Loading summary
Zoey
Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree.
Drew Ski
Zoey, this thing weighs a ton. Drew Ski, live with your legs, man.
Matt Tamminini
Santa. Santa, did you get my letter?
Drew Ski
He's talking to you britches. I'm not.
Zoey
Of course he did.
Drew Ski
Right, Santa, you know my elf Drew Ski here. He handles the nice list. And elf, I'm six' three. What everyone wants is iPhone 17 and at T Mobile. You can get it on them. That center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies, right, Mrs. Claus?
Zoey
I'm Mrs. Claus much younger sister. And AT T Mobile, there's no trade in needed when you switch. So you can keep your old phone.
Drew Ski
Or give it as a gift.
Zoey
And the best part, you can make the switch to T Mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes.
Drew Ski
Nice. My side of the tree is slipping. Kimber, the holidays are better.
T-Mobile Announcer
AT T Mobile switch in just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 month legal credits for well qualified customers plus tax and $35 device connection charge credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel finance agreement. 256 gauge $830 eligible for in a new line, $100 plus a month plan with auto payments, taxes and fees required. Check out 15 minutes or less per line.
Matt Tamminini
Visit t mobile.com welcome to Today on Broadway for Friday, December 5, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamminini. I am coming to you solo but I wanted to start off the episode by letting you know that we will not have an episode on Monday because I am traveling up to Indianapolis via Columbus, Ohio, but going up to Indianapolis this weekend to cover the Big Ten football championship game between my Ohio State Buckeyes and the Indiana Hoosiers. The first 1 versus 2 matchup in Big Ten championship game history. I will be up at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the game late on Saturday night. So I will not be flying home until Sunday evening. So we'll have an opportunity to record with grace as I travel back from Indianapolis to my grandmother's house in Columbus, Ohio. So we want to do that, but we will be back for an episode on Tuesday.
But let's get into the news today. And we are going to start with Patrick Page's return to Shakespeare. Obviously he is a lover of all things Shakespeare and he will be returning to the stage as the title character in Titus Andronicus. That'll be produced by the Red Bull Theater in spring of 2026. It will happen at the pershing Square Signature center and it will run from March 17 through April 19. Jesse Berger, who is the founder of the Red Bull Theater, will will direct further casting and creative team details will be announced. Obviously since leaving Hadestown, Patrick has done King Lear. He also toured his one man show all the Devils Are Here where he dove into the legacies of all of Shakespeare's major villains. Titus Andronicus, one of the lesser produced shows in the Shakespearean canon, but is about a vicious general who executes his enemy's son in a merciless show of vengeance, but has idea of the evil his actions will incite. As the two sides trade violent acts of retribution, one man revels in the bloodbath. Speaking of Red Bull and Shakespeare, yesterday was announced that Richard II starring Michael Urie has extended again. This will mean the show will extend from its previous closing date on December 14 now through December 21. This production is adapted and directed by Craig Baldwin and reimagines the Shakespearean drama being set in 1980s Manhattan. Michael Urie has done a lot of work with Red Bull Theater dating all the way back to 2005. The biggest production that he's done with them was in 2017 where he did a production of the Government Inspector.
Moving to some other Off Broadway news yesterday, the full casting and creative team was announced for the Signature Theater's upcoming production of Lauren Yee's Mother Russia. It is going to play from February 3rd through March 15th. Teddy Bergman is directing. The show is set in post Soviet Russia. It is a dark comedy about a generation grasping for identity in the aftermath of collapse. In it, young man Yevgeny stumbles into a job working surveillance with his old friend Dimitri. Their target Katya, a former pop singer with questionable allegiances and a mysterious past. As their lives chaotically intertwined, Evgeny finds himself falling in love and losing his bearings with all while grappling with the taste of freedom and fast food. Along the way. Playing Dimitri will be the one and only Stephen Boyer. Evgeny will be played by Adam Chandler Barat. Katya will be played by Rebecca Naomi Jones and as Mother Russia will be David Turner. We had a story about Patrick Page, original cast of Hadestown. We had one about Rebecca Naomi Jones, current cast of Hadestown well now let's turn it over to the director of Hadestown and that is Rachel Chavkin. She will direct the new show My Joy is Heavy that'll play at the New York Theater Workshop. It is by the OBI winning singing songwriter married duo the Banksons. It will run from February 25 through April 5. The work explores through song a young family's yearning for connection amidst the loss of a pregnancy in rural isolation. It'll be performed by Sean and Abigail Bengson and it will feature choreography by Steph Paul and music supervision by or Matias. I love the Banksons. Obviously they were the house band, I guess for all in last year, but their show Hundred Days is incredible. That is a show about their like dating and how they fell in love and got together. And it sounds like this one is also a fairly autobiographical show and very excited to to see this one. Not only do I love the Banks, but I also obviously love Rachel Chavkin. So this is one to put on your radar for the late winter early spring in New York. More news about an Off Broadway show that is coming up. Yesterday, the J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company announced that they will be producing the rarely performed musical Do I Hear a Waltz? The show, written by three of the titans of musical theater, Arthur Lawrence, Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim, will run from April 30th through May 10th. The artistic director and co founder of J2 Spotlight Musical Theater is our old friend Robert W. Schneider. He's been on here to talk about those shows in the past. He will direct this production with music direction by Liz Hastings. We don't yet know the cast, but we will obviously let you know when we do. This is the second show in J2's season. They already announced that they're going to be doing Jerry Herman's Milk and Honey. There is one more show that will be announced coming up. All of these shows will be performed at the AMT Theater. And finally I'll wrap up with a pair of recommendations. The first one, if you are not already Wicked out there, was a performance earlier this week with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande performing For Good Live at an event in Hollywood as part of like the awards season hoopla. They did this little event for a screening that was happening at the Chinese the Groom Grauman's Chinese Theater or the TCL Theater, whatever they call it now. But it was a very special event. Attendees were invited to dinners and cocktails before Grande and Erivo joined to sing For Good. They also did the, appropriately enough, Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand duet medley mashup of Happy Days Are Here Again and Get Happy, which they had previously done on Wicked Colon one wonderful night back in November. So we will have a video of For Good in the show notes if you want to check that out. And yesterday on Good Morning America. The cast of Ragtime performed the opening number, the title song of the show. And what's great about it is is they did it in front of an audience at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. And because of the staging, that kind of makes sense. That wouldn't really have worked as well in a little studio at ABC Studios. So the fact that they did this on the actual stage is very cool, very fun. You don't see this very often. So if you want to check out what this actually looks like at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln center, check out the video in the show notes. All right, everybody, that's all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to Today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram oddwayradio. If you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio don't forget, we will not have a show on Monday, but we will be back and better than ever on Tuesday. Thanks so much for listening. We'll talk to you soon.
On this solo episode, Matt Tamanini covers the latest Broadway and Off-Broadway news and shares performance recommendations for theater fans. Highlights include announcements on Patrick Page returning to Shakespeare, Off-Broadway castings, musical revivals, and standout performances by Broadway stars. This episode also gives listeners a programming update due to Matt’s travel for the Big Ten Football Championship.
On Patrick Page’s role in Titus Andronicus:
“Titus Andronicus, one of the lesser produced shows in the Shakespearean canon, but is about a vicious general who executes his enemy's son in a merciless show of vengeance, but has [no] idea of the evil his actions will incite.” — Matt Tamanini [02:32]
On the upcoming Bengsons musical:
“Not only do I love the Bengsons, but I also obviously love Rachel Chavkin. So this is one to put on your radar for the late winter, early spring in New York.” — Matt Tamanini [04:31]
On the Ragtime performance:
“The fact that they did this on the actual stage is very cool, very fun. You don't see this very often.” — Matt Tamanini [05:56]
This episode of Today on Broadway spotlights some major casting news, uniquely staged performances, and gems from both Broadway and Off-Broadway stages for Winter/Spring 2026. Matt Tamanini’s updates and insights offer a bite-sized, engaging digest for theater fans keeping up with the latest on and off the Great White Way.