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This Week on Broadway for May 31, 2026: Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody
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Peter Filicia
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James Marino
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Musical Interlude Singer
Morning Glo morning starts to glimmer when you know when the change are set to blow and sweet this fore and
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Peter Filicia
do
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Musical Interlude Singer
morning low is long past you.
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James Marino
Hello and welcome to Broadway Radio's this Week on Broadway for Sunday, May 31, 2026. My name is James Marino and in the broadcast today we have Peter, Felicia and Michael Portantier. Peter is a playwright, journalist and a historian with a number of books. Peter's new Day by Day Desk Calendar A show tune for today 366 songs to brighten your year is available at finer retailers. And Peter, you have coming up at the Longacre Theater the 80th annual Theater World Awards just two days away. June 2nd. Tell us all ready for this?
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Peter Filicia
Yeah, I think so. We have some very nice people who are going to be presenting to our 11 out of 12 winners, Leslie Manville's off the hook. She's out in London doing Lise on Danger, so we don't expect her to be there. In fact, while the ceremony is on at 2 o', clock, she'll be on stage in London. Among she. So, yeah, a good time should be had by all with Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalfe, Alec Baldwin, Margaret Colin. So many others have agreed to show up and say hello and give the trophies out to various people, including John Lithgow, who is going to get a lifetime achievement award. Danny Burstein is going to be presenting to him. So it should be. It should be all right. And I'm delighted to play the Longacre because I've never been on that stage. I've been on about a dozen Broadway stages doing the Theater World Awards in the. Wow. It adds up. I think this is my 27th, 28th year, something like that. So they're adding up and. But I always like when I get to do a new theater and that will be the case here.
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James Marino
I hope this is not sacrilegious, but isn't it funny?
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Peter Filicia
I was going to say the same thing. Go ahead.
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James Marino
Have you been doing it longer than John Willis?
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Peter Filicia
No, I thought you were going to say there's a thing when you. When you go into a new church in the Catholic relig to make three wishes. That's what I thought you were going for.
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James Marino
Yes.
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Peter Filicia
No, no, John did it 33, so. So he's still ahead. And metaphorically, that's true, too. He's the head of the pack.
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James Marino
All right, well, Peter, I think you can get to 33, you know, you mustn't be discouraged.
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Peter Filicia
I mustn't be discouraged. And that's the show tune for today. Because in 1964, this was the day on which Carol Burnett and Tiger Haynes recorded the original cast album of Fade Out Fade In, a show that would have been wildly successful had Carol Bernett lost, not lost, interest in doing it. She said she was injured, but there was always speculation that she really wasn't because she was on a TV show that's called the Entertainers. And there she was metaphorically breaking her neck after claiming she virtually broke her neck while in a cab. Um, so she shut down the show to do the TV show. To be fair to her, and this is interesting, she said to them, the producers, I will write you a check for $500,000, which was what the show cost, and let me out of my contract. And they said, no, no, no, you have a contract with us. You're doing the show and she really didn't want to do it, so. But anyway, the song, you Mustn't be discouraged, sounds like it's an optimistic song, but it really isn't. But I included it anyway because it's such a delightful showstopper. It was clock number in this 1964 musical and it's well worth hearing. Ironically enough, they even made a 45 of it even though it the dance music isn't in it. So. So they really expected something to happen with this song and it really is worth hearing.
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James Marino
All right. Also with us is Michael Portantier. Michael has been a theater journalist for more than 50 years. He's the founder and editor of CastAlbumReviews.com he is also a theatrical photographer whose photos have appeared in the New York Times and other publications and he write reviews of cabaret shows for NightLifeExchange.com Additionally, Michael is known as a producer and director of shows at 54 below the Lori Beachman and other venues. Hello Michael.
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Michael Portantier
Hello.
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James Marino
Hello. And we're going to talk in just a few minutes, but you were on the other side of the lights 54 below to see Spamilton, but we're going to get to that in a bit. So. Oh, you know, a little Broadway radio stuff. The Broadway Radio app is available to the general public. It was made available by accident, but I can't take it back. So it's out there. So if you have an iPhone, you can download the Broadway Radio app at the Apple App Store. And we're going to work on an Android app. And we are furiously putting out new versions of the Broadway Radio app to fix all the broken things that accidentally made it out to the public. It sort of our preview period, if you will. You know, you can get it for the grand old fee of free on the Apple App Store. So check it out. Oh, and now for Patreon listeners, some of the Patreon listeners who have been testing for us, you are able to take your Patreon link and add it to the Apple the Broadway Radio app so that you can get all the bonuses and things like that, especially Matt Camini's reviews. Oh my God. Matt Tammanini's got some game. His, his reviews, I mean, are outstanding. I really, really, you know, he, he, I was. Michael, you might appreciate this. Matt is not a fan of the underlying property, the Phantom of the Opera, but he loved Masquerade.
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Michael Portantier
Ah, interesting.
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James Marino
Yeah, his, his review of Masquerade. It's a must listen to because it's really like how to review a show. Well, anyway, just look up Matt Tammanini's Masquerade review.
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Michael Portantier
Oh, that's great that he did that. Yeah. And that, you know, I completely agree.
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James Marino
Yeah. And you know, I've been listening to Matt had like 17 reviews in the last couple of weeks because he swung into New York and did 17 shows. And just every single one of his reviews is outstanding. So check it out. Broadway video app can be found on the Apple App Store. Okay, so Michael, do you have any heated rivalries?
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Michael Portantier
Well, once again, here I am going cold into a show without any knowledge of the source material. And you may think, well, where do you live? In a. Under a rock in a cave. But I mean, I'm aware of the TV show. I've seen a clip or two and I know the general plot and I know it's quite a phenomenon, which is the point here. This is a really very clever and extremely well timed show. Billed as the Complete Building is Heated Rivalry, the Unauthorized Musical Parody Book, music and lyrics by Dylan Marcorell. M A R C A U R E L E. And this actually started at the Laurie Beachman Theater at the West Bank Cafe, you know, in a reading, sort of a reading form just a few months ago, you know, and that appeared, I think, while the show was, was still running the TV show. So this guy really got on it and you would think, well, if he wrote it that quickly, it can't be any good, right? It is, it's.
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James Marino
It's.
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Michael Portantier
I, I think the score is, is quite good, including the lyrics. Not every lyric rhymed maybe, but most of them did. And I thought the music was very pleasant and catchy. And I. If one were to compare this to Silence, the musical, which others have done, I would say this one is about 8 billion times better in every way. Wittier, funnier, less vulgar, far less vulgar. Only a few moments of vulgarity in this, I would say. And the cast is just great. Jay Armstrong Johnson is someone I've been aware of really since he graduated from NYU Steinhardt. He. I think maybe his first Broadway credit was Hair, the Hair revival, just in the ensemble. So he has been around for a while, but he still looks great, which is necessary, very necessary for the role of Ilya Jimin Moon. Is Shane tremendously appealing? From what little I know of this series, they both got both of those characters. I mean, of course they're parodying in a way, they're parodying both the characters and the actors who played them in the TV show. And I would say they Do a great job of both in every way. Jay's Russian accent is especially wonderful. And then you have this incredible ensemble of people who play every other role in the show. Shelby Acosta, Daniel Brackett, the great Ryan Duncan, Ryan Redmond, two Ryan's, but Ryan Redmond has two ends at the end and Ryan Redmond is a woman. And Cherry Torres, directed by Alan Clifford, by the way. Just very, very smart from the first moment when you realize that the framing device is going to be. They're not going to go right into the plot of the show, the TV show, they're going to frame it. That this show has become a phenomen and that its major audience is older straight women or not even necessarily older straight women, but you know, straight women. And so there are these three, I guess we would call them house Fraus who introduced the show and how much they love it and how, you know, they think about when they're, when their daily housework and everything is done. They sit down with some white wine and they watch heated rivalry and they end. Gay men apparently are the absolute overwhelming audience for the TV show and that may turn out to be the case for the musical as well. So that framing device is great. And then just the parody is so on point and the show is only about an hour and 15 minutes long. So it does not even have a chance to outweigh its welcome, outstay its welcome. Very, very smart of them to, to not make it longer than that. I, I think other shows could have benefited from a similar thing. I'm thinking right at the moment of two strangers carry cake across New York. So all of that, all of that really, really great. And it could have been, you know, it could have been a one joke thing that got stale very quickly, but it's buoyed by the, the actual lines and the, the, the music and the lyrics. They, they also do something very smart where they pull someone out of the audience randomly every night to play a, a rather. Well, not a, not a major role, but not a cameo, a role that has several lines and that person is going to be on stage, you know, talking for a total of like at least five minutes or longer. So that was a, that was a really smart thing for them to do. And it also helps them keep the cast size down and therefore the production costs. So I think it's just a win, win. I believe it's that although it was extended, it's still considered a limited run. I would not be surprised if it keeps extending and maybe moves. It's in A weird space now, which is, I guess, used to be the McKittrick Hotel. And it also, you know, where Sleep no More was. And something weird about it is. This is weird. They keep saying it's at the Culture Club. Well, I looked up the Culture Club, and the Culture Club, according to anything I find online, no longer exists and was not in that. In that space. So I. So I went there and when I got there and I said, I am a little confused. Why. Why do all the ads say the Culture Club, but it apparently not call that. And it sounds like what they're doing is that their ultimate goal is to call it the Culture Club, but they don't have the rights to do it yet, so. So they're just doing it unofficially. But if you look up the Culture Club, you're not going to find it at that address. It's. It's just. I guess it's just called the Club now as a sort of a placeholder. So don't let that confuse you because you really should try to get to see this show. I think. I think you will very likely love it.
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James Marino
Well, it's certainly getting us so much buzz, you know, right now.
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Michael Portantier
Great.
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James Marino
Have you guys seen about Splitting Hairs? Adam Feldman's rant about Titanic?
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Peter Filicia
No. What do you say?
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James Marino
So, uh, he says, um, my pet peeve of the day is that marketing is marketing. I know, but it bugs me a little that Titanic keeps on saying it started in the basement of Christides. It started at Asylum nyc, which, located in a long established downstairs theater space, had formerly been the Upright Citizens Brigade, and before that the Maverick, and before that the American Jewish Rep, and before that the Roundabout. Yes, there was a grasses above that for a time, but Asylum is very much theater, not a grocery store basement pop up. And I was like, it's so. It's so true. You know, they do like to say that they were in Grassidis, but.
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Michael Portantier
Well, because it's a joke and it's funny and they weren't there. It just wasn't where it started.
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James Marino
And it's funny. Yes. So that's from my favorite year, that thing because it's fun.
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Michael Portantier
That reminds me of that joke from Poor Little Lambs. Paul Rudnick play They're talking at one point and a co Op city comes up. Co Op City in the Bronx. And one of the characters says, co Op City is the Warsaw Ghetto with the Gristeedis.
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Peter Filicia
I wish he'd write more.
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Michael Portantier
I know, I know.
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Peter Filicia
I don't know what's going on there, but it Seems to me he could be writing so much wonderful stuff since he has so much talent. Good lord.
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James Marino
Yes. So he did Rivalry, the Unauthorized Musical parody. We have to say that. Yes, we have to say that. We'll have a link to that in the show notes in there, website and all the other stuff. But so many people are talking about it, so it seems like it's a very fun thing to do these days.
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Michael Portantier
One more thing. I, and you alluded to this recently, James. I, I do not understand how sometimes it seems like these parody things have no problem getting on, and then other times they're prevented by, you know, through lawsuits or threats of lawsuits. We, we mentioned recently that when Mark Kudish was on, he was talking about a project that he has that's somewhat similar, I guess, and it's been delayed for, for that reason because of whatever. Threatened legal action or whatever. And, and, and I, and, and James was thinking maybe that that was even that this project that that Mark was talking about. But no, it's not heated robbery. I think it's something else. And then we could think of. There was that. That play called 3C, which was based on Three's company. And I think there was a lawsuit, but it was unsuccessful. And then there was. I know there was some kind of attempt to, to stop that show that Matthew Lombardo wrote that was a parody of Dr. Seuss, you know, who, Who. What was it called? Who's Something? Anyway, so I, I don't. I don't know when. I think the situation is basically that they can always threaten to try to stop you, and then, you know, but if it comes down to that, if it comes down to actual legal action, you know, in a trial or whatever, then ultimately it would be for a judge and. Or a jury to decide. And I guess a lot of people just want to avoid that whole. Obviously they want to avoid the time and expense of that. So they just. When they get threatened with being shut down, they just go away and don't do it. But fortunately, I mean, I have no idea if any of that happened with heated rivalry. I have no idea if those people from the show tried to stop this, the TV show, but here it is, and it's here for everyone to enjoy.
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Peter Filicia
Well, you literally wrote the book on forbidden Broadway, so what's the story there? Do you know anything about. You know, I remember that the Phantom of the Opera theme. The music was different. Was that because of a legal thing, do you know?
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Michael Portantier
Yeah, supposedly initially, Andrew Lloyd Webber was not happy with the idea, so they got around it just by changing a few of the notes of that theme. But no one else really had a problem with it, and it was decided that it was fair use. And the main issue was that as long as people were sure they were going to get money, so they. The Forbidden Broadway has always paid for the songs as if they. As if they were going to do this. The songs themselves with the real lyrics, you know, so they pay a fee to BMI or Ask Gap or whatever, you know, and that's how they got around that.
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Peter Filicia
I see.
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Michael Portantier
Yeah.
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Peter Filicia
Yeah. I've never known that all these years.
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Michael Portantier
Yep.
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James Marino
That is interesting. I didn't know that either. All right, so, Peter, you are going to combine three reviews into one because they have a theme. So we're going to talk about Girls Chance Music at the Vineyard, Indian Princesses, and Dad's Dad Don't Read this at St. Luke's so tell us about these three.
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Peter Filicia
Well, they have more in common than the fact that their playwrights have names that begin with the letter E, because Girls Chance Music is by Isa E, I S A Davies, and Indian Princess is by Elena Rodriguez, and dad Don't Read this is by Elia Smith. So. But what's really wonderful about these plays is the fact that they deal with issues with teenage girls. And it's so nice to go to the theater and see so many teenage girls reacting to these plays and identifying with so many characters. Not just one character, but two or three, because they all have facets of what the kids are experiencing. And see older women, perhaps their mothers, aunts, or just friends, remembering what it was like to be a teenager and how difficult that can be, and the trial and error you go through when you're a teenager, the mistakes you make. You know, Hairspray had a lyric that I don't know why they dropped it in. Mama, I'm a big girl now, which was, mom, you're always saying, act your age. Well, that's just what I'm trying to do. And, you know, it's really true. When parents say to their kids, act your age, what they mean is, act my age. You know, but, you know, teenagers have to act their own age. I mean, so. And that's what's going on here. We see teenagers acting their own age. Now, what's really interesting is Indian Princesses, because we see fathers. And this was actually based on a program in the ymca. I guess it's ywca. I don't know. Anyway, some organization did try to have interaction between fathers and daughters who have a Native American background. And indeed the fathers are trying hard. But boy, you know, it's not long before a daughter is saying to a father, I hate you. You know, that type of thing. So the difficulties of being a teenage certainly show up Difficulties of being a parent show up in Indian Princesses. But anyway, my point is that if you are a teenage girl, if you're the father of a teenage girl, if you're the mother of a teenage girl, if you have any interaction with teenage girls, by all means, I dare say that you will be pleased by any one of these three plays.
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James Marino
Okay, so we'll have all three of those listed in the show notes with links back to their respective productions. Michael, you we previewed last week that you were going to see spambleton at 54 below and you have seen it. So give us the rundown. How was it?
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Michael Portantier
Oh, it was just great. And I guess Peter set us up by bringing up Forbidden Broadway because the creator of Spammelton is Gerard Alessandrini and this show ran, have quite a successful run several years ago at the Triad and now it's actually touring or it was, has been touring recently and Gerard had been wanting to do a show at 54 for a while. He's appeared in a couple of things there, including my show last week. But this was his debut there as a, you know, as a writer and director and producer. So it turned out he, he booked two dates this, this date for this show and then coming up is going to be a one nighter. His musical Madame X, which was in the Nymph. Nym. The nymf. Everyone, Everyone remember Nymph. Yeah, yeah. So it was in that. And that's going to be coming back next month. This month. Well, we're now in June, right? This month sometime. But, but it turned out that Spamilton was ready to go because this tour is out. So Gerard said, well, let's bring that in as the first thing and I'm so glad. It was packed. It was a packed house. The audience was absolutely ecstatic. The response was, was just great. The cast, this touring cast is top notch. Christina Asrian, Jorge Blakely, Jason Denton and Justin Parker and Miles Davis Tillman are the core group playing, you know, then Manuel Miranda and David Diggs and Rene Lee Goldsberry. And also playing the characters of Hamilton Gerard brought in two ringers. Christine Petty who had been in the Triad run. She turned up at one point as Liza and Jenny Lee Stern who turned up as Bernadette because although 80, 80% of the show is a parody of Hamilton, specifically with music, you know, based on the, the score of that show. There are side trips for little, little bitty forbidden Broadway, like parodies of other shows, you know, everything from Annie to, oh, gosh, I don't know, lameness. Yeah, so that was great. And you know what, and the icing on the cake, the role of King George for his one song, which is now called instead of you'll be back, it's called Straight is Back. And it's, you know, him singing about how, uh, I guess Spamilton would be thought of as, uh. I'm sorry, Hamilton would be thought of as a much more of a straight quote unquote show than a lot of the more quote unquote gay ones that have been seen on Broadway. And of course, Hamilton has been and remains a huge hit. So that's what that song is all about. And it was done by Gerard's husband, Glenn Bassett. But if there was ever not a case of nepotism, this is one, because I swear he did it just brilliantly. He got every laugh. He. He. He did it as well or better than anyone I've ever seen do. The actual song will be back. And so, so he was really just great. I'm, I'm so glad that they got to bring it in here and, and that Gerard's 54 below debut turned out to be such a spectacular success. Check out Madame X when it happens. And I, I wouldn't be surprised if. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if we see maybe Spamilton there again. Although, you know, obviously this company is not going to stay together at all times. Oh, and I almost forgot, I have to mention Fred Barton just doing spectacular work at the, at the piano. So really just a, A great time was had by.
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Peter Filicia
All
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James Marino
right, so we'll have a link back to 54 below Spamilton in the show notes. Peter, you were at West End Theater, but here in the US to see Bedlam's production of Othello. So tell us about this.
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Peter Filicia
Well, this isn't Othello as usual, business as usual, because only ADLAM never is. I suppose that's true. They've reduced it to four people. And so it's one of those things that you either say, wow, how innovative. It's a stunt. Here's my real problem with it. And I hate to blame Eric Tucker who does a lot of good work, but he has a completely different take from any I have seen. And in the 16 productions of Othello that I have seen over the years, and that is the way he portrays Iago, this is a. An evil character, no question about it. And you know right from the outset that it's going to be a very different interpretation, because what happens at the beginning of the play is Iago's upset because he's been passed over for a promotion he expected to get. And most all the agos I've seen are quite furious at that. This Iago is exasperated, he's annoyed. So he plays it in a much, much softer way than I have seen Iago's do. And I think that's really injurious. Also, he would seem to be far less believable in the way that he deals with Othello, that you. You just cannot believe that Othello would be taken in by somebody who seems to be this namby pamby. And these are words that I think really are very accurate for the way that he's. So I found this a very tough thing to watch. And again, with these shows, when they really reduce them to a few people, if you don't know the play, you're gonna have a hard time understanding what's going on. And this was especially true because, needless to say, Othello has a big cast usually, but not this time. So I wish I could recommend it, but I think you really have to be a die hand, fire, die hard fan of Othello who is willing to suspend all kinds of disbelief if you're going to have any type of time at this show.
- [32:02]
James Marino
Okay, so we'll have a link back to Bedlam's website with Othello in our show notes. Michael, you were over at another place that you've seen Othello, but on a little bit bigger of a scale. Not four people in that cast. But this time we're going to talk about Turandot at the Met. So tell us about this.
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Michael Portantier
And by the way, I know I heard you hesitate. It's so interesting to me. Turandot, which is how I say it, has become so popular that now there are videos on how to pronounce the title. And it's really fascinating because to make a long story short, the. The story on which it is originally based was. Was from Turkey, I believe. And so, you know. And now the opera, of course, is set in ancient China, and there are characters with names like Liu and Ping Pang and Pong. But then you have, you know, Turandot, which is not remotely a Chinese name. So it's. So it started out as a Persian folk tale, and then there was an Italian commedia Dell' Arte version and then there were German versions and then there was. Then Puccini got hold of it and anyway, and, and there is no OT ending in Italian, so that makes things a little more difficult. But I, well, anyway, my, my, my considered opinion is that Turandot is the correct pronunciation, but Puccini himself said Turandot. So, so there you go. Which is the French pronunciation. And how does French come in there anyway? So I don't know how boring or interesting that is, but if you choose to, you can find videos on, on that subject. Anyway, I went back to see the. This incredible Franco Zeffirelli production of Turandot, which they're still doing at the met after 40 years or so. Yeah, it was. It's not. The current run is not selling that well, which it always has in the past. I think that's only because they have been doing the opera lately. They've been doing it every season and maybe it needs to take a rest for a season or two. As long as they keep bringing it back. Because it's just beyond spectacular in terms of sets, costumes, everything, or orchestra, lighting, blah, blah, blah. And I, I got lucky because I was going to go, I think on the 27th, which was last Wednesday, but then I, I had a rehearsal conflict for 1776 on Staten island, so I switched to Saturday the 30th. Just last night I went to see Trinidad and it turned out to be maybe the best overall cast that I've ever seen in. In that production over 40 years. Well, the original cast with Eva Martin and Placido Domingo was, was pretty incredible. But here we have an actual Italian woman in the world of Turin that Anna Pirozzi, for whatever reason, very, very few Italian women have been famous for singing the role. It usually winds up being sung by someone who sings a lot of Wagner. So you get German sopranos, you get Russian sopranos, but rarely Italian. So it was very refreshing to see and hear an Italian woman in the role because she was so fabulous. Kalaf, the main tenor role who gets a sing Nessundorma, a little ditty you may have heard of is Brian Jade, how it's pronounced, just spelled J A, G, D, E. I had it in my head that he was from Texas, but no, he's a New Yorker and he was just great. He got quite an ovation after the aria in which is in the third act. Timur, his father, John Relier, Juan Kang, Tony Stevenson and Andrew Stenson were. Were Ping Pang and Pong. The emperor was Kalobo C Mandarin was Ben Brady and oh and Liu. The Slave Girl was sung beautifully by Angel Blue. Just a complete try for a new. And this is the first time I have ever heard the con, the opera conducted by a woman, Oksana Liniv, and she is from the Ukraine. This was quite a rainbow production, as tends to happen at the Met because she's from the Ukraine. Angel Blue is from Los Angeles, Brian Jade is from New York. Anna Perazzi is from Naples, and John Relier is from Toronto. So I went with a friend of mine who has seen it before, and he just was thrilled to see it again. There are three more performances. I wrote it down. Give me just one second here. June 2nd, 4th and 6th. And the performance on June 6th is the last performance of the Met season proper, because then they begin a brief run of stings, the last ship at the Met, which even though it's not a Met production. So if you can get there. And as I mentioned, this run was not selling all that well. It's certainly not selling as well as it should, considering how phenomenal it is. I saw ads two days ago for $60 orchestra seats. So I'm sure you can probably get a good deal if you do a little research and try to go to see it this coming week.
- [38:27]
James Marino
All right, so as Michael mentioned, there's a few. There's three performances left through June 6, and we'll have a link to that in the show notes. Peter, you got to see something called Small, was it?
- [38:46]
Peter Filicia
Yes, indeed. Yes, it's. It's about a. A gentleman who grew up being small. And of course, as he says, he's going to be thrown into many a locker during his school years and how difficult it is when you are the smallest kid in the cat class. So. But, but he does at an early age, see where he believes he belongs. And that is on the racetrack because he does meet a jockey and he thinks, wow, if he can do that, I can do that. Luckily, he has an affinity with horses and he really so, so thrilled to find his corner of the sky, so to speak. But then he grows and grows and he gets heavier. It's recommended or even insisted. You can't be over 105 pounds if you're a jockey. And there he is struggling. There he is, 110 pounds. Oh, my God, how can I lose this weight? He starves himself, he over exercises, he drives himself crazy. And it really is something to see somebody work so hard in what is obviously a losing battle. I mean, how can you. Maybe you can do all these things to Lose weight. But boy, if you're not supposed to be more than 5, 4, and suddenly you're 5, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Well, it's funny that I mentioned 5, 6, 7, 8. Because his saving grace is that he becomes a dancer. He always liked dancing, even when he was a kid. So he winds up in Cats. And this is. It's funny, I talked to the producer, Ted Snowden afterwards. We're. We're buddies. And I said to him, I'm surprised that he missed an opportunity here. And that is the fact that he says early on that he loved west side Story. West side Story was such an important value to him. Well, he should mention what a thrill it is to be on the same stage, the Winter Garden, doing Cats, where west side Story was. So anyway, the gentleman's name is Robert Montano. And it is something to tie into his dream. All of us have dreams. All of us have ambitions. And what happens when that dream is not just deferred, but smashed? What do you do? And luckily he found another corner of the sky. So it's a very inspirational tale. And Robert Montana was very, very appealing. It's hard to believe he's as old as he is. He makes very clear the year he was born. I'm not going to tell you because I'm going to let you see if you think that he remotely looks the age that he is. So a very appealing performance. It's at the Signature. It's not a Signature production, much like Michael was saying, Last Ship is not a Met production. But I think it may be there for a while. It should have good word of mouth. Mouth. We were really on the edge of our seat rooting for him and yet knowing it was something that he just could not control. And so a very inspirational tale and I was delighted to see it.
- [42:12]
James Marino
So this chance that my one person show about me not becoming a shortstop for the Yankees can make it.
- [42:18]
Peter Filicia
Yes, indeed.
- [42:20]
James Marino
Okay. Have you ever seen the Saturday Night Live skit for the male synchronized swimmers?
- [42:30]
Peter Filicia
Oh, yeah, I remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.
- [42:32]
James Marino
Is it Martin Short Steve.
- [42:35]
Michael Portantier
Right.
- [42:36]
James Marino
It was sort of a twist on Waiting for Guffman type of thing. He looks right into the lens, he says, I'm not really a strong swimmer.
- [42:49]
Peter Filicia
I do remember that. That's right.
- [42:52]
James Marino
All right. Small. At the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theater at the Perishing Square Signature Center. We'll be paying.
- [43:01]
Michael Portantier
Well done.
- [43:02]
Peter Filicia
I'll say. I was just going to make that point as well.
- [43:06]
James Marino
Well, I. I don't know if you realize, but I. My whole Yankee story was a vamp to get up the courage to say that. So it is scheduled to run through July 25, and we'll have a link to that in the show notes. Finally, in our reviews this morning, Peter, you were over at the Schubert Theater where everybody was seeking your autograph. Right. It was a show called Celebrity Autographer Autobiography.
- [43:41]
Peter Filicia
That's why nobody asked me for mine. Yeah. This is a show that started the triad as well. This is coming up a lot today. But it seemed like a strange idea when somebody first mentioned it. It's the type of show that you go to and you really do think, well, how good could this be? And you get delightfully surprised. And I dare say that what happens is you find yourself laughing more at this show than you do at most others that are supposed to be hilariously funny. And a lot of this had to do with the fact that the gentleman, one of the gentlemen who conceived this, Eugene Pack, who appears in the show at the Shubert Theater, is so dry and droll when he reads from genuine celebrity autobiographies. I was wondering if he was going to do Neil Sadaka's, which is the most hilarious of all. Just when you think that you've heard the end of this sequence, you haven't remotely heard the end of the sequence. He goes on and on and on. I'm not going to tell you what he goes on and on and on about because I don't want to spoil it, but it is truly hilarious. This may very well be the funniest show in time and always has been, but the point is, all they're doing is reading from genuine autobiographies of these stars who take themselves awfully seriously and think that anything they do will be of interest to the people reading them. I will say that Vanna White talks about the fact how difficult it is to turn those letters around on Wheel of Fortune. You think it's easy? No, no. There's a lot more to it than meets the. It's that type of. So at the performance that I attended, Bruce Valanch was there, Leslie Kritzer was. Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer was there, Mario Cantone was there, who did Eliza Minnelli parody without saying a word. So because Geraldo Rivera's autobiography talks about the fact that he thought he had a chance with Liza, he so often say might wind up becoming, to quote a line from a show we talked about earlier, the Beast with Two Backs. So. And. And Mario indeed portrays Liza in that sequence. So Ben Mankiewicz from Turner Classic Movies was there as well. So all you're seeing is the back wall of the Shuba Theater and a bunch of microphones as they step up to it. And of course, this is an interim booking before Raul Esparza comes in with Galileo. But I, I wish it. Well, it's, it's such fun. I, I dare say that there has not been a show that made me laugh as much this entire year or maybe this decade. It's, it's that funny. Sometimes simplest is best. And there we are. This is pretty simple, but it's pretty inspired.
- [46:53]
Michael Portantier
I have seen previous incarnations of the show. It's been being done for years, usually in much smaller venues, like the Triad was one. I, I know our friend Michael Urie did it many times and he's brilliant at that. I am very sorry to hear. I have not seen this, this one yet. I'm, I'm sorry to hear. It's, it's doing very poorly at the box office and I'm quite surprised. I think maybe marketing is not, not doing a good job in letting people know who's in it and, and exactly what they'll be getting because as Peter says, it's, it's, it's beyond hilarious when, when they hit, you know, when it hits. And it, it, it hits far, far more often than it misses. So I, well, as you said, it's an interim booking, so it doesn't need to run long. But I'm sorry to hear that it's not getting larger audiences because I think it absolutely deserves them.
- [48:00]
Peter Filicia
And for long time listeners who have heard me say Linda left five minutes into the show. This was her sixth time.
- [48:08]
Michael Portantier
Oh, wow.
- [48:09]
Peter Filicia
Yeah, wow. Wow.
- [48:11]
James Marino
That, that should be on the marquee. They, they're missing an opportunity there. So my take on the celebrity autobiography box office sales is one that you are taught in business school.
- [48:35]
Michael Portantier
Yes.
- [48:36]
James Marino
Consumers do not like to have too many choices. And I'm serious about that.
- [48:44]
Peter Filicia
I know you are.
- [48:47]
James Marino
There's like a list of like 50 different celebrities and you're like, which one do I pick? Which day. Which day is it's not on the day I can make it and think is it's too complex to make a choice there. And they teach you this in business. They teach you this in business school. Don't. You know, don't release, you know, Ford and General motors don't release 40 different versions of a car. Release three versions of a car. The low, the medium and the high end. Or, or the various different Henry Ford. You can have it as long as, in any color, as long as it's black.
- [49:23]
Peter Filicia
Black. Yeah.
- [49:24]
James Marino
You know, you give consumers too many choices. And I know that in the meetings it sounded like a great idea that we were going to have 50 different celebrities do this, but box office is telling you something there.
- [49:41]
Michael Portantier
Yeah. And probably a very large part of it is maybe, maybe it not being all that easy to tell exactly who you're going to get when you see the show.
- [49:51]
James Marino
Yeah, it's, it's, it's tough. Anyway, so celebrity autobiography at the Shubert. It's scheduled through August 16th. We'll have a link to that in the show notes. Not really a review, but I thought Michael and Peter might talk about their lunch. This too, last past Tuesday, what did you guys have for lunch?
- [50:17]
Peter Filicia
Well, yeah, indeed.
- [50:19]
James Marino
Chicken.
- [50:21]
Peter Filicia
That dessert was awfully good, though. Did you have the dessert, Michael?
- [50:24]
Michael Portantier
Yeah.
- [50:24]
Peter Filicia
Oh, yeah, indeed. So we're talking about the new drama to this lunch, which is a wonderful event every year, for one thing, you even get a play in play form, script form, an actor's edition of a play. When you sit down, there's one. And I was very delighted to get Blood of the Lamb by Arlene Hutton, one of my favorite playwrights and a delightful lady, by the way. But indeed, the salad is right there when you get there. But this is not what we should be talking about. We should be talking about Stephen Schwartz, who was honored. And what's really interesting, I wonder if indeed the speech he gave was the one he intended to give because there were so many people who got up before him, including Whitney Holtzman, who indeed was the book writer and screenwriter. Screenwriter, at least co screenwriter of the Wicked, that's still at the Grisham Theater and the Wicked movies, both of them. So she had a long trip. A lot of people had a long tributes. And I just have a feeling that when Stephen finally got the award and went up to the podium, his, his speech was about as long as the Gettysburg Address and not much longer, if at all. So I just wonder if he felt, look, I. So many people have been saying how wonderful I am for. So I just really, let's, let's, let's give everybody a. And you've heard who I am and what I've done and all that kind of stuff. You don't need to hear it again from me. So a very gracious guy. And one of the things I always noticed about Stephen Schwarzen, I mean, always. I mean always 100% of the time is that he loves to give credit to other people who he's worked with. And even though that was not as plentiful as. As usual. It did show up in his speech as well, so. So it was a great time. And what's really something is the Broadway community really comes out for this event. I mean, I. They have 300, 400, 500 people there.
- [52:24]
Michael Portantier
Wow.
- [52:25]
Peter Filicia
Do you have any idea? Do you have any idea, Michael? What would you estimate the crowd is there?
- [52:30]
Michael Portantier
I'm bad at that, but it's a bit. It was a big ballroom at the Marriott Marquis.
- [52:34]
Peter Filicia
Well, I know there's the tables. How many people are at the table? Is it 10?
- [52:40]
James Marino
Usually 10 out of 10.
- [52:41]
Peter Filicia
Table. Okay. Well, there are about 50 tables, and, you know, they're pretty much filled, so. So as a result, there's a lot of people there, and the Broadway community really comes out. And the celebrities who certainly are in vying for awards and have made a big mark on the season get introduced individually. Jim Dale, who usually does it, did it again this year, announcing that, uh, here are the people here, and they stand up and they take a bow. He also tells us, don't applaud after each one. That never is followed. Everybody applauds after each one. He said, no, don't do it, because we'll be here all night. Well, indeed. You know, it might be lengthier, but, you know, you do want to applaud these people because they have. They deserve the applause. So that's my take on it, Michael.
- [53:30]
Michael Portantier
Well, I was lucky enough. I got to do a photo feature of the event for Talking Broadway, and we'll put a link to that in the show notes. Some really amazing people there. As Peter said, I mean, it's impossible to name them all. Let's see, Flaherty and Aarons, but we'll try. No Amanda Green, Joshua Henry, Woody Holzman, Nathan Lane, Casey Levy, et cetera, et cetera. I can't go on. I got to make good on my promise of last week because, as Peter mentioned, Stephen Schwartz was the main honoree of this, and I knew he was going to be there. And so I did ask him my question that I mentioned last week after I had seen Pippin down at the Signature in Arlington, Virginia. And I said, stephen, you know, you have rewritten lyrics to many of your songs in Pippin and Godspell and the Baker's Wife. I said, and I always wondered if you, in those cases, if you actually, actually wrote the lyrics later, you know, rewrote the lyrics later, or if they maybe existed from the beginning as alternates, and you just decided to, like, switch them out. And he said, he said, oh, no, I. I rewrote them later. He said, and, you know, in cases where I thought, well, you know, what I did was good, but maybe I could do just a little better. And he said something like, that's the beauty of theater, is that it's not set in stone. It's not like it's a movie be. And it's going to remain the same. So I thought that was a really good attitude. And he said, he. I described Stephen in my photo features one of the most beloved people in show business. I think that's very true. And he was a very appropriate honoree for New Dramatists because he's so wonderful as far as mentoring younger writers and stuff. And, oh, one final thing. I, I raved to him about the. This Pippin at Signature down in Arlington. And, and he agreed. And he. And, and especially about the young man who plays Pippen, Braden Bambino. And Stephen said, wasn't that guy incredibly Said, I got on the phone to every casting director I knew the day after I saw the. The. He saw Steven saw pre. A preview or two, and he said, I, yeah, I got on the phone to every casting director I know, and they all said, oh, thank you. But we're already well aware of him. He's terrific. So I, I told you last week to. To remember that name. And I guess it's an easy name to remember, but one more time. Braden Bambino.
- [56:17]
Peter Filicia
That's another thing about Stephen. The fact that no matter where these productions are done, he often shows up. And he is so wonderful about the fact that his shows, no matter if they've run a minute or if they've run forever, they are all his children and he really, really gives them equal attention. I thought that's really wonderful about him. He will not have a problem discussing the failures, ostensible failures anyway, that he really cares about them and loves when they get second chances. In fact, it was somewhat surprising to hear a song from Queen of Versailles at the event.
- [57:01]
Michael Portantier
Yeah, I thought that was handled very well. There was no, of course, overall discussion of Queen of Versailles and its failure. But yes, that song, that was done. And I'm sorry, I don't have the name of the person or the song, but it was one of the young women, the daughter or the friend not
- [57:21]
Peter Filicia
trained, not being pretty. It was the theme of it.
- [57:23]
Michael Portantier
Yes. Right. Yeah.
- [57:24]
Peter Filicia
It's difficult not to be pretty when you're a teenager. Nature.
- [57:26]
Michael Portantier
Yeah. So it was nice to have it represented and just, you know, there didn't need to be breast beating and, you know, and further discussion. It was very, very classy the way that that was handled.
- [57:41]
Peter Filicia
What arguably is not classy is the way that Tony's handled it because. Oh, really? I mean, that score deserves to be in the mix rather than two plays represented with incidental music. Music. I mean, you know.
- [57:55]
Michael Portantier
All right, somebody pointed out there's a, a very, very small amount of music in Death of a Salesman. I think, I forget what I think. Less than seven minutes.
- [58:08]
Peter Filicia
Yeah.
- [58:09]
Michael Portantier
So, you know, and not that that quantity is the primary, you know, but seven minutes, really, you know.
- [58:15]
Peter Filicia
Yeah.
- [58:17]
James Marino
Just think, what was the play that was in the Winter Garden last year, the George Clooney one.
- [58:26]
Michael Portantier
Right.
- [58:27]
Peter Filicia
Yeah.
- [58:27]
Michael Portantier
Oh, yeah.
- [58:29]
James Marino
That could have won best musical.
- [58:31]
Peter Filicia
Yes. God almighty.
- [58:36]
James Marino
All right, so with that, that wraps it up for this week. Before we get on to our brain tease and our musical moment, I want to remind everybody that you can subscribe to these broadcasts by going to the front page page of broadwayvideo.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 podcast view. Of course, you don't have to listen to us in Apple podcasts. There's many ways to get us. Like the brand new Broadway radio app. If you're on iOS, you can also get us on Patreon P-A T R-E-O-N.com BroadwayRadio. We can support all of the Broadway radio shows as well as get us a little bit earlier than everybody else else. Contact information for Peter for Michael and Me can be found in the show notes@broadwayradio.com as well as links to some of the things we've talked about today. So, Peter, do you have an answer to last week's brain teaser?
- [59:33]
Peter Filicia
In the 1950s and early 1960s, every American with the TV set knew this performer whose Broadway debut happened just over 100 years ago. David Merrick quoted this performance to play a role that would eventually see not one, not two, but three actresses acquire Tony. But Merrick's offer was declined. However, some years before, the performer had a cameo in a film of a musical that Merrick had co produced on Broadway. Well, I'm talking about Jack Benny, whose Broadway debut occurred on May 18, 1926, in a musical called the Great Temptations. He was quoted by Merrick to play the role for which Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey and Bette Midler received Tonys. Yes, the former Dolly Gallagher in hello Dolly. Earlier, Benny had appeared in the film version of Gypsy which Merrick had produced on Broadway with Leland Hayward. Benny portrayed a vaudeville entertainer who performed just before June and Louise took the stage. Josh Israel was first, followed by Arthur Robinson, Lee Korn, Seth Kristenfeld, Sean Logan, Isaac Blevins, Steven Sokoloff, Jack Leshner, Ingrid Gammen, Brigadoon. And once again bringing up the read, Tony Janicki, by the way, yes, Seth Kristenfeld was not above mentioning the fact that he noticed that I wrote it in a very tortured way. Three actresses acquired Tony's because Pro Bailey didn't quite win a Tony. She was given one when she took over in hello Dolly. So that was that. And he noticed that I kept on saying this performer because the point is when I talk about three actresses, you would naturally assume that it's a woman. I'm talking about that he was quoted. But yeah, Merrick wanted Jack Benny as Dolly and he was going to have Judge Burns play Vandergelder. So anyway, that's that story. This week's question when Verdon, Lucinda Ballard, Phyllis Newman, Beatrice Arthur and Carlin Glynn are all Tony winning women who had something else in common? What?
- [61:44]
James Marino
If you have an answer for this, email us@triviaroadrayradio.com, we'll let you know if you're on the right track. So Michael, what do we have in this week's musical moments?
- [61:54]
Michael Portantier
Well, I still have Pippin very much on my mind having seen the show, that wonderful production at the Signature Theater down in Arlington, Virginia, and then attending the New Dramatist Luncheon. So I thought we could spend a few more moments with that score. Our opener is a really sweet recording of Morning Glow by Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, which was done when Michael Jackson still, you know, before his voice changed and when it was, he had really the most beautiful, sweetest voice as a child. So I think he is a great choice for that song. And if you haven't heard that version of Morning Glow, I think you might really enjoy it. He also recorded with the Jackson 5 corner of the Sky. But you know what? Well, I don't know if either of them became hits for him, but it's the funniest thing. He does a really weird lyric flub at the beginning of Corner of the Sky. It's supposed to be Cats fit on the windowsill, Children fit in the snow. Michael Jackson sings Cats fit on the windowsill, Children sit in the show. And they released it that way. So no retakes, I guess. So I'm not including a link to that one, but you can Easily find it on YouTube if you want to. And our closer is. I took the liberty of making a recording of a really gorgeous version of the ballad version of the song Beautiful City from Godspell that Casey Levy performed at the New dramatist luncheon on May 26. So that is our closer. That song is interesting because it started life as a. A really kind of a joyous, uptune ensemble number in the film version of Godspell towards the end, but then at some point it morphed into. I think it first happened in response to the, the riots in LA decades ago. Stephen Schwartz rewrote it and slowed down the tempo to make it a very, very heartfelt, heartbreaking song about trying to achieve a beautiful city, you know, meaning the city of man. So Casey did the, the, the ballad version, which is now the established version, and she did a beautiful job of it, and we're including a little clip of that. So please enjoy these two songs from Pippin. I. I remain amazed that there has been no film or TV version of P. Pit.
- [64:58]
Peter Filicia
No, there was a TV version there.
- [65:01]
Michael Portantier
What?
- [65:02]
Peter Filicia
Oh, yeah, a long time ago. Cheetah river is even in it, I believe.
- [65:05]
Michael Portantier
No, I don't think so. Peter, you're okay. Oh, oh, oh, I'm sorry. Oh, yes, that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. Yes. Yeah. With William Cat. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, yeah, you're right. And, and that's actually really excellent. And there's an unabridged version of it that you can get your hands on if you know the right people. So I'm sorry, I forgot that. But I guess I was thinking in terms of, of more recent. Yeah, you know, and I, I certainly, I, I. It keeps being announced, seems to me, as a film, but never happens. So maybe that will happen at some point.
- [65:41]
James Marino
Do you think, do you think Adam Lambert's too old to be Pippin?
- [65:46]
Peter Filicia
Yes, the short answer.
- [65:50]
James Marino
Okay, so there I'm trying to think of who, what star could drive Pippen to television.
- [65:58]
Michael Portantier
Well, that's a hard one, because it really. The story makes no sense unless he's really young.
- [66:05]
James Marino
Yeah. All right, so on behalf of Michael Portentier and Peter Felicia, this is James Marino saying thanks so much for listening to Broadway videos this week on Broadway. Bye.
- [66:19]
Peter Filicia
Bye.
- [66:24]
Musical Interlude Singer
When your trust is overshadowed when your faith is over killed you can't give up Bitter B. Where you can slowly start to.
- [66:51]
Peter Filicia
Beautiful city.
- [66:53]
Musical Interlude Singer
Yes, we can. Yes, we can. We can build a beautiful city. Not a city of angels. Finally a city of man.