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Today on Broadway: Friday, Nov. 14, 2025
00:14:44
Stars announced for anniversary ‘Laramie Project,’ ‘Hazbin Hotel’ on Broadway to stream, Matt reviews ‘Oedipus’ 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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Welcome to Today on Broadway for Friday, November 14, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamineni. I am coming to you here on Thursday, November 13th as I'm recording this obviously tonight over at Studio 54, literally like five doors down from where I'm sitting right now, the latest Broadway production of Oedipus will officially open. However, as I mentioned on yesterday's show, because the reviews are embargoed for 11:59pm Eastern Time on Thursday, this episode is going out before that. So we will not reviews on this episode. Those will be on Monday's show. But because I did see the show on Wednesday night and this won't come out until after the review embargo is up, I will give my thoughts on Oedipus at the end of this show. There's not a ton of news, so we'll get to those here in just a second. But spoiler alert, Oedipus show that's been around for literally thousands of years is good, alright, but let's get into the news here real quick. We will start Off Broadway over at the Atlantic Theater Company and they will be bringing the new show the Reservoir from Jake Bruno Brash to the stage coming up later in the season. It will begin performances on February 5th with an opening night scheduled for the 24th of that month and is currently scheduled to play through March 15. The show centers on Josh, who moves home to Denver to get sober while suffering from memory loss, confusion and shame predicaments that place him oddly in sync with his aging grandparents. The show had its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse and as it was there, will be directed off Broadway by Shelley Butler. But we will have an entirely new cast for this New York engagement and it will Noah Galvin as Josh. He will be joined by Caroline Aaron, Heidi Armbruster, Peter Maloney, Mary Beth Peel, Matthew Saldivar and Chip Zion. A phenomenal cast obviously of some really talented actors in this one. So we'll be excited to hear what this one's all about in the winter, the early months of 2026 sticking off Broadway Yesterday, the Audible Theater announced the cast for the 25th anniversary reading of the Laramie Project. This of course was the groundbreaking work that was written by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project in response to the 1998 murder of the 21 year old gay man Matthew Shepard. It'll be directed by Kaufman and will be held at the Minetta Lane Theater, which is owned by audible. On December 4th through the 6th there will be a total of four performances. The production will also be recorded and then subsequently released on Audible at a later date. The cast members that were announced yesterday include Kathleen Chalfont, Midori Francis, John Gallagher Jr. Puia Mossini, Kal Penn, Conrad Rickamura, Ethan Slater and Samira Wylie. Again, another phenomenal collection of talents and it is only fitting that we have such great actors to do this show that has done arguably more for the greater good socially than any other show in the last quarter century. Obviously this is the 25th anniversary and the impact that this show has had leading to actual tangible political change. So it is truly fitting to have a first class production of this that will not only be done in honor of the 25th anniversary, but also recorded so that people can listen to it on Audible in the future. Speaking of stage performances being recorded for people to enjoy at a later date, earlier this fall we had a Has been Hotel One Night on Broadway kind of a kick off the Season two of the animated musical comedy. Well, that One Night Only concert special will be available to stream on prime video Beginning on November 17, just two days before the entire second season of the show is available. They are divvying out episodes a couple at a time, but the entire season will be available on November 19, two days after this special is available. It took place at the Majestic Theatre and featured hit songs from both seasons one and two and an absolutely unbelievable cast of talent, many of them Broadway vets. They were led by the show's star, Erica Henningsen. Also featured in the concert are Blake Roman, Amir Talai, Christian Borle, Jessica Vosk, Jeremy Jordan and Christina Alabado, with special appearances from Stephanie Beatrix, Kimiko Glenn, Vivian Medrano, Sam Haft and Richard Horvitz. The show focuses on Charlie Morningstar, played by Erica Henningson, who is the Princess of Hell, the daughter of Satan, as she pursues her seemingly impossible goal of rehabilitating demons to peacefully reduce overpopulation in her kingdom. After a yearly extermination imposed by angels, she opens a hotel in the hopes that patrons will be checking out into heaven. This is a show that I have many friends who love, and I'm not big on the animation thing, but it certainly seems like this is connecting a lot of dots for folks who have both the musical theater and the animation and the comedy fandoms. So if you are one of them, this will definitely be a must watch for you. All right, let's come out of my hotel, turn left, walk about 45 seconds and head over to Studio 54, where the latest production of Sophocles, Oedipus or since this is a British transfer of this production, Oedipus. And this is directed by Robert Icke, who also did this adaptation. The adaptation takes the show from ancient Greece and puts it in a modern political campaign on election night. The country and the political position that Oedipus is running for is never specifically specified, but it is clear that it is something on the level of president. And Oedipus is surrounded by his wife Jocasta and their children and other members of their team. Starring as Oedipus is Mark Strong. Jocasta is played by Leslie Manville somehow in her Broadway debut. Jocasta's brother Creon is played by John Carroll Lynch. Oedipus Mother Merope, I think is how you say her name is played by Anne Reed. Antigone is portrayed by Olivia Reyes. Bhaskar Patel portrays Corrin. And after so many centuries and millennia, I am not breaking any ground to say that from a dramatic standpoint, Oedipus is a remarkably well constructed drama with the twists and turns. Despite the fact that I assume the vast majority of people know what is going to happen in this show, they are still shocking. Although I will say spoiler alert, I guess. But I will say that people sitting behind me and Robbie Rizzell at the show on Wednesday night, as they were going through figuring out and coming to the realization that Jocasta was actually Oedipus's biological mother, a woman leaned over and fairly loudly from behind us and said, oh my God, is she his mother? And I didn't know that in the world that we live in, especially thanks to Dr. Freud, that people didn't what is going on in Oedipus. But nonetheless, it really is a remarkably well constructed piece and Robert Icke's adaptation does a tremendous job of bringing it into a modern context. Obviously, the show works regardless of the political and modern trappings of this production. But when we were talking about secrets long buried, the impacts they will have on somebody's ability to lead, trying to be honest and truthful with the people that are choosing you to lead, that you will be leading. It definitely takes on a much more resonant context than if you just left it in its, you know, original, classic, arcane time period. And what really helps make that transition even better is Ike's adaptation is just beautifully written. It is. And you know, obviously it was written in ancient Greek originally. And even though I did take a quarter or two of Greek in high school, I wouldn't be able to read it and I wouldn't be able to tell you how different Sophocles original words were to this version. But I really found myself sitting there at Studio 54 kind of luxuriating in how well worded this text was. Even though it is being done in modern English, there was an elevated nature to it that felt both classical but also incredibly modern. It really allowed you to sink into this idea that this was a classic being done in a modern context because the words were so effortless coming out of their mouths, but also it was very easy to understand, but it was not in colloquial language, although there was plenty of profanity laced in throughout as well. Well, it was just a really beautiful. I mean, it was beautifully written and that was probably my biggest takeaway from the entire night. And I had plenty of takeaways. But Robert Icke's adaptation was one of the most impressive parts of this show. The other obviously most impressive part were the performances by Mark Strong as Oedipus and Leslie Manville as Yocasta. Mark Strong, as his name might indicate, is an incredibly powerful performer. He has a presence that dominates the stage without overshadowing anyone else. There is a magnetism to him that makes you understand why he has led a political revolution and why he has been the center of a year long campaign and developed so much fervor and passion from supporters in his country. And as is the case with a lot of Greek stories, the emotions are big, the emotional swings are wide, and he is able to make those swings without undermining anything. They are all believable and natural and well earned. It is not just somebody says something and he goes off and like, oh, that was really powerful. It was a good acting choice because he made me believe he was angry. No, it was a good acting choice and a good acting performance because even though it was a fairly sharp turn on your heels switch in emotions, you understood where the Fear or where the anger or where the concern or where the shame came from. And when you were doing a classic show, be it Sophocles or be it Shakespeare, you have to be able to make those jumps make sense because they might not be the traditional types of. Of character arcs and development that we would see in a modern show. So Mark Strong did that exceptionally well. Leslie Manville, of course, is one of the great actors of our time and she is truly a treat to watch. Kind of giving you this controlled, composed, refined performance that speaks to her years of being queen, essentially. Obviously this production doesn't necessarily deal with kings and queens, but she has that elevated stature where she can be this put together woman who has taken all of the tragedies and difficulties of her life and put them in the past. And yet when they start to reveal the secrets of this show, she is able to strip back all of those walls that she built up and show you the. The broken and abused woman who suffered tremendously and then made the sacrifices that she did that led to the predicament that they find themselves in 50 some odd years later. So for me, this show is an absolute success because of the strength of Robert Icke's adaptation and his direction is tremendous as well. Coupled with Mark Strong and Leslie Manville at the center of this show. Everybody else is very good as well. But those are the two performances that you are coming to see. The set design, I'm also say was. Was very fun and interesting as well by Hildegard Bechteller. They have a video designed by Tal Yarden, which is actually pretty cool because they are in, I guess a home and. And campaign headquarters on election night. So it starts with a video that leads into the action and then there's for a large part of the show, election night coverage on TVs around the. Around the stage, which was kind of fun, where you didn't want to get distracted by. But if you looked over at it occasionally, they'd have the graphics pull up and while Steve Kornacki was not. Was nowhere to be found. You could definitely hear him explaining what was happening in the graphics that they were showing. And then they would have talking heads and interviews. And it was interesting to note that they did use Greek in a lot of the crayons and everything that we're on those videos. So very nice touches there. When we do eventually see these reviews in a couple hours from when I'm recording right now, I imagine these will be very good. This will be a one of those on. Did they like it where it's like 17 total reviews, 15 are positive, 2 are mixed, and none are negative. That would be my guess somewhere in that that that type of percentage for what these reviews will look like when they eventually actually come out. So if you want information, this show is currently running over at Studio 54. It is on sale through February 8th. I don't think that has really much of a chance to extend because we do have the Rocky Horror show coming in there later this season. But if you have an opportunity to get over there over the next three months, definitely recommend it. I would not be scared of this just because you hear Sophocles and classical Greek and Oedipus and Yacosta and all of those types of things where that might overwhelm and intimidate people who aren't into classic theater. But this doesn't feel like it. And like I said, you get the elevated nature of it because of how beautifully written Robert Ike's adaptation is in. The structure of the show is remarkable, but it doesn't feel off putting. It doesn't feel distancing. It feels like a profound modern drama that I think will. Will certainly impact everybody. And because of this being moved to a more modern time, I will just say that Chekov has nothing on Sophocles when it comes to seeding future developments in a show. All right, everybody, that's all we have for today. Thanks for listening to Today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram broadwayradio. If you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio have a wonderful Friday, a wonderful weekend. We'll be back to talk to you on Monday.
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