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Welcome to Last Week on Broadway for Tuesday, April 7, 2026. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamineni. We are coming to you a day late because of both the Easter and Passover holidays that happened last weekend. If you happen to celebrate any of those holidays or any other holidays that were celebrated last week, I hope that they were peaceful, rejuvenating and opportunities for you to spend time with the ones you love most. On today's episode, I'm going to be running you through some of the major news from the past week in theater while also looking forward to what's happening in this coming week. Today's episode is sponsored by our friends over at Factor and at Gusto. I will talk more about both of those wonderful companies later in the episode, but let's start with some news that happened early last week and I didn't include it in the update episode with the grosses last week because I wanted to spend a little bit more time on it. And that is the fact that following Daniel Radcliffe's run in Every Brilliant Thing, he will be replaced in this one person show by the one and only Mariska Hargitay. The star of Law and SVU will be making her Broadway debut beginning on May 26th over at the Hudson Theater. Radcliffe's run was always limited and he will wrap up as planned on May 24. I had assumed that there would be an extension in here, but I just thought that Daniel Radcliffe, who very well might be contending for a Tony for this role, would continue with the show through the Tonys and maybe try to capitalize on it after the publicity from the Tony Awards. Not that Daniel Radcliffe needs a lot of extra help publicizing the fact that he's doing anything, but the fact that Mariska Hargitay, who is in many different ways a New York City icon, having never been on a Broadway stage, just feels right. This is a show that deals with mental health, strained relationships with parents, a suicidal mother, and the protagonist's inexplicable deep sadness. Mariska has not only dealt with a lot of very complicated things happening on her TV show Law and Order svu, she's also become an advocate in many of the ways for the victims of sexual violence along with mental health. And it just feels right that she's going to be making her Broadway debut in this show. I was a part of many, many different group chats who were very excited about the opportunity to see Mariska on stage. I do wonder though, because her run is going to be fairly limited just through June 28th if there might be an opportunity for either her to extend for maybe for Daniel to come back or for someone else to take this show through the summer months. Because it seems like a very obvious thing. Ambassador Theater Group is not going to bring in another play or musical to the Hudson Theater in like July. Probably. So maybe they do, but I would imagine they are probably going to shoot for something in the fall. So if they are able to do another extension with this, it'll be interesting to see what other star takes over this vehicle and to see how much different they are than Daniel or Mariska, but certainly something that is very exciting for a lot of theater and television fans. Something else that is also very exciting but is much less confirmed is the idea that longtime real Life friends Pedro Pascal and Sarah Paulson might be leading an upcoming Broadway revival of Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize winning play the Goat. Or who Is Sylvia now? This is not confirmed. I had not heard anything about this, but it does come from a fairly believable source. So Tony winner, Pulitzer Prize winner James Lapine is being honored at Franklin and Marshall College. They are renaming the Green Room Theater as the James Lapine Theater and in an announcement for, I think a ceremony to honor that, it knows that James Lapine will be back on Broadway this coming season directing a Broadway revival of the Goat or who Is Sylvia? Starring Pedro Pascal and Sarah Paulson. The play will come to Broadway in January of 2027. These two have been friends in New York City since the early 90s. There were some great stories about how Paulson even like financially supported Pedro in his early career. So it would be lovely if these two have the opportunity to do a show on Broadway if this actually ends up happening. All right, sticking with some other pretty exciting news. This one is probably one of the most out of left field announcements that I have heard in a long time, but I find it incredibly fascinating. Last week it was announced that Lin Manuel Miranda will return to the director's chair helming another film adaptation of an Off Broadway musical. He of course originally did Tick Tick Boom for Netflix. Now he is going to be directing a film adaptation of Dave Malloy's Octet. This show premiered Off Broadway in 2019 and is an acapella musical. There are eight members of the cast and they make up a support group for people addicted to the Internet. And like most Malloy shows, it is incredibly melodic, really complex, interesting music, but also a very unique story that we don't normally see in musicals. Dave Malloy is going to adapt his own book for the screen and I am incredibly interested in who they bring in to do this show. Are they able to find stars to do this? Are they going to helm a little bit more closer to the theater world? Are they going to get the original Off Broadway cast? I don't know, but the lyrics are great, the harmonies are incredible. There's these amazing solos in there. You can listen to the cast album, it's available anywhere you want to stream music. But I find this incredibly interesting from Lin Manuel Miranda, who truthfully could have his pick of any property, any project he wants to do as an actor, especially as a writer and also as a director. And he's picking Off Broadway fairly niche musicals to make his screen directorial debuts, obviously first with Tick Tick Boom and now with Octet. I can almost guarantee that there's not a single other person working that would have both thought to make a film out of Octet, but then also had the Hollywood capital to get it made. Now the film is being produced in part by Len's 5000 Broadway Productions, but even being a part of its creation, I still find it very hard to believe that very many other people would be able to get this done. So incredibly excited to see who gets cast in this, what it looks like, what direction they're going to make of it, and when we will finally see it on the screen. In some Off Broadway casting news, the Public Theater announced the stars of the upcoming stage adaptation of Girl Interrupted that'll begin performances on May 13th. This is being described as a play with music. Martina Mayo is writing the book and Grammy winner Amy Mann is penning the music with Joe Bonney directing. Leading the cast will be stereophonic star Juliana Canfield, along with singer songwriter King Princess will be making her theatrical debut. She will be playing the role that Angelina Jolie played in the film. Also in the company will be the great Emily Skinner, Terea Campbell, Gabby Campo, Mia Pack, Catherine Reese and Lauren Jean Thomas. The play will be adapted from Susan Kaysen's memoir of the same name, which was then of course turned into a 1999 film. The production will feature choreography by Sonia Taya and some of the material written for the musical had previously appeared on Amy Mann's most recent album, Queens of the Summer Hotel. So if you want to get an idea as to what the show might sound like, you can listen to that in some other screen to stage adaptation casting news. Last week it was announced who will be the principals of the upcoming stage adaptation of Black Swan. Speaking of Dave Malloy, Dave Malloy is writing the show along with Jen Silverman. It of course is based off of the Darren Aronofsky film of the same name. It'll be in performances at the American Repertory theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 26. In the lead role will be so youo Think youk Can Dance Champion as well as many, many time Broadway alum Melanie Moore. Melanie will play Nina, the role originated by Natalie Portman in the film playing Lily. The role played by Mila Kunis on screen will be Jada Simone Clark. Also, Tony nominee Amber Ammann will be playing the choreographer leroy, which is interesting because it was played by a male actor in the film and in a lot of the workshops and readings, Amber Gray had done this part. Obviously she is currently busy doing the Rocky Horror show on Broadway, so that might be why she did not continue with the production. Also in the cast are some greats, including Kate Jennings Grant, one of our favorites, Tom Sesma, Carly DiNardo, Ava Noble, Idasaki, Kyle Brown and more. Last week we also got the nominations announced for this year's Lucille Lortel Awards. I'm not going to run through them all, but I will include the link in the show notes if you want to run through them. The outstanding play nominees are Cold War, Choir Practice, Kyoto the Monsters, Mother Russia and Prince F. The outstanding musical nominees are Bigfoot, Mexico, My Joy Is Heavy, Nightside Songs and Saturday Church. All right, we had some stories about things being adapted from the screen to the stage, but now I want to talk about things that happened on the stage that you can now see on a screen. And let's start over at Studio Seaview, where the final week of David Kail's Off Broadway play the Unknown starring Sean Hayes will be streamed. You have to watch them at specific curtain times on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 8pm on Friday, at 2 and 8 on Saturday and 3pm on Sunday. So if you hadn't have an opportunity to get over to Studio Seaview to see it, you can check it out from the comfort of your home. Now this other one you can't see at home, but you can see at a movie theater because six the Musical Live, which was filmed with the original West End cast, which will be available in movie theaters beginning on August 14th. While of course I would have loved to have seen the original Broadway cast have an opportunity to do this, we do have their live album, so that's pretty great. But between this and Hadestown arriving in movie theaters this summer, at least for me, these are two shows that I've seen more than any other in the past five years. I'm going to really, really enjoy the opportunity to sit back in an AMC theater and chow down on some popcorn and watch these shows that I love so much. All right, that's all I've got for the news. But before we head into this week's upcoming theatrical schedule, let's talk about our sponsors for this week, starting with Factor. If you follow me on social media, you might have seen A couple weeks ago, I gave myself a challenge. I had three months until my birthday, which is a fairly significant number, not a huge number, but a fairly significant one. So I wanted to take these last three months at my current age and make sure that I was doing everything that I should be doing to stay healthy for the next phase of my life. That includes working out a certain number of times, but also eating healthy and making sure that I'm getting all of the nutrients that I need. Traditionally, eating healthy for me hasn't been a willpower problem, it's a setup problem. 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And if there is something that doesn't seem right to you, you get direct access to certified HR experts who to walk you through everything and support you throughout whatever tough HR situation you are going through. So try gusto today@gusto.com Broadway and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll@gusto.com Broadway one more time gusto.com Broadway. All right, let's dive into this week's theatrical schedule and it's a lot of stuff happening on the Broadway, including four openings and a bunch of Off Broadway closings. Let's start on Monday night. I know, depending on when you're listening to this, this might have already happened. But on Monday over the Helen Hayes Theater from Second Stage will be the opening night of the Broadway premiere of Gina Gianfredo's Becky Shaw. The show is directed by Triple Coleman and stars Madeline Brewer as the title character Becky Shaw, and marks the Broadway debuts of Patrick Ball from the TV show the Pit and movie star Alden Ironreich, along with Broadway favorites Linda Amand and Lauren Patton. The show is scheduled to run through June 24th. I have tickets to see this one when I'm in town with Ashley Steeves actually, and very excited to see this one. I've heard only good things. We of course will have a review recap rundown for this show and the other three that I'm going to talk about here in a second. So make sure that you check out that episode when it drops. Then on Tuesday night maybe tonight, if you are listening to this in the regular feed over at the Broadhurst Theater, we will get opening night for Cats, the Jellicle Ball Obviously this is a wildly reimagined revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic. Directed by Zylon Livingston and Bill Rauch, choreographed by Omari Wiles and Arturo La Lions. This show reimagines Cats and the entire Jellicle Ball as a Runway ballroom show. Included in the cast are original Cats on Broadway star Ken Ard, Primo, the Ballerino, Bryce in Battle baby Byrne, Andre DeShields, Sydney, James Harcourt, Robert Silk, Mason, Temperance, Chasity Moore, Xavier Reyes, Nora Schell, Bebe, Nicole Simpson, Emma, Sophia and Margaret. More the cast blends Broadway and musical theater performers along with stars from the real ballroom world so it is unlike anything you've ever seen. It, of course previously played Off Broadway at Pac NYC and is now making the move to the Broadhurst. Then on Thursday, April 9, we have another Broadway opening. This one happens over at the Winter Garden Theater and it is the latest Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's classic Death of a Salesman. This one, directed by Joe Mantello, stars Nathan Lane as Willy Loman and Laurie Metcalfe as his wife Linda. His sons Biff and Happy are played by Christopher Abbott and Ben Ehlers respectively. Also in the company are K. Todd Freeman, Jonathan Cake, John Dreau, Joaquin Consuelos, Tasha Lawrence and more. Of course this one has had a little bit of pushback from a lot of corners of the theatrical world as Scott Rudin is the lead producer on this show. It is currently scheduled to play through August 9th and then the final opening this week will happen over the St. James Theater and it is the ship of Dreams herself, Titanique, which will open on Sunday night April 12th. It is currently scheduled to play through July 12th but I am sure that they would love to get a bunch of Tony Awards, get a bunch of Tony nominations and extend that much like oh Mary did. It is directed by Ty Blue who co wrote the book with Marla Mendel and Constantine Rossuli. Both of them are starring in the cast. We'll get to that here in a second. Eleanor Scott choreographs and as I said, Marla Mandel stars in the show as Sonny Dion and she stars opposite Constantine Rossuli as Jack Dawson, Melissa Barrera and her Broadway debut as Rose. Deborah Cox plays Molly Brown, Frankie Grande plays Victor Garber and Luigi Jim Parsons plays Ruth, Rose's mother and original Off Broadway cast member John Riddle returns as California. Playing the iceberg will be Leighton Williams, a role that Leighton won an Olivier Award for last year. So absolutely fascinating to see what happens with this show and how it is received on Broadway. I have heard great things from people who have seen early previews and said that while you might have been suspect about whether or not this show that I literally saw in a basement, like a tiny little basement and is now on Broadway, so people might have been concerned about whether or not it would be able to fill that space. From what I've heard, they do a really great job of transitioning it to a Broadway stage, especially one as big as the St. James. Alright. Also on Sunday we have a number of Off Broadway closings. I'm going to read through them alphabetically of course. If you want more information on any of these shows, head over to the Show Notes. First is one of three shows at the Public Theater closing on Sunday, Antigone. And then parenthetically this play I read in high school over at 59 East 59th from primary stages will be the closing night of Calf Scramble. Then the second public show Close Closing is Jessa. That is a co production with the Ma Yi Theater Company. Then My Joy is Heavy will close from the New York Theater Workshop. That is the Bengson show if you want to hear more about it. We had an episode with Lauren Class Schneider Class Notes with the show's director, the great Rachel Chavkin. Then the final public show closing on Sunday is Public Charge. And then as I mentioned earlier over at Studio Seaview, the Sean Hayes one hander called the Unknown will wrap up on Sunday as well. All right everybody, that's all that I have for you. In addition to all of these review recap episodes, I've had some really fascinating conversations which either already have dropped in the feeds or will be in the next few days. First I did an interview with the co lighting designer for Lost Boys on Broadway, Jen Shriver. What an absolutely fascinating conversation. I cannot wait to see this one when I'm in town in a few weeks. Then I spoke with Karen and Simon who are the two stars of the Off Broadway show Heartbreak Hotel. I love this conversation. I haven't had a chance to see the show since I haven't been in town. But I read this script and I'm really sad that I won't get a chance to see it. But it runs for two more weeks. Listen to that conversation, go see this show. Highly recommend. And then later this week I'll have my interview with Lauren Molina who many people know from her runs on Broadway and Sweeney Todd and Rock of Ages as well as with her band the Sky Skivvies. She is getting ready to play Goldie in an actor musician led production of Fiddler on the Roof down in Sarasota, Florida at Oslo Rep. And then Jennifer McCue and I have our latest episode of Some Like a Pop where we look back at our favorite pop culture moments from the month of March. All right, thank you as always for supporting Broadway radio. If you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio thanks again for listening. This has been Matt Tammanini and I'll talk to you soon. Sam.