Grace Aki (3:20)

Listen, my first Tony Awards I went to was 2016 and now we are approaching Hamilton and now I've never felt older. So this is crazy. Like it's really amazing. I also think it's interesting not to be like dramatic or anything, but I know that there's been a lot of like conversation in the, in the past many years since the original of Hamilton about how a lot of those original cast members felt and about their likeness usage and things like that. Throughout the years that I was kind of surprised to see so many of those names. I mean granted it's an opportunity and a lot of people owe their careers to the massive surgeons of all of that. So I get it. But it is interesting because I know that they had all those conversations around points and helping originate and start the show. So I hope that it's all good since the Disney of it all. But yeah, it's very exciting.

Matt Tamineni (4:19)

Yeah, I mean that was actually the first name that I looked for in this press release was Betsy Struxnes. Because when the Hamilton Pro tape came out they marketed it as the original Broadway cast. Yet she had already left to go work on something else. If I remember correctly, her and Emmy River Lampman actually had already left. And so it really wasn't the original cast and she felt slighted by that. So the fact that she is back in here going to perform with the company I think is nice. I don't know if it is something that there's still hard feelings or not, but it was good to see that as many of those original company members are going to be involved as possible will be there. So that is very cool. The other Tony's news that we got yesterday is I think the last special Tony Award that we have. I don't think we are still outstanding on anything but yesterday we found out that Gary Edwin Robinson has won the Excellence in Theater Education Tony Award. This is co presented by Carnegie Mellon and Robinson is the head of the Theater Arts program at Brooklyn's Boys and Girls High School and he's created the career and technical education pathway that gives students an opportunity to shadow Broadway professionals to kind of see what the full work of somebody who is actually working on Broadway is like. This is actually the first time that a teacher from New York City has won this award. So this is very special. Always a cool honor and something that means a lot not only to this individual in this school, but also all of the people that have gone through his program over the years. All right, let's talk about some real quick fun stuff that is happening for some shows on Broadway that are currently nominated for Tony Awards. The first is that we found out that Brandon Jacobs Jenkins's Pulitzer Prize winning play Purpose has extended by a full two months on Broadway. It is now going to be playing at the Helen Hayes Theater through August 31st. I'd heard about this when I'd originally heard about this potentially coming, I thought there might be some cast changes, but it seems that everybody from this original cast is still going to be sticking with it. Obviously there are six people in this cast. Five of them are nominated for Tony Awards, so being able to keep that ensemble together, many of whom originated these roles in Chicago, is a is a very big deal as well. And then over at the St. James Theater, even though the show is going to be wrapping up in July, David Thaxton, who plays the role of Max, he is going to be ending his run in the show on Tony Sunday when the show was originally scheduled to close. He is going back home to be with his wife and kids in the UK and stepping into the role of Max will be Jordan Donica. I don't know if he's going to have to shave his head or not and get rid of those luscious Lancelot locks or not, but he is going to be stepping in following that performance and will be continuing with the show through its closing look. If you're going to get somebody to do this part. We've heard his baritone grace. He is fantastic. So even if it's only for, like, a month, still pretty cool that Jordan's coming in and doing this show.

Grace Aki (7:35)

He's going to be excellent. And I have noticed that, like, in a lot of Jamie's productions, he has very much embraced people's natural hair. So I don't know. In regards to your question. Don't know. But honestly don't care, because that man is going to sing down. It is going to be so damn good. I'm going to be sat on. What is it? June 10th?

Matt Tamineni (7:58)

10Th. June 10th?

Grace Aki (7:59)

Yeah. Because June 9th, they added that performance for the first performance the Monday after the Tony Awards, so.

Matt Tamineni (8:05)

Oh, did they? I didn't realize that.

Grace Aki (8:07)

Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know who will play that. I am sure it'll be Pierre. Pierre, who currently covers that role and has been going on in the event that David is out. So I feel like that will be Pierre's moment, and then Jordan will have his on the 10th, which is very exciting. So, yeah, I'm just. I think it's. It's awesome. And I'm really thrilled by this casting. I really am.

Matt Tamineni (8:31)

Yeah. I think this is a very cool moment, not only for the show, but Jordan as well. It should be a very, very good addition, especially vocally, to that show.

Grace Aki (8:43)

I also just want to say that at that point, all four of those principles, with the exception of Tom. So three out of the four will be played by people of color. We've been talking a lot about the enormous talent that is on 44th street, which is my favorite street now in New York City. It's led by so many women of color, black women. It's kind of extraordinary to see. I wonder if we could get a class photo with everybody, like, on the street sometime with everybody from Hell's Kitchen and. Boop. Like, I don't know. I just. I'm putting it out there because I really want to do it. I just think it's unprecedented and this should be norm. And this is exciting, and this should not be something that does not go celebrated. I don't. Like, it's not to say that, like, look at what we did. But it's more so that, like, yeah, how great is this? How great? How great can we be? So let's. Let's do better in the light of what's happened this week.

Matt Tamineni (9:36)

If only you knew somebody who worked on at least one or two of those shows who could potentially coordinate something. I mean, maybe if a listener knows somebody who works on those shows, that could happen.

Grace Aki (9:49)

Yeah, let me know. Broadway's so far from me, but I would love to hear your thoughts.

Matt Tamineni (9:54)

All right, well, let's take a real quick break from the news to talk about our sponsor for this week, Cash App. Heading into the weekend, hopefully you have some sort of fun plans. Maybe you're going to see a show, going to a concert, going to hang out with friends, maybe going on a little road trip. One of the things that I know back in my day when I had to plan for these things is I had to go and get Cash out to make sure that I had money for the entire weekend. You do not have to do that anymore because Cash App is there to make sure that if you're going to go somewhere where you have to split a bill or you have to pay somebody for gas or you have to give people a little money because they're letting you stay at their apartment, you don't have to worry about actually carrying physical, hard cash. You could just send them money instantly and easily. With Cash App, there's no silly processing delays, there's no added fees. Cash App is just the easiest and safest way to send, receive and transfer money to friends and family. The setup is instant. No waiting to get that money, and it's secure and safe because Cash App always has your back.

Grace Aki (11:03)

Yeah, one thing about me is that I love to go out to dinner and I love when we get those sweet, sweet, sweet credit card points. And at the same time, we've got to settle this bill. I love bringing friends and family out to many a Broadway theater and restaurant, getting refreshments, all those things. But those things add up so quickly and I have to divide all of those payments up. And the only way to do so in a quick, easy, safe fashion is through Cash App. I love being able to divvy up those different responses, boom, boom, boom, send them out and then they're able to get back to me in a quick, timely manner. And it's not awkward. No one likes to deal with different payments. Like talking about money is hard enough. In all of these different situations, you might as well be able to use a great app like Cash App.

Matt Tamineni (11:43)

And for a limited time, only new Cash App users can use our exclusive code to earn some additional cash. For real, there's no catch. Just download Cash App and sign up. Use our exclusive referral code, Broadway in your profile. Send $5 to a friend within 14 days and you'll get $10 dropped right into your account. Terms apply. That's money. That's cash app. All right, speaking of Hamilton, we're back on a Hamill section here because the final Ham for Ham concert will happen tonight or this afternoon over at the Richard Rogers Theater at 4:30. They will be welcoming in a slew of performers that I think you are all going to love. As always, Lin Manuel Miranda posted a not great but kind of funny Photoshop with a bunch of people included in this Ham for Ham this week. Tonight, May 30th at 4:30pm will be the complete cast of Operation Mincemeat. Three stars from Gypsy, Audra McDonald, Joy woods and Jordan Tyson, two different Norma Desmonds, Nicole Scherzinger and Mandy Gonzalez. And joining them, apparently will be Christopher Jackson, who is getting ready to return to Broadway in Hell's Kitchen next week. If you want to be there, I would recommend getting there very early because if you want to be able to see these folks, you'll be able to hear them from, you know, across 46th Street. But if you want to see them get there very early, if not, it'll be all over social media. But this is how you do Tony season and this should be a very fun event for everybody. And speaking of Audra, look, I had my, I said my piece about the whole Patty of it all earlier this week, so I'm not going to get into it very much here, but somebody else asked asked Audra about it in a recent interview and that somebody was Gayle King on CBS this morning. Basically, you've probably seen this clip by now, but in a very reserved and measured manner. Audra says that she hasn't seen or talked to Patti LuPone in about 11 years. So she's not exactly sure what this rift between them is that was referenced in the New Yorker interview. So just giving you that fact that in a very, very public legacy media way, Audra has responded. So if you want to check that out, I will have a link to that in the show notes. All right, Grace, I have two different recommendations here. The first one comes from Smash and I love this moment in the show so much because as I talked about it in my review on the Travelogue episode, it's one of the few moments in the show where people actually are singing something that connects to their lives in this show. But the Act 1 finale is let Me Be youe Star. Not the first time that song is sung in the show, but this is the version sung by Bella Coppola. And it is tremendous. It's one of the highlights of the entire show. So check that out in the show notes. And then finally, we have video from Dead Outlaw of Andrew Durand and Julia Nitel performing the song Normal Grace. Did you see what Andrew Durand and Dead Outlaw did on Thursday?

Grace Aki (14:55)

No. Oh. Oh, no, no, no. Andrew Durant. They've been wheeling that little coffin around New York City. I just saw it in the subway.

Matt Tamineni (15:05)

Yes. In the Times Square subway station. Andrew Durand in the coffin, propped up right there for people to walk by and look at. I. I don't know. Look, he's nominated for a Tony. I don't think he's going to win. But just the control to not move for as long as he does, whether it's on stage or whether it's in a subway station, is remarkable and deserves awards as far as I'm concerned. All right, Grace, any big plans, theatrical or otherwise, for this weekend for you?

Grace Aki (15:34)

No. I've been to one sporting event this week, and then Saturday I'm going to a Red Bulls soccer game. So I am. I am staying away from the theater. And yet I will also be seeing a performance because, I mean, I got to be at the Liberty game where maybe happy ending was performing. It was great. It was Aapi night. Red Bulls. I'm very excited about because that'll be a lot of fun. And then I head into the Tony week of Tony weeks, and I need to sleep. I don't know if you guys can hear it in my voice, but I've been doing two weeks of nonstop talking and not sleeping. And we're going to need to check in. We're going to need to dial it back.

Matt Tamineni (16:10)

So.

Grace Aki (16:11)

Yeah, more soon.

Matt Tamineni (16:13)

Yeah. All right, well, Chris is embracing her sporty spice this weekend, so hopefully you all are enjoying yourselves with sports, theater, or anything else. 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, rodwayradio. Grace, where can people find you?

Grace Aki (16:28)

You can find me at graceaki.

Matt Tamineni (16:30)

All right, everybody, have a wonderful Friday, a wonderful weekend. We'll be back to talk to you on Monday.