This Week on Broadway for March 23, 2025: Operation Mincemeat

Summary

BroadwayRadio Podcast Summary: “This Week on Broadway for March 23, 2025: Operation Mincemeat”

Release Date: March 23, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of BroadwayRadio’s “This Week on Broadway,” host James Marino engages in insightful discussions with guest reviewers Peter Felicia, a multifaceted playwright, journalist, and historian, and Michael Portantier, a seasoned theater critic and photographer. The trio delves into recent Broadway productions, offering nuanced critiques and sharing their diverse perspectives on the current Broadway landscape.

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Operation Mincemeat: A West End Transfer

Reviewers: Peter Felicia, Michael Portantier, James Marino
Venue: John Golden Theater
Timestamp Highlights:

• Peter Felicia [03:11]:
  Peter introduces Operation Mincemeat as a farcical musical adaptation of a World War II operation, highlighting its British comedic roots. He notes, “the music and lyrics go by lickety split” ([03:25]), emphasizing the show's fast-paced nature that demands audience attention.

• Michael Portantier [06:19]:
  Michael concurs with Peter’s observations on the tender moments within the farcical framework, particularly praising Jack J.A.K. Malone’s performance as Hester Leggett. He remarks, “the high point of the entire play, a musical, whatever” ([06:45]).

• Shared Audience Reactions [10:42 - 12:16]:
  The reviewers discuss a poignant song that diverges from the show’s comedic tone, receiving heartfelt applause. Michael expresses disappointment in the show's overall execution, stating, “I do not think it worked to tell this story in such an over the top, vaudevillian, ironic, sort of satirical” ([07:09]).

Key Insights:

• The juxtaposition of farce with serious historical events created mixed reactions.
• Strong performances, particularly in specific musical numbers, stood out amidst an otherwise inconsistent narrative.
• The minimalist orchestra, heavily featuring synthesizers, received mixed feedback regarding sound quality ([13:05]).

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Maybe Tomorrow at Art New York

Reviewers: Peter Felicia, Michael Portantier
Venue: Abingdon Theater Company
Timestamp Highlights:

• Peter Felicia [17:02]:
  Peter critiques Maybe Tomorrow, portraying it as a tedious yet earnest exploration of agoraphobia within a confined bathroom setting. He questions the set design, noting, “You have to question why the set designer chose this unless the playwright said that's exactly what it should be” ([19:00]).

• Michael Portantier [20:05]:
  Michael echoes Peter’s sentiments, finding the play “inscrutable” and structurally flawed due to disjointed flashbacks ([20:50]). However, he commends the actors’ performances, particularly Elizabeth A. Davis and Dan M. Boyer, for their portrayal of complex characters.

Key Insights:

• The production struggles with set coherence and narrative clarity, hindering audience engagement.
• Despite technical and structural issues, strong acting performances provide redeeming qualities.
• The play’s attempt to address deep psychological themes like agoraphobia and postpartum depression is noteworthy but underdeveloped.

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American by M.E.R.I.K.I.N

Reviewers: Peter Felicia, Michael Portantier
Venue: 59 East 59
Timestamp Highlights:

• Peter Felicia [24:52]:
  American is described as a challenging yet compelling piece addressing white supremacy and personal identity. Peter highlights the intricate character dynamics and praises Victor Williams and Amber Rouchen Williams for their compelling performances as a Washington Post reporter and his daughter ([27:45]).

• Michael Portantier [27:47]:
  Michael admires Primary Stages' commitment to artistic integrity despite funding uncertainties, stating, “I think the play is very brave and I think it has structural flaws, but absolutely 100%, unquestionably worth seeing” ([15:13]).

Key Insights:

• The play effectively tackles contemporary issues of race and identity, resonating strongly with modern audiences.
• Performances by the lead actors significantly enhance the play’s impact, despite some narrative and structural shortcomings.
• The commitment of theater companies like Primary Stages to uphold artistic values amid external pressures is commendable.

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Grangeville

Reviewers: Michael Portantier, James Marino
Venue: Signature Theatre
Timestamp Highlights:

• Michael Portantier [42:20]:
  Grangeville is hailed for its intense exploration of fraternal relationships marked by past abuse and contemporary reconciliation. Despite some reservations about dual casting, Michael praises Brian J. Smith and Paul Sparks for their powerful performances, noting, “scrupulous acting by both of these two” ([35:02]).

• James Marino [48:33]:
  James reflects on the production’s extension, indicating its positive reception and ongoing popularity ([48:26]).

Key Insights:

• Grangeville stands out for its deep emotional narratives and strong character development.
• The decision to have actors portray multiple roles is met with mixed feelings but ultimately succeeds in adding depth to the storytelling.
• The play’s exploration of themes like abuse and reconciliation is both timely and impactful, contributing to its extended run.

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Industry News and Discussions

Jonathan Larson Project Closure: Michael and Peter express sadness over the premature closing of a Jonathan Larson project, attributing it to broader issues within Off Broadway. They discuss the evolving challenges faced by Off Broadway productions, including funding cuts and structural changes ([49:43]).

Broadway in Memoriam Missteps: The trio critiques Broadway League’s handling of the Broadway In Memoriam event, suggesting a more localized approach to tributes would be more respectful and impactful ([53:20]).

Ticketing and Venue Challenges: James and Michael discuss the economic strains on Broadway productions, highlighting the difficulty in sustaining profitability without extensive funding and union support ([50:10]).

Quotes:

• Michael Portantier on Off Broadway challenges: “the business model has changed so drastically over the past decades” ([51:15]).
• Peter Felicia on tribute formats: “there'd be nothing wrong with the dimming of lights only at the theaters where these people played or had shows” ([54:05]).

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Brain Teaser and Musical Moments

Brain Teaser: Peter presents a trivia question challenging listeners to identify a performer linked to both the Rocky Horror Picture Show and a stage adaptation of a Henry James novel. He invites listeners to email their answers for verification ([57:04]).

Musical Moments: Michael highlights John Kander’s lesser-known gem, “A Quiet Thing” from Flora the Red Menace. He emphasizes its dual nature as both an upbeat tune and a poignant ballad, showcasing Liza Minnelli’s vocal range and emotional depth ([58:21]).

Quote: Peter Felicia on musical moments: “Juliet Green was the first to get it, followed by Paul Witty, Tony Janicky, Sean Logan, Josh Israel, Jack Leshner, and Katie Rogers” ([57:04]).

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Conclusion

The episode offers a comprehensive look into current Broadway productions, blending critical analysis with industry insights. The reviewers provide a balanced view, celebrating standout performances while constructively critiquing narrative and structural elements. Additionally, the discussions on industry challenges underscore the evolving landscape of Broadway and Off Broadway productions.

Listeners are encouraged to engage further by subscribing to BroadwayRadio, supporting through Patreon, and participating in the interactive brain teasers.

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Notable Quotes:

• Peter Felicia [03:11]:
  “The music and lyrics go by lickety split. Getting married today seems like Old Man River in comparison.”

• Michael Portantier [07:09]:
  “I do not think it worked to tell this story in such an over the top, vaudevillian, ironic, sort of satirical.”

• Michael Portantier [15:13]:
  “I think the play is very brave and I think it has structural flaws, but absolutely 100%, unquestionably worth seeing.”

• Peter Felicia [54:05]:
  “There'd be nothing wrong with the dimming of lights only at the theaters where these people played or had shows.”

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For more detailed discussions and updates on Broadway, subscribe to BroadwayRadio at broadwayradio.com and follow along on various platforms including Apple Podcasts and Patreon.

Transcript

[Unknown Speaker]

What do you call a job at Garrett Melex? What do you call a fashion illustrator? What do you call assisting Mr. Stanley? Me. What do you call $30 a week? 30. 30. I wanna. No, I don't. I want to scream. No, I don't. I want. I want to sit down.

[James Marino]

Hello and welcome to Broadway Radios this week on Broadway for Sunday, March 23, 2025. My name is James Marino, and in the broadcast today we have Peter, Felicia and Michael Portantier. Peter is a playwright, journalist and historian with a number of books. Peter' New Day by Day Desk calendar. A show tune for today. 366 songs to bright New Year has been released. Piece, piece. Peter also has columns at Masterworks Broadway, Broadway select and many other places. Oh, my Pazan. Peter, Felicia, My Tower of Pisa. What is the show tune for today?

[Peter Felicia]

It's not Italian at all. It's very Jewish. It's Ms. Marmelstein for I can get a few wholesale. Because on this date in 1962, today's reviews for the show make clear that the performer playing yet a Tessie, that's T E S S Y E Marmelstein reads that. Howard Taubman in the New York Times says the evening's find is Barbra Streisand. A loud, irascible voice, a natural comedienne. John McLean of the Journal American trumpets for a moment in The sun with Ms. Marmolstein. By the way, he spelled her name as the conventional barber with that extra a. But. But, yeah, Streisand is still a teenager at this point. But granted, that status will be taken away from her in a month. But seldom has one so young made such an impact. And we will be hearing from her again.

[James Marino]

Oh, I'd imagine we will. I'd imagine somebody else we'll be hearing from is Michael Portantier. Michael's a theater reviewer in SAST. He's the founder and editor of CastAlbum 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.

[Michael Portantier]

Hello.

[James Marino]

Hello. So let's get right into our review section where the three of us have gotten over to the John Golden Theater to see Operation Mincemeat, which is a transfer from the West End. So, Peter, why don't you get us started off on this?

[Peter Felicia]

Well, I imagine there aren't very many veterans around from World War II, but some might take issue with this show because it is done as a knock about farce now, of course, we've had many musical versions of various things. Murder mysteries like Curtains and even Commedia dell'arte in a show called Comedy, which didn't make it out of Boston in 1972. But there are all sorts of genres. Something afoot, you know, the Agatha Christie type thing. So why not a musical of a British farce? These things have been popular in the West End over the years with such titles as There's a Girl in My Soup or my personal favorite, let's Get Laid, that's about Gordon Laid, a criminal that the police are after, let's Get Laid. So anyway, that's. It's done in that style and it's a musical in that style. I will say the music and lyrics go by lickety split. Getting married today seems like Old man river in comparison. So you really have to pay attention to what's going on. The story has been told a couple of times in a film called the man who Never was in the 50s, and the film Operation Mincemeat much later. And it deals with the fact that because the Nazis were going to invade a certain country, maybe we could get them to go to another country and we could take that country. That might be the way to do it. So they concoct this elaborate plan when they get a dead body and what they do is put all the plans in a. In a little briefcase and handcuff it to him and maybe the Germans will find it and be thwarted. I won't tell you how it turns out, though. I have a feeling you can guess. What's really interesting to me is that even though it's a knock about farce, the time that the audience responded best at my performance was that a tender song. Because somebody says, you know, to make it more human and make it more believable, let's include a love letter and one of the people in the cast. By the way, it's a very gender bending cast, meaning that men play women, women play men, et cetera, et cetera. One of the employees on the spot improvises a love letter that's astonishingly tender. Now, as I've said many times in the past, my favorite type of applause is the one that builds ebbs and then gets higher than it was the first time. And that's what happened with this song. So it's very interesting to me that the thing that seemed to impress the people the most, I will say that deep in the second act, one of the powers that be says, you are treating these men's lives like a Joke. Well, that's what they've been doing all night long, so. So anyway, if you're the type of person who would like a show like let's Get Laid, you might enjoy a musical version of Operation Mincemeat.

[James Marino]

All right. Michael, how about you?

[Michael Portantier]

Peter, when did you see the show?

[Peter Felicia]

Wednesday afternoon.

[Michael Portantier]

Oh, because the. The reaction to that. That song that you mentioned was very much the same at the performance that I attended. And the performer is Jack J, A K Malone as Hester Leggett and others. Absolutely. The high point of the entire play, a musical, whatever.

[James Marino]

Michael, can I ask you when you saw it?

[Michael Portantier]

Oh, I saw it on Saturday afternoon.

[James Marino]

I saw it Saturday evening, and it was the same exact thing. So it seems to be. It seems to be the solid pattern among the audiences are that we really loved this performance in this song.

[Michael Portantier]

Absolutely. And obviously that's very honest. Three different audiences reacting the same way. And I think that's very telling because in a nutshell, I just don't think it worked to tell this story in such an over the top, vaudevillian, ironic, sort of satirical. It was like a satire that I couldn't figure out what it was satirized, you know, and all of the effective moments I thought were this. Were the serious ones. There was this moment we've been discussing, that beautiful song in Act 1, but then. And then there was the. Well, the several moments later on in Act 2 where they. Where they start to become concerned about the, you know, if they're doing the right thing and the fact that they're using this person's dead body and, and, you know, who was this person. And, and the, and the very, very ending of the show after the, after the glitzy finale, which is called in the program a glitzy finale, which I thought was totally superfluous and unnecessary. They. There's a. There's a very real moment after. After that. So I thought that those were the only times when this show really worked. I mean, there were isolated, brief moments that might have been amusing, but for the most part, I did not understand the whole concept or approach. And I don't get the point of it, and I think it was counterproductive. Also, I would say I very much enjoyed four of the performances in this show. Everyone, as I think Peter mentioned, plays multiple characters, but there was one performance that I abhorred. David Cumming as Charles Cholmondeley and others. I cannot say how much of the performance was due to the direction by Robert Hastie or was of Mr. Cummings own volition. But I thought he was almost unwatchable in the. In the extreme broadness and quirkiness of his main role of Charles Cholmondeley and also all of the others that he played, except for one very, very, very brief moment at the end where he finally calmed down. And I thought, oh, well, you know, this. I wish there had been more of this throughout. So, I mean, I think it's fair to say that there's lots of very broad comic playing throughout by everyone, but somehow, to me, everyone else was able to temper it and not ever go too far. I don't think that was the case in this one performance. And I just had to mention that because I couldn't quite believe what I was watching and I did not respond to it at all. So I guess I'm very negative overall on Operation Mincemeat because I don't get the whole idea of it. I don't get the point. I don't. I don't understand it. And it is ironic, as Peter mentioned, that that line about what. What. What was exactly was the line, you're.

[Peter Felicia]

Treating these men's lives like a joke.

[Michael Portantier]

Yeah, yeah. That's kind of what it. What it comes down to. And, you know, we are talking about World War II. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of lives at stake. So maybe it's the kind of thing that works in England and just doesn't work here. Although, of course, some of the audience was responding. But on the other hand, it did seem to me that after several of the numbers, that the applause was almost perfunctory, which it should not be in something like this. And that was certainly pointed out by the vociferous, heartfelt response to that one song that we. That we have been discussing in the first act that was so beautifully performed by Jack Malone. And that. That's my take on Petticoat.

[James Marino]

Mincemeat. Operation Mincemeat.

[Michael Portantier]

Operation Mincemeat. What's Operation. That's another.

[Peter Felicia]

That's.

[James Marino]

Operation Petticoat was a television show about.

[Peter Felicia]

No, no. It may have been a TV series, but it certainly was a movie.

[James Marino]

Yeah. So.

[Michael Portantier]

By the way, do we know why, what the title refers to specifically?

[Peter Felicia]

I guess it's a code for.

[James Marino]

It was just the code name for the plan.

[Peter Felicia]

So it doesn't give too much away.

[Michael Portantier]

Yeah, I suppose so.

[James Marino]

I'm three for three with you guys. I was tremendously disappointed because there so much buzz about how this. How funny this was and how great it was going to be, and I was just like, I Just don't get it. I was like, this should have been at an Off Broadway venue. You know, I'm interested to see how it continues to do. I have to say that my audience really enjoyed it. Saturday evening audience, and they really enjoyed it. But the grosses, they're playing at 100% and doing 600,000 is 6 to 700,000. So the grosses are very challenging here.

[Michael Portantier]

So that means the average ticket price is very low.

[James Marino]

The average ticket price is very low. Yeah. It's a limited run scheduled through August 10th. I'd imagine that it'll at least make it to the Tony Awards and then we'll see how it does. But I guess in the next few weeks we'll see if they still continue to play it 100% in how they're doing here. Certainly a five person cast, small musical. Oh, did either one of you say anything about the orchestra? No, no.

[Peter Felicia]

Your turn.

[James Marino]

Did you hear lots of synthesizer in the orchestra? I was like, the sound was from. For my ears was very, very thin. And I was wondering if it was synthesizers or if the sound mix was off or something like that. Did you guys notice anything?

[Peter Felicia]

It sounded like synthesizers to me. That doesn't mean they were, but that's what it sounded like to me.

[Michael Portantier]

I didn't even focus on it. And usually I'm very hypersensitive to that, but so whatever.

[James Marino]

So, all right, so Operation Mincemeat. They certainly have a lot of video and audio out on social media for folks to check out if you want to, before. Before we. Before you buy a ticket. But let me see here. Musical supervisor, musical coordinator, conducted by associate conductor. It's got keyboards. Got two people on the keyboards, one on electric bass, one on drums. Synthesize a technician.

[Michael Portantier]

Two keyboards are, you know.

[James Marino]

Yeah, so that's it. So it's drums, bass and synths. So three, four pieces in the orchestra. One, two, three, four, four in the orchestra. Certainly a different way to look at current Broadway shows.

[Michael Portantier]

One really. I think this is quite amusing. Jesse Green, in his largely negative New York Times review of the show, he went after the lyrics, which I did not notice so much, the false rhymes in the lyrics, as he called them. But the specific example he gave was, well, we Americans would say Moscow and crossbow. And he said that that really hurt his ears. But when I heard it, the person or people who sang it, they didn't sing Moscow, they sang Moscow, which, as I thought, is how it's pronounced in British English. And in fact, I ran into Barnaby Edwards on the street. Right after seeing the show. And I. I walked up to him, and the first thing I said is, Barnaby, how would you pronounce M, O, S, C, O, W? And he said, moscow. And I said, thank you. Because they'd rather. Rather surprise me that Jesse Green didn't know that they pronounced that differently there. And. And there was, in my view, there was certainly enough to criticize in this show without that, which was an inaccurate statement. So I just. I got a little bit of a laugh out of that, I guess.

[James Marino]

Jesse Green hasn't seen the show. Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow. Perhaps maybe he'll see it tomorrow.

[Peter Felicia]

That's right.

[James Marino]

Oh, Peter. And Michael saw a show called maybe Tomorrow at Art New York. So, Peter, why don't you get us started on this?

[Peter Felicia]

You know, I have to say that this title has made me sing. Who can I Turn to from the Rother, Grease, Paint, the Smell of the Crowd. Because there's a lyric and maybe Tomorrow. And I'm telling you, that's all I've been singing all week as a result of this play. Well, here we are. Gail and Ben are married. They've been married for 10 years. In fact, they're going to have a child. And they're doing well in business. Everything seems to be terrific. However, they're living in a trailer. Well, you'd never know it from the bathroom that they're in. And the whole thing takes place in the bathroom. I have a feeling what happened is that this was the bathroom that was supposed to be when Norman Desmond committed suicide in Sunset Boulevard. But they ran out of money. And the men who were delivering this bathroom to the St. James Theater just left it where they were. And it was on 53rd street and 10th Avenue. And somebody thought, well, let's just pick it up and bring it upstairs. And we'll use that as our set. Because there is no rhyme or reason for this ornate bathroom to be convincingly part of a trailer. I don't know about your bathroom, but mine has solid doors. This one has glass doors. You would think that for the sake of modesty, that there would not be glass doors. And you do watch Ben use the toilet to defecate. So if that's your idea of a good time, you'll certainly enjoy that. Well, anyway, it's about a woman who's agro phobic, and she just will not leave the bathroom. As time goes on. There is an ending that makes things seem a little bit more explanatory, but not a lot. And you may not even buy it after spending 90 or 100 minutes with this show with no intermission. The husband is very, very doting his wife and you expect him to explode. You also would expect that their child would really be deficient as a result of not having any mother love at all. And I'm not going to elaborate more on that. I've even said too much already, but that's a big problem for me as well. So I found this pretty tedious, very tough going. I wasn't interested very often, but I have a feeling the set had a lot to do with that. The fact that I just kept on questioning why the set designer chose this unless the playwright said that's exactly what it should be. I guess that's possible, but, boy, it makes no sense to me. As a big fan of the movie Kiss Me Stupid in which Kim Novak lives in the trailer. Believe me, she doesn't have a bathroom like this. So. So I. I thought this was quite a misfire on a lot of levels, but.

[James Marino]

Okay, Michael, what did you think?

[Michael Portantier]

I thought the play was. I also would agree that it was very tedious and I would also say inscrutable. There were so many things about it I didn't understand, including the set. Just to clarify, not only is the bathroom innate ornate, it's huge. It's tremendous. It's also square rather than rectangular, which would be in a mobile home. We're supposed to think they keep going through doors to. Through doors to another part of the mobile home. Is that what we're supposed to think they're happening? That's every time they go out.

[Peter Felicia]

Yeah.

[Michael Portantier]

And. And then at one point. I don't know if you caught this, Peter, but at one point early on, the. The. The man says something like, we don't even have a bed. Yeah, well, why don't they have a bed in a mobile home? Wouldn't that be like one of the things you would have. I think, rather than a bathroom that's the size of the hall of mirrors at Versailles. Also, as if all of that wasn't inscrutable enough, the play starts with the two of them doing what apparently is a sexual role play, which is fine to start with that. And also it didn't. It wasn't clarified as to what that was because then they tried to do it later and it doesn't work. And. And it just seemed a non sequitur to me. And then. And then, as if all that wasn't enough at. At various points, the woman, Elizabeth A. Davis, is the actress playing Gail, steps out of the action and addresses the audience on several occasions and sort of making the point that they're all in. Everyone is in a play, this is a play. And she sort of discusses that with her husband who doesn't really respond or acknowledge that. So I just did not know what was going on. And there is, I guess, a twist, a coup d'escape teatra in a way at the end that. That to me would have been far more interesting in a play that I could understand as opposed to one that I could not understand at all. All of this said scrupulous acting by Dan M. Boyer as Ben and Elizabeth A. Davis as Gail. I just don't know what the playwright Max Mondi was up to. And I'm sure there are good points to be made about agoraphob. I don't know if postpartum depression, would that fit into it too, which, which interestingly fits in very much with another play that we're about to discuss. So I did. I. Obviously there's a lot of drama in. In those subjects and I think it could have been far more interesting if I had understood what was going on, which I didn't.

[James Marino]

So an unusual misfire from the Abingdon Theater Company, I suppose.

[Michael Portantier]

Yeah.

[James Marino]

And it says on the website it's based upon a true event.

[Peter Felicia]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[James Marino]

You know, maybe, you know, it's sometimes hard to recreate true events and make them dramatic and compelling enough to make it to the stage. But interesting that they also had, you know, top notch acting talent. Elizabeth Davis.

[Peter Felicia]

Yes, indeed.

[James Marino]

Tony Award nominee, gave us the role, no question. So that is Abingdon Theater Company's production of maybe Tomorrow at Art. It is playing through April 6th. We'll have a link to that in the show notes.

[Michael Portantier]

I haven't had a chance to research that true story part of it, but I really would like to.

[Peter Felicia]

Well, they do say that they ain't spilling the beans on what the case is. I did check that out.

[Michael Portantier]

Oh, so we can research it. Yeah. Okay.

[James Marino]

So, Peter, Michael also made it over to 59 East 59 to see American. That's a M E R I K I N. At 59, he's 59. Peter, why don't you get us started on this?

[Peter Felicia]

Well, this is a tough play and I think a very good one. Chisa Hutchinson has had a few plays done at 59. He's 59th this year. I think this is the best of the three. It's tough though, especially at the very beginning when you find out what Jeff Browning has named his dog. Believe me, this is going to offend a lot of people and. But Jeff is going to join a Ku Klux Klan type of organization. He's really up for it. But the organization is a white supremacist group that demands that you have a DNA test to make certain that you are a pure breed, so to speak. So unfortunately the DNA test does not reveal what he expects it to. And he finds out that he does have some African American blood. And that is going to turn out to be a big problem in this play. A big problem indeed. And I think it's very, very effective in the way that it deals with matters that are very much concerned today. Daniel Abeles plays Jeff. Molly Carden is his long suffering wife who has a number of opinions as many spouses do. So and what's really interesting is that a Washington Post reporter gets involved. He hears about the case and indeed wants to check it out and see exactly how much of a story there is here. Now, maybe slightly unbelievable or even more so, is that his daughter, who is interested having a career like his father or her father, wants to come along. And as it turned out, she doesn't quite tag along when they get there. She offers a great many opinions of her own and a great many accusations as well. And I'm not sure the father would let her do that, that he would say be quiet. And you know, because she doesn't have the journalistic skills we assume being a student as a Washington Post reporter would be. Maybe I'm being naive about that, are too condescending to a student, but nevertheless that struck me as a little strange. Anyway, Victor Williams is excellent as the Washington Post reporter and Amber Rouchen Williams is just as good as his daughter. So there are a couple of other people in there too who certainly have opinions about this organization. Some pro, some con, all friends, one of whom is very instrumental in the plot. I'm not going to give away more, but this is quite an evening and I'm very glad to have seen it.

[James Marino]

Okay, Michael, how about you?

[Michael Portantier]

Before I say anything, I want to remark on an insert in the program. It says, primary Stages. We will not comply. And then it says, despite the current uncertainty surrounding federal funding, Primary Stages will not compromise our core values for American or any future Primary Stages project Are deeply grateful for the many supporters who have stepped us to stand with us. We will continue producing the work we believe in, with the artists we believe in without compromise. Thank you to all of those who joined us in our quest of building the future of American theater one play at a time. And I mean I do think that is very admirable because not everyone is standing up against what this horrible stuff that's happening as, as they are now. I, I don't know how ex, how much funding Primary Stages gets from the federal government, but certainly one can understand why this play would be anathema to many people in the current administration dealing as it does with white supremacy and how that relates to the tragedy that's, that's currently engulfing us. So I, I, I really admire Primary Stages for that. And I didn't want to say anything without stating that first. I think the play is very brave and I, I think it has structural flaws, but absolutely 100%, unquestionably worth seeing. Very, very strong moments as well. Peter, you didn't mention that the Washington Post reporter and his daughter are African American, and that's certain.

[Peter Felicia]

Yes, I guess I should have. Yeah, good point.

[Michael Portantier]

Yeah. And it certainly, obviously is very, very germane to what's going on here. Structural flaws also, maybe some plot flaws as well. I personally found it unbelievable that, that, that the reporter decides to show up at the door of, of Jeff Browning at, of his home in Maryland without letting him know that he was coming. It's supposed to be Sharpsburg, Maryland, in 2017, by the way. That's the, that's the time and place of the action. And I don't know, you know, I don't know if many of us think of Maryland as, you know, necessarily a stronghold of white supremacy, but, you know, what I always say is, I mean, just look at what's happening on Staten island so that you don't have to go that far to find really, really bad things happening. And I appreciate that the playwright chose that setting for that reason. I do think that structurally, I, I thought Act 1 was pretty much perfect as far as the playwriting in act two. I, There were lots of flashbacks that I, I thought were not handled well. They were very kind of jerky and just kept dragging us in and out of the forward momentum of the play. I also thought that maybe that was done because if there weren't flashbacks, then the two African American characters would have appeared very, very late in the play, like well into Act 2, whereas now they appear at the start of Act 2. So it just occurred to me that maybe perhaps that's why Chisa Hutchinson decided to structure the second act that way. But I, I, while I appreciate that, I, I don't think it was necessarily the best idea, we should mention the rest of the cast. Molly Cardin is the wife who, again, I alluded to earlier seems to be suffering from postpartum depression, severe postpartum depression. Although as the play unfolds, we find out that maybe there's more to it than just that. Other roles are played by Luke Robertson, Tobias Siegel and Andrea Siglowski in a very significant role, which we can't say more about, as Peter alluded to, because it would be a spoiler. And then Victor Williams and Amber Roshan Williams as the Washington Post reporter and his daughter. I didn't research. Are they related or do they just happen to have the same name?

[Peter Felicia]

I don't know.

[Michael Portantier]

Anyway, both excellent. Both excellent. So, again, well worth seeing, despite some structural and other issues.

[James Marino]

All right, so, Peter, as you started to do, describe the show, I kept on thinking of showboat and miscegenation and, you know, he had a drop of African American blood and.

[Peter Felicia]

Yeah, just a drop. Yeah, that's enough.

[James Marino]

Yeah, just. Just enough. And, and Michael, about the theater company and standing up for artistic rights. You know, we've been talking for many years about cutbacks in the National Endowment for the Arts. Cutbacks and cutbacks. I think the conservatives have shot themselves in the foot because these theater companies have learned to live without federal money.

[Michael Portantier]

Oh, interesting point.

[James Marino]

And it's very interesting. So. And what will people do? So we. We saw that Hamilton canceled their Kennedy center performances. We talked about. I think we talked about it a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure if we talked about it here or another show. We mentioned it.

[Michael Portantier]

Yeah.

[James Marino]

And. But we do have national tours of Parade in Les Miserables coming to the Kennedy center. And I'm interested to see if the producers of these shows, especially les miserables, Cameron McIntosh, can certainly reschedule Les Miserables for another venue in Washington, D.C. or just out now. Cancel the thing. It's not going to affect his multiple castles. He literally owns castles, you know. So let's see who stands up for artistic freedom at the Kennedy center coming up. And finally this morning, Peter and Michael. We're over at New World Stages to see Last Call. So, Peter, tell us about this.

[Peter Felicia]

Last Call is a meeting between Leonard Bernstein and Herbert Von Carrion, the very famous conductor. So it's fall of 1988. They don't know it at the time, but Herbert has a year to live and Leonard has two. But they meet in a bar in Vienna in a very nice hotel. This is not the show with the bathroom for a few minutes. Herbert, nature calls, and he goes in and uses a urinal. It's just amazing to me that we're Having so many calls of nature in plays. But anyway, while he does that, we do see projections of what he's thinking about Mr. Bernstein on the back wall. They are very hard to read. They are much too dim. And that must be address very, very quickly. When the press agent gave me the seats, I said to Linda, oh, good seats. C1, C2. Oh, this is going to be great. Well, no they weren't because this is a very wide stage at New World Stages and from the early part of the play they were on the other side of the stage entirely. Eventually they would come center stage. But I have no idea why the director, who I will fault for doing this type of staging, Gil Memor is his or her name. Why it starts over there so far away makes no sense to me. But they do eventually get to center stage. It's much too wide a stage for this small play. There's a bartender as well. There's a few things to say. But this would be ideal at the Cherry Lane if the Cherry Lane still were dealing with plays. I don't know. Every time I go there, and I haven't gone in a long time now it's been stand up comedians. So I guess economically speaking it makes more sense to, to go to New World St. Which is larger, but it certainly didn't serve this play well. The big problem for me is the non traditional casting because indeed what you have here are two women playing these men and it's not they don't do a good job. They do do a good job, but this makes it artificial for me and I would have liked to have seen two men play these parts because I would have been more invested in it. It seems like a stunt to me when this type of thing happens. And again, the actors gave their all. One could certainly take issue with the fact that Luca Zuckner, who indeed is playing Herbert is, has a very thick accent and she actually does come from Germany and, and it shows. So you might have a little problem understanding what she's saying from time to time. But anyway, the men have a love hate relationship. Sometimes it's a hate hate relationship. It's very rarely a love love relationship. So. So they bicker. That's really what it comes down to. They bicker. But Peanut Danish has done a good job of dealing with the bickering. And if you want to see two women portraying very famous men, well then here's your chance. There is that famous statement that the best shows have big characters and big events. You do have the big characters here. You don't have big events.

[James Marino]

Okay. Michael, how about you?

[Michael Portantier]

No, James, I did not see this one.

[James Marino]

And actually you said that you saw everything that Peter saw. I'm sorry.

[Michael Portantier]

Oh, I guess I did. But Grangeville was the other one that I did see. And actually, to be honest, I was very interested in the subject matter, which is right up my alley. I can't tell you how many recordings I have by both Bernstein and Von Carrion, but I decided not to go specifically because I read that it was going to be played by two women. And I just, I don't get it. I mean, these were two towering figures in the, in the classical music world and the 20th century. And, you know, I, Is this cliche. I think their personalities were tremendously built around male ego and the fact that, you know, very significantly and, and, and sadly, there were very, very, very few women conductors during the 20th century. And I have never been able to figure out why that is. Was the case. And I would note that it's not. It. Well, it's changing fairly quickly, but maybe not as quickly as as many of us would hope in the past decades. So. But, so why ignore all that? I, you know, I, I suppose they think there's some point to it, to having women perform these very, very male roles, but I, I don't get the idea. And, and again, I, I have not seen it, but that was my reaction to previous attempts along similar lines, such as 1776 at the roundabout. And I, I'm, I'm not surprised by Peter's reaction. And I, and I think I would have, I would very likely have the same reaction, though I would perhaps like to see the play if it were cast with two men.

[James Marino]

So maybe tomorrow with Elizabeth A. Davis. She, she was in the 1776 and was an outstanding member of that cast. Yes. So it was interesting for me to see that. 1776. So last call is at New World Stages. It is playing through May 4, and we'll have a link to that in the show notes. And Michael, you said Granger, or what did you say?

[Michael Portantier]

Oh, Grangeville. I'm sorry, I guess I messed this up. Maybe you can cut all this out.

[James Marino]

That's fine. Grangeville. Little insight behind how we put this together. A little how we make the sausage. So you saw Grangeville. Where is it playing?

[Michael Portantier]

Playing Signature.

[James Marino]

Oh, okay. The 42nd street signature.

[Michael Portantier]

Yes. Not the one in Arlington, Virginia.

[James Marino]

Yes. Because you often do teleport. You often do teleport down there. So I do that magic elevator at Manhattan Plaza that teleports you to Everywhere. You have a lot of buttons in those elevators.

[Michael Portantier]

Yeah.

[James Marino]

Big building. So you saw Grangeville at Signature. So tell us about it.

[Michael Portantier]

Yeah. Again, I got to this one very late, my own fault. I somehow missed the invitation, but I had heard such wonderful things about it that I didn't want to miss it. So I was very happy that the press agents got me in to see the magnificent performances of Brian J. Smith and Paul Sparks in this play by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Jack Serio. I do not think the play is as successful as previous efforts by Samuel D. Hunter, including A Case for the Existence of God. Did I get the title right?

[James Marino]

Sounds right. And.

[Michael Portantier]

And the Whale, but it's still very interesting. It's about a relationship between two brothers who have a very. Half brothers who have a very, very contentious relationship. Paul Sparks still lives in Grangeville, Idaho, in the. His character Chubb Jerry, I should say, still lives in Grangeville, Idaho, where both of the brothers were brought up. And he's living or spending a lot of time in the trailer where his. Where their mother lives, and she is not long for this world. And that's the reason for the. The brothers reconnecting over the phone, initially over the phone and online, because Arnold, played, probably played by Brian J. Smith, lives in Holland, first in Amsterdam and now in Rotterdam with his husband. And there is a lot of history in the relationship between the two brothers, including the fact that Jerry very much used to abuse Arnold, both both physically and emotionally. And that, of course, can be a very, very, very difficult, if not impossible thing for siblings to get around. So. So, again, scrupulous acting by both of these two. I always thought that Brian J. Smith was the unsung hero of that production of Glass Menagerie with Cherry Jones and Zachary Quinto and Celia Keenan Bolger, all of whom were great. But with people like that, I think he was somewhat overshadowed or didn't get the attention he deserved, I should say, in the smaller role of the Gentleman Caller. But I thought he was incredibly solid in that role both times that I saw that production, when I first saw it up in Cambridge and then when I saw it on Broadway. So I've really been a fan of his since then, and it's great to see him here. Paul Sparks, as Jerry, took over this role on relatively short notice. It was supposed to have been played by Brendan Fraser, who, of course, has a history with Samuel D. Hunter, because Brendan was in the movie version of the Whale. But I'm not sure what happened there and probably will never know. At some point, before previews began, it was announced that Brendan Fraser was out and Paul Sparks was in. And he's one of our great actors too. This is one of many plays I have seen lately where actors play multiple roles and I think sometimes it works better than others. Here I did not think it worked all that well because in addition to the roles of the brothers, Paul Sparks also plays Arnold's husband and Brian J. Smith also plays Jerry's wife. So, you know, I mean, it's a great acting exercise, but I, I, you know, I wonder, it's hard to say in, in the present day when, when playwrights write shows like this, presumably they write them with the double casting and the doubling indicated and impossible to say how much of that is because of a cost cutting measure and how much of it is because they think it in. Maybe it informs the play in some way. So, so that's what, how I feel about that. But I, I, I don't want to make a global pronouncement because I think it varies from one play to the next here. To me, it's, it was not that effective. On the other hand, in those scenes where they play the other people, they are actually the two actors are relating to each other in the same physical space, whereas for most of the rest of the play when they're, when they're playing the brothers, they're talking to each other online or on the phone or. Yeah, but they're not, they're not, not in the same physical space. So that allowed them to, to interact in a different way. And it was, and those scenes worked in that respect. But anyway, I did want to bring it up because I have noticed so, so many plays lately where actors play multiple roles and interesting to think what the motivation might be for that.

[James Marino]

Okay, so Grangeville is supposed to be playing through March 16th. Did it extend? Because when did you see it, Michael?

[Michael Portantier]

Oh, I just, I did extend. Yeah, no, I think it might have extended more than once. I don't have the date right here.

[James Marino]

In front of me, but yes, so 3:23. So today. So it looks like it's extended through today at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theater. So we'll have a link to that in the show notes. All right, so question for the two of you. Did you see Vanya?

[Peter Felicia]

No, I go Wednesday.

[James Marino]

Michael, how about you?

[Michael Portantier]

I don't, I don't have it scheduled to check on that. Where is it?

[James Marino]

It's at the Lucille. Yeah, it's at the Lortel.

[Peter Felicia]

Frankly, I just put in my DVD of Uncle Vanya So I'm going to be watching that before I go. I love that type of thing. So we'll see what happens.

[James Marino]

All right, so I saw Vanya this week, so we'll talk about it. We'll talk about it next week.

[Peter Felicia]

All right.

[James Marino]

I don't like to. To talk about me, so. And what else did we have here?

[Michael Portantier]

Very, very sad and surprised to read of the early closing of the Jonathan Larson project.

[James Marino]

That's what I was going to talk about was Jonathan Larson closing early. We have just about 10 days left of performances.

[Michael Portantier]

It's so wonderful. I, I've been talking to various people lately who all, you know, have theories about why, but some people just, just feel and have been saying for a while that Off Broadway is kind of broken.

[Peter Felicia]

Oh, yeah.

[Michael Portantier]

You know, certainly the business model has changed so drastically over the past decades.

[James Marino]

And I, Yeah, I, I would say because I've been seeing a lot of Off Broadway recently, and it seems like Off Broadway has been afflicted with the Broadway disease that you need a big star.

[Peter Felicia]

Well, the other thing, if. Take a look at the LP of Little Mary Sunshine on the back cover. You'll see the entire cast. It was at that very same theater, the Orium. And I mean, I don't know how they packed in so many people on that stage and paid them. And the show ran about three years, mean. So obviously something was right at that period of time. I don't know if people were just happy to work and they were taking very little money. I don't know what they did for dressing rooms. It must have been incredible. There can't be that much space there at the Orpheum. But yes, there is. Every producer I talked to says you just can't make money off Broadway anymore.

[James Marino]

Yeah. Michael, what were you going to say?

[Michael Portantier]

Oh, I don't remember specifically, but, but all of this is. And all of this is without. I haven't really been following it, but. But didn't I hear that there is some, some kind of trouble lately at the Atlantic because of the, the.

[James Marino]

Oh, yeah, the Atlantic. The stagehands went on strike for unionization. They. They came to an agreement two, three weeks ago. They came to an agreement and they' things like that. But it did cause the premature closing or, or delay of two or three productions or something like that. But they are back and back and working.

[Michael Portantier]

My point being that that. Isn't it still true that for the most part that, that. That stagehands and other people Off Broadway are not unionized?

[James Marino]

I mean, for the. I hate to Generalize. But they weren't unionized at the Atlantic. I don't know about the other major non profits that are off Broadway, like the signatures and things like that. I do not know that.

[Michael Portantier]

So I, I don't know it either. But I think that is the case and it's certainly not. My point is that the, the, the presumably exploding costs are largely behind the fact that Off Broadway is broken, as many people feel it is. And, and that is even though certainly the unionization and the pay is not remotely close to what it is on Broadway. But. But still a number of factors have combined to. To create this really very sad and unfortunate situation.

[James Marino]

All right, so last week we didn't. There was the news that the Broadway in Memoriam. I, I'm not sure how the league could have screwed it up worse, but they seem to have. Now, Broadway in Memoriam is a quarterly event. Except for sometimes when they will do it individually. The quarterly event is. Is sort of for multiple people who they will dim the lights for.

[Michael Portantier]

Right.

[James Marino]

Except for in certain cases when some standard undefined legend would pass away and they will have their own dimming and things like that. But. Any quick thoughts?

[Michael Portantier]

I think they said that those special cases will be decided by the individual theater, whereas the quarterly thing is now going to be the standard way that the league handles it.

[Peter Felicia]

I don't think there'd be anything wrong with the dimming of lights only at the theaters where these people played or had shows. I think that would be very apt. I don't think we really need every light to go off. It would make a statement to see how many marquees would go off. Now that would also impact decisions because so many people have had Marquis, the entire streets blacked out who have done one or two shows. Like Joan Rivers. I think Joan Rivers got the Marquis dim. Now really, how much Broadway did Joan Rivers do?

[Michael Portantier]

Right.

[Peter Felicia]

So. So I think. But I. I think that might impact decisions. So that's my vote.

[Michael Portantier]

I personally think there would be nothing wrong with choosing one theater for each person who dies. Because aside from everything else, that would concentrate all of the people who want to be there and participate in one area. And there's something to be said for that, isn't there? So I think that that might have been an alternate solution. Even so, there'd still have to be decisions from one person to the next whether to dim even one theater. But it would have been a lot easier to make that decision. I think maybe if that had they had taken that tack.

[James Marino]

All right, to be continued. So maybe if they do this quarterly thing, it'll be easier to collect the four quarterly things to do the In Memoriam at the Tonys. I don't know, maybe so we don't miss anybody or so that happens. All right, so that wraps it up for this week. Before we get on to our brain teaser, our musical moments, I want 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, it'll be automatically downloaded to Apple Podcasts for you. Of course, you don't have to listen to us in Apple Podcasts as many ways that you can get us. One way is Patreon p a t T-R-E-O-N.com BroadwayRadio is one way that you can support all of Broadway radio's shows as well as get us early and listen to us on Sunday mornings and a few other things here and there. So contact information for Peter, for Michael and for me can be found in the show [e-mail] as well as links to some of the things we've talked about today. So Peter, do we have an answer to last week's brain teaser?

[Peter Felicia]

Last week's question asked for a horse that won a Triple Crown. Not the famous Triple Crown, a different Triple Crown. Who aside from the article, the had the name of a Tony losing musical. Well, actually there was a horse called Most Happy Fella and as a three year old, he won the Triple Crown of harness racing for Pacers, winning the Cane Base, the Little Brown Jug and the Messenger Stakes. This trainer, by the way, was named Stanley Dansk, sir, so I almost asked that too, but enough is enough. Juliet Green was the first to get it, followed by Paul Witty, Tony Janicky, Sean Logan, Josh Israel, Jack Leshner, and Katie Rogers. All right, this week's question. This performer appeared in a film that is referenced in the Rocky Horror show or Rocky Horror Picture show if you prefer. So now you know, it's not once in a while. This performer also appeared in a stage version of a Henry James novel. Who's the person, what's the film and what's the stage work?

[James Marino]

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

[Michael Portantier]

Well, we'd recently been discussing the shared birthday of Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber yesterday, March 22nd. Second. But also, we certainly don't want to overlook that March 18th was the birthday of the great John Kander, still with us and one of the all time, all time, all time great Broadway composers and a one time guest on our podcast, I might add. So I, you know, so much to choose from. Yeah, for, for John Kander, I decided to go with I, I what I think it would be fair to describe as one of his lesser known songs, but one of his most beautiful. I suppose maybe he, maybe he has a stereotype of writing show busy, jazzy types of songs and, and specializing in those. And certainly he wrote that type of song better than anyone else. But he also could certainly craft an absolutely beautiful ballad when he wanted to. And the song I chose was A Quiet Thing from Flora the Red Menace, in which Liza Minnelli, a very young Liza Minnelli, made her Broadway debut. And the interesting thing about that song is that it starts out as a, I guess you would say an Upchurch tune. And she's narrating, she's talking about what, what is happening to her and she's very excited because she's get, she's just getting a new job. But then it morphs into a very, very beautiful ballad. So beautiful that when the song is sung out of context, I think it's often taken as her. The singer is singing about a romantic relationship and suddenly falling in love. But that is not what it's about. It's about getting job. So, so because the opening of the, the song is so different from the bulk of it, I, I thought we would feature both sections. So our opener is the first part of A Quiet Thing and the closer is the, the latter part of it, the, the more beautiful ballady part sung gorgeously by an incredibly young Liza Minnelli. And what's interesting there is that at towards the end of the section, the second section, Liza does go into her soprano register, her head voice, if you will, which she rarely used throughout her career, but you can hear it here. And that's interesting because one of her early roles was Louisa in the Fantastics and not Off Broadway, but elsewhere. And I, you know, many people when they hear that, think Liza did, did they, did they bring down all of the keys? Did she belt those songs? I, I don't think so. I think she sang them in soprano. And, and you can hear in this clip a, a tiny sample of what she might have sounded like, uh, singing Louisa in the Fantastics. So Uh, this again is a quiet thing from Flora the Red Menace by the great John Kander and the late.

[James Marino]

Fred E. All right, so on behalf of Michael Portantier and Peter Felicia, this is James Marino saying thanks so much for listening to Broadway radios this week on Broadway.

[Michael Portantier]

Bye.

[James Marino]

Bye.

[Peter Felicia]

Bye.

[Michael Portantier]

Bye.

[Unknown Speaker]

There are no exploding fireworks. Where's the roaring of the crowd? Maybe it's the strange new atmosphere way up here among the clouds. But I don't hear the drums and I don't hear the band. The sounds, I'm told, such moments and spring happiness comes in on tiptoe. Well, what do you know? It's a quiet thing. A very quiet thing. What do you call a job at Garrett Melik's? What do you call a fashion illustrator? What do you call $30 a week.