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Today on Broadway: Monday, Sept. 22, 2025
00:15:51
Eisenberg to bring ‘Ziegfeld Files’ Off-Broadway, Bob the Drag Queen to join ‘Moulin Rouge,’ ‘Purple Rain’ cast sings Prince Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Monday thro...
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Welcome to TODAY on Broadway for Monday, September 22, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamminini and I'm exhausted. Grace Aki Grace, you are exhausted because you have just spent like 10 hours at Broadway Flea, which we will talk about here a little bit later in the show. But for everybody who went out there, I hope you found all the little treasures that you were hoping for and got all the autographs and all that stuff. But we'll dive into your experience there, Grace, here in just a few minutes. But we want to start with some news. And kicking off the show today is an interesting arrangement for a new show off Broadway and it is going to be coming to Studio Seaview. Now you might be saying, oh, it must be coming later on in the season because currently at Studio Seaview is the return engagement of Jordan Tannehill's Prince F that just began performances here in the last few weeks. Well, that's not exactly the case because beginning on October 6th for seven performances only, at least for now, Jesse Eisenberg is going to be debuting his new one person show called the Ziegfeld Files. It is going to run for seven performances, one on October 6th, 20th and 27th, November 3rd, 17th and 24th and then December 1st, it is going to be directed by Pulitzer Prize finalist Shayak Misha Chaudhry and it is going to be like a reading of it and Eisenberg is just going to read it on book even though he wrote it. But the show is called the Ziegfeld Files and it draws from therapy recordings of a new father story struggling to connect with his baby. It is going to happen on the Dark Knights of Prince F over at Studio Seaview. So obviously Jesse Eisenberg, big star, but also has deep theater connections both as an actor and a writer. So Grace, we always talk about like filling in the dark nights, having residencies come in and out on Monday nights. Studio Seaview Off Broadway. It seems like they're going to take that type of opportunity whenever humanly possible.
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I mean, it makes sense. You know, everyone's trying to find that gap in the market to say, like, what can we offer that others can't? And I really appreciate that they're doing so in such an exciting, thoughtful way. And also, like, the proceeds going to charity, it's just a smart move. And. And especially for famous creators like Jesse, it makes sense to do it in this capacity.
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Yeah. You mentioned the charity aspect of this in a statement. Eisenberg said, quote, I'm so grateful to see producing it and giving me somewhere to go on Mondays. I'm also very happy that part of the proceeds will be going to organizations providing relief to Haiti, which makes sense when you see the show. So fantastic. Always great when you can connect the artistic and the charitable sides of theater. Moving up a few blocks in midtown Manhattan, we got some news about a new star joining the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge. Grace, maybe this means you're gonna have to go back for, like, the sixth time and see it. And that is because taking over Wayne Brady as Harold Zidler will be Bob the Drag Queen from originally RuPaul's Drag Race, but most recently seen on season three of the Traitors. And Bob is going to be taking over on January 27, which is interesting because I had been led to believe that this show wouldn't be around on January 27th. So apparently things are changing. It is going to be an eight week run at the Al Hirschfeld Theater from January 27th through March 22nd. Grace, for people who are unfamiliar with Bob, either from Drag Race or from the Traitors, what can we be getting ourselves into when they join the production?
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C
Bob is a hilarious performer, like a true comedian has done stand up, understands crowd work, understands an audience. I think he's just going to be phenomenal in the show, and I have to be there in January. That's all I can say.
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Yeah. Bob released his debut novel, Harriet Tubman Colon, Live in Concert, which became a New York Times bestseller, which seems very funny. Bob actually moved to New York City 17 years ago to become an actor on Broadway and did all those auditions and everything before getting into the drag world as well. So this seems like it is right up Moulin Ridge's alley and should do very, very well for them over at the Hirschfeld now that it is not closing like I had been told. All right, Grace, let's dive into this week's theatrical schedule. And there's a lot. So I'm just going to hit the Broadway stuff. I'll mention the Off Broadway stuff, but of course I will have links in the show notes to everything. All right, let's get this schedule started on Thursday night when down at the Public Theater, John Leguizamo's new play the Other Americans, which we have talked about a number of times, it's already been extended, will officially open Off Broadway and then also happening on Thursday night at the Soho Playhouse will be Unconditional with un in parentheses, written by Ali Keller and directed by Ivy Lowe. Then also on Thursday night we will have the world premiere first preview performance of let's Love by Ethan Cohen, directed by Neil Pepe and starring Aubrey Plaza and others. This show is currently scheduled to run through November 9th, but I would not be surprised if that ends up getting some extensions there. Then on Friday we get our first Broadway performance for the new revival of Ragtime happening at Lincoln Center. Of course, we have talked about this one a lot. It is directed by Lyric de Bessenet who also did the most recent New York City Center Encores production when she was the artistic director at Encores. Now she's the artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater and she's bringing this production over. The word on the street is that it is not going to be a direct replica of what was done at City center and will instead be, I mean maybe still partially a concert but will be a much larger production based on the fact that it is not a two week run and the Vivian Beaumont Theater is gigantic. David Korins is doing the scenic design which makes me think that there is going to be something a little bit more than just the scaffolding that they had at City Center. But the cast of course is tremendous. Going to run through some of the stars in alphabetical order. We have Anna Grace Barlow as Evelyn Nesbitt. We have Rod Cyrus as Harry Houdini, Colin Donnell as Father Joshua Henry as Coolhouse Walker Jr. We have Nichelle Lewis as Sarah Ben Levi Ross as Mother's younger brother, Shayna Taub as Emma Goldman, Brandon Uranowitz as Tatya and Casey Levy as Mother who I skipped and that's why she's not in alphabetical order. Grace, I know you have worked a little bit on the promot of this. The question is are you actually going to get to see it?
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God, I hope so for the first time in my to see this show. But no, I'm excited for everybody involved and like I'm eager to also see, you know, some of that David Coren's iconic scenic design because he's just so, so phenomenally talented in every show that I've ever seen him do the work for. So I'm really excited to add this element to it there at Lincoln Center.
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This show is currently a limited run scheduled to play through January 4th, so make sure that you get over there between now and the end of the year. Then on Saturday, we have an off Broadway closing for this multiple extended run of Josh Sharp. Ta da. Directed by Sam Pinkleton. It is running at the Greenwich house theater. So if you haven't seen that, this is your last opportunity. Then on Sunday, we have another Broadway opening and that will be at the Hudson theater with with the just still bonkers production of Waiting for gato, directed by Jamie Lloyd and starring Keanu Reeves and Alex winter, along with Zane Arora, Brandon J. Dearden, Michael Patrick Thornton, and Eric Williams. Eric and Zayn are rotating as the boy. This one, also a limited run playing through January 4th. The. The. The mad libs of this one, Grace just feels so perfect and so exciting. I cannot wait to have the opportunity to see this show. They're only two weeks of previews, so they have to feel pretty good about getting this one up because that's a pretty short time, especially for, you know, Keanu has never done. Has never been on Broadway before, while the rest of the principal cast has. But very excited to see what this one looks like, especially with these two stars, but probably even more so with Jamie Lloyd at the direction.
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C
Another one that I'm excited to be a small cog in the wheel on that I hope I get to see someday because, I mean, it's doing so phenomenally well and great for them.
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Yeah. All right. Also happening on Sunday will be the final Broadway performance of Jeff Ross Cole and take a banana for the ride playing at the Nederlander theater. We will also have a couple off Broadway openings on Sunday. First is the Honey trap from the Irish repertory theater. And we're at yout beloved Cherry lane theater, Grace. And then we also have off Broadway closings with the brothers sighs at the shed and the Wild duck from theater for a new audience. All right, Grace, real quick. Let's get into your experience at the flea. Long day. How was the weather? What were the crowds like? What lovely things did you find? I saw f was signing autographs. Give us the whole rundown.
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C
So the short and sweet is that it was a beautiful day to have the Broadway flea. It is bigger than it's ever been. I love that so many people want to obviously get treasures of their own, but ultimately they are donating back to Broadway care. And that, to me, is just something that we should always be excited to celebrate, especially for all of these young theater goers that absolutely flooded the streets of 44th and 45th. If Broadway radio listeners remember, there were several years ago where I went. I go every year to the Broadway Flea for the past 10 years and maybe two, two, three years ago, because last year, Broadway Flea was on Drew Gasparini's wedding. Today is their anniversary. Congrats to them. And so I missed it last year. But a couple of years ago, I was at the Disney Theatricals booth, and I had, you know, this really fabulous Olaf from the Frozen tour, you know, piece of bulletin, I think that was outside of a theater ripped from my hands. And another patron I did not want to have a street fight with got to take home F instead. Although my F is always at home with me. And so I remember that I've told this story on Broadway radio before. This year, I got a bit of a redemption arc because I am the proud owner of a very large where will it go in my home? Who's to say? But if you go to my social. As soon as we're done recording this, there will be a reveal of what I got to actually get at the Broadway Flea that was much better than what I could have ever gotten last time. So thank you to Disney Theatricals Booth for setting me up really good with a new item.
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I am. I am intrigued. I cannot wait to see what that is. But all right. Were there any other treasures that you saw that you thought were interesting? Maybe not for you, but anything else that you thought was really unique?
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No, I actually got a really fabulous mini poster for war paint in Hong Kong. That one was really fun. Just two gorgeous Asian women that I'm going to be looking up later in the production that happened, I guess, in Hong Kong several years ago. And then my favorite illustrator of all time is Hilary Knight. He's most famous for having penned Eloise and a few other iconic characters. I got several of window cards that he illustrated for Broadway. One is I Love My Wife, and the other is meet me in St. Louis. And I didn't even. I was like, you know, going through a box of old from the AMT PTM table, I think some union table. And I was going through all these window cards, and very quickly, I just recognized his gorgeous illustration, and I was like, okay, I think that this is a Hillary Knight. I'll hold it for later. And then, sure. Enough. I found his signature right as I was about to purchase them. So I love those, those little things where it's like, you know, getting to knowing how much work goes into making the key art. As a person who also works in the advertising side of these things, it's really special when I get to like see someone's artistry so vividly in some vintage window cards. So there was a lot of really great stuff, a lot of people rocking some heart of rock and roll merch, which really made my heart soar. F signed some. You know, it was the first time that we'd ever really gone together and that was just really lovely. It was a really special day. I obviously spent the entire day walking around and getting to chat with folks. So, yeah, it was a good time.
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Love that. All right, we have some quick show and casting news that I want to go over. Last week, MCC Theater announced two new plays that were joining their season. Both of them will happen after the first of the year. The first one is going to be done with clubbed thumb, page 73. It is called Cold War Choir Practice, which actually premiered at Clubbed Thumb's summer works program earlier this year. It is going to run from February 21st through March 29th. And it is a new play with music by Ro Redick, directed by Knud Adams, and it is described in press notes as, quote, a fugue of Reaganomics, espionage, roller disco and cults. Sounds great to me. The other one will be the New York premiere of Jared Spector's Birthright. That'll be running from January 4th of next year through July 12th. Teddy Bergman is going to direct this show about a group reuniting nearly two decades after a shared Birthright trip to Israel. And then the other little bit of show and casting news comes to us from Playwrights Horizons and they've announced the cast for the upcoming world premiere of Nazareth Hassan's Practice. It is going to be playing starting next month, October 30 through December 7. Kenan Tyler Oliphant is directing and the cast will include, amongst others, Opa Adeyamo, Karina Currit, Mark Junick, Hayward Leach Meyer, Margarita Ronald Pete, Susanna Perkins, Alex Wise, and more. If you want more information on that one, you can head over to the Show Notes and then to wrap up Grace, I've got a handful of videos here as recommendations, all for shows that are either running or will be running soon. The first one comes to us actually from Minneapolis because we have the stars of the forthcoming Purple Rain musical doing some some songs from Prince. We've got a ballad version of I Would Die for you featuring Chris Collins and Rachel Webb, who are playing the boy I think is his name and Apollonia in the musical. And then they also are doing Take Me with youh with a little bit of kiss thrown in as well. So if you want to see what those two stars look and sound like singing some Prince songs, we will have that in the show notes. And then two from recent NBC talk show performances. Jonathan Groff performed Mack the Knife on the Tonight show last week. And then the cast of Mamma Mia. Sang the title song from that show on the Today Show. So if you want to check out any of those videos, we will have those in the show notes. All right, that is all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to Today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram rodwayradio. And if you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio Grace, where can people find you?
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C
You can find me hopefully taking a nap at Graceaki.
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All right, everybody, have a wonderful Monday, a wonderful week, and we'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.