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Matt Tamineni (0:27)

Welcome to Today on Broadway for Monday, March 10, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamineni. We didn't celebrate it like we have in the past because it happened on a Sunday. But Yesterday, Sunday the 9th was officially the 9th anniversary of today on Broadway. James Marino and I started doing this show together in 2016. It is wild to me that I have now been doing this show mostly five days a week for nine years. There was, of course, a few years there when Grace, Ashley, all kind of split days. So I was doing it three or four days a week. But for the bulk of these past nine years, I've been coming to you every single weekday with the latest news, analysis, opinions and some cases, bad jokes about what is happening not only on Broadway, but also in New York theater and theater around the country and the world. And it has been an absolute honor and a pleasure to be able to do that for nearly a decade. We are heading into the 10th year of today on Broadway. This show and this opportunity that James Marino afforded to me over nine years ago has truly changed my life in many ways. I've met so many incredible people because of this show. I've gotten to see so much incredible theater because of this show, and I've gotten to check off so many incredible things off of my bucket list because of this show. So thank you first to the man without whom none of Broadway radio is possible, James Marino, but also to all of you who have been listeners either from the very beginning or just from last week or maybe today is the first time that you've listened to this show. But I am incredibly grateful to everybody throughout the years who has helped make this show possible. James, as I mentioned, Ashley Steeves before, of course, Grace, Aki, all the people who have been a part of the show in different ways over the years, Natalie Nowak, Danielle Parcell, Caitlin Milligan, tons of other people that have helped make this show possible. And we are incredibly grateful. And I for one, hold this opportunity and hold this experience in the very warmest parts of my heart. So thank you for supporting us. Thank you for continuing to support us. And we have every intention of being here and doing this show for the next nine years and beyond. Now, real quick, I do want to point you over to some things that happened in the podcast feeds over the weekend. On Saturday, Jan Simpson's all the Drama episode that features the 2020 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, A Strange loop including an interview with the show's creator, Michael R. Jackson, appeared in the Regular Feedback. Then on Sunday, James, Peter Felicia and Michael Portantier talked about a number of shows on the new episode of this Week on Broadway that was led by Clubbed Thumbs, Deep Blue Sound at the Public Theater. And then today on Monday the 9th, depending on when you are listening to this in the Patreon feed at the Mezzanine Tier and above my latest episode with Jennifer McHugh of Some Like It Pop, where we talk about our favorite things from the month of February is is available. This one was a little weird because I traveled so much in February that my pop culture intake was a little different than it normally is and in fact I had something else on my list. But we started talking about cruises, so I got into a lot of talk about cruising and my insane cruise schedule for the rest of the year. So if you want to hear all about that, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio broadwayradio.com patreon all right, we're gonna start the show off today with the sad news that one of the greatest playwrights in the history of the English language, Ethel Fugard, has passed away at the age of 92 in his home in South Africa. Fugard was an acclaimed playwright, novelist, director, even an actor, and is widely regarded as the greatest playwright in South African history. He is best known for his political and social themes in his shows, most notably opposing the system of apartheid that dominated his country's existence. For for much of his lifetime, he wrote over 30 plays in between writing and directing, was nominated for eight different Tony Awards. He did not win any of the competitive awards, but in 2011 he was recognized with a special award for Lifetime achievement. His shows were most recently seen on Broadway in 2012 when his play the Road to Mecca was revived. His other plays to have appeared on Broadway are Sis We, Bonzi Is Dead, the Island, A Lesson From Aloes, Blood Knot, and most famously, Master Harold and the Boys, which also has seen a number of acclaimed Off Broadway revivals as well. In addition, his novel Tzi was adapted into a film and actually won the Academy Award for Best international feature in 2005. As I said, he passed away at the age of 92 on Saturday in his home in Western Cape, South Africa. And there's already been an incredible outpouring of tributes from people across the not only theatrical but but wider entertainment and even social spheres in the world to his passing. So for anybody who either knew Ethel Fugard or loved his work or was impacted by his work, our thoughts are with you. In other news, late last week the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of four not for profit arts and theater orgs across the country that is challenging the new restrictions placed on the National Endowment for the Arts by President Trump's executive order prohibiting promotion of gender ideology. The lawsuit was filed in Rhode island on Thursday and it basically says that these new restrictions violate the first and Fifth Amendments and are contrary to the governing statutes that oversee the implementation of the National Endowment for the Arts. The four organizations that the ACLU is representing are Rhode Island Latino Arts, National Queer Theater, Inc. The Theater Offensive, and Theatre Communications Group, which is actually a national theater organization that has tons of members who receive funding from the nea, according to Deadline. The lawsuit cites the formation of The NEA in 1965 in which Congress included a provision that grants be determined by artistic excellence and merit, while it sought to prevent political interference in selections of federal funding. Per the lawsuit, National Queer Theatre intends to apply for NEA funding this month, but noted that in applying for a grant, it must check a box agreeing that it would not violate the provision on promoting gender ideology. According to the lawsuit, only because one cannot register to apply for NEA funding without checking the box agreeing to the certification in the application. NQT intends to check that box, but it will simultaneously make clear in writing on the application that it is not agreeing to the gender ideology prohibition because it believes it is legally invalid, despite the fact that, just from my completely unexpert opinion, that seems like a fairly good legal stance for the ACLU and these organizations. Even if judges side on their behalf. I don't have a lot of confidence in things returning to normal or anywhere close to what we are used to with how the NEA operates and distributes grants and funds. And I think that that's across the board. My opinion on every damaging thing that this administration is doing is that even if, as we are seeing across the country, judges are saying judges who were appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents, including Trump himself, they're saying that these things are not legally possible, they are unconstitutional. But the fact that we have to see people and organizations continue to fight just to get back to where they had previously been means that these executive orders that the president and his co president Elon Musk are enacting are having a negative impact and they're having the impact that the administration wants to have. So while it is daunting to have to watch arts organizations fight and claw just to get what had already been not necessarily promised, but part of the equation is frustrating. It is absolutely necessary and hopefully these things are able to create enough of a pushback that it prevents other orders and maneuvers like this from happening deeper into the administration's tenure. All right, let's talk about this week's theatrical schedule. And it is my friends getting busy. We have a ton of things happening on Broadway, have a ton of things happening off Broadway. So I'm going to focus mainly on the Broadway things. But of course I will have links to every show that I mention in the show notes if you want to head over and check those out. That starts tonight because we have not one but two shows beginning previews on Broadway. We will start first over at the Music Box Theater where the Picture of Dorian Gray will begin previews ahead of its March 27 opening. This is a play adapted by Kip Williams, based off of the iconic novel by Oscar Wilde. Williams also directs. Of course. This is a one person show in which succession star Sarah Snook say that five times fast, plays over two dozen characters. There is a video element involved and I've heard that this is one of the most incredible things to see in person. I already have my ticket to see this show when I'm in town. I think at the end of this month. No, it's going to be in April when I see that because I get there at the end of the month I go into April. So I will be seeing this at the beginning of April. I cannot wait. Super excited to see what this is all about. The other show beginning previews on Broadway tonight is over at the Palace Theater. And this is the latest Broadway revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross ahead of its opening on March 31st. It is directed by Patrick Marber and it has a star studded cast including the likes of Bill Burr, Bob Odenkirk, Michael McKeon, Howard W. Overshone, John Perrichello, Donald Weber Jr. And the apple to grace Ake's eye, recent Emmy and Academy Award winner Kieran Culkin. I've never seen this show on play. I've never read this this script, but of course I have seen the movie. Apparently, as I've been told, there are some fairly significant differences between the stage show and the film version. But with a cast like this, I have no doubt that it will continue to be an incredibly dynamic experience at that hallowed theater. Also happening tonight, we have three Off Broadway opening. Just going to run through them quickly that that star studded production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts will officially open up the Lincoln Center Theater. Also opening downtown at the Orpheum Theater will be the Jonathan Larson project and from Soho Rep, the great privation or how to flip 10 cents into a dollar will officially open. While this is a Soho Rep production, it is actually happening at Playwrights Horizons. So if you want to check that out, that's where you can go. Then tomorrow we have two Broadway shows and one incredibly big Off Broadway show Beginning Previews the first Broadway show beginning Previews on Tuesday, March 11th will happen at the Broadhurst Theater and that is Boop, the Betty Boop Musical. It will officially open on April 5th. It features music by David Foster, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead and a book by Bob Martin. It is directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell and it stars in its title role someone who everybody assumes will be one of the breakout stars of this season, Jasmine Amy Rogers. Also in the show include some fairly familiar names to a lot of theater goers as well as some TV viewers as well Eric Bergen, Steven DeRosa, Anastasia McCleskey, Aubie Merrillis, and one of the greats of all time, Faith Prince. The other Broadway show beginning previews on Tuesday Fade in on a show that is destined to make a lot of theater people very happy. Over at the Imperial Theater, Smash begins performances on Tuesday. It is scheduled to open on April 10th. This features a book by Rick Ellis and Bob Martin, who wrote the book for boop. So he's going to have to make a decision as to which show he's going to go see on Tuesday night. It of course features music by Mark Shaiman and lyrics by Shaman and Scott Whitman. Of course, all of these songs, I believe all of the songs, I don't think there's any new songs, but I could be wrong about that are from the TV show Smash. It is directed by the great Susan Stroman and choreographed by Joshua Burgas, who also won an Emmy for his work on the TV version of Smash. The cast features a ton of really, really funny folks, including Jacqueline B. Arnold, Brooks Ashmanskas, John Bealman, Caroline Bowman, Bella Coppola, Casey Garvin, Robin Herder, Christine Nielsen, Krista Rodriguez and many others. This one is just I can't wait. I absolutely cannot wait to see this show. What an absolute whirlwind it has been for Smash fans over the years to go from from loving a TV show that a lot of people hate watched to then seeing different incarnations. They did the BCEFA one night production of Bombshell. There's also been one night performances of Hit List and then they were originally going to actually do Bombshell on Broadway and then I think they realized there's already been Marilyn Monroe musicals that we need to actually do Smash. So now they are doing a musical version of Smash, which is making the musical Bombshell. But it's not exactly the same plot as the TV show. Even though there are characters of the same name, there are different versions of these characters. So it's kind of a through the looking glass moment for people who have loved this TV show for well over a decade. So could not be more excited to finally be able to check this one out in the next month or so. Also happening off Broadway on Tuesday is the first performance of the one person Vanya @ the Lucille Lortel Theater starring the incredible Andrew Scott. I also have tickets to see this. Grace and I are gonna go check this one out together. So very much looking forward to one of my favorite actors doing one of my favorite plays. Also happening on Tuesday over at the Town hall is the one night only concert of the Grease parody. This one features just an absolutely delightful cast of musical theater stars and comedians. The cast includes Kerry Butler, James Carpinello, Ann Harada, Jackie Hoffman, Aisha Jackson, Joel Perez, Amy Spanger, Jelani Remy, Rachel Dratch and more. Just an absolute delightful group. So looking forward to hearing all about that. Then on Wednesday, another Broadway show will begin performances. This one will be happening at the Winter Garden Theater and this is the stage adaptation of Good Night and Good Luck. It is currently scheduled to open on April 3rd. The show was adapted from the screenplay by Grant Heslov and George Clooney. They did the work for the stage version. Not only did Clooney appear in that original film, he also directed it. Here he is taking on a different role than he played in the film and he will actually be playing the central character of renowned television journalist Edward R. Murrow. Also joining him in the cast are Will Dagger, Glenn Fleischler, Alana Glazer, Clark Gregg, Paul Gross, Fran Kronz, Andrew Polk and more. Stars don't come much bigger than George Clooney, so this is one that I think a lot of people are going to be really interested in. It's obviously an incredibly timely show given everything that we are going through in the country and especially things that I talked about at the beginning of this episode. So get thee to the Winter Garden Theater. Then on Thursday we have an Off Broadway opening of the show we talked about last week. Have you met Jane Goodall and her mother off Broadway at the Ensemble Studio Theater. And then on Sunday we have the closing performance of Beckett Briefs from Ira Schrepp. Alright, one little bit of news that I have is happening. On April 14th at 7pm there is going to be a benefit reading of the new musical comedy Genius, which features a book by Michael Heisman and Eileen Reid. Music and lyrics are by Reed and Spanish lyric translations are by Jaime Lozano. This is based off of the novel by Patrick Dennis that was released in 1962. The Stars of this reading are going to be incredible. They include Matthew Broderick, Douglas Sills, Natasha Diaz, Jason Forback, Eddie Corbish, Kara Lindsay, Kate Lowpress, Beth Malone, Leslie Margarita, Judy McClellan, Lane, Alicio Roman and more. So if you want to find out about that, head over to lortel.org and then I have three feel good recommendations for you. The first comes to us from the Walter Kerr Theater. It is the very first footage of the new Hermes on Broadway, Daniel Breaker performing Way Down Hadestown. It is such a different energy than we are used to seeing from Andre de Shields, Lilias White, even John John Briones who I've seen. So very excited to have taken us to see this in May. So cannot wait to see him. And Merle Dangerous along with Haley Kilgore. Then we also have a music video from the new Off Broadway production of Goddess that is going to be taking place over at the Public Theater beginning performances on April 29th. This is a music video for a single that was released last week which we talked about at the time. This is Amber Ammann singing Honey Sweet. And then finally I've got a couple different videos of Buena Vista Social Club being highlighted on morning shows. The first is Good Morning America and the other is CBS Sunday Morning. All right, that's all that I have for you today. Thanks for listening to Today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram broadwayrading. Follow me on Instagram at bwwmatt. Have a wonderful Monday, a wonderful week and we'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.