explicit information about the production that Jasmine is leaving Spelling Bee for on Tuesday. That may or may not have something to do with frolicking on green hills in the middle of Bavarian mountains. And then finally in our news section for today, before we dive into next week's theatrical schedule will be the fact that Gazillion Bubble show announced that it will end its nearly 20 year run at New World Stages. It began performances at the Off Broadway theater in 2007 in what was originally only supposed to be a nine performance run. Instead, it will now wrap up on September 7th. It will have played 6,802 performances for over 1 million attendees. The Yang family, who is behind the show, are planning both a national and international tour. But 19 years, an incredible run. Congratulations to them. And if this is a show that you are interested in, obviously something probably more geared towards children and families, you definitely want to make sure that you get over there before it wraps up in September. All right, let's talk about the theatrical schedule. And before I get into things happening this coming week, I do want to note the three Broadway shows that wrapped up their runs yesterday on Sunday, June 21. The first was the ballisters, a show that I really enjoyed even if it didn't hit me the way I think that many people thought it should. The next was Celebrity Autobiography, which wrapped up its run far earlier than originally planned, but thought, to be quite honest with you, far later than I thought it would actually go. And then the other one was Chess, which ended its run early despite the fact that Jojo Levesque had been announced to be replacing Lea Michele. But obviously ticket sales did not allow that to continue. So the show ended its run on Broadway, coinciding with Lea's final performance. Now for things happening over the next seven days, starting over at the Greenwich House theater on Tuesday, June 23, will be the opening of the Return Engagement for the New York Times Critics Pick Production dad, Don't Read this. It is a play written by Elia Smith and directed by Chloe Claudell. It is about four girls in suburban central Ohio where I happen to grow up, so you know I'm gonna love it, who meet weekly for a sleepover. They talk and sleep and play the Sims, a computer game that simulates real life on a laptop. They gossip, snack and attempt to get drunk. They strive to fulfill their needs, struggle to understand the relationship between doing and being seen, and begin to suspect they don't have a whole lot of agency. Wait, nevermind. That's the Sims. Dad, don't read this is about the people who knew you before you know anything. I've heard nothing but great things about this show. It also stars Amalia Yu as one of the four teenagers who was a breakout star from John Proctor is the villain on Broadway a couple seasons ago. Also opening on Tuesday night over at the Irish Repertory Theater is the New York premiere of the play the Loved Ones by Erica Murray, directed by Nicola Murphy Dubey. Bill the cast has a number of my favorites, including Donalyn Champlin and Mary Ann Plunkett. It is currently scheduled to run through August 2nd. In a remote farmhouse in West Claire Nell, played by Plunkett, prepares to scatter the ashes of her late son alongside his grieving wife, played by Claire o'. Malley. At the same time, an American tourist, Champlin, arrives expecting a peaceful countryside retreat, when a young woman, played by Alana Raquel Bowers, unexpectedly turns up at the cottage. The weekend takes a surprising and darkly comedic turn as tensions rise and secrets come to light. These four strangers are forced into an uneasy reckoning with the past and each other. Then on Wednesday, over at St. Luke's Theater, we have another Off Broadway opening and this is like dad, don't read this. Another Return Engagement Originally presented by Bedlam, the new musical Music City was supposed to begin performances again off Broadway in the spring. There were issues with its theater theater. It is now playing at St. Luke's it is a musical with a score written by J.T. harding and a book by Peter Zinn, directed by Eric Tucker, the artistic director of Bedlam. And it follows two young singer songwriters into the Wicked Tickle, which is an East Nashville bar that serves cheap beer, open mics and dreams of big breaks. Then on Saturday, we have two Off Broadway closings, Can I Be Frank? At the Soho Playhouse and Dirty Books from the Bated Breath Theater Company. And on Sunday we have the first preview performance of the new musical written by Jennifer Nettles of country music Sugarland fame. She not only wrote it, but she stars in it as well. It is directed by Mary Zimmerman and choreographed by Austin McCormick. The show is Julia, the Poison Queen of Palermo. The plot description reads. What began as a single act of self defense ripples through Palermo, creating a cascade of casualties and inspiring a secret sisterhood. But the path to safety is never safe. Can Julia Tifano save them all without losing herself? Joining Nettles in the production are the likes of Quentin Earl Darrington, Emily Fink, Breed Jackson, Andrew Kober, Aubrey Madelon, Dee Dee Romero, and more. I have long loved Jennifer Nettleton. I really like a lot of people in this cast, so I don't know if I'm gonna make it up to see this show Off Broadway. It is only scheduled to run from June 28 through July 26. It is playing at the Perlman Performing Arts Center. Of course, that is where cast the Jellicoe Ball was before it moved to Broadway. So I'm hoping that this goes so well that it moves either to Broadway or somewhere else. Because I would really, really love to see this and hear what it sounds like for Jennifer Nettles to write and a theatrical score. We've talked over the years many, many times about how the storytelling of country music would seem to lend itself to Broadway musicals, but we don't really get a whole lot of those. So I'm interested to hear what Jennifer's score sounds like and how it translates to a off Broadway slash Broadway stage. So wishing them all the best there. And of course, next Sunday we also have a number of closings. Two of them on Broadway, Death Becomes her and the fear of 13. Two of them kind of semi off Broadway shows. La Cage aux Fall at New York City's Inner Encores and Romeo and Juliet at the Delacorte Theatre for Shakespeare in the Park. And then one proper off Broadway show A Woman Among Women at the Claire Towel Theater for LCT3. All of these shows that I mentioned that are still running at least for this week, I'll have information for in the show notes. 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 broadway radio. Thank you for giving us some of your time and listening. This has been Matt Tammanini and I'll talk to you soon.
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