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Today on Broadway: Friday, Jan. 31, 2025
00:16:51
‘Hadestown’ Will Be Filmed in London, ‘Cult of Love’ Film Coming, Encores’ New Artistic Director Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Monday through Friday.
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- [00:01]
Matt Tammanini
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Friday, January 31, the last day of January 2025 on Broadway Radio's Matt Tammanini and.
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Grace Sacke
I'm Tell Me on a Sunday podcast, Grace Sacke.
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Matt Tammanini
Grace, we do have to let everybody know that next week is going to be a little different. You will still get an episode every day and you will have news. Those episodes will probably be a little bit different as I'm not going to be anywhere near Internet, although I probably will break down and get an Internet package, but I will hopefully not be on it all that much. I'm going to be sailing in the Western Caribbean towards Mexico in Honduras. So I won't be here to do normal episodes, but we'll have some things in there. James is going to throw in any news that pops up along with the episodes that'll be in the feed. So make sure that you check that out. We will keep you up to date on the news. And I'll be back for. I guess that would be the 10th. Yeah, the episode on the 10th. But before we get into that kind of different week, Grace, we did have a pretty decent amount of pretty, pretty exciting news come to us on Thursday. And it starts with something that I had speculated about when this was all kind of first announced and everybody, I think, just kind of assumed that it was going to happen. But yesterday it was confirmed that when Amber Gray, Reeve Carney, Andre de Shields, Patrick Page and Eva Noble Zada head over to London to recreate the roles that they originated in the Broadway production of Hadestown in the West End, that eventually their performances will be filmed. They're going to film across three performances from February 28 through March 1. And then they have some dark days in there as well. And they are going to, I assume, do some pickups and do some close ups and stuff like that as well. The cast is going to be there in London from February 11 through March 9. I'm going to see them on February 22. So I'm very excited about that. And this is awesome, Grace. Like, I love the fact that this is going to be preserved. What I hate about it is, is that it has to be done in London. Like, I, I understand all of the very real reasons why that happens, but I hate the fact that it's not at the Waltzer Kerr and I'm sure it'll be great at London's Lyric Theater. But the fact that they're going to film this one with not. I would have loved for the original Fates and the original Workers chorus to, to be a Part of this as well, but also that it's not in the cur is a little disappointing. If there is a, if there is a little bit of a cloud around this, it's that they, the finances just don't make it feasible to do these types of things on Broadway.
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Grace Sacke
But you don't feel like that what they have set up in London is not a replica of what they did at the Kerr because it started at the National. So if anything, they're getting back to their roots.
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Matt Tammanini
Yes, but you know, if they, if they, if they were just going to like do the thing in London, they wouldn't have brought over these original stars. Like I would have loved for them to like go back to the Kerr, to have the original fates, to have the original workers chorus and do it all that I'm sure it's going to look very like. I'm sure that you're not going to be able to tell that it's different at all. Like, I don't know what the stage at the Lyric Theater is, but I'm assuming it's not going to look any different. But it's just a little disappointing. I would have loved for not only this show to be filmed in New York, but I would like just the economics and the environment for those things to happen so that we can have more Broadway shows filmed. This is one that I think deserves to be preserved. And I am so incredibly excited that we are going to have a pro tape live capture of Hadestown with these five stars. But it does just make me a little sad that we don't get them as often and when we do, they have to do them somewhere other than Broadway. And I'm glad that we have them. But I wish that there could be some sort of resolution between the unions and producers and all of the different folks that are involved in these decision making processes so that this could be something that is done far more regularly than it is. Well, a different way that we can get some of our favorite shows preserved on film is apparently happening to my favorite show that I saw on my trip this past week because yesterday in an interview with Variety, playwright and screenwriter Leslie Headland revealed that her play that is currently on Broadway, Cult of Love, which is running through the end of this week, is being prepped for a film. There weren't a ton of other details about what's going to happen, if it's going to be the cast, anything like that. But what she talked about was she discussed. She's been discussing the show with her cinematographer who's Come and seen the show a couple times, and they've been trying to figure out how they want to shoot it, how they're going to do the music scenes, because there's so much music in that show, and it's diegetic music. So it's like it's happening in real life. It's not musical theater cutaway scenes. So we don't exactly know what this is going to be like, but it is. You know, I loved this show, Grace. I haven't talked about it yet on a travelogue episode, but I will. That'll come out either tonight or tomorrow. But this show was incredible. I don't know that the ending I felt as connected to as I would have liked, but everything else other than that, I thought was perfect. I thought it was great. I've talked about how much I love Leslie Headland. I think she is incredible. Whether that's on stage with shows like Bachelorette or. The first show of hers I ever saw is called Assistance, which was so funny and so biting. But then also on tv, not only with her recent Star wars show the Acolyte, but Russian Doll, which I think is one of the most brilliant shows ever on TV in the 21st century. So I'm excited about this, Grace, but, like, they have to just bring the Broadway cast. Right. I know that they could probably get bigger stars to do it, but that cast is so great. I hope that they keep as many of them as possible.
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Grace Sacke
Yeah. And also, most of them are TV and film actors, so it seems like, who cares? You know what I mean? But I said this when they did the humans, and then that cast was very different than the Broadway cast. Granted, it was years and years later, but that did make me deeply sad because I really love that original Broadway cast. So I think that there's a possibility that these people signed on doing this show knowing that it would turn into something else. It wouldn't surprise me because that happens all the time. But I don't know that for sure. So I'm hopeful. Like, I think that there are so many. I think Charlene Woodley's performance is just stellar, specifically. And she is very obviously a TV and film gold mine. So it just. It would be absurd to not include her. But of course, schedules. You and I both know it's always a scheduling thing. It's money. It's not usually because someone doesn't want to do the project in general. So I'm hopeful.
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Matt Tammanini
Yeah, it would be. It would be really wonderful if they could figure out how to get all of these people on. But like you mentioned, like David Raiche who plays the father Succession. Mar Winningham. Duh. TV icon Molly Bernard, who plays Rachel, she was on younger Roberta Collandrez, even though we know her as Joan from Fun Home. She was on the League of Their Own TV show. Barbie Ferreira was Euphoria. Rebecca Henderson was on the Acolyte. She's Leslie Hedlund's wife. So I'm assuming she gets first dibs on the part if she wants it. Christopher Lowell from GLOW and many other things. Zachary Quinto, of course, the only one I don't know how much TV he's done is Christopher Sears tv, your film. So I don't know what he's like. But as you told me, he's been a part of this pro project since the beginning. So again, he almost feels like he's got the part unless he just absolutely can't do it. So I would love to see them do it. And I hope, like, I hope they can film it like right away and have this out for Christmas next year, because that would be incredible. I don't know if that's possible, but that would be awesome. All right, Grace. We got some administrative news at 2off Broadway slash New York institutions. We of course knew that Lyra de Besane had left her position as the artistic director of Encores to take over at Lincoln Center Theater that will officially take place in June. Well, yesterday New York City center announced not exactly Lear's replacement, but also Lear's replacement, Jenny Gersten, who has been a part of a lot of what City center has done over the past few years, has been named to a new position that has not existed in the past. She is now the VP and Artistic director for Musical theater at New York City Center. So that includes Encores, but it also includes like the gala performances and all of those other things which did not always fall under the purview of Lyre de Bassinet. So this is very exciting one because it is. They are keeping with a woman in charge of that institution, which I think is a very nice thing to have when so many of the other not for profit organizations in New York City have long been run by men. But what's also great about that is that Gerson's been a part of these things since 2020. So a lot of the success that we've seen in recent years, not only with shows transferring like Once Upon a Mattress and into the woods and then maybe even Ragtime, that's coming, but also like those critically acclaimed Shows like Jelly's Last Jam, which you loved, she worked on all of those. So it's nice that there is some connective tissue going from there and everything that they had with Lear into this. So I'm excited that maybe we will get some different shows, Grace. And not things that seem so perfectly calibrated to transfer to Broadway, but we'll see. Do you have like a dream encores show that you want them to do?
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Grace Sacke
I do. If we could just get Carrie up and running one more time, I think that I could. I would like to see it. I would like to be a part of it, of it. I know a person that was in it off Broadway and I think that that would be such a 180. I mean, listen, is it an encore show? Absolutely not. Is it something I want them to do? For sure. I always wanted them to do Titanic. They've just done it. So we were there. But I actually have my pie in the sky, which I've talked about on the show before, which is the fact that, like, they need to do New York, New York. It feels like an encore show, even though it just happened. I think that if they did that in three years, people would like, oh, wow, that was so long ago. You know, I don't think that it would be too soon. So that's. That's for me, that's where I would go. What about you?
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Matt Tammanini
I don't know. I don't know that I have one. I will say though, Carrie is getting ready to have its 40th anniversary in 24, in 2028. So, like 40th anniversary from the Broadway production. Like, I mean, it seems like that would be a good time to do it, don't you think? So I'd be here for that. We'll see what happens. The other organization that had some new administrative changes yesterday was Ars Nova. They have named Andrew Kniesler and Anna Morton Stacey as the new co artistic directors. The founding artistic director, Jason Egan will transition into an advisory role in July. So Ars Nova, one of the great cutting edge off off Broadway experimental theater companies in New York City and love to see this for them moving forward. All right, Grace, I know you did not get to see him, but I did. Our friend John Schwab was in town over the weekend and he was in town for like his own actor business type things. But one of the reasons he decided to come that weekend is because his good friend Sophie Carmen Jones was wrapping up her run as Nene in Moulin Rouge on Broadway. She originated the role of Nene in the London version of the show. Well, a few days after she wrapped up her run in Moulin Rouge, it was announced that she will be the new Velma Kelly in Chicago on Broadway. She will take over the role from Kimberly Maribel next, I guess in two weeks. Sophie will start the show on February 10th and I guess John is just going to have to come back and see her in this as well. So John, next time you're in New York, you'll have to let us know and we'll try to arrange something with everybody. And then going back across the pond where John back is over at the Regents Park Open Air Theater they have revealed their 2025 season and it is a very, very exciting one because the season will kick off with the UK premiere of Shucked from May 10 through June 14. It had previously supposed to have had a West End bow last year, but that never happened. Instead it is going to premiere in the open air park. So that should be very exciting. Also on the season is a reworked version of Brigadoon which is a show that they did at Encores not too long ago. That'll happen from August 2nd through September 10th. Then there is a show that is celebrating Rodgers and Hammerstein's dream ballets. That'll happen from June 19th through the 22nd. So if you want to see the entire season and including some other things in there, a musical version of Roald Dahl's the Enormous Crocodile and a new show based on a novel called Knots and Crosses, head over to the show notes and you can read all about that. And then Grace, did you know that there is a musical based off of the life of Hollywood, Madame Heidi Fleiss in the works.
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Grace Sacke
Not only do I know that, I know that it has been kicked around through a concept recording available now through Broadway Records.
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Matt Tammanini
Ah, well, yeah. Or formally available through Broadway Records. Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah. So you probably know more about this than I do, but it is written by Billy Risi and is co conceived with Will Nunziata who has been a guest here on Broadway before and it's being directed by Kristen Hange of Rock of Ages fame. Well, they are going to have a private concert, invitation only, industry type thing at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on February 4th and it will star the one and only Orfe. So I have no idea what else is going on with this show. I had not heard about this. I was not familiar with that album. But Orfe playing Heidi Fleiss seems kind of perfect. Like that's. I mean, not that I'M equating her to a, you know, a madam. But I mean, just like the grit and the glam of Orfeh feels perfect for that kind of role. So I'm excited to hear more about this. And it's. I mean, the press release specifically says this is Broadway aimed, so it would be very, very cool to see what this looks and sounds like. And I'm gonna have to go find it on Spotify from Broadway Records and check it out. All right, Grace, our recommendation for today sends us over to Jeopardy. And they had a whole category on Broadway debuts. And not to spoil anything, but the $200 question had to do with Nicole Scherzinger's Broadway debut. There are some other very fun questions. They. The one thing that bugs me when they do these categories, Grace, is that. And not just Broadway categories, but the contestants don't go in order. And that bothers me. Like, they go like 1600, 2,800, 200, 400. Go in order, please. Like, they're there for a reason. I know there's strategiary in picking the different dollar values, but please go in order. My regimented type A brain doesn't like jumping all over the place when it comes to categories. Is that weird?
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Grace Sacke
It's not. I think it every single time I watch those clips. They drive me up the wall. But I do love it when there's, like, a fun little Broadway category.
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Matt Tammanini
It is fun. It is very, very fun. I think the very first question is one that I think you will like. It has to do with somebody who made his Broadway debut in two Neil Simon shows, in which Biloxi Blues. Yep, there you go.
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Grace Sacke
And not my favorite year, but Brighton Beach Memoirs. Brighton Beach Memoirs. And immediately I screamed, who is Matthew Broderick? Who is Matthew Broderick?
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Matt Tammanini
Yes. How many people? How many people do you know how many people got it right on this Jeopardy. Episode?
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Grace Sacke
0.
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Matt Tammanini
0 People Got it right.
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Grace Sacke
Yeah.
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Matt Tammanini
Very disappointed.
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Grace Sacke
Put me in, coach.
- [16:16]
Matt Tammanini
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, broadwayrading. And follow me on Instagram @bww mattgrace.
- [16:22]
Grace Sacke
Where can you can find me at? It's Grace Hockey.
- [16:25]
Matt Tammanini
All right, everybody. Have a wonderful Friday, a wonderful week. We will be back to talk to you on Monday, even though it won't be like a normal Monday episode. So have a great week next week. Even though you'll hear from me, but I will not hear from you. So I guess I'll talk to you after the first week of February.