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Today on Broadway: Friday, July 25, 2025
00:15:40
Feldman to replace Criss in ‘Maybe Happy Ending,’ new Ponyboy set for ‘The Outsiders,’ ‘Grace reviews ‘Rolling Thunder’ Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Monday through F...
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Matt Tamminini
Broadway for Friday, July 25, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamminini and I'm.
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Grace Akee
Tell Me on a Sunday Podcast Grace.
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Matt Tamminini
Ake Grace, this is another summer Friday, which means we will not have an episode of Today on Broadway on Monday. But if you cannot wait until Tuesday to hear one of us again, you can head over to patreon.com broadwayradio broadwayradio.com patreon and sign up at the Mezzanine tier or above. Because on Sunday night in the normal Today on Broadway patreon slot at 8pm I will have a new episode which I guess we're going to call the O. Henry Report, which is a podcast that Oliver used to do back in the day that I produced for Broadway World. And we're going to talk about the new show or the London premiere of Clarkston starring Joe Locke and all the things that went into making that show happen and continue to go into making that show happen. So if you want to hear that, head over to Patreon and sign up and you can get that. And then Grace and I will be back on Tuesday. But we are here with a little bit of news and Grace, you went and saw a show on Wednesday night, so you'll talk about that as it is opening on Thursday. But the big news of the day is the fact that we have a new star coming into the Tony winning best musical, maybe happy ending. And it's a fun one, it's also a controversial one, but we'll get into all of that starting on September 2nd. Maybe happy ending. We'll welcome in a new Oliver and that sentient robot will be played by none other than Andrew Barth Feldman. What's interesting about this is that this is just a limited nine week engagement for Andrew. He will be there from September 2 through November 1 and then somebody who I'll talk about here in a second at Least from the rumors that I've heard, will take over after November 1st and lead it into the holidays and beyond. What's fun about this is, is that Andrew's real life partner is Helen J. Shen, who is the other star of this show. So they are going to have the opportunity to do this show together for a couple months, which has to be thrilling. And, and Grace, you might be able to talk a little bit about that since both you and your partner are performers and I think maybe you've worked together at least maybe in a reading or something, but we can talk about that. What is a little controversial about this is the fact that Andrew Barth Feldman, as you may or may not know, is not of any type of Asian heritage where this show is very firmly set in Korea. He is replacing Darren Criss, who is of Filipino background. And there has been a number of people talking about the fact that Andrew coming in is nice and sweet with the personal relationship of it all, but does undercut a little bit of the Asian representation on stage that it has kind of been built around. Now I will say that for from what I have heard is that the reason this is only a 2ish month run is because Darren Criss is actually going to come back. That is what I've heard. I have no confirmation. I have heard it from multiple sources, but none of whom are like officially associated with the production. So I cannot confirm that specifically other than I have heard it from two pretty in the know folks. Now, Grace, this is a fun thing, also a controversial thing, but I do think that having Andrew and Helen opposite each other for two months is ultimately a good thing. Obviously I think it would be a much different situation if this was a full time replacement, but for an intermediate fall. Like, I think this is nice and kind of sweet.
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Grace Akee
Yeah, like I love getting to see these two work together. I think it's very exciting. I understand there's so much nuance and so much conversation, especially as a person who has been absolutely supportive. With Asian descent behind me and all of these things, talking about how integral this show is and knowing that, you know, disproportionately Asian men are not considered leads on Broadway very often, more than not. So I think that there's a lot to be said further down the way. But being that this is a temporary opportunity, I'm very excited for them to star opposite each other.
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Matt Tamminini
What is so fun about this is that the show's writers and director, they talked about the fact that they fell in love with Andrew's take on the role, not in an audition but but when he served as Helen's reader during their initial audition tape, which is just fun and delightful. So even though Andrew hasn't been a part of the actual production on stage or during the tryout or development or anything like that, he has been there from, you know, very beginning of Helen's journey. So I do think that that is a pretty fun and pretty special. And like you said, I think that there's a different conversation to be had if Andrew was coming in to be the full time replacement. We know that that is not the case. Whether or not Darren comes back in November, it doesn't really matter as long as we kind of get back to that traditional casting. I think for the holidays, I think that everyone should be in pretty good stead there. Speaking of replacement casting for a Tony Winifred Best Musical, yesterday the Outsiders announced that when Brody Grant leaves a production as Ponyboy Curtis, as we previously discussed, he will be replaced by current ensemble member Trevor Wayne. He will step into the role September 23rd. Trevor has been a part of the show since its Broadway premiere, but he is not the only casting change that will happen as another original ensemble member, Dan Barry, will step into the role of Ponyboy's older brother Daryl, when original star Brent Comer takes a two month leave of absence to film the new Netflix Peter Berg movie the Mosquito Bull. He'll be out from September 9 through November 9 and then he will presumably come back in Barry's normal ensemble role of Paul that'll be taken over by Victor Carrillo Tracy Moving off Broadway Grace Yesterday The Atlantic Theater Company announced its historic 40th anniversary season. It'll feature four new plays as well as the New York premiere of a new Atlantic 4 Kids musical. It'll also feature a 40th anniversary gala, but the season will kick off, as we've already discussed, with the new world premiere play by filmmaking icon Ethan Cohen called let's Love. It is actually three one act comedies that all explore love in all of its miserable glory. That show is slated to play from September 25th through November 9th. Then in February and March of 2026, there will be a co production with the Ensemble Studio Theater and the Alfred P. Sloan foundation called the Reservoir. It is written by Jake Brache and directed by Shelley. But and in the show, Josh's life is a mess. He's moved home to Denver to get sober, but after many years of drinking, the fog in his brain won't lift. Struggling with memory loss, confusion and shame, he finds himself strangely in step with his four aging grandparents. Then coming up in the spring of next year, from May into June, we have a co production with rattlestick theater and the Terrence McNally foundation called Indian princesses. This one is by Ileana Theologis Rodriguez and directed by Miranda Cornell. It is in the of 2008, and five young girls of color with their white fathers attend a program designed to bond families through handmade activities, camp like adventures, and a heavy dose of cultural appropriation. But where can these girls turn when the program sparks questions that their fathers are unable or unwilling to answer? And then the final show is the Atlantic for kids musical. It is a New York premiere called Elephant and piggies. We are in a play. So, Grace, how excited are you to see a play written by Ethan Cohen?
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Grace Akee
You know, there's few things in this life that I say are worth living for, and that's one of them. I need to see this with every bone in my body. I am so excited that this is even happening. Yeah, I really can't bundle it into words. I was just talking about how much I love them and how I wish that they were more involved in the theater. So I personally feel like I manifested this. I didn't have to pay, you know, an Etsy witch to do so, but here we. So thank you.
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Matt Tamminini
What is your favorite Coen Brothers film?
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Grace Akee
I think. You know what? I think it has to be. It's not Barton Fink, but maybe it's. It might be. Oh, brother, Wear art thou. Because that should be a musical. I think it. I mean, it's iconic. It is the Odyssey. It is a musical. There are, you know, the Soggy Bottom Boys should be doing Bryant park right now. Like, what are we doing?
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Matt Tamminini
It's a good point. I'm kind of surprised it hasn't happened. You're right. All right. Speaking of theater schedules being announced yesterday, the 21st.
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Grace Akee
I'm sorry to cut you off, Matt, but here's how I want to bookend this.
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Matt Tamminini
Oh, okay.
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Grace Akee
Please do me. $10 million budget, Coen brothers. Oh, brother, where art Thou? Starring in the George Clooney role, Paul Alexander Nolan. That's all. That's all I need. Tell me I'm wrong. That his Canadian ass singing I'm a man of constant sorrow. Please, please. I'm sad.
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Matt Tamminini
Well, I mean, he can actually sing it because we know George didn't actually do his own singing in that movie. But that's neither here nor there. Aunt Rosemary would be very disappointed, I am sure. But the Atlantic theater company was not the only theater organization to announce a schedule yesterday because the 21st annual under the Radar Festival announced part of its programming for its 2026 run after leaving the public due to budget cuts a couple years ago. It is going to play multiple venues around New York City from January 7th through the 25th, and this is a festival dedicating specifically to spotlighting experimental work from the US and abroad. There will be shows happening at the Performing Garage at the Here Arts center, at the Performance Space nyc at the NYU Skirball center at New York Live Arts. There'll be over 20 different venues with more programming to be announced. If you want to check out the things that have been announced already, you can head over to the Show Notes all right, Grace On Wednesday night you went over to New World Stages to see the new musical Rolling Thunder that officially opened on Thursday night. It is currently scheduled to play through September 7th. It is a show that features a ton of iconic songs. Bridge Over Troubled Water, Black Magic Woman, Killing Me Softly, what's Going on and on and on and On. And it is called Part Musical, Part Documentary as it looks at the incredibly intimate stories of the Vietnam War era. As we said, it opened on Thursday night so we're recording this before we get the reviews, but it is coming out after it is open. The cast is tremendous. Why don't you tell us all of your thoughts about Rolling Thunder now open at New World Stages.
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Grace Akee
I was so excited to go back to New World Stages. It's been a minute since I have seen a show there. I just want to start by saying I've never gotten to see Justin Matthews Sargent live. I've never had the the God given gumption of this gift. And Mai should he can. He could cover all of his colleagues on that stage and I don't think anybod would be upset. Like he's just so phenomenal. He has such a commanding stage presence. You can't teach anybody to be a rock star. Like you can't. It's just a quality that is inherent to him and his rendition of House of the Rising sun might be my favorite version of that song. Now I told him after the show that he needed to do a cover of House of the Rising sun but to the words of Amazing Grace because that's what my dad used to sing to me and he was like I've never heard of that before. So I'm just saying he should do it. But Daniel Yearwood is absolutely carrot. Like I love getting to see him do something very different than what I've seen him do in the past Cassidy Pope, who I know we're having on the show. It's just a really great. Deontay Goodman, Courtney Carter. Like, there's just so many excellent performances in this show that I would hate for them to not record an album because it's really so stellar. And I think that giving Also shout out to the bass player. I need to find out her name. She is unbelievable. I'm not kidding. Like, I took so many videos of her because I was just obsessed. But I think that, like, with a work like this, it is part, like, musical review. It is about, you know, the. The Americans in the Vietnam War and. And, you know, all of their mistakes along the way and how that felt and I felt. And, you know, there are a lot of, like, screens on the stage, which I wasn't expecting that show. A lot of letters that were taken from veterans and their loved ones based on, like, real interviews and real letters that were found. So there is. There's a. There's a large level of documentary here. But I just. I loved getting to hear all of these different voices and the arrangements that I think Sonny Palladino, who did a really. Yes, he's the music director, he did an excellent, excellent job on these music arrangements because these are. These are a lot of songs that, myself included, I knew every word, too. So there's only so many ways in which you can do some of these numbers that are so, you know, iconic to that 60s and 70s period. But I think that what they did with them and knowing the voices that they had to carry them, they did an excellent job.
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Matt Tamminini
So this is a show that, as you said, brings in some real life stories and, like you said, the letters and all of that documentary aspect, like, are they, like, playing characters throughout, or is it, like, where they kind of weave in narratives? Or is it kind of like, I don't know. Have you ever seen working where, like, that's based off of a Studs Terkel nonfiction book where they, like, just play one character doing this scene and song and then move on to play somebody else? Like, how does that actually work?
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Grace Akee
Multiple performers and actors played multiple different people. Like, they gave each other names at certain points because there were, like, ongoing relationships with, like, the girl back home, and then she was writing Andy, and then Andy would come out and sing a song. But I think that it's all kind of interchangeable because every character is meant to represent kind of like the every woman or like the every soldier and the every. You know what I mean? So it's. It's not like you're following one narrative the entire time, like, aggressively, but there are, like, storylines that are woven throughout that you are following along with from beginning of, you know, getting these people enlisted all the way to some of them coming home and some of them not making it out. So it is. There is a level of narrative there, for sure.
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Matt Tamminini
Very cool. As we've said, there's a lot of really good stuff happening over at New World Stages right now. We have this. We have Heather's spelling bee. So lots of good stuff happening over at New World Stages. And, like, this is a. A venue that I think can often get overlooked in the mix of off Broadway stuff because it's a little bit out of the way in terms of, like, the. The rest of the Off Broadway theaters. And when things go there for a long time, you kind of forget that they're still running. Like, the play that goes wrong is still there. So I'm hoping that with some of these musicals, especially that come in with some higher name recognition, that New World Stages can continue to be a destination. We can get some really good commercial off Broadway shows, especially musicals, running there for years to come. 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, rodriguet. And if you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio Grace, where can people find you?
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Grace Akee
You can find me at Grace Akee.
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Matt Tamminini
All right, everybody, remember, we will not have it today on Broadway on Monday. So we'll be back to talk to you on.