This Week on Broadway for April 20, 2025: John Proctor is the Villain

Summary

BroadwayRadio Podcast Summary

Episode: This Week on Broadway for April 20, 2025: John Proctor is the Villain
Host: BroadwayRadio
Release Date: April 20, 2025

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1. Introduction and Guest Introductions

[02:06] James Marino:
James Marino welcomes listeners to the episode, introducing the guests:

• Peter Felicia: Playwright, journalist, historian
• Jenna Tessa Fox: Theater writer and contributor
• Michael Portantier: Theater reviewer and photographer
• Mason Moore: Contributor and commentator

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2. Show Tune of the Week: "Marathon" from Jacques Brell

[02:35] Peter Felicia:
Peter introduces the show's tune, "Marathon," linking it to the historical first Boston Marathon in 1897. He provides context about the song's relation to the passage of time and its thematic predictions that have only partially come to fruition.

"I don't think that the Christmas spirit hasn't faded, but that John J. McDermott from New York finished in 2 hours, 55 minutes, and 10 seconds was remarkable for the first marathon." [02:39]

[03:40] James Marino:
James humorously notes,

"Nobody works in a cotton field anymore. It's all robot." [03:40]

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3. In-Depth Review: "John Proctor is the Villain" at the Booth Theater

[09:14] Peter Felicia:
Peter delves into his impressions of Kimberly Belflower's play, expressing strong reactions to the portrayal of John Proctor. He highlights the validation of his own perceptions about the original The Crucible.

"I was appalled when John Proctor referred to his inamorata as a whore." [11:23]

[13:54] Mason Moore:
Mason agrees with Peter, praising the play's ability to connect historical themes with contemporary issues such as the MeToo movement. He commends the nuanced characters and Dana Taymor's sharp direction.

"Bellflower does a really beautiful job of creating some really complex, nuanced characters. They're painfully human." [13:54]

Notable Insights:

• The play sets The Crucible within a modern Georgia high school, reflecting current societal changes.
• The absence of an intermission was a point of contention among the reviewers.
• Sadie Sink's performance stands out, bringing complexity to her character.

[17:28] Mason Moore:
Mason critiques Arthur Miller’s original characterization, discussing the fictional relationship between Abigail Williams and John Proctor, and how the play could have further explored these alterations.

"I would have loved to hear some moments analyzing why Miller felt the need to demonize a woman." [17:30]

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4. Review: "Smash" Musical at the Imperial Theater

[33:52] Unknown Female Singer:
A critical review of the stage adaptation of the TV series Smash. The reviewer expresses disappointment with the book and plot elements, despite acknowledging the talented cast.

"Between Smash and Boop, I really have a much lower opinion of his work." [34:55]

[41:55] James Marino:
James echoes similar frustrations, noting misaligned expectations and ineffective insider jokes that don’t resonate with the broader audience.

"If there was a show called 'The Musical That Went Wrong,' this could have been in it." [56:19]

[42:00] Mason Moore:
Mason provides a counterpoint, appreciating certain aspects of the show but ultimately criticizing the book and character development.

"I would say it's a critics' pick very much, yes." [44:15]

Notable Insights:

• The adaptation struggled to translate the television show's dynamics to the stage.
• Songs from Bombshell lacked integration with Smash's narrative.
• Despite strong performances, the overall production felt disjointed.

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5. Spotlight: "Anya" One-Person Play at Lortel Theater

[63:33] Unknown Female Singer:
An enthusiastic review of Andrew Scott's one-person rendition of Uncle Vanya. The reviewer praises Scott’s ability to differentiate characters through voice modulation and physical expression.

"You would be amazed at how many times it's not difficult to follow the story and the characters because they're so, so incredibly well delineated." [63:33]

[65:26] Mason Moore:
Mason encourages listeners to attend, highlighting the unique and compelling performance despite potential challenges of a one-person show.

"It's a really phenomenal person playing every role." [65:26]

Notable Insights:

• Andrew Scott delivers a versatile and captivating performance.
• The play benefits from deep character portrayal, making it more engaging than traditional multi-cast versions.

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6. Musical Performance: "Coco" by Alan J. Lerner and Andre Previn

[66:34] Peter Felicia:
Peter reflects on Coco, emphasizing its strong score and vocal performances, despite challenges with the original cast album.

"Coco had a terrific score and it's very hard to tell that from the original cast album." [66:34]

[69:49] Unknown Female Singer:
She lauds the performers and highlights a particularly moving duet between Coco and her father, underscoring the emotional depth of the production.

"Their little scene together... was so touching." [69:51]

Notable Insights:

• The musical's emotional moments resonate strongly with the audience.
• Performances by the cast, including Danielle Darier and Lenny Wolpe, are standout elements.

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7. News and Announcements

Patrick Adarte’s Passing
[71:57] Unknown Female Singer:
Tribute to Patrick Adarte, acknowledging his contributions to musical theater and his memorable performances in classics like The King and I and Flower Drum Song.

"He was a phenomenal, phenomenal dancer who would have probably been a major, major star." [71:57]

Renovations of West Bank Cafe
[73:54] Unknown Female Singer:
Updates on the redesigned West Bank Cafe by David Rockwell, featuring state-of-the-art technology and new artwork from prominent artists.

"They have a lot of nice photos... great selection on the wall." [74:02]

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8. Brain Teaser

[76:07] Peter Felicia:
A challenging question for listeners:

"Change one letter in the name of a currently occupied Broadway Theater. And you'll get the last name of a character in a comedy that ran on Broadway for more than a thousand performances. What's the name of the theater? What's the name of the character? What's the name of the play?" [76:07]

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9. Musical Moments

[77:08] Unknown Female Singer:
A comparison between "Let Me Be Your Star" from Smash and "Bella Note" from Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, highlighting similarities in their melodies.

"You can listen to both and see if you notice the similarity that I do." [77:08]

[78:32] Peter Felicia:
Peter draws parallels with another song, illustrating his attention to musical nuances.

"There's a lot of that going on." [78:32]

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10. Closing Remarks

[79:27] James Marino:
James wraps up the episode, encouraging listeners to subscribe and support the podcast through various platforms like Apple Podcasts and Patreon.

"This is James Marino saying thanks so much for listening to BroadwayRadio’s This Week on Broadway. Bye bye." [79:27]

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Peter Felicia [11:23]:
  "I was appalled when John Proctor referred to his inamorata as a whore."

• Mason Moore [13:54]:
  "Bellflower does a really beautiful job of creating some really complex, nuanced characters. They're painfully human."

• Unknown Female Singer [34:55]:
  "Between Smash and Boop, I really have a much lower opinion of his work."

• Unknown Female Singer [63:33]:
  "You would be amazed at how many times it's not difficult to follow the story and the characters because they're so, so incredibly well delineated."

• Unknown Female Singer [69:51]:
  "Their little scene together... was so touching."

• Unknown Female Singer [71:57]:
  "He was a phenomenal, phenomenal dancer who would have probably been a major, major star."

• Unknown Female Singer [74:02]:
  "They have a lot of nice photos... great selection on the wall."

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Conclusion

This episode of BroadwayRadio offers a comprehensive review of current Broadway productions, insightful critiques from seasoned theater experts, and engaging discussions that bridge historical plays with contemporary themes. From deep dives into the motivations behind character portrayals to comparisons of musical scores, listeners gain a multifaceted understanding of the Broadway landscape as of April 2025. Additionally, the podcast honors theatrical legends and keeps the community informed about significant updates, making it an essential listen for Broadway enthusiasts.

Transcript

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[Mason Moore]

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[Unknown Female Singer]

Fading on a girl with a hunger.

[James Marino]

For fame and a face and a name to remember.

[Unknown Female Singer]

The past fades away because as of.

[James Marino]

This day, Norma Jean's gone.

[Unknown Female Singer]

She's moving on.

[James Marino]

Hello and welcome to Broadway Radios this week on Broadway for Sunday, April 20, 2025. My name is James Marino and in the broadcast today we have Peter Felicia, Janetessa Fox and Michael Portantier. Peter is a playwright, journalist and historian with a number of books. Peter's new day by day desk calendar show tuned for today. 366 songs to Bright new Year has been released. Peter has columns at Masterworks Broadway, Broadway select, many other places. Hello, Peter.

[Peter Felicia]

Hi.

[James Marino]

What is today's show tune for today.

[Peter Felicia]

Marathon from Jacques brell. Because in 1897 we had the first Boston Marathon and yeah. John J. McDermott from New York, by the way, finished in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds and beat all the other contestants, all 14 of them. That's how many ran in the first marathon. It, of course, has swelled since then. Now, I'll grant you that the song marathon doesn't really ref refer to that. It does refer to how fast time passes. And because the show opened in 68, they had to predict what would happen in the 80s, 90 and beyond. So they predicted there would be robots working in cotton fields. Well, robots are starting to happen. That there would be vacations on Venus. Well, that's still a long way off. And fornication on tape. Well, that did happen, but now we have DVDs and the Internet, so I guess we don't need those as much. But that's today's song.

[James Marino]

Nobody works in a cotton field anymore. It's all. It's all robot.

[Peter Felicia]

It is, is it? I didn't know that.

[James Marino]

Yeah. No, no.

[Peter Felicia]

All right, so they got it right. One out of three. Two out of three. Really?

[James Marino]

You know, marathon runners are the only people more crazy than theater people.

[Peter Felicia]

I see a point.

[James Marino]

Also with us is Jenna Tessa Fox. Jenna has written about theater from many publications including Playbill, Broadway, World timeout, and Howell Rails. She's a member of the League of Professional Women and the Drama Desk and is a contributor to Broadway Radio. Hello, Jenna.

[Mason Moore]

Hello. How are you doing, James?

[James Marino]

Oh, we're well today. Also with us is Michael Portantier. Michael's a theater reviewer in SAST, the founder and editor of Cast Album Reviews.com. he is also a theatrical photographer whose photos have appeared in the New York Times and other major publications. You could see his photography [e-mail]. hello, Michael. Hello, Michael. Gearing up for your evening with Sandy Duncan? Are you getting in the. Are you getting in the Tough Questions coming up on May 13th at 7pm.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Yes, we're trying to really shock her now.

[James Marino]

I can't recall in the generic zeitgeist of popular culture, she did a butter commercial. Am I remembering that correctly?

[Unknown Female Singer]

Wheat Thins.

[James Marino]

Wheat Thins.

[Unknown Female Singer]

That's.

[James Marino]

They taste like butter. They're as good as butter. Will you have Wheat Thins at the West Bank Cafe?

[Unknown Female Singer]

Did they still make them? I don't know.

[Peter Felicia]

They can get awfully fat on Wheat Thins, but that's another story. Yeah.

[James Marino]

Oh, I see. So, Michael, coming up with that at Sandy Duncan discussion at the Laurie Beachman on Tuesday, May 13th. We have a link to that in the show Notes and also Michael, we had some feedback from a listener and a story about Boop.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Oh yeah, this is wild. Last week I talked about Boop. And I think like everyone else, I had many positive and some negative things to say. But one thing that remarked to me was that it seemed odd that the decision was made in writing the show to have Betty Boop transformed, transferred from her black and white cartoon world of the 1930s to a modern day New York in 2025. I mean, that itself maybe doesn't sound so odd, except that the music that they used once she arrived in New York is, is largely a pastiche of jazz and swing that you would hear in the 30s far more often than in modern New York. So I literally said on the podcast last week, I said, you know, I wonder if the writers ever considered transferring her, transporting her not from her cartoon world to modern day New York, but to New York in the 30s. And you know, they could have used all that music then and it would have seemed a lot more appropriate. And I'm sure they could have written a basically the same plot, but with some changes, obviously. Well, lo and behold, one of our listeners, Eric Kenwood Greer, wrote, wrote in to say, and I quote him, David Foster mostly grew up in my home city of Victoria, B.C. and regularly comes back to do charity events, et cetera, et cetera. Anyway, at least 10 years back, maybe more, David Foster talked at one of those workshop concerts about Boop and played two songs and said it was set in a cartoon world and 1930s New York. I, I remember this absolutely clearly. So I'm not always right, but apparently I hit it on the head.

[Peter Felicia]

Look at that.

[Unknown Female Singer]

And yes, and I, and I do think that I, I can certainly understand why they decided to make it modern day New York. They thought maybe the audience would reate more, relate more to modern day characters, etc. But I, I, I personally think it would have been better if they had gone with their original instincts and kept set in 1930s New York. And they could have had a lot of interesting plot lines there with the, obviously with the Depression and people wanting to get out of the depression and et cetera. So that's my two cents.

[James Marino]

When you were talking last week about the black and white to color, I thought of the whole City of Angels original staging, black in color, parts of Stein and Stone, that, how they, how they use that, that was, and of course the, the whole black and white to color thing. Best known for the movie of the wizard of Oz.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Well, yeah, yeah, but they do it in this one, I think they do it even more elaborately and brilliantly than. Than the City of Angels, as I recall. But that was a long time ago.

[James Marino]

That show suddenly was the Hollywood ending. All right. Speaking of Hollywood ending. Peter.

[Peter Felicia]

Yeah.

[James Marino]

Jenna and I got a chance to see John Proctor is the villain over at the booth. Michael, you did not get a chance to see it. Do you want to talk about why after or before?

[Unknown Female Singer]

Oh, I can just tell you now. This was the second time in about 23 years that I missed a show because I had the start time wrong. Oh, no. Yeah. The show started at 7pm on a Friday night, which is a little unusual.

[Peter Felicia]

Typical. Yeah.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Yeah. And especially since the show, I was later told, is only, I believe, 105 minutes long. So, anyway, so now let me just get my facts straight here. Is this the correct production of. No, it's not. Of. Well, anyway, so I show up and there's nobody at the theater. And I'm like, shit, I must have got the time wrong. So I went to the window and they confirmed that it started at seven. And I thought back to the last time I had missed a. For that reason. And do you know what show it was?

[Peter Felicia]

What? It was the Crucible.

[Unknown Female Singer]

It was the 2002002 production of the Crucible. Laura Linney and Liam. So coincidence?

[James Marino]

Witchcraft.

[Mason Moore]

Arthur Miller is out to get you, man.

[Unknown Female Singer]

I mean, what are the chances that that would. Those would be the two shows I would miss.

[Peter Felicia]

How funny.

[Unknown Female Singer]

So anyway, I'm rescheduled and maybe the. The witches will let me alone this time.

[James Marino]

You're lucky to reschedule because the performance that I was at was totally sold out with standing room in the back.

[Peter Felicia]

Wow.

[James Marino]

And so, Peter, why don't you get us started off on John Proctor is the villain.

[Peter Felicia]

Well, I have to say that the perceptions made in this play by Kimberly Belflower about the Crucibles are perceptions I've held for a long, long time. I was appalled when John Proctor referred to his inamorata as a whore, given the fact that he took no responsibility per se. Now, granted, at the beginning of the. Of the play, he does say, look, we've done it. I don't want to do it again. Go away. All that kind of stuff. But nevertheless, I thought it was terrible that when he confronts everybody in town and brands her as a whore, I was appalled by that. So every objection the Kimberly Bell Flower feels about the Crucible are feelings that I've had. So I thought that was really something. So this play really gripped me for that reason. I mean, whenever you have your Opinions validated. That always happens, I'll grant you. But what a creative way of dealing with this, by putting us in a classroom and having kids deal with the play. Deal with the play in their own special way. And certainly the last scene of the play has a lot to say about that as well. But there's more to it than that. And one of the things is we have a teacher here who seems to be a very dedicated teacher at first. And I will admit that I don't think it's going to be a terribly big surprise to find out what's going on in this school, what this teacher has been doing, aside from teaching. I'm sure all of you are guessing right now and guessing correctly. It doesn't take long to have that happen.

[Mason Moore]

I didn't guess.

[Peter Felicia]

All right, fine. When the big surprise comes out, suddenly there's a tremendous blackout. And I would think that would be a very good time for an intermission. I was surprised there isn't one. It would have been nice to have an intermission because I think a lot of people. I would love to hear the audience start talking immediately and buzzing, you know, and that wonderful feeling that has when an audience is with it. And believe me, this audience was with it. And believe me, it was a very young audience that was with it. So young people are coming out to see this play, which I think is wonderful, too. I do believe the girls are a little too. Sophist. Sophisticated. I get the impression this is a public school, and even for a private school, I think they're a little too sophisticated. But nevertheless, I very much appreciated John Proctor and the play, not the character, and hope that it will be at the Booth Theater for a long, long time.

[James Marino]

Okay, Jenna, what you think?

[Mason Moore]

I largely agree with Peter. I. I really appreciated this show, and I didn't want to say too much about what was happening with the teacher because I was genuinely shocked. My friend and I just looked at each other with huge eyes as we began figuring out, oh, that's what's happening. Because Kimberly Bellflower does a really good job with misdirection, so that there are some great twists. At least I thought I did not see them coming. Bellflower also knows how to make a compelling argument, really entertaining without getting preachy. I think that's one of the show's great strengths, and she knows how to connect history and literature with current issues. Watching these students analyze a play, learn about McCarthy's red scare, and then find parallels in their own lives is really fascinating. Peter, I don't think you mentioned the time and the place for the play, which I do think is kind of important. It takes place in Georgia in 2018. So this is as Georgia is getting a little bit bluer right ahead of the 2020 election. And it's also right after the MeToo movement hit in 2017, when people were having a lot of conversations they hadn't had before. So I think the time and the place are really significant, maybe even characters in their own right, just at this. This intersection of massive change happening and people thinking in ways they hadn't thought before and reconsidering what they had believed. I thought she does a beautiful job of examining that intersection. Yes. Let's see. Sorry, I've got all my notes here. Bellflower does a really beautiful job also of creating some really complex, nuanced characters. They're painfully human. I jotted that note down a few times. Painfully human. Very flawed. But, you know, watching students think and learn and grow becomes some of the most riveting theater I've seen in a very long time. I also want to cheer Dana Taymor's direction. Very sharp, very witty. She finds a lot of humor to balance the very real horror happening off stage. And she gets, I think, some really good performances from the cast. They convey a lot of awkwardness from adolescence. And there's some beautiful moments where they don't say anything. It's just a lot of the drama comes from the expressions on their faces. And, Peter, I really agree with you about the need for an intermission and the effectiveness of a great curtain line. That is a great curtain line. I'd put it up there with the Act 1 curtain line from Proof as, you know, punch to the stomach. Great line. Yes. So I completely agree with you on that. Sadie Sink, she made a wonderful impression in the audience 10 years ago. She's since become big on TV and in film. She makes a very triumphant return to the stage. She makes her character into a wonderfully complex young woman, and it's hard to say, is she a child? Is she a young woman? Which I think is a. That plays into the Crucible and where. Abigail Adam. Abigail Adams. Oh, my God, I cannot believe those words just came out of my mouth.

[Unknown Female Singer]

What that play needs is Abigail Adams.

[Mason Moore]

Clearly remember the ladies. Yes. Wow. Abigail Williams. Williams. Sorry. Wow. My Freudian slip is showing. Yes. You know, she makes mistakes because she's a teenager, but she also learns from them, and. And that becomes really effective. Gabriel Ebert does a beautiful job of playing a character who ranges from very sympathetic, very helpful, and kind to misguided in some scenes and then unnerving as the play goes on, and really powerful performance. I hope he's remembered come award time. The rest of the cast also does a very good job of depicting people adjusting to shifting times and to some new ideas. Two boys in the cast, Nihar Duvoury and Hagan Oliveras, do a great job of ranging from teenage boys who are behaving like teenage boys, but also in certain ways, they're trying to be supportive of the girls around them and they're learning. They're paying attention to the MeToo movement and they're willing to listen to some new ideas. And again, I keep saying that watching the characters grow and learn is really effective. But yeah, they do that. They do a really great job with that. The program mentions scenography rather than sets. I've not heard that term used before that I remember. But the scenography is by amp, featuring Teresa William. Good set. It's a schoolroom, but also we get some good moments outside of the classroom. Natasha Katz's lighting does a good job of moving us out when there are scenes that are away. And Katz's lighting does a really good job of some blinks and color changes, really conveying emotion. Katz is obviously really great at that. And Sarah Laws costume design also does a nice job of differentiating the characters, showing their personalities, their place in their communities. Really good work. If I need to find something to criticize about the production, I'd complain that as the characters are criticizing and analyzing the Crucible, they don't address how Arthur Miller fictionalized the Salem witch trials. He made up the relationship between Abigail Williams and John Proctor, and I thought that was a missed opportunity to talk about how a progressive writer in the 1950s decided to add a vindictive young woman who in reality, Abigail Williams was 12 when the Salem witch trials happened. She was not 17 as Miller created her. I would have loved some moments analyzing, why did this writer, supposedly very progressive, feel the need to demonize a woman? A girl, really? He turned a girl into a woman and then uses her to cause all this trouble. That could have been a really fascinating discussion. And I'd also complain that this is a real ensemble piece. Sadie Sink's name is above the title, and maybe that's not necessary. But, you know, if her name is what gets people into the door and talking about it, I'm good with that. But it really is an ensemble piece, and I'd love to hear from people who spend a lot more time with teenagers than I do. You know, apart from my 18 year old boyfriend. If the way the teenagers, teenagers speak in the play is realistic, Bellflower gives them all very clear voices. But I don't talk to teenagers that much, so I'd love to hear if Is that real? Are these real voices from teenagers today? I'll point out that the night I saw the show there were a lot of young people in the audience. And I went downstairs to the lobby after the show and there were teenagers hugging each other and crying. They were clearly really affected by the piece. I really hope schools can get tickets to the show, bring their, learn about the Salem witch trials, read the Crucible, and then come see the show to discuss the intersection of history and drama, how drama can be used to comment on current events, how Miller did a great job creating a powerful play. But where he fell short and, and where are we falling short today in having our drama criticize contemporary issues? I think those will be some fascinating conversations.

[James Marino]

So I have a teenager.

[Mason Moore]

So tell me, how realistic is the dialogue?

[James Marino]

I, I think that it's a little bit older. The dialogue in the show is a little bit older than the, than the teenagers that I'm exposed to.

[Mason Moore]

Ah, okay.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Make it sound like a virus.

[James Marino]

Being exposed to teenagers can cause viruses.

[Mason Moore]

I keep thinking. Yep, true, not to interject, but years ago I saw a play written by an older woman who I love and admire, but she had a teenage character say, that's a totally whack thing to say. And I was not too far out of college myself at that time and I just remember cringing at that line that it felt so unnatural and like she was trying to evoke the way teenagers at the time were talking but not getting it right. And so I was genuinely curious since I'm now very far out of college, if Bellflower got the voices right since that other play tried and didn't.

[James Marino]

So it's interesting, I'm interested to hear what listeners and the three of you have to say about this. Is that the person that I went with, that I took to this said I wish that there were a trigger warning because she was very, very shooken up by this show. All right, well then, and so I thought about that and I was like, I, I, I, I understand that. I, I understand that and I, and I don't have a solution for that. But this, I want to start with that I felt like this is one of the best new plays I've ever seen and that I, I'm just, I, I was blown out by the cast and I was blown out by the writing and the direction and I think, think this is really great. And like Jenna said, this is a very much an ensemble piece, but the marketing is all around Sadie Sink, so I don't know if it can extend if Sadie leaves. But, you know, they've been able to convert other shows into a non star vehicle and keep it running. But I really love this.

[Unknown Female Singer]

But also there might. There might be other people of that type and each group.

[Mason Moore]

Yeah, Peters can take over.

[James Marino]

Yeah. So have any. Have any of you seen this before? This has been kicking around for many, many years.

[Peter Felicia]

It has.

[James Marino]

I know it has. And I've never heard from anybody how great this was. But I did get an email in 2021 from somebody telling me how great it was. And I didn't remember that until I started to. Until I came back from the show and I was like, oh, my God, where has the show been? And I was like, oh, it has been around for a long, long time. So this is a limited run scheduled right now? It is scheduled for a limited run through July 6th. We'll have to see how it does in the awards categories and the Tony Awards and all the other awards that are coming up very soon. But this is. I think this is a must see. I feel like if you are somebody who listens to us on a Sunday, that you should figure out how to get to New York to see this.

[Unknown Female Singer]

So you would say it's a critics pick?

[Mason Moore]

It's a critics pick very much, yes.

[James Marino]

So John Proctor is the villain. Michael, when are you going to go see yet?

[Unknown Female Singer]

I think next Thursday.

[James Marino]

Next Thursday. So maybe we will talk about it again.

[Unknown Female Singer]

I have a quick question for Jenna, because you obviously know the history more than me. I mean, I may have known this in the past, but I forgot. So you're saying Abigail Williams and John Proctor were. Were both historical characters, right?

[Mason Moore]

Yes, yes.

[Unknown Female Singer]

But you're saying that. That. That Miller invented the relationship between.

[Mason Moore]

Exactly, yes. Abigail Williams, if I remember correctly, was about 12 years old. Proctor, I believe, was in his 50s or 60s. He was older than Miller, depicted him in his 30s or 40s. So Proctor shifted the ages and Proctor. Ah, why am I getting names wrong? My goodness. Arthur Miller changed the ages and invented a relationship between the two of them as motivation for the witch hunt.

[Unknown Female Singer]

But is it also historical record that Abigail was indeed one of the instigators?

[Mason Moore]

Okay, so instigator is a tricky term that's up for debate. If she was one of the instigators, she was definitely involved.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Okay, well, involved in it. She was one of the ones who made accusations.

[Mason Moore]

Yes.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Yeah.

[James Marino]

So.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Yeah. So I always. I have always thought ever since I first read the Crucible, why did he. Why did he make Proctor such a flawed person? Because the main point of it is. Got nothing to do with that. It's that people are being accused of something, you know, recklessly and inaccurately, and then the witch hunts become. Which at that time, they were literal witch hunts, or they thought they were. And then now. Now we use the term to mean to. To smoke out communists or people or. Or whatever. Anybody we don't like, you know?

[Mason Moore]

Yes.

[Unknown Female Singer]

So I always wondered why. I guess maybe Miller felt it was more dramatically interesting if. If. If John Proctor had this. This tremendous flaw of becoming involved with this barely, you know, maybe underage girl. I mean, I don't know if she would have been considered underage at the time. But anyway, she works for him, and so that's another reason why she. And he's married. So that's another reason why. So I wonder. I wish, you know, I actually interviewed Arthur Miller once, and I. Oh, cool. Kind of wish I could get into one of those time machines that we see on Broadway now and go and ask him why he thought it was necessary to add that whole subplot, which I think just muddies things up, frankly.

[Mason Moore]

If I had to guess. And I never got to speak to Arthur Miller, and I can't even say I've done huge amounts of research into the Crucible, but if I had to guess, judging from what was happening at the time he wrote the play, a lot of people during the Depression joined the Communist Party because the Communist Party was advocating for workers when very few other were.

[James Marino]

Sure.

[Mason Moore]

And there were, you know, there were not a lot of jobs to be had. Massive amounts of the country were unemployed. So with all good intentions, people joined the Communist Party. And 20 years later, that's seen as a terrible thing to. To have ever done, leading to the. Are you now or have you ever been. So the idea that someone made a mistake in big quotation marks of joining a political party that they thought was a good idea at the time, now coming back to bite them could be seen as a parallel in John Proctor doing what seemed like a good idea at the time and having a fling with a teenage girl coming back to bite him. And I certainly don't want to suggest that abusing a teenage girl is on par with joining a political party, but I'm trying to think of how Miller might have interpreted events or interpreted quite literally, creating this fictional relationship as A parallel to I did something I regret in the past and now it's coming back to haunt me.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Gotcha.

[Mason Moore]

If that makes sense.

[James Marino]

All right, so John Proctor is the villain at the Booth Theater through July 6th. We'll have a link to that in the show not this Week on Broadway is sponsored by Factor Meals. We are wrapping up the Broadway season, which means seeing a lot of shows and not having any time. How do we do it? This is where Factor comes in with nutritious 2 minute meals from Factor. Eating well has never been this easy. Just heat up and enjoy, giving you more time to see more shows. Factor Meals arrive fresh and ready to eat, perfect for any active lifestyle. With 45 weekly menu options, you can pick gourmet meals that fit your goals. Choose from Calorie, Smart, Protein plus Keto and More. Factor powers your day with satisfying breakfasts on the Gold lunches, premium dinners, and guilt free snacks and desserts. It's easy to savor more. This spring. Factor Meals pack in the flavors with none of the fuss. For me, Factor does the impossible. It saves me money, it saves me time, and it provides a quality great meal. I'm able to finish up my afternoon meetings, throw a factor in. Two minutes later I'm eating with a well balanced meal that tastes great and is much, much less expensive than eating in the theater district. So get [e-mail] Broadway 50 off that's 50 off off and use the code Broadway50OFF that's B R O A D W A Y 50 off to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. That's code [e-mail] Broadway50OFF for 50% off plus free shipping. We'd like to thank Factor Meals for sponsoring Broadway radio. The four of us, all four of us got over to the Imperial Theater to see Smash. So Michael, why don't you get to start out on Smash?

[Unknown Female Singer]

Oh wow. Oh gosh. Once again, I'm a virgin. I virtual virgin. I watched the first episode of the first season of the TV series Smash and as I've said before, I remember distinctly the moment where I turned it off because it, as I'm sure 99% of our listeners know, it's about the creation of a Broadway musical and it was created by some people who are, you know, have actually been involved in that world. So I guess many of us expected a certain degree of reality. But apparently a lot of these writers feel that if you're going to show reality, the reality of a creation of a show, it's just not interesting enough. And so they have to sex it up and they have to over dramatize it and melodramatize it. Is that a word?

[Mason Moore]

It is.

[Unknown Female Singer]

And so, yeah. And so, as I recall, in the first episode of Smash, there was these two women who are going to be vying for the role of Marilyn Monroe in this musical based on her life. And one of them, I believe, was Katherine McPhee. And she is. She auditions for the show and then later that night, you know, presumably it's maybe around 10pm, she's in bed with her boyfriend and she gets a phone call and it's the director of the show with his British accent, and he calls her and he says, oh, you were marvelous, darling. I. I just go, you know, could you meet me at, at my hotel right now? I really want to discuss, you know, this role with you and see if we can move forward, blah, blah, blah. And so she hangs up and she turns and the boyfriend says, who is that? He goes, oh. She goes, oh, it's the, it's the director. He wants to see me. He wants to see me right now. I'm. I'm so excited. And the boyfriend is, oh, yes, yeah, you should totally go. So that's when I turned off the tv. And I don't know what happened after that. Apparently this new Broadway musical is loosely based on the series. Many people had hoped that when this property came to Broadway that what they were going to see was the actual musical bombshell that everyone was working towards creating in the series. And they could have gone that way, but I guess they felt they wanted to include all of the backstage stuff because they can make lots of snarky jokes and stuff about the theater community. So the latter route is the one that they took. I think it's. You have to approach it as heightened reality, but I would approach it more as heightened insanity. Bob Martin wrote the book and I. Well, let's see, let me get the credit. It's Bob Martin and Rick Ellis wrote the book. That's the credit. And I used to do really like Bob Martin's work. I really loved the drowsy chaperone and I really loved the prom. I did. I didn't have anything against it. And I used to defend Bob Martin against a friend of mine who can't stand his work. So I would say, well, to each his own, blah, blah, blah. But now I really don't like saying this, but between Smash and Boop, I really have a much lower opinion of his work. Obviously an Obvious statement might be that maybe he shouldn't have been working on these two major projects at the same time because I think they're both extremely flawed, specifically in terms of the book and the plot elements and the weird characters that are added and the strange relationships and the things that happen that would never in 8 million years happened in real life during the creation of a Broadway musical. And I don't think you even have to have. I mean, I've never done a Broadway musical. I don't think you have to have been there to be able to see. Well, that would never happen. So many things, last minute substitutions and crazy rewrites that no one would ever have approved. Things of all that sort. I thought there were some, a few honest belly laugh jokes in the script, including this was interesting jokes about Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman, but not together. They joked about them separately. So yeah. Also something I'll more about later. I always enjoy. Well, let me say I, I used to enjoy very much the work of Scott Whitman and Marc Shaiman. And in terms of their way, they're really skillful way of writing pastiche scores. For example, the, the. The gold standard being Hairspray. I just, I just love that score. But then they also did great work for the. For example, the movie Mary Poppins Returns. You know, I thought they were able to ape the style of the songs of the original without, you know, and yet creating new ones that were really terrific and not copies. But sometimes they, I, I guess, you know, skill got. No, I'm. Well, really, it's, it's really Mark Shaman who, you know, if you have a melody in your head, sometimes it can be hard to get it out. And I noticed a couple of things here that were a little too close for comfort to songs that I have heard before and that really, that really put me off quite a bit. And that in, in conjunction with the tremendous book problems made for a very, very scattershot evening with me, I think I would say I enjoyed it in fits and starts and largely because of the cast, Brooks Shmanskas is doing a great comic turn as the director. Also fabulous are Robin Herder, Christa Rodriguez, John Bellman, Caroline Bowman. A big disappointment for me was Christine Nielsen. I would say this was the first, the very first show I've seen her in that I did not think she was hilarious, but I blame it 100% on the quite ridiculous character that was written for her to play. So I felt sorry for her throughout the evening and I think I got the impression that the audience was Having the same non response as I was because that might have been an amusing little character from maybe one scene, but not to keep reappearing like some wraith throughout the show. So another huge mistake on my part, I think. Directed by Susan Stroman, but not choreographed by her. Choreography by Joshua Burgasse and music supervision by Stephen Arimis. All great people, but I thought basically a mess.

[James Marino]

All right, mate. So, Jenna, you had thoughts?

[Mason Moore]

Oh, I had thoughts. See, that's why I'm here today, because I walked out of the theater, emailed James and said I have thoughts. Yes. Oh dear. So I completely opposite to you, Michael. I watched the TV series religiously. I loved it. Sometimes I love to hate it, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching the show. Whether or not it was good and it frequently was not, I will fully admit that it could be fun, it could be cheesy, it could be campy. It was never dull. It was always entertaining. The stage version has a lot of that camp, but not nearly enough of the fun. And I also completely agree. I think it's Bob Martin and Rick Ellis book that drags it down the. Yeah, the show gets to be its own thing, which is good. It doesn't try to recreate the TV series and I really appreciate that. What works on the screen, whether big screen or small screen, doesn't always work on stage, as we're seeing with Good Night and Good Luck. Something that is very effective on screen doesn't translate all that well to the stage. Problem is in adapting the TV show, they're trying to have it both ways. They're changing a lot of elements of the TV show while keeping the same central conflict of who's going to play the lead. And it doesn't work. The whole should the ingenue play the lead role? That storyline felt worn out when 42nd street did it in the 1930s. That's another story. Nevermind. Anyway, in the stage version, Ivy Lynn, who was played by Megan Hilty in the TV version, now she's an established Broadway star. Her participation in a musical guarantees backers, so that adds a good new element. Karen is her best friend and regular understudy. Another good element. This could all make for some really good drama in the vein of A Star Is Born. If Karen's career takes off at the expense of Ivy's.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Yes.

[Mason Moore]

But thanks to some spectacularly sophomorish humor late in act one, that doesn't happen. And instead we get a new character, Chloe, a former actress and dancer who now works as the associate director on Bombshell and Suddenly, she could get a chance at her big break. And if you think that's going to be the basis for the conflict. No, it won't. Because now we've got Susan Proctor, a former teacher of Marilyn's, who wrote a book training the legend Ivy, hires her to help make her performance more truthful. After the show's lyricist, Bombshell lyricist, I should say, the Debra Messing role from the TV show, gives Ivy this book. And then as Ivy begins reading the book and learning about her character, she brings on Susan Proctor and goes full method, driving everyone around her up a wall as she tries to become the famously unstable Marilyn. So a good amount of the show's chaos is caused by a woman reading a book or. And, you know, I'm going to have issues with that, but it's also caused by a performer doing research into her character, which is kind of to be expected. It's kind of an offensive concept if you think about it even a little bit. Yeah. And another one of the tough elements to get your mind around is that the creative team keeps saying they want to write a musical comedy about Marilyn's life, because what's not comic about a woman being used and abused and dying of a drug overdose at 36 years old? Oh, that's a laugh riot right there. A lot of the conflict comes from the creative team's efforts to keep Bombshell light and funny, which could be a snarky commentary about how people prefer fiction to truth, but that's just one. That's one more element thrown into the chaos that barely gets touched on. Again, the book, it's where I put a lot of the blame. Makes the characters into caricatures with catchphrases instead of realistic arcs. A lot of the jokes are stale at best and insulting at worst. Martin and Ellis dumbed the storyline down so much as to make it ridiculous instead of funny. Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman's score that they created for Bombshell is good, and it's all here. But one of the. I think a big problem with this adaptation is that they only use the songs from Bombshell. Very little new material. This is more of a play with music than a musical, because most, almost all of the songs are from Bombshell. They are either rehearsed or full productions of the show within a show song, whereas all of the book scenes are what's happening in real life. Real life, as it were. The songs from Bombshell, they're fun, they're good, but they don't move Smash's story forward. They don't Tell us anything about its characters. And Circling back to 42nd street, the stage adaptation from the 80s had songs for its characters and for Pretty lady. The show within a show. And that's what gives it a good balance. That balance is missing here. The usual line is in a musical when you can no longer say your feelings, you sing them. And the characters in Smash have these intense emotions but never get to sing them. And those are the moments that make a musical good and effective. And they're missing here. To me, the most disappointing thing is how good it could have been and should have been because pretty much everyone involved in it is top notch. Stroman's direction is fine, but the two characters, the characters are too shallow for her to get any real depth from them. And this is. This is a woman who is able to wring real emotion from the producers. When Leo gets his hat at the end, that's a beautifully emotional moment. She knows how to balance depth and comedy. Yeah, I was surprised that she didn't choreograph this. Vergasse's work is fine. Recreates a lot of the choreography from the TV show in good ways. But again, he's choreographing for Bombshell and not Smash. So again, doesn't get to convey character from the characters from Smash through any of the dance. Doug Besterman's orchestrations are excellent. They evoke a real Golden Age sound. Beowulf Borrett's set. They're Fine. Does a nice job balancing the show within a show within the show. Yes. Ken Billingston's lighting design also helps with that. Ale Javieri's costumes are mostly very good, although the decision to dress Krista Rodriguez in 70s style seems kind of strange. Doesn't tell us much about her character, though. The most important thing that everyone will be wondering about. Yes, the scarves are still there. I know you were all wondering about that. The cast does their best with what they have to work with. None of them can be faulted for the show's problems. Robin Herder is a classic triple threat as Ivy Lynn. She does her best to make the character nuanced, but. But the book gives her so little to do to dig deep into the character that it's not her fault. Christa Rodriguez was in the original TV series in season two. Again, given far too little to do in the stage version. But she does get some good emotional moments. John Milman as her husband. He tries to make his character empathetic. The writers give him some of the most obnoxious and offensive material.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Absolutely.

[Mason Moore]

Oh, God, yeah. Did you know alcoholism is funny? I didn't know alcoholism was funny. Oh, that pissed me off. But that's another conversation. Christine Nelson similarly gets some really offensive material as the former teacher. Apparently she's supposed to be doing an UTA Hagan impression, but I never got to see Utah Hagen on stage, so I don't know. But please, if someone can confirm, I'd love to know about that. Caroline Bowman gets some good moments as Karen. She does a nice job balancing her character's ambition and kindness as she's perpetually stuck in the wings. She makes it easy to cheer for Karen as she begins inching closer to the success she's always dreamed about. Brooks Ishmanskas, again, not given great material, given a lot of histrionics, but such a talented performer. He's able to get some really good laughs out of the fairly weak material and repeated catchphrases. Jacqueline B. Arnold. Nicholas Maddows gets some good laughs as Bombshell's very world weary producer and her equally very naive intern. The breakout of the show, at least for me, is Bella Coppola as Chloe, the associate director. She really beautifully conveys her character's grounded sense of realism along with her frustrations and her frustrations with the production and with the theater industry as a whole. She gets some of the best moments in the show. She deserves to be remembered come awards time. And I really hope she gets to be the lead in her next show because she, she's earned it. I hope she will be. I would love to see what this cast could do with a better written show because there's so much talent here, there is so much to that could be. Be effective in this production, but all of the good elements just don't fit together into a satisfying whole.

[James Marino]

Okay, Peter, what'd you think?

[Peter Felicia]

There are things I admired in the show in certain decisions that were made. One, the fact that there's no mention of critics, there's no mention of press, there's no mention of the New York Times. All that's avoided because what's important now is social media. And I thought there was terrific satire there. There in the fact that 112 people are coming to the first preview and they're all kids, they're all non professionals, they're all, you should pardon the expression, amateurs. And yet they speak with authority. The term influencer is used and I thought that was really great because usually the big thing is will the times like us? What are the reviews? Nobody mentions reviews. That's not what's Important today. And I thought that was terrific satire. So I like that very, very much, much. Now, how did those 112 people get there? Well, there's a young intern on the show who invited them. Now, I don't think he would as he is drawn. Now, here's the thing that is wasted. It is mentioned that he is the son, some sort of relative. I think it's the son of a guy who's put a lot of money in the show and throughout the entire show. He is.

[Unknown Female Singer]

He.

[Peter Felicia]

He will occasionally speak up. He's immediately quieted it. And he doesn't say anything else after they tell him to shut up. No, that character should have said, excuse me, my father's got the money in this show. I'm inviting 112 people, whether you like it or not. They're my friends, face it. And everybody would be cowed by this young intern that would be more interesting than what they have now. So the character, I think, really was wasted in that way. There's a big thing about the fact, and this is so bizarre, the big thing about the fact that at the first preview, well, Ivy has suddenly gone to Albany to work for a political candidate. I get the impression that they didn't know anything about this in advance, that it was something that seemed to be a last minute decision. Well, where's the press agent on this show? Because I'm telling you, they could have gotten such a big hand from the audience if the press agent said, we know that a first preview of a show is very important. We know that. However. However, Ivy Lynn is so concerned about politics, what comes first. We have to get the right people into office. So as a result, she's going to Albany to fight for the candidate that we all know will be the best candidate in this year's election. The audience would have applauded that because the subtext would have been there about what's going on now in politics. That would have been so wonderful. But you don't suddenly disappear on the day of your first preview. However, as Jenna mentioned, the understudy bit is a very, very tired, tired thing. And it was more interesting here from the vantage point that we have not two people vying for the role, but three. And yes, I do agree, the actress playing Chloe is terrific. Anyway, however, they paint themselves in a corner because there's no doubt how this has to turn out. Everything that is said in the way that it turns out makes perfect sense. And it had to be that way. So that's a big problem as well. So those Objections were there. Yes. It is more of a play with music than a musical. There are times when you really do feel that somebody is so moved by what has just been said that he or she will break out into song. Nobody does, but that's a conscious decision. Say, well, let's do a musical where nobody can complain. I hate when they break out in song because indeed, they are all diegetic songs, as the term goes, meaning that the people who are singing know they are singing. It is a performance number. So I kind of respected that and I kind of respected so many other decisions made in the show. Show. So I didn't hate it and I saw where they were coming from in many ways. But again, the term Peyton into a corner is certainly one that occurred to me a great deal during the time I was watching Smash.

[James Marino]

All right.

[Peter Felicia]

Your turn.

[Mason Moore]

Yeah.

[James Marino]

I'm trying to come up with, you know, not be repetitious about. A lot of the things that the three of you said are. I agree with. I felt like I was watching the musical that went wrong. If there was, you know, if the mischief people over in London were to come up with a show called the Musical that Went Wrong, this could have been in it. But it also was like, not the show within the show that went wrong, but the exterior, the. The larger product was the musical that Went Wrong. I'm always uncomfortable when we have tons of insider jokes because they get old fast and 90% of the audience doesn't get them. And of course, you know, from the first preview on through the end of the second week after opening, you're going to get big laughs. And then after the second week, when the Insiders have already all seen the show and now you have, you know, the Bridge and the Outsiders. The Outsiders. I feel as though that it doesn't serve everybody well. And we've all talked about Bob Martin and just the love that we've had for previous shows, but these don't click. I think of this as the expectation game. It's like, Peter, Michael, tell me about the expectations of Nick and Nora. When it was coming to Broadway, before it opened, before it opened, it was like Joanna Gleason and this great team and everybody is going to be in and Nick and Nora, what a great thing this could be. And then it opens up and it falls flat. And I sort of feel like this is what's happened with Smash is that we've raised our expectations so high for Smash that we were disappointed.

[Peter Felicia]

Actually, I would have to say with Nick and Nora that at least the word on the street, by the, as you say, insiders was not good from day one because it took them a long time to get it off. I recall going to a Backers audition at the Manhattan Theater Club a good year or so before it got on. They had a tough time raising money. And then of course, it became notorious for running so many previews. I think there were 49 of them before.

[James Marino]

Yeah, I mean, it wasn't Spider man, but.

[Peter Felicia]

No, but at that time, 49 was a lot, maybe even a record setter.

[James Marino]

But I'm saying on, on paper, before anybody ever saw the first even Backers audition, on paper, it was like, this had a great team. It's a great underlying property.

[Peter Felicia]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was like, lawrence, these are good people. Needless to say.

[James Marino]

Yeah, yeah. Michael.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Well, yeah. Although for some of us, Arthur Lawrence as direct was a red flag.

[James Marino]

Okay.

[Peter Felicia]

At this point, he had done La Cage and as he had, he had.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Done La Cage, you know, so that.

[Peter Felicia]

That at least was a mitigating factor under the circumstances. But. Well, more on Nick and Nora at another time.

[James Marino]

But I think that, I think that what happened with Smash is that we, you know, it was like, like, okay, we had a hit television series, we had a team of people that we really love, a bunch of actors we really adore, that are super talented, and then, then this didn't click, you know, and I've said this before, I'm a little bit of a broken record, you know, on any given Sunday, you know, you have National Football League teams that are just 0 and 17 and terrible. But these are like world class athletes, you know, and everybody involved in Smash is a world class talent.

[Mason Moore]

Exactly.

[James Marino]

It just didn't click. It just didn't click for us this time. Some of it was really funny. Some of it was like groaning and we're like, oh, come on. I was telling somebody that, you know, I really know nothing of Smash. I didn't watch the television series. I didn't watch it before I went to go see the show. I knew a little bit of it from the cultural zeitgeist. But the opening number, I was like, oh, my God, this is terrible. And then I was like, oh, it's supposed to be terrible. But they didn't get, you know, it was like, it was like in the film, not the play, but the. Not the musical, but the film of Death becomes her. The opening scene in Death becomes her. Songbird was terrible. But you were in on the joke. I wasn't in on the joke. With Smash's opening number that it was supposed to be bad, you know, and the last thing I'm going to say is they, they missed a terrible, terrible opportunity to sell cupcakes at intermission.

[Mason Moore]

Oh, I didn't even think of that.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Right, Indeed.

[James Marino]

You know, they should have sold cupcakes. You know, they should.

[Mason Moore]

Waitress has got nothing on this.

[James Marino]

Exactly. Oh, pie. I love pie.

[Peter Felicia]

Yes.

[James Marino]

All right, so that is smash at the Imperial Theater. My audience loved it, so maybe it'll run forever. I don't know. I think that the mixed notices were.

[Peter Felicia]

Well, wait, they got a rave. Jesse Green at the time.

[Unknown Female Singer]

One rave?

[Peter Felicia]

Yeah, one A rave. Yeah, I did use the word A.

[James Marino]

But the social media influencers.

[Peter Felicia]

Yes, indeed. Exactly.

[James Marino]

And you know, we had a bunch of things, you know, in this, as Peter mentioned, the satire aspect of it with the social media, you know, one of the lines and the thing, oh, I have the script and I didn't pull up, I didn't pull up the line. It was something along the lines of, you know, we cast people on talent, not many, not how many followers they have on social media. And then there was a big laugh in the audience because we cast people based upon social media followers. So I wonder if CCM and University of Michigan talks about in their, in their acting programs about the need to develop your social media following.

[Peter Felicia]

Good point, good point.

[James Marino]

So anyway, that's it for Smash. Let's move forward into Michael got over to the Lortel to Sivanya, Andrew Scott, much adored actor doing the one person play. So Peter and I have talked about this before. Michael, what you think of Anya?

[Unknown Female Singer]

Well, I'm going into a lot of things code lately because believe it or not, I've never seen Andrew Scott in anything except a few clips of him in the Ripley. And I thought, when I first saw that, I thought, well, he seems like he's really great from what I can tell from these clips, although he's older than the character usually is. So I wasn't sure about that. So now this is my really first exposure to him and oh my God, you just got to see this. If there's any way you can go. Peter's talked about it and of course he's right that because one person, one phenomenally talented person is playing every role in what used to be called Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov. There are going to be times when it's going to be difficult to follow the story and the characters, but you would be amazed at how many times it's not difficult to follow the story and the characters because they're so, so incredibly well delineated by Andrew Scott through changing his voice in terms of pitch, rapidity, inflections, and of course, facial expressions and body language. So I would say that I enjoyed this one person production of Uncle Vanya far more than the traditionally cast, a full cast version that we saw at Lincoln center. Just. When was it? Two years ago anyway? Yeah, not that long ago. The one that had famously had Steve Carell in it in the title.

[Mason Moore]

Oh, that was just last season.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Just last season, yeah. So it was even. Yeah. Okay, thank you. Yeah. I would advise, as I think, Peter, did you to read the play before you, or at least, if not the entire play, at least a synopsis. That might be enough just to get you enough familiarity that you need to fully appreciate the extraordinary work that Andrew Scott is doing here. But go, go, go if you can. Is this one that we're hearing rumors of a transfer?

[Peter Felicia]

I haven't. That doesn't mean anything.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Yeah, and I imagine, I imagine he's very much in demand, so who knows? But just really stellar, stellar work.

[James Marino]

Okay. And finally this morning in our, in our review section, Peter and Michael were over at 54 below to see 54 sings Coco by Alan J. Lerner and Andre Previn. So, Michael, tell us about this.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Oh, I was hoping Peter could go first.

[James Marino]

Peter, why don't you tell us about this?

[Peter Felicia]

I've always felt Coco had a terrific score and it's very hard to tell that from the original cast album because indeed you have Katharine Hepburn on it. God love her for wanting to do this musical. It's really wonderful that she wanted to. That said, it's a very hard album to listen to back in 1969. Well, I guess the album didn't come out till 70 because it opened in December anyway, in early 70. What people were doing at that time when there was really vinyl was the dominant medium to listen to anything, a lot of people thought it was a good idea to play this 33 and a third record at 45 because Katherine Hepburn sounded a little better at 45 speed than she did at 33 and the third and. And the record got over sooner, faster. It's very interesting. Those who were really into original cast albums will know that way back when RCA used to use prefix of loc for their original cast albums right along playing, Columbia used to use ol original long playing record. This was on Paramount Records. And because it was a musical, their prefix was pms. And that of course has come to have a completely different meaning as time has gone on. So that's a little unfortunate, but it really is a good score. And when Danielle Darier came in, I thought, wouldn't it be wonderful if they would make a recording with her? I knew they wouldn't. I mean, she didn't last long in the park. Nobody wanted to see her. She did do a couple of Hudsona 45, but. But it really is such a good score. So as a result, it was so wonderful to hear these songs with good voices. That was the real thrill of it. So many people came on to do such good work. Jane Summerhays we haven't seen in a while. Christina Andreas did terrific work. They were all wonderful. And so, as a result, Coco finally got a good hearing. I will say that. From the. From the abridged what we learned about the book, gee, it didn't seem like much of a story. And it's always a problem, too, with these things where somebody's starting out, somebody doesn't do well, somebody does do well, then you don't do well, and then you do well again. It's just too bad. And, of course, a lot was made of the fact that Coco had a father who was not attentive and disappointed her greatly in a way that she certainly didn't expect to be. Disappointed. Disappointed. All that is solid Alan J. Lerner's book. And while I did not see the original production, which may surprise many, the fact is that I certainly have a sound system recording of the entire show. And Alan J. Lerner gave so many quips to Coco Chanel that after a while it became wearing the way, like in Bob Hope movies, he always comes up with the clever line, you know, become so wearing, you know. You know, that it's not really the character speaking anymore, it's the writer. And so that's. That's pretty bad. But anyway, a classy presentation, but very nice to hear good voices. Do Coco, okay?

[James Marino]

Michael, how about you?

[Unknown Female Singer]

Yes. Bravo to Charles Kirsch, who put it all together, and Michael Levine at the piano. They just did great work all evening. And I don't know if we mentioned recently that Charles Kirsch has been accepted into Harvard. So I guess we'll be seeing less of him, at least during the school year, beginning next fall. But in the meantime, he's already got several things cooked up before he starts. And then, you know, I actually haven't had a chance to ask him if he's going to try to continue to. To do things and how often. But he's certainly given us some wonderful, wonderful stuff lately. And this was another Example, in addition to the people that, that Peter mentioned, Christina, Andrea, Sarah Gettle Finger was fantastic in the show. Jane Summerhays, Josie De Guzman, one of my favorites, Ben Jones, Steven Brinberg and Lenny Wolpe. I believe that's how you pronounce it, Wolpie. I had not seen Lenny in a while and he and Stephen did a little duet thing that was so touching. It was between Coco reverts to a child and is with her father who was sort of an absentee father but really loved her. And their little scene together, I, I found it very moving. And I spoke actually with Stephen afterwards and he said, well, we both had tears in our eyes. So that was an absolute highlight of an evening of full of highlights. And bravo to everyone in involved.

[James Marino]

All right, so that was a one night only event. We'll have a link to the show. Notes. We have a just a few things that we want to mention in the news before moving on to everything else. Michael Patrick Adarte passed away.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Yes. Patrick Adiarte, who I'm sure our listeners know primarily for his appearances in the films of the King and I in which he played Prince Chula Longkorn and Flower Drum Song in which he played the younger son Wang San. Wang San. And then this is news to me because as we all know, I'm not a TV watcher. Apparently he was a regular in the first season of Smash. Not Smash, not Smash, but mash, the first season of MASH on tv. So. And a lot of. And a lot of the obits for Patrick led with that because that's his most famous thing. He was also a dancer on the old show hullabaloo in the 60s with Donna McKechnie and a lot of other fun people. He was a phenomenal, phenomenal dancer who would have probably been a major, major star if at. If in those days the industry was more welcomin non white people because Patrick was Filipino and yeah, and just that his little bit in Flower Drum Song he has actually, actually two dances in which he's featured but the primary one is at the beginning in the song the Other Generation. And he's actually in a baseball uniform because he's supposed to be going out to play baseball with his friends. And he does this jazz ballet thing that it's the choreography by Hermes Pan is phenomenal. And the way he executes it is just so smooth and natural that you think this, this is a major, major talent. So rest in peace, dear Patrick.

[Peter Felicia]

Indeed.

[James Marino]

And also Michael, you sent over the link from Playbill about the Renovations for the West Bank Cafe.

[Unknown Female Singer]

Oh, yeah. It's got a lot of nice photos in it. You can see what you're going to experience when you go there, hopefully for our Sandy Duncan show on May 13, but they have a lot of other wonderful things coming up. Leslie Kritzer just christened the show. Well, they had a big gala opening event last week, but then Leslie did the first actual solo show there, and I'm told it was a great success. It really is. It seems to be state of the art in terms of the, you know, the tech. And then also just being redesigned by David Rockwell is such a, such a coup for them. Everybody was very, very excited about it. And now you have all those Hirschfelds upstairs to look at. I was there yesterday. They have, gosh, they have so many. They have whoopee. They have Cheetah, Betty Buckley. So many. I can't really remember all of them, but there's a great selection and I'm sure many of your favorites will be there on the wall.

[James Marino]

Okay, so that wraps it up for today. Before we get on to our brain teaser and our musical moments, I want to remind everybody that you can subscribe to these broadcasts by going to the front page of Broadway Radio. There's a subscribe link that way each and every time we have a new episode of this Week on Broadway, it'll be automatically downloaded to Apple Podcasts for you. Of course, you don't have to listen to us in Apple Podcasts. There's many ways to get us. One way is Patreon P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com. broadwayRadio is one way that you can support all of Broadway radio shows and get us a little bit earlier and have a few other benefits like listening to us live on Sunday morning. Contact information for Peter, for Jennifer, Michael and Phoebe can be found in the show [e-mail] as well as links to some things we've talked about today. So, Peter, should we have an answer to last week's Brain Teaser?

[Peter Felicia]

A Tony winning play opened on a European holiday and closed on an international holiday. Well, I was talking about DA which opened in 1978 on May 1, which is a holiday in much of Europe and closed in 1980. On January 1, New Year's Day all over the the world, Tony Janicki vaulted back into first place, followed by Paul Witty, Sean Logan, J. Aubrey Jones, Fred Abramowicz, and Brigadude. This week's question change one letter in the name of a currently occupied Broadway Theater. And you'll get the last name of a character in a comedy that ran on Broadway for more than a thousand performances. What's the name of the theater? What's the name of the character? What's the name of the play?

[James Marino]

The Mershwin.

[Unknown Female Singer]

There it is.

[James Marino]

If you have an answer for that, email [e-mail] let you know if you're on the right track. So, Michael, what do we have in this week's musical moments?

[Unknown Female Singer]

Well, I mentioned before in discussing the score of Smash that it is a pasty score. And I guess when you write a pasty score, you do run the, The. The risk of having things sound very, very much like songs that we have heard previously. And it happened to me at Smash during the. I believe it was during the overture or early on somewhere I heard a melody and I thought, that sounds like Bella Note from Lady and the Tramp, the old Disney movie. Now, because I was not familiar with the song for which it has been used in Smash, which is Let Me Be youe Star. But then when they actually outright performed Let Me Be youe Star, I said, oh, yes, that's it. So our opener today is an excerpt of that section of Let Me Be youe Star. This is a recording from the TV version of Smash. And our closer is that same section section from Bella Note from Lady and the Tramp. So you can listen to both and see, see if you notice the similarity that I do. And I'd be curious to hear people's responses to that.

[Peter Felicia]

Well, I have a response immediately because when you just did that little riff there, I thought you were doing Song of the sand from LA Casual. And it reminded me that when I saw the pre. The Song of the sand, when I heard that song for the first time in the Boston Tryout, I thought, gee, that sounds like Bella Note. So there's a lot of that going on.

[Unknown Female Singer]

If, if you listen to them really closely, the intervals of Let ME Be your Star and Bella Note are, are even. Are like exactly the same, whereas Song of the sand is slightly different. But yes, I can understand why you.

[Peter Felicia]

You would think as Laman Angle used to call us Toon detectives.

[James Marino]

Yes. All right, so on behalf of Gen Fox, Michael Portantier, and Peter Felicia, this is James Marino saying thanks so much for listening to broader radios this week on Broadway. Bye bye.

[Mason Moore]

Bye bye.

[Peter Felicia]

Oh, this is the night It's a beautiful night and we call it Bell and look at the skies they have stars in their eyes on this lovely bar Another side by side with your love of the one you'll find enchantment.

[Dennis Black]

Here.

[Peter Felicia]

The night will weave its magic spell when the one your love is near for this is the night.

[Mason Moore]

You.

[Unknown Female Singer]

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[Mr. Moore]

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[Mason Moore]

Let's go.

[Mr. Moore]

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[Mason Moore]

The numbers look good. Brad, you're on mute.

[Mr. Moore]

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