BroadwayRadio: This Week on Broadway – February 15, 2026

“High Spirits @ City Center Encores!”

Hosts: James Marino, Peter Filicia, Michael Portantier, Jan Simpson
Original Air Date: February 15, 2026

Episode Overview

This week, the panel discusses the triumphant City Center Encores! presentation of High Spirits, the musical adaptation of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit. Other topics include Irish Rep's Making a Show of Myself, Soho Playhouse's I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical, Studio Seaview's The Unknown starring Sean Hayes, Kramer/Fauci at NYU Skirball, Coriolanus at TFANA, The Monsters at Manhattan Theatre Club, and The Other Place at The Shed. The show rounds out with tributes to the late Broadway journalist Harry Haun, museum news, and a Julie Andrews musical moment.

Main Review: High Spirits at City Center Encores!

Reflections on the Production

• Peter Filicia (05:57):

  • Reminisces about seeing the original in 1964 and enthuses that Encores! “finally got around to doing it.”
  • Praises the cast: Rachel Dratch (maid, with a surprisingly pivotal role), Katrina Lenk (Elvira), Stephen Pasquale (Charles), and Phillipa Soo (Ruth). Special notice to Andrea Martin (Madame Arcati).
  • Bemoans the absence of the original witty line about Elvira’s cause of death, wondering if it was cut by accident or adaptation.
  • Describes the plot for context: Charles invites a medium to his home, inadvertently conjuring his late wife to the chagrin of his current spouse.
  • "The score by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray—Good Lord, what a great score. It really is. … Especially… ‘Home Sweet Heaven.’" (07:01)
  • Explains how “Home Sweet Heaven” was inspired by a small line in Coward’s play and lauds its clever rhymes, expressing regret that it didn’t get an encore in this staging.
  • Notes a staging quibble: Katrina Lenk sang “Home Sweet Heaven” from the balcony, which felt distant for a showstopper.
  • Fondly recalls Boston audience’s reaction to Tammy Grimes performing the song in 1964.
  • Addresses Andrea Martin's reliance on her script: “She did have to rely on her book more than the other people did. But she was quite delightful and she has such wonderful physical energy that she was great fun to watch.” (10:46)
  • Notes the show's historical challenge: Being “a musical that’s based on a very urbane and sophisticated play… tough when it went up against Hello, Dolly! and Funny Girl.” (11:10)

• Michael Portantier (11:46):

  • Prepped by watching the 1945 “Blithe Spirit” film, praising its “breakneck pace.” (12:17)
  • “Boy, do I have to disagree with you, Peter, about the score for this show.” (13:16)
    • Argues the jazzy 60s score feels at odds with Coward’s material.
    • Critiques the chorus of “beatniks” as an out-of-place adaptation for the 1960s: “They seem as out of place here as the hippies show up in the last five minutes of the movie of Sweet Charity.”
    • Points out some lyrics contradict the plot’s supernatural rules, e.g., Elvira’s “Faster Than Sound” about ghosts zipping around the world.
    • Challenges the logic of “Home Sweet Heaven’s” guest list: “Are we really supposed to think that people like Salome and Jack the Ripper would end up in heaven?” (15:27)
      • Peter: “I do agree with Jack the Ripper. I thought that was bizarre.” (15:27)
    • Suggests some productions cut the chorus completely.
  • Praises the cast and creative team:
    • “Philippa Soo was almost a revelation,” for a role very unlike her previous work. (16:40)
    • “Rachel Dratch stole the show… with just her running around the stage.”
    • Credits to makeup designer Katie Gel and lighting designer Bradley King for the convincing “ghost” transformations.
  • Observes the addition of Campbell Scott as Noël Coward/narrator “worked pretty well for this sort of presentation.” (17:39)
  • On Katrina Lenk: “Many people did not like her in Company. I did... people wondered if she could handle an ethereal character like this… I thought she did a beautiful job and she looked beautiful.” (17:46)
  • “Regardless of all my reservations, I agree with the universal opinion that this is exactly the kind of show that Encores should do.” (19:33)

• James Marino (19:51):

  • Jokingly: “If you are listening to this and you haven't seen it, you very likely won't see it.”

Notable Quotes and Comments

• On the Music:
  • Peter Filicia (07:00): “The score by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray—Good Lord, what a great score. It really is… Especially… ‘Home Sweet Heaven.’”
  • Michael Portantier (13:16): “Boy, do I have to disagree with you, Peter, about the score for this show. … I guess I’m in the camp of people who feel the jazziness is really at odds with the story.”
  • Peter Filicia (15:50): “That Go Into Your Trance … should’ve been Madame Arcati’s number alone. You Martin called me up and said, ‘What a great idea, we should have done that.’”
• On Katrina Lenk:
  • James Marino (20:05): “Bring me those people who didn’t like Katrina Lenk and I will fight them. … Their opinion is wrong.”
• On Encores! choices:
  • Michael Portantier (19:35): “Regardless of all my reservations, I agree… this is exactly the kind of show that Encores should do.”

Key Segment Timestamps

• City Center Encores! High Spirits: 05:57 – 20:32
• Musical history context (Coward, previous stagings): 05:57 – 11:43
• Peter and Michael’s musical disagreements: 13:16 – 19:33

Other Shows and Topics Reviewed

Making a Show of Myself – Irish Rep

Jan Simpson (20:54 – 24:51)

• Praises Mary Kate O’Flanagan’s storytelling and voice.
• Appreciates the lack of “trauma dumping” common in solo shows: “She’s almost magical … not trauma related.”
• “At one moment, to my surprise, I found myself weeping at one of her stories.”
• Urges listeners to see this “very small show, but really worth seeking out.”

I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical – Soho Playhouse

Peter Filicia (25:23 – 28:59)

• Expected a solo show; surprised by a four-person musical revue.
• Hails Alexander S. Bermange’s “smartest and sassiest musical review in town.”
• Highlights sharp tunes about “auditions,” “divas,” “superfans.”
• “This show deserves much more of a venue than the Soho Playhouse.”
• Notable: “Every. Everything he does is so incisive with wonderful, wonderful perceptions…”

The Unknown – Studio Seaview (Sean Hayes, David Cale, dir. Leigh Silverman)

Jan Simpson & Peter Filicia (29:50 – 38:53)

• One-person show: “But this is a show that I like…” (Jan)
• Hayes plays multiple characters with subtlety: “Just a slight change in his voice…”
• Sound design: “Amazing… really thought there was an actor in the audience.” (Peter, 34:51)
• Jan: “The sound design is fantastic. … At one moment, to my surprise, I found myself weeping at one of her stories.”
• “I hope it does move [to Broadway]. Can’t imagine Sean Hayes came to town just for an Off-Broadway show.” (Peter, 37:22)
• Discussion on why stars might choose Off-Broadway for meaty roles (Jan, Michael)

Kramer/Fauci – NYU Skirball

Michael Portantier & Jan Simpson (41:24 – 47:55)

• Dramatic presentation of a real-life dialogue between Larry Kramer & Anthony Fauci.
• Michael: “A fascinating story… but with some very perverse directorial choices by Daniel Fish.”
  • Audience blinded by lights pre-show, actor in a chicken suit, stage covered in foam.
• Michael: “Hold your nose… see it for the performances and the story, not the direction.”
• Jan on Larry Kramer: “I don’t know anyone who knew Larry well who did not fall out with Larry… And yet… I still have a fondness for him.”

Coriolanus – Theatre for a New Audience/Polonsky Shakespeare Center

Jan Simpson (48:47 – 54:43)

• “One of Shakespeare’s least produced plays.”
• Production was “very confusing” due to race/gender neutral/double casting and obtrusive video projections.
• “If you’re going to do a Shakespeare play that people don’t really know… we need to be able to identify the characters… This was a no for me.”

The Monsters – Manhattan Theatre Club

Peter Filicia (55:09 – 59:59)

• Praises demands placed on actors, including actual boxing/fight choreography.
• Explores themes of race, class, identity via sibling relationship: “Enigma sigma in a teddy bear in a cement block.”
• “If you have to be an understudy in this show, you have to learn how to box—what a task!”
• “The line about monsters is very significant, but comes together at the end… I’m not going to tell you.”

The Other Place – The Shed

Jan Simpson (60:17 – 67:03)

• Inspired by Antigone but frustrating in execution.
• “It flirts with all kinds of themes—grief, incest, infidelity, mental illness—but the production didn’t quite know what it wanted to say.”
• Disappointed by direction, distracting sound/visual effects, and “names too close to the classic.”
• Despite that: “I’m still discussing it… so it must have had something going for it.”

News, Tributes, and Notable Segments

Tribute to Harry Haun (67:25 – 73:32)

• Jan: “Harry was our compass… Even into his 80s, after strokes, Harry saw everything. His enthusiasm for theater never waned.”
• Peter: “He was always so effusive with his praise… so meticulously arranged [at home]… I will certainly go to four shows in one day. As I always say, my father was a plumber. That was work. This isn’t.”
• Michael: “He had a wonderful, I would say, old school style of writing… tremendously prolific.”
• Plans for a Broadway memorial service in the fall.

Announcements & Miscellany

• Lamb of God, one-night musical event at the Met featuring Jessie Mueller, Santino Fontana (74:12) and produced in partnership with the Latter Day Saints.
• Museum of Broadway’s “So in Love with Broadway” exhibit (75:51).
• Upcoming PBS broadcast of Suffs on May 8th (77:34).
• Next week’s guest: Georgia Stitt (78:02).

Musical Moment: The Julie Andrews Show (1965)

Musical Moment (81:05 – end):

• Michael highlights Julie Andrews’ 1965 NBC television special, available in full on YouTube.
• “The opener is ‘On a Wonderful Day Like Today’ from The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd.”
• The episode closes with a clip of Andrews’ “Auld Lang Syne.”
• Michael: “It’s always a good time for Julie Andrews—that’s my motto.”

Notable opening quote (00:02):

Peter Filicia: “Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Julie Andrews.”

Julie Andrews (00:07): Sings “On a Wonderful Day Like Today” — setting a joyful, classic tone for the episode.

Notable Quotes

• “My father was a plumber. That was work. This isn’t.” – Peter Filicia, on the joy of theatergoing (69:50)
• “If you are listening to this and you haven't seen it, you very likely won't see it.” – James Marino, on the ephemeral nature of Encores! (19:51)
• “She’s almost magical in the way she tells her stories. They’re mesmerizing.” – Jan Simpson on Mary Kate O’Flanagan (21:40)
• “Bring me those people who didn't like Katrina Lenk and I will fight them.” – James Marino (20:05)

Summary of Timestamps for Key Segments

• High Spirits Review: 05:57 – 20:32
• Making a Show of Myself: 20:54 – 24:51
• I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical: 25:23 – 28:59
• The Unknown: 29:50 – 38:53
• Kramer/Fauci: 41:24 – 47:55
• Coriolanus: 48:47 – 54:43
• The Monsters: 55:09 – 59:59
• The Other Place: 60:17 – 67:03
• Harry Haun Tribute: 67:25 – 73:32
• Julie Andrews Musical Moment: 81:05 – end

Final Thoughts

This episode captures the breadth and vibrance of New York theater from fresh revivals (High Spirits) to world premieres and experimental stagings. The hosts’ camaraderie, historic knowledge, and passionate disagreements offer listeners both critical rigor and a sense of community. The show closes with nostalgia and hope, honoring both Broadway legends and the legends-in-the-making.