BroadwayRadio: This Week on Broadway – March 22, 2026

Main Focus:
Insightful discussion and reviews on the New York City Center Encores! production of The Wild Party (Michael John LaChiusa), as well as a rich roundup of other New York theater events and reflections, all conducted with the lively camaraderie of hosts James Marino, Peter Filichia, and Michael Portantiere.

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the triumphant Encores! revival of LaChiusa’s The Wild Party, exploring both its critical legacy and this production’s achievements and limitations. The panel supplements this with mini-reviews and commentary on a slew of current NYC and regional theatrical happenings, including notable plays, musicals, and screenings. Listeners are treated to in-depth, opinionated, and occasionally humorous banter, laced with Broadway insights, nostalgia, and shout-outs to under-sung elements of musical theater craft (notably, perfect rhymes and melody).

Key Discussion Points & Reviews

1. The Importance of Perfect Rhymes in Musical Theater

Speaker: Peter Filichia
Timestamp: [02:42–05:07]

• Peter talks about the pivotal role of precise rhyming in lyrics, quoting Sondheim:

  "You can build a table with three legs and it will stand, but it won't stand as well as a table with four legs."

• Cites Spring Awakening’s 59 imperfect rhymes as contributing to its commercial difficulties:

  "I really believe that the rhymes have something to do with it, because when you don't get perfect rhymes, you don't really hear what the words are."

• Observes the prevalence of misheard lyrics in Broadway, emphasizing audience comprehension's impact on the enjoyment of shows:

  "If people are listening at home ... and still mishear them ... what happens when you’re in the theater and you hear it once?"

• Ties this back to Sondheim’s standards and the day’s significance (his birthday).

2. Feature Review: The Wild Party (LaChiusa) @ NY City Center

Speaker: Peter Filichia
Timestamp: [07:49–14:31]

• Encores! production is a revelation compared to the original Broadway run:

  "...It was not a success the first time around and it certainly is successful this time around."

• Praise for the production:

  "There is no question that this is a tremendous production. Lillian Brown certainly deserves so much credit..." "God love them all for showing up and doing excellent work beyond belief."

• Standout performances: Jasmine Amy Rogers (Queenie), Jordan Donica (Burrs), Leslie Margarita (Mae), Tanya Pinkins (Dolores), Claybourne Elder, Andrew Cover, Adrienne Warren.
• Casting and execution:

  "Not a book to be seen here at all. We're talking about a very, very healthily sized cast... you have to have a lot of people."

• Critical reservation – melody:

  "I wish he [LaChiusa] had a greater gift for melody. I don’t think the songs are nearly as melodic as they could be." "I always felt when Eartha Kitt did the show... if Michael could have written a dynamite number for her in the middle of the show... she would have won a Tony."

• Spatial staging notes:

  "The orchestra above the action... suggests a low ceiling. It really makes the party far more contained and people are bumping into each other."

• Final thought:

  "...People who didn't much like it way back when might like it more with the Second Chance because it’s so wonderfully done."

• Performance runs through March 29th.

3. Spare Parts @ Theater Row

Speaker: Michael Portantiere
Timestamp: [15:42–20:52]

• Playwright David J. Glass is a noted biomedical scientist (detailed bio shared), lending deep authenticity.
• Plot: Billionaire seeks researchers experimenting with life extension. Play weaves in ethics and science.
• Matt Walker (actor, also PhD in genetics) brings an extra layer of realism.
• Michael's comment:

  "The ethical questions are far more exciting and dramatic... cloning, which I won’t get into, really provocative."

• Real-life accuracy highlighted—Michael fact-checks and confirms scientific details (peanut allergy plot point).

4. True @ House of the Redeemer (Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Truman Capote)

Speaker: Peter Filichia
Timestamp: [21:14–25:54]

• Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s embodiment of Truman Capote exceeds expectations in an intensely intimate space.
• Robert Morse’s historic turn on Broadway is recalled for comparison.
• Play deals with Capote’s public scandal and loneliness at Christmas.
• Notable quote (from Ferguson interview, per Michael) [25:54]:

  "There's something wonderful about embracing the fact that I'm channeling this person through who I am... I want them to know that it's an actor portraying someone else. It's like what Jonathan Groff is doing so brilliantly as Bobby Darrin."

• Impressive one-man performance in a challenging, close-up venue.

5. Nightside Songs @ Lincoln Center LCT3/Claire Tow

Speaker: Michael Portantiere
Timestamp: [27:20–32:19]

• All tickets $35—an “antidote to overblown productions.”
• Described as “a beautiful play” centering on sickness and death, “extremely moving.”
• Audience is invited to sing along with distributed songbooks.
• Cast includes Chris St. Louis, Robin de Jesús, Jonathan Raviv, Brooke Ishibashi, Mary Testa.
• Moving reflection:

  "It’s very much about... when someone is dying, that takes up so much of your time and yet the mundane things in life still have to go on."

• High praise for emotional honesty and simplicity.

6. Pied-à-Terre @ Theater Center

Speaker: Peter Filichia
Timestamp: [33:19–36:16]

• Macy McGrail’s performance as a young prostitute is a “breakout” (“astonishing at delivering Jonas Anastasi’s dialogue...to the nth degree”).
• Peter highlights surprises in the story and skillfully managed melodrama.
• Sondheim is quoted on the artistic value of melodrama.

7. The Full Monty @ Gateway Playhouse (Long Island)

Speaker: Michael Portantiere, with Peter's interjections
Timestamp: [36:41–45:52]

• Show's history as “one of the unluckiest musicals” (overshadowed by The Producers, abbreviated tour due to 9/11).
• Time has been kind in regional/community circles:

  "Some people feel that if you don't have Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, you know, don't do it. Whereas the Full Monty is more of an ensemble cast show."

• Sally Struthers highlighted as Jeanette Burmeister, Rory Max Kaplan as Jerry.
• Critical acclaim for David Yazbek and Terence McNally’s book and score:

  "Spectacularly well in the vernacular. Can’t have been easy to musicalize a show...about steel workers."

• INSIDER MOMENT: Peter recalls the press room’s audible moan when Full Monty lost Tonys to The Producers:

  "That’s the only time I’ve heard journalists react in that way in the many, many times I’ve been in that room." [43:23]

8. Monte Cristo @ The York Theatre (Theater at St. Jean’s)

Speaker: Peter Filichia
Timestamp: [46:14–51:56]

• Most lavish York production ever, featuring Karen Ziemba, Norm Lewis, Adam Jacobs, Sierra Boggess.
• Peter Flynn direction, choreography by Marco Santana.
• Scores by Steven Weiner (usually known for comedy) and Peter Kellogg (book) praised for period appropriateness and skillful adaptation:

  "He writes a very dynamic, dynamic score that sounds right for the period." "Peter Kellogg has done an astonishing job of condensing a novel that is just preposterously long and complicated."

• Sly joke:

  "Monte Cristo... with good rhymes. With good rhymes."

9. Macbeth @ American Theater of Actors (Frog and the Peach Theater Company)

Speaker: Peter Filichia
Timestamp: [52:25–54:20]

• Describes the sexually charged dynamic between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth:

  "I have never, never seen a scene that is so sexually hot with people who still have their clothes on."

• Great as a "starter kit" for Shakespeare:

  "This cast does to perfection... said as if it’s contemporary language."

• Potential caution for young viewers ("you may have to explain...why these two people are so hot for each other").

10. Other Notable Theater Talk & Film Screenings

Speaker: Michael Portantiere
Timestamps: [55:04–62:49]

• 50th anniversary screening of Tommy (The Who)
  • Tommy gets compared in its various incarnations (album, wild Ken Russell movie, stage versions).
  • Movie change: murder swap (husband vs. lover)—more dramatic.
  • Oliver Reed’s singing is almost comically bad compared to Jack Nicholson, but the music and spectacle are highlighted.
  • Tommy best appreciated for its musical energy, not plot coherence.
• In-depth sidebar on Porgy and Bess (1959 film version)
  • Michael wishes for a restoration, inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s advocacy: "At least now I know who to write to."

11. Musical Theater Trivia & Lyricology

Timestamps: [67:52–69:04]

• This week’s brain teaser: What do Chicago, The Color Purple, Hair, Into the Woods, Once on this Island, Parade, and Pippin have in common, aside from being Tony-nominated Best Musical losers?
• Michael explores the importance of correct lyrics in Just in Time—advocates for composer intent even against “freewheeling” performer tradition (Bobby Darin vs. the original lyric).

Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• On perfect rhymes:
  Peter Filichia [03:03]:

  "The imagery [from Sondheim] was meant to say that M rhymes don't rhyme with Ns and plurals don't rhyme with singulars. And I truly believe that it does make a difference in Broadway shows."

• On The Wild Party’s reinvention:
  Peter Filichia [08:41]:

  "The lyrics are very, very good. He knows what these songs should be in pastiche. That said, I wish he had a greater gift for melody."

• On scientific accuracy in theater:
  Michael Portantiere [19:40]:

  "He said, absolutely they do. He said, not the peanut protein, but the thing that triggers the antibodies. So apparently everything in this play is researched down to the nth degree."

• On Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Capote:
  Michael quoting Ferguson [25:54]:

  "There's something wonderful about embracing the fact that I'm channeling this person through who I am...it's like what Jonathan Groff is doing so brilliantly as Bobby Darin in Just in Time."

• On breakout performances:
  Peter Filichia [34:00]:

  "Macy McGrail who is astonishing at delivering playwright Jonas Anastasi's dialogue, characterization, etcetera, to the nth degree."

• On Full Monty and its place in musical theater history:
  Peter Filichia [43:23]:

  "When they said the best score went to Mel Brooks and the Producers, there was a moan from so many of us because we really thought that was going to go to David Yazbek. That’s the only time I’ve heard journalists react in that way..."

• On the lasting importance of lyric detail:
  Michael Portantiere [63:29]:

  "...they could have easily written... ‘that lucky day’...but that would have been a little less elegant...God is in the details, right?"

Important Timestamps and Segments

• [02:42] – Sondheim’s legacy and perfect rhymes
• [07:49] – Deep-dive review: The Wild Party (LaChiusa)
• [15:42] – Spare Parts analysis: Science crosses the stage
• [21:14] – True: Jesse Tyler Ferguson channels Capote
• [27:20] – Nightside Songs: Music, mortality, and intimacy
• [33:19] – Pied-à-Terre: A new talent takes center stage
• [36:41] – The Full Monty: A musical survives and thrives
• [46:14] – Monte Cristo: Big adaptation, big cast at The York
• [52:25] – Macbeth: Lust and accessible Shakespeare
• [55:04] – Film/discussion: Tommy, Porgy and Bess, lyric trivia
• [67:52] – Musical theater quiz and lyricology corner

Tone, Style, and Community

The episode is both scholarly and conversational, with panelists swapping opinions, short quips, and genuine enthusiasm for theater’s details—from forgotten lyrics to outstanding individual performances. There is a recurring emphasis on history, unsung craftsmanship, and the pleasure of “second chances” for underappreciated works and performers.

For Further Exploration

• The Wild Party (LaChiusa) Encores! run ends March 29, 2026
• Spare Parts continues at Theater Row through April 16
• True runs at House of the Redeemer through May 3
• Nightside Songs at LCT3 Claire Tow through March 29
• Pied-à-Terre at Theater Center through April 29
• The Full Monty at Gateway Playhouse through April 12
• Monte Cristo at The York Theatre through April 5
• Macbeth (Frog and the Peach at ATA) through March 29

Rich, thorough, and engaging, this week’s BroadwayRadio episode provides both breadth and depth—a rewarding listen for aficionados as well as those looking for smart theater recommendations or backstage stories from New York’s ever-evolving stage scene.