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This Week on Broadway for February 16, 2025: The Antiquities @ Playwrights Horizons
01:08:28
Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Jan Simpson talk about The Antiquities @ Playwrights Horizons, Still @ The Sheen Center, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre production of My Man Kono @ Art-NY, Maiden Mother Crone @ The Flea,
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- [00:05]
Narrator
Sit back in your seat, you are rolling for a treat. Everybody loves the Windmill Showgirls, always captivating, always titillating Never keep you waiting Coming from the cold if you're young or if you're old, you will love it at the Windmill we can laugh at London's weather When we're all together all our woes are gone. Every show is entertaining there's no need to waste a single day. If you're feeling low or if it's raining then pop in for a matinee. We have got the best musicians and the finest comic in the land. It will laugh till you cry and you do not have to wear a tie.
- [00:48]
James Marino
Hello and welcome to Broadway Radios this week on Broadway for Sunday, February 16, 2025. My name is James Marino, and in the broadcast day, we have Peter, Felicia, and Jan Simpson. Peter is a playwright, journalist, and historian with a number of books. Peter's new Day by Day wall calendar, A show Tune for today is 366 songs to brighten your year, and it has been released. Peter also has columns at Masterworks Broadway, Broadway select, and many other places. Hello, Peter.
- [01:18]
Peter Felicia
Hi.
- [01:18]
James Marino
What is our show tune for today?
- [01:22]
Peter Felicia
Well, in a way, it should be one celebrating Linda's birthday, but instead we'll go with actually, what's on the Calend? And it's the opening song from the musical Mrs. Henderson presents a London show that opened in 2016 on this date, and it dealt with the Windmill Theater, which was the only theater that was able to survive and thrive, for that matter, during World War II when the Germans were bombing London and so many theaters were decimated and of course, people were living in the tubes, the subways and. But nevertheless, this theater persevered, and one of its main attractions was the fact that there was nudity. Yes, we think of Hair as being the first musical to offer nudity, but no, actually, the Windmill Theater did. It's a terrific opening number, great fun entirely. And I think it will keep you listening to the rest of the score as well.
- [02:23]
James Marino
Well, bombing of the theater, people living in the tubes.
- [02:26]
Peter Felicia
Yeah.
- [02:27]
James Marino
I tell you, it's very similar to today, isn't it? The. Metaphorically. Metaphorically, I mean, qu. Quite a week at the Kennedy center, huh?
- [02:37]
Peter Felicia
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This. It really will be interesting to see what's. What's going to happen there.
- [02:43]
James Marino
Yeah, it really will be. Also with us is Jan Simpson. Jan is a theater journalist who writes the blog Broadway and Me and hosts the Broadway radio podcasts, Stagecraft and all the drama she has thrice. That's Three times served as a puller drawer. And I've gotten that wrong for many years. But now it is fixed, so. Hello, Jan, how are you?
- [03:08]
Jan Simpson
I'm fine. Just one year. You were off. Just one year. I'm happy to be on because I've been listening to Peter talk about his annotation of the book the Season. And I'm just fascinated by that because, of course, we all love that book.
- [03:33]
Peter Felicia
Yeah, I am doing this for the Theater World Awards. I am annotating in the margins and empty pages. There are some between chapters perceptions on what has changed in the business. What's the same little details here and there. I mean, for example, what I was just doing was that Marlene Dietrich appeared during that season. So there was a reminiscence of a guy talking about the song she sang, and I wondered if he was correct. So I went to Playbill, the vault, and found that there were no song listing in the Playbill. What I also found was there was no bio of Marlene Dietrich in the Playbill. The first bio is for Burt Bachrach, who was her musical director. Well, why is this? Because what she opted to do instead was to have tributes written about her from famous writers. Christopher Fry, who's famous for the Ladies, not for burning, wrote a tribute to Marlene Dietrich, and so did Ernest Hemingway, obviously before the show was produced in 1967, because, of course, he died much earlier in the decade. So I think that's kind of fascinating to find out that she did not use a bio, but let other people speak for her. So that's one of the things that's in the margin, Peter.
- [04:53]
Jan Simpson
I hope that doesn't catch on.
- [04:58]
Peter Felicia
Yeah, maybe I am opening quite the can of worms, but we shall see what we shall see. Of course, there are a lot of people who wouldn't be able to do that, but that's another story entirely. But, yeah, I'm just about to talk about. Write about Golden Rainbow, which was a musical in the 196768 season with Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet, who were big stars at the time. And what I want to know is, since they were at the Shubert Theater, the flagship house of the Shubert Organization, what was it like when they told Stephen, edie, we have to move you. You are now going to the 54th Street Theater, which was considered Siberia at that time, because David Merrick is bringing in Promises, Promises with the aforementioned bird Bacharach. So you got to get out now, really. What was it like to tell Steven Edie that they had to be banished to this theater, which doesn't even exist anymore. It was torn down a long time ago. It was the place where shows went to D Die. I mean, Do Re Me went there. Bye Bye Birdie went there, Damn Yankees went there. That's where the shows went to die. And Golden Rainbow died there about two months after it had moved. So these are the types of things I'm writing about in the margins. And if you find this interesting, I am going to put this book on auction around April 1, when I really finish. I'm giving myself that much time. And indeed, you know, it goes to the theatre world. Well, the check is made out to the Theatre World Awards, not to me. And we'll see money we can raise to hope to help the Theater World Awards, which will be done on June 2nd at Circle in the Square. I'll be emceeing again and we'll look forward to it. Though I've been told a few nice things about what's going to happen on June 2, about who's going to be presenting and who's going to be getting awards. That's not for me to say at this moment in time, but it looks like it's going to be an exciting ceremony. And of course, the way time flies, June 2nd will be here before you know it.
- [06:53]
James Marino
Hmm. Do we have any idea if Circle will be empty at that point? Or is there something in there?
- [07:01]
Peter Felicia
Yeah, it's so interesting. Yesterday I was passing by the arcade where, of course, Wicked and Romeo and Juliet are playing. And the stage door is actually on 51st Street. Is it? And, you know, there was nobody waiting for anybody for Wicked, because, of course, you know, Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel are long gone, even though course, you can see them for a bit in the movie. But anyway, my God, were people waiting for the stars of Romeo and Juliet? Whoa, what a crowd. And the screams when somebody came out. I don't know who it was because I couldn't see because there were at least 200 people waiting to see these people. So, you know, like anything else, time passes. And even though Wicked is still a hot ticket, needless to say, the fact is that people who might have waited at the stage door way back in 2003, I'm not even sure they were alive. But anyway, now at Circle in the.
- [08:00]
Jan Simpson
Square, there's been some online discussion about the fans waiting for the stars of Romeo and Juliet. Really, in some cases, really bad behavior.
- [08:14]
Peter Felicia
Oh, is that right?
- [08:17]
Jan Simpson
And really, you know, that's unfortunate. These young people, the stars of the show are really working hard and to be chased and yelled at when they don't talk to everyone on the line and so on. Really just bad behavior. I'm really sorry to, you know, see those comments.
- [08:47]
Peter Felicia
Yeah.
- [08:50]
James Marino
So Romeo and Juliet starring Kit Connor and Rachel Ziegler is closing today. So, and as far as I understand in, in chatting with some of the producers, quite a successful run, I think. So interesting to close a hot ticket in February.
- [09:13]
Peter Felicia
Yeah, yeah.
- [09:16]
Jan Simpson
So but they're probably busy and have other.
- [09:20]
Peter Felicia
Oh sure, yeah, yeah.
- [09:23]
James Marino
But I mean certainly we've learned with so much replacement casting these days that while these are hot actors right now, there's lots of hot actors. And you know, I'm tremendously surprised about Cabaret because I thought to myself that Cabaret was, was not going to run all that long right now at the August Wilson, but it has really picked up with their replacement casting. And you know, Adam Lambert, I, we talked about before that Adam Lambert, I didn't really expect all that much but I'm blown away with the videos online that I, he's very good.
- [10:18]
Peter Felicia
Yeah, very, very good.
- [10:21]
Jan Simpson
Absolutely. My husband and I actually paid money and went to, went to see him. He's, he was obviously the same production, the same choreography and so on, but he made it so less awkward than Eddie Redmayne did.
- [10:46]
James Marino
And I heard Adam Lambert in character scolded audience members for laughing.
- [10:52]
Peter Felicia
Yes. Yeah, that didn't happen. Performance I was at. But I have heard that too.
- [10:56]
James Marino
Yeah, yeah. And so Adam Lambert looking at IBDB right now is scheduled through March 29th, so you do have a chance to check him out. And in fact I might pay money and go back and see. I'll have to see. It's not so much the money as much as the time.
- [11:20]
Peter Felicia
Sure, yeah, sure, sure.
- [11:23]
James Marino
You know, as, as we were talking about last week or the week before, April is going to be brutal for the three of us.
- [11:33]
Jan Simpson
Yeah, March is not so easy either.
- [11:36]
Peter Felicia
No, I prefer to use the word exciting. But I, I just saw my 13,000th show so, you know, I, I, I.
- [11:48]
James Marino
I would think it's exciting too if I didn't have an hour and a half to two hours to get home. Sure, sure, sure. You know, that would be, that would be great. Sure. So if I can crash on your floor, Peter, anytime.
- [12:05]
Peter Felicia
I have a pull out sofa bed, you don't have to sleep on the floor. And you are more than welcome.
- [12:12]
James Marino
You know, people accuse me of being dramatic, but I can stay on the floor. Peter, you might notice that Michael Portantier is not here he is on a cruise.
- [12:24]
Peter Felicia
All right.
- [12:24]
James Marino
So excellent for Michael. He's going to be away this week, obviously, and next week he'll return in two weeks. And next week, little trees are Janet Hassa Fox.
- [12:38]
Jan Simpson
Oh, she's back.
- [12:40]
James Marino
Jenna, coming to join us on this Week on Broadway. So special special times. So Jan and Peter got over to Playwrights Horizons to see the antiquities. So, Jan, why don't you get us started on this.
- [13:00]
Jan Simpson
This is a new play, the latest play by Jordan Harrison. And people may identify his name with Marjorie prime, which I believe was a Pulitzer finalist. I should know, but I believe us.
- [13:19]
James Marino
Rice.
- [13:23]
Jan Simpson
And was also a movie. Lois Smith, who did the stage version, also did the the movie version with Jon Hamm and Jordan. Harrison likes to do what I guess you'd call speculative narratives. And this one is set in, I guess, the 23rd, maybe even 24th century. And it's a time when humans have been entirely replaced by AI, replaced in the way that humans replaced the Neanderthals. And there is this. The conceit of the play is that there is this museum that people can go to and look at the way that humans lived and why they became extinct. And each of the scenes is one of those exhibits. And the first Exhibit is in 1816, and it is the night that Mary and Percy Shelley and Lord Byron and another friend of theirs challenge one another to come up with the best and scariest horror story. And Mary famously comes up with Frankenstein. And it is about obviously, a scientist who uses his skills to give life to an inanimate creature. And each of the other scenes shows how people create technology that they think the creators think will make life easier for them, for us humans. And of course it does. You know, things like computers and Siri. And then in the future, beyond where we are in 2025, you're able to get implants to help you do things, to help you think and create. Eventually, as the play, as I said at the beginning, the AI becomes so sophisticated that it just takes over. This isn't usually my kind of thing. I'm not a sci fi gal. But Jordan Harrison is so smart and he finds a way to deal with the science fiction of it all, to ask intellectual questions about why it is that we're so intent on creating this kind of technology, what it means to us. He opposes that. It may be our desire to find a way to be immortal, which is also an interesting idea to play with. But at the same time, I think, at least for me, he finds the heart in these sci fi stories. This Is one of. For me, one of my favorite things I've seen this season. There is a cast of, I guess about eight actors looking at the playbill now, nine actors who play, obviously, different roles because they're playing different people in different eras, different time periods. And I thought they were. They were all good. I really, really like this one.
- [17:26]
James Marino
Okay, Peter, what did you think?
- [17:29]
Peter Felicia
You know, there's a temptation when I'm talking about awards and I'm on some committees to say, you know, maybe we should put this in the category of best review. Because it almost seems like a review in the sense that there are so many blackout sketches. That's what the play really consists of. I bet there are 30 of them. And in a way. In a way, it does. It seems less like a play than a review, but it is a play, so I'm really not going to go to bat for that. But that is what occurred to me during this period of time. I mentioned a few moments ago that I had seen 13,000 shows. This was the 13,000th and was very interesting because while I was watching it, I was talking thinking about the Skin of Our Teeth, a play that I adore. I can't say that the recent Lincoln center production did it justice, but the play is terrific. And what it deals with is the fact that we almost always. Mankind almost always works very hard to kill himself, but it can't be done. Whether it be through war or infinity, the elements try to do us in. That's another problem as well. Or if the family doesn't survive in the way that should, somehow it does survive. So. So that was. Went through my mind a great deal. Now, interestingly enough, I put this on Facebook, and Casey Childs, the Primary Stages guru, the person who made that place become a player, disagreed with me and said, no, that's not the message I took from that, that this is. That this play, the Antiquities, is. Is a negative spin on things. So I can appreciate that as well. We come out of theater from. With various reactions, of course, and mine happened to be that. But my point is that if you go to the Antiquities, I'm hoping that you agree with Casey Childs and that indeed, you think that this is a show that has. Offers more hope than I seem to see in it. Yes. Wonderfully done. And you know something? Another piece of. Well, let's say acclaim. Yeah, let's give the word acclaim that I. I really want to give to this show that I think is really very, very effective. And I think it's something a lot of people Wouldn't necessarily think of as a tremendous. Excuse me. A tremendous asset because it's not flashy. But I would really give a. A great deal of credit to the set designer. I don't have the playbill in front of me, so I don't know. Oh, I do have the playbill in front of me. Okay, I'm gonna give his name because. Or her name. Here we go. Paul Steinberg. Now, ostensibly, when you walk in there, all you see is a metal wall. And you think, that's going to be it. No, it's not. Just this metal wall moves around here and there. I don't just mean that, but I'm telling you, things happen so quickly. And don't forget, the word design is part of set. Set design. And the design of this must have been murder, because I am telling you, things appear and disappear with lightning speed. There's a scene where you see a table with a lot of items on it, and how they got it into place so quickly and how it disappeared so quickly was amaz. Amazing to me. So. So while indeed we usually think of set designs as, oh, wow, they knocked our eyes out, this isn't a knock your eyes out set, but it is an impressive set for what it does in the time that it takes to do it. And that's why I will go to bat for set design for the antiquities and Paul Steinberg. And I apologize for pausing on his name while I was looking for it.
- [21:27]
Jan Simpson
I totally agree with you. Actually, all of the design elements there, the light lighting's terrific too. The sound design, and we're sort of burying the lead here because this. This production is directed, or at least co directed by David Cromer. Yeah, David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan.
- [21:52]
Peter Felicia
Yeah. That means. I mean, certainly David can handle a show. So did she start it? Did he take over?
- [21:58]
Jan Simpson
I mean, don't know. Don't know. But it's a. It's a. It's a co direction. He also has another show. He got the George Clooney show coming up. Good night and good luck. But, David, you know, people tend to go to shows for the stars in them. I'm often a person who's drawn by the playwrights. But I'm at the point now, if it's a David Cromer show, I'm gonna go.
- [22:31]
Peter Felicia
I agree.
- [22:33]
James Marino
I thought that David Cromer was just the placeholder in all the playbill, and sometimes they just forget to take it out. Oh, that's interesting. All right, so the antiquities has been extended one week. It is now playing through March 2nd. We'll have a link to it in the show notes. Something that is interesting to me is that that the. What they're describing as the lead funding for this production was by husband and W team, Viand Kim and Salman Al Rashid. And what's interesting to me about that is that they are also lead producers of maybe happy ending. And they also have tons and tons of Broadway production producing credits. So maybe this is not the last. Maybe they spent money on these sets and other elements and things like that for an easy transfer to perhaps a circle in the square. So anyway, that's the antiquities of Playwrights Horizons. We'll have a link to that in the show notes. A couple of weeks ago, Jan was on and she spoke about still at the Sheen center. And since then Peter has gone to see it. So, Peter, what is your take on Still?
- [24:10]
Peter Felicia
Well, I think still gets off to a great start and I'm tremendously interested in what happens. But suddenly, about an hour and a half later, the play is over, and I don't think it should be. Now, this is about a woman, Melissa Gilbert Placer, terrifically, who meets up with a man, Mark Moses, also terrific, in a bar. They've known each other for a long time. And now this is a renaissance, perhaps. And they wind up to a hotel room and enjoying themselves immeasurably until they start talking about politics. And she's quite left and he's quite right and never the twain shall meet. Or will they? Well, you know, this is such a hot button issue of our times. I don't understand why the play has to be so short. I think there's plenty more to be said about this. We are in an age where certainly the divisiveness in this country has never been more pronounced, at least I should say, during my lifetime. I've never seen anything like it. I dare say, certainly I don't know anything about politics, but I dare say that we will never again have a president who gets even a 60% approval rating because we are so polarized. I do think there's a possibility of two separate countries here and maybe three. And that'd be fine with me. I mean, I mean, what I always say is the Beatles, four people, nine years, that was it. The Kingston Trio, two years, and they had to replace somebody. Martin and Lewis, Simon and Garfunkel. If four people, three people, two people can't get along, why do we think the 330 million people can get along and we can have a country, I mean, in any group it is not long. Any group of any kind. It's not long before they splinter off. You know, that they. There are factions and they become two groups. And that happens more often than not. And these are issues I would like to have seen discussed in this play. They're not. So while Leah Romeo gets off to a good start, and certainly Adrian Campbell Holt does a very good job with her actors, the fact remains is it just doesn't go deep enough. And it's. It's a sandwich with one piece of meat in it. And, boy, I wanted a meteor sandwich in a meteor play.
- [26:41]
Jan Simpson
Interesting.
- [26:41]
Peter Felicia
Yeah.
- [26:42]
James Marino
All right. So still is playing through March 23, and we'll have a link to that in the show notes. Peter and Jan got over to Art New York. Art New York to see My man Kono. So, Jan, why don't you get us started on that.
- [27:03]
Jan Simpson
My Man Kono is a play that's produced by the Pan Asian Repertory Theater. It's a play play by Philip W. Chang, and it's about a real life person. His name was Torachi Kono. That's the Kono of the title. And he was born in Japan, immigrated, came to this country and got a job working at first as a chauffeur for Charlie Chaplin, and then sort of as a general factotum for Chaplin for almost two decades. And then at the beginning, right before, I guess, World War II, Kono was arrested and charged with passing secrets to the Imperial Japanese government. I guess he was charged actually about six months before Pearl Harbor. And they held him in one of the relocation camps, one of the detention camps that had been set up for Japanese Americans during, during World War II. And then after the war, he was still detained. And this play sort of centers around the hearing that was held about his guilt or complicity in this espionage case. And as the hearing is going on, there are flashbacks to his life. This is, you know, this bit of history I thought was interesting. It was certainly unknown to me. And the problem for me with the show is that Chung packs in so much information, and I don't know that we needed all the details of his back and forth, his life, his immigration, how dissolute he was as a young man. I don't know that we needed all of that. If we just focused on this question of whether or not he was really a participant in this espionage case or if this was anti immigrant, anti Asian racism, that was, that he was a victim of those things. So it was interesting. I came home, I looked up Kono on Wikipedia. I found it interesting But I didn't find the show itself to be as dramatic as I wanted. I also found that there was, and I think I understand why there was too much emphasis on Charlie Chaplin. And I think they did that because we all know Charlie Chaplin, so we're interested in him. Even the logo for the show has Charlie Chaplin prominently displayed. And if there had been less Chaplin, although the actor playing Chaplin was very good, I thought, at playing Chaplin, if there had been less Chaplin, we would have been able to have more character development for Kono. We would have gotten to understand him and his motivations and his feelings more. So I was, I was mixed about it.
- [31:21]
James Marino
Okay, Peter, what did you think?
- [31:23]
Peter Felicia
I was more enthusiastic and partly because I thought the cast was terrific. Brian Lee Hunt plays Kono. And what was really impressive to me was his attorney, Wayne Collins, played by Robert Meskin. Because here's a white man who is assigned to do his job. And we might have expected that a white man in this situation representing an Asian during these tough times would be perfunctory, would, all right, I'll do my job. And this guy was really passionate, which is really quite wonderful. And we find out he represents many more people than you would think as, as an attorney to Asian and trying to do the best he can for these people. So I thought that was really, really something. I One of my drama desk colleagues was there and he left too soon for me to say to him, which of the seven endings did you like best? I will say that there are times when you really do believe that it's going to be over. And it' we're told that it's two hours with a 10 minute intermission. I think it was more like 2:20 or even 2:30. So it's a little too long, I'll grant you. But I was interested from start to finish, especially because who'd ever heard of this guy before? And to find out that he had been rubbing elbows with the stars and he fully expected that when he got into trouble that these people would help him. And nobody stepped forward, of course, especially Charlie Chaplin, who seemed to have have a thing about loyalty that we hear a lot about these days. That, you know, if you're not a thousand percent loyal, you're really in trouble. And. But another thing that was fascinating to me. And again, who knows how much the playwright played with reality. But indeed, he was approached by the Japanese to help get Charlie Chaplin assassinated. They wanted to kill him because they felt, see, you're interested to. Because he was a great symbol of America. But this Also was right after the Great Dictator movie had come out in which Charlie Chaplin mocked Hitler and of course, Hitler and the Japanese would team up in World War II. So I found that a fascinating detail. There were a lot of them in there that kept me going. And while, again, as I say, there are too many endings, the fact remains that the Lost Image was a very effective one as well. I'm not going to give that away because the play is still running for a little bit more. And I'm I, I like when I I find out about a history that I've never remotely heard about before. So I, I was more impressed than Jan was.
- [34:12]
James Marino
Okay, so the Pan Asian Repertory Theater production of My Man Kono is running at Art New York through March 9, and we'll have a link to that in the show notes. Peter, you got down to the flea. I guess it is still down for you, isn't it?
- [34:32]
Peter Felicia
Yes, it is.
- [34:33]
James Marino
It's down to the flea for you to see Maiden Mother Crone. So tell us about this.
- [34:39]
Peter Felicia
This is a duet of solo plays. The first one is called Sugar Coated and it's by Jen P O N T O n who is in it. And I didn't much didn't much like it. I, I hated it because it's one of these shows with the girl's so perky and she's pretending to be a young girl and everything is oh well. And the fun of it is supposed to be that everybody goes through stages like that and we're supposed to remember when we were that age and how excited we were about everything. But I found it quite wearing white. Wearing indeed. The other one has a provocative title, the Longer My Mother Is Dead, the More I Like Her. And here we have Deborah Unger, who obviously was an actress because she mentions being cast in ELT production that's Equity Library Theater, which used to do all these classic plays, a theater close to Riverside Drive. And I really miss it. I mean, where can you go to see new faces of 52, you know, in the 80s and 90s. So, but anyway, Deborah Unger talks about her difficulties with her mother. And they are difficult. But here's the thing. I just read a fascinating book called Staying Sane in the Crazy Train by a woman named Kim Nagy who talked about the difficulty she had with her mother. And I recommend this book heartily because, I mean, boy, what this woman went through is amazing and it, it sort of dwarfs what Deborah Unger did stuff. Still, there's no question that Deborah Unger suffered with a mother who is Extraordinarily difficult. Extraordinarily. And she does a very good job. I guess the best compliment I can give her, though, is the fact. And again, people have different perceptions of when they look at people. But there I was looking at her and saying, well, I guess she's in her 40s. And when she talked about being a child and her father went off to Korea, Wow. I mean, she's apparently a baby boomer. And I thought she looked substantially younger. So if I didn't go crazy for the play in conjunction with staying Sane on the crazy train, I think that Ms. Unga will be at least pleased to hear that. I think she could pass for someone in her 40s.
- [37:04]
James Marino
Okay, so Maiden Mother Crone at the Flea is. It's a rental. It's not a production of the Fleet, it's a guest production.
- [37:15]
Peter Felicia
Yeah, we're going to see a lot more of those in these theaters. Yeah, yeah.
- [37:19]
James Marino
And so we'll have a link to that in the show notes. Jan and Peter both got to see my first ex husband by comedian Joy Behar. And so, Chan, start us off with this.
- [37:40]
Jan Simpson
No, no, no.
- [37:42]
James Marino
Peter, start us off with this.
- [37:44]
Jan Simpson
Fine, fine.
- [37:45]
Peter Felicia
I'd love to go first. I'd love to go first on this one.
- [37:49]
Jan Simpson
Here we go.
- [37:51]
Peter Felicia
I am telling you, the thing you must know about this if you're going to go see this is the fact that it is very hard to find. Okay, it's ostensibly at 248 West 60th Street. So, okay, I get off at 60th street on the the A train. I walk up, I walk up, I go past the the 50s block. I'm in the hundreds block. So now I'm in the 2002 block and suddenly I'm passing. There are no numbers on the buildings that I'm passing. And suddenly I see I'm at 32 West 60th Street. Well, you know, I did put two and two together, I'll grant you. This was on the right hand panel of the glass door. And on the left hand panel, I saw that it was 232. The two had been scraped off for whatever reason on the right hand side. But I want to warn you that if you see. Because your eyes tend to go to the right one the left. If you see 32 West 60th street, don't get an alarm. Okay. Okay, what's next? 270? Well, 248 seems to come after 270. I mean, what. Whatever the real address of this place is, they should advertise it as 278, I don't care this 248 because when you see that sign saying 270, if you think you're going to 278, you'll be fine. Okay. It's a theater I've never been to before, obviously, and I didn't know anything about it where I was going going. But anyway, this is Joy Behar's play. What she did was interview a lot of people about ex husbands and, and it's a rotating cast. It's one of these shows where the, they have scripts in front of them and they read from the script and rotating cast and so on and so forth. But, but, but I have to say that the four people who are doing this, who have been doing it for a while, rarely looked at their scripts. I mean they, they really have made an effort to tell their stories without looking at their scripts and making a much greater connection with the audience. So my hats off to Susie Espin, Tova Felcher, Adrian Seymour, and Joy Behar herself. Each of them gets two at bats. Susie goes first, etc. And then when they finish the four of them, they start again. And because it's Joy Behar, I expected it to be very funny. I expected to laugh a lot. As it turned out, I smiled twice and that was the extent of it. However, I have to say I was interested in the stories. So it, it held my interest even though I didn't have the, the great time I was expecting. And I, I, I, I think there was worth there. Is this a must see? No, but I'm telling you, keep walking, keep walking. You'll eventually find it.
- [40:54]
James Marino
All right, Jan, was that enough time for you to gather yourself?
- [40:59]
Jan Simpson
Yes.
- [41:00]
James Marino
Okay.
- [41:03]
Jan Simpson
The theater that Peter's dissing here is a place called the MMAC Theater. And it's a brand new theater and it's way over on West 60th Street. It's, I think, a pleasant venue once you get in there. And the play itself will be very familiar to people who know the Vagina Monologues or Love Lost in what I Wore. It's one of those style shows where, as Peter says, you have a group of women, they have their scripts and they are reading what are supposed to be stories of real women, in this case, women that Joy Behar says that she interviewed about divorce separations from their first husbands. My first ex husband. I don't know, maybe I smiled more than, than Peter did. The actresses in that opening night cast and the cast will rotate regularly, so different women are probably playing it now. And Maybe playing it if you go to see it. But these first four women, all very accomplished actors and very good comedians. Although the stories that Tova feltshugh plays were more poignant than humorous. The problem for me is that the stories were so long, they were interesting, but each story, there were eight stories was very long. And I sort of lost interest as I'd started out being either amused or empathetic. But by the time it got to the end, they kind of. I was like, yeah, okay. And I think there's also obviously the title itself and the format means that men have to be the villains in all of these stories. And that got a little tiresome for me. Maybe it's because I'm still on my first husband. So I don't know, maybe if I'd gone through the experience that these women had gone through, maybe I'd be more sympathetic. I do think that this the kind of show that women, particularly middle aged women and older, will enjoy going to with a group of friends before talking about their own experiences, I think they will enjoy. And I think that's the audience that Joy Behar is really interested in. And the friend that I went to, I offered her a number of shows. I won't mention some of the other shows and shows that I thought would be more interesting actually to her. And she said, oh, I want to go to my first ex husband. I love Joy Behar on the View. And so I think a lot of those View fans are going to keep this going for maybe a, you know, a while, and particularly since they have different actresses coming in.
- [45:29]
James Marino
Okay, so there's a few things I wanted to say. What was it? MMAC stands for Manhattan Movement and Arts Center. They have a pretty website I'll include in the show notes.
- [45:47]
Jan Simpson
Yes.
- [45:47]
Peter Felicia
You have trouble finding it?
- [45:50]
Jan Simpson
I cheated. I took an Uber.
- [45:53]
Peter Felicia
Huh.
- [45:54]
James Marino
All right. Was your Uber driver a former London cabbie? Black car track. You know, they know everything. I mean, people, people don't realize that if you can't get a good ticket to a West End show, just jump in, jump, jump in a black car and just drive around and they'll tell you great, great stories.
- [46:18]
Jan Simpson
I have a. I have a friend whose father was a black car driver in London. And she remembers her father studying, you know, for just weeks, maybe months, because they have to have. Or at least they did in those days, had to have all of that knowledge of yes in their hand. Yeah, but now they can have gps, I guess.
- [46:43]
Peter Felicia
Sure.
- [46:43]
James Marino
But I think that I read. I'm not an expert in this by Any means. But I think that I read that they still are required to do that, to know everything. I think that that's true. And in fact, many of these black car drivers could actually memorize Henry IV, which is 3 hours and 45 minutes playing at the Polonski Shakespear, a thinner center in Brooklyn at theater for a new audience. And just so happens that Jan got down to see that and left the island of Manhattan. Jan, wow.
- [47:22]
Jan Simpson
Yeah, yeah. Over to Brooklyn, immigrating over there. This is. They put together Henry IV Part one and Henry IV Part two into one big event. The they is actually Dakin Matthews. And people may. I mean, Dakin Matthews has been in the business for ages and specializes in Shakespeare. He's a Shakespeare scholar as well as a performer. But people may recognize him as he was the original old Joe in Waitress, just a little there. He plays the actual King Henry iv, but the play is really less about him than it is about his son, who will become Henry V. But as these plays are unfolding, particularly in Henry IV Part 1, which is the part that gets done more than part two, he's sort of near do well. And his partner in crime is a knight called John Falstaff. And Falstaff was such a popular character. I've read that Shakespeare sort of looked for ways to bring him back because. Because audiences just love him. He's sort of a buffoon, he's bluff, he drinks a lot. He is grandiose, and it's a great flummy part. And in this production, Falstaff is played by J O Sanders. And it really does seem as though, I mean, people know Jo Sanders from a Zillow of things, maybe most notably the Apple family plays. But this seems to be a part that Sanders has long wanted to play. You can just see the joy, the delight he has in playing this character. I know this is not correct to say, and particularly not on a theater show, but I'm not really a Shakespeare gal either. I know. Heresy. I don't know. There are Shakespeare performances that I have enjoyed. One of the things I enjoyed about this one was that that they didn't try to slap some concept on it. This is just a traditionally done Shakespeare play or Shakespeare plays. They, I gather, obviously, because they put the smoosh. The two parts together, they had to cut out things. I'm just not knowledgeable enough to know what was taken out, what was left in. I do feel, though, that obviously Shakespeare had a big company and he had to write parts to keep all of his actors employed. And so There are lots and lots of characters in this play, but this production has a limited cast. And so there is doubling and sometimes tripling, sometimes by major characters. The only two people who do not double are Henry iv, Dakin Matthews and Prince Hal, as he's called here. Everyone else doubles and sometimes that's confusing, particularly if, like me, you're not as familiar with the play as perhaps you should be. But the acting was very, very good, I think, across the board. And I suppose the big test for me is that, as I said, I'm not really. Actually there was a point where I did a moratorium on Shakespeare. I just refused to see any Shakespeare for like six months. So even if, like me, you're not really totally a Shakespeare person and. And if you look and you say 3 hours and 45 minutes it went by, it held my attention. I was really involved, sometimes confused by the characters because of the doubling, but I thought it was the kind of old fashioned, basic, this is the play and we're going to do it as best we can. It was directed by Eric Tut Tucker of Bedlam, the Bedlam Theater Company. And he sometimes adds his own flourish. And here he didn't. I don't know if it was out of respect to Dakin Matthews, who adapted it or not, but really put the emphasis on the play itself. And there was one actor, someone new to me, young actor named James Udham, who played Harry Percy, known to Shakespeare fans as Hotspur, who is the opposite of Prince Hal. He's the do right young nobleman. And this actor was just really dynamic in that role. And if you saw there was. Was another Henry iv, a really glitzy one that was done, I don't know, maybe 10, 15 years ago at Lincoln center. And it was all stars in it. And in that production. Now, I've blanked on the actor who did it, but that was a production that Audra McDonald was. And Ethan Hawke is who I'm looking for. Ethan Hawke played Hotspur in that production. And this new young guy, James Udum, is playing it. And I think playing it as well as I remember, Ethan Hawke, an actor, I really like playing it and maybe even a little better. So Henry iv, Shakespeare thumbs up for me. Like Shakespeare really needs my thumb anywhere.
- [55:00]
James Marino
Jan, are you sitting down?
- [55:02]
Jan Simpson
Yes.
- [55:03]
James Marino
Okay. That was 22 years ago.
- [55:07]
Jan Simpson
No.
- [55:08]
James Marino
Yes. November 20, 2023 to January 18, 2020. November 20, 2003 to January 18, 2004. Vivian Beaumont. I don't know why it's weird here it says here Audrey did not win anything. That's Must be. Must be a database problem. So she was definitely in it. Ethan Hawking. Yeah, it looks like. It looks like the size.
- [55:40]
Jan Simpson
Kevin Klein was in it. He was. He was.
- [55:43]
James Marino
Corey Stole. Yeah.
- [55:46]
Peter Felicia
Let's see.
- [55:46]
James Marino
See, Dakin Matthews was in it. Yeah. Ty Jones. Albert Jones. Byron Jennings. Dana Ivy. Michael Hayden. Michael Hayden. Or Billy Bigelow, who couldn't sing. Nice guy.
- [56:01]
Peter Felicia
Nice guy, yeah.
- [56:02]
James Marino
Great. Awesome. Awesome actor. I loved him as Billy Bigelow, even though he wasn't probably the best singer there. Who, who, who took over James Barnes? Barber.
- [56:12]
Peter Felicia
That's right.
- [56:13]
James Marino
James Barber. And was just like amazing singer. I love that production. Oh, Anastasia Barzi was in it, so. Yeah, you bet. So what a. You know, and just Lincoln center can only do productions this size.
- [56:36]
Peter Felicia
Let's hope they continue to be able to tomb.
- [56:38]
James Marino
Yeah, yeah.
- [56:40]
Jan Simpson
Well, yeah. And just your naming, I mean, there. You've given so many more names than are in this cast. So there wasn't the confusion and of course. Yeah, there just wasn't the confusion that. That there sometimes is in this production when people are playing several different roles.
- [57:02]
James Marino
Jan, little known fact, you know who directed all of Shakespeare's productions in the 1600s?
- [57:11]
Jan Simpson
No.
- [57:12]
James Marino
David Cromer. Oh, yeah.
- [57:17]
Peter Felicia
So weird.
- [57:19]
James Marino
He's everywhere. Everywhere. That's good. Yeah. Cromer got it. Because Eva Van Hove was busy.
- [57:25]
Jan Simpson
Oh, gosh.
- [57:28]
James Marino
Have we seen an Evo? Van Hove, Shakespeare, Pierre, Peter, Jan.
- [57:32]
Peter Felicia
I don't think so.
- [57:33]
James Marino
I don't think so. Yeah. All right, so point of personal privilege here. Just because I'm an avowed Jason Robert Brown fan. This week, last five years, a video came out with Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas in Brooklyn, of all places, riding a merry go round singing Goodbye until tomorrow and I could never rescue you. And oh my God, I love Adrian Warren. Just. Just amazing. And we mentioned it somewhere in the beginning of the show. The Rob Johnson notice, who I didn't talk about. We mentioned it in the beginning of the show that the Kennedy center got a number of challenges happening these days. And Jason Robert Brown posted on social media that parade is coming to this Kennedy center still and they will not be changing, not one word in it. So parade is scheduled at the Kennedy Center Aug. 19 through Sept. 7. But it's such a fluctuating thing that's happening at the Kennedy center right now. I. I hope the parade gets on there, but certainly Washington D.C. has got a. A whole host of many very good stages where parade could play if the Kennedy center does not welcome it.
- [59:14]
Jan Simpson
Well, I'm sure most people do know, but the president dismissed many of the board members of the Kennedy center, appointed others, and had himself elected as the chair of the board. And they've already lost one show because it didn't meet the standards. I think it was a, A show. There's some.
- [59:49]
James Marino
It's a children's show, wasn't it?
- [59:51]
Jan Simpson
Yeah, children's show. But I think there was some, some mention of homosexuality in the show. I mean, you know, it's a, a gay forward show, an inclusive show. And of course, those words diversity, equity and inclusion are, are, are now verboten by this administration. And so that show was closed.
- [60:19]
James Marino
Some Trump said, Trump said that the shows there were disgusting. And the press has. What have you seen there? He's like, nothing.
- [60:29]
Jan Simpson
Nothing.
- [60:29]
James Marino
Yeah, so it's like, how do you know they're disgusting if you've never seen anything there? You know?
- [60:35]
Jan Simpson
Yeah, it's very, you know, it's very, it's very dismay. It's also a little scary. I know we don't talk politics on the show, but it's a little scary because there have been also new orders sent to the nea, the National Endowment for the Arts. And so some of the funding, and particularly for theaters outside of New York, the regional theaters that get funding from the nea, that may be in jeopardy because of these new requirements. And one of the requirements being that there be no DEI initiatives or efforts on the part of these theaters, either in terms of hiring or in terms.
- [61:30]
James Marino
Of programming in passing. Some of the shows we've reviewed this morning, the Antiquities at Playwrights Horizons, was partially supported by an NEA grant. And the Pan Asian Repertory Theater, My Man Kono was partially funded by the nea.
- [61:49]
Jan Simpson
Absolutely. In my review I wrote, I actually let off of the fact that when I opened, not even open on the opening page of the program of My Man Kono is the logo, an acknowledgement logo from the National Endowment of the Arts. And I wonder if that show would be supported now because. Because it is somewhat critical of the government.
- [62:19]
Peter Felicia
Sure.
- [62:20]
James Marino
Henry IV at the Theater for a New Audience in Brooklyn, also partially funded by the nea. So what was interesting about the Kennedy center news this week for me was, and I guess I knew this in passing and in some way or didn't recall was that much. A vast majority of the Kennedy center budget is funded by donations and by ticket sales. It's not really that the government writes a check and the Kennedy center happens much like, you know, Playwrights Horizons or Roundabout Theater Company or, you know, Art and all the other non profits out there. They, they have partial funding. Some of their budget comes from these things, but most of them come from individual donations, Lincoln center, individual donations and ticket sales. So, you know, I think it's important to get the truth out there that, you know, the people are not living high on the taxpayer dollars as much as some would like to pretend that that's what's happening there. All right, so that wraps it up for this week. Before we get on to our. What did we call it? The. The brain teaser is a. Is it a layup? Is it gimme. Is it a what, what is it? It's an easy one.
- [64:07]
Peter Felicia
We'll see. We'll see.
- [64:08]
James Marino
We'll see what happens with this brain teaser. Before we get on to our brain teaser, I'd like to remind everybody that you can subscribe to these broadcasts by going to the front page of broadwayradio.com there's a subscribe link that way each and every time we have a new episode of this week on Broadway be automatically downloaded to Apple Podcasts for you. Of course, you don't have to listen to us on Apple podcast as many ways to get us. One way is Patreon P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com BroadwayRadio. That way you're able to support all of the Broadway radio shows and sometimes get us early, especially for Jan's. All the drama series and stagecraft as well that come out a week early on Patreon and then a week later for the general public. If you want to be in the know before everybody else, you got to get over to Patreon and be with the cool kids, you know. Contact information for for Peter, for Janet, for me can be found in the show notes@broadwayradio.com as well as links to some things we've talked about today. So, Peter, do you have an answer to the hard question?
- [65:14]
Peter Felicia
Last week I'm looking for the names of two pairs of musicals. The first pair tied is winner of a very prestigious award award approximately five months before the other pair ties a winner for a different prestigious award. Well, what I'm talking about is that, well, let's put it this way, many musical theater fans can tell you that the Sound of Music and Fiorello tied for the best musical Tony. But five months earlier, Gypsy and Redhead tied as the best Broadway cast album at the Grammys. Would you have ever believed that Redhead head would tie with Gypsy as the best Broadway cast album? And listen, Redhead's been put on CB CD twice and for both occasions I was asked to write the line notes, I love Redhead. However, I mean, Gypsy. All right, Juliet Green was the first, followed by Paul, Witty, Sean Logan, Tony, Janicky, Arthur Robinson, and Brigad. And that was it. So I guess people found that one hard. So James thinks that this one is really easy, and perhaps it is. So we will see what we shall see. What song in Anyone Can Whistle mentions a phrase that's also the name of a card in a very famous board game. And what's the phrase?
- [66:34]
James Marino
Okay, don't overwhelm our email servers because all of you will get this one, but email us @Trivia broadway radio.com you know, somebody email, emailed me and they said, why is it called triviabroadrayradio.com? well, because for a long, long time, we called it trivia. We did, and we established that. But brainteaserroadwayradio.com also works if you want to put the extra. So brainteaserroadrayradio.com or trivia broadwayradio.com you know, let us know and we will see if you're on the right track. All right, so on behalf behalf of Jan Simpson and Peter Felicia, this is James Marino saying thanks so much for listening to Broadway radios this week on Broadway. Bye. Bye.
- [67:27]
Jan Simpson
Bye.
- [67:32]
Narrator
You will laugh till you cry and you do not have to wear a tie. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the the Windmill. The Windmill Theatre made history. It had its own little bit of history right in the middle of a whole load of history. And I should know. I was there for 30 years. The great Depression. That's my stage name. No, seriously, it's 1937, and our company's about to meet its pace. In other words, each shout, curtain up.
- [68:12]
Jan Simpson
Moving on.
- [68:13]
Narrator
The Depression.