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Today on Broadway: Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025
00:11:15
‘Eureka Day’ Extends, ‘Stereophonic’ to Tour, ‘Wicked’ Leads SAG Nominations 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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- [00:02]
Matt Tiamineni
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Thursday, January 9, 2024. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tiamineni and I'm.
- [00:07]
Grace Aki
Telling on a Sunday podcast. Grace Ake.
- [00:10]
Matt Tiamineni
Grace, you weren't on yesterday's show, but yesterday I talked about the incredibly star studded cast of the Lincoln Center Theater Off Broadway production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, led by, amongst others, one of your faves, Billy Cruda.
- [00:26]
Grace Aki
Listen, from when I saw Billy Crudup down at Omar, I said, he's back in the game. He's gonna be in theater sometime soon. And was I wrong, Matt? No, I wasn't. Of course I wasn't. Were any of the people that are in this cast in that show? No, but I am excited about this play. Like I had so many people reach out and say, okay, so you're going. And I was like, yeah, I have to. So I'm very excited.
- [00:52]
Matt Tiamineni
Yeah, great cast. Lily Rabe, Hamish Linkletter, Billy Crudup, and then some offspring of even more famous people. So should be fun. Begins performances on February 13th. All right, Grace, Another fun announcement that we got on Wednesday is the fact that Eureka Day has extended again for a second time. And this will be the final extension because they have other things to go in to the Samuel J. Friedman Theater. But yesterday was announced that the show will now play through February 16th. But the thing that's interesting about that, Grace, is that I'm not sure when Amber Gray, who is one of the stars of the show, will be leaving because she has to head over to London to do Hadestown at the beginning of February or like the middle of February, I think. So I'm not exactly sure when she will have to leave, but I do not think she's gonna be able to do the entire extended run. But the rest of the cast is also tremendous. Jessica Hecht, Bill Irwin, Thomas Middleditch, Chelsea, Akia Kurtz, and Ebony Flowers. So if you haven't seen like Grace, you and I both haven't seen it. I was supposed to see it on my last trip and then I got sick. I'm gonna see it when I'm in town in a couple weeks, hopefully with you, depending on your schedule. But this is one that I think a lot of people have been really excited about and I'm thrilled that it's gotten not one, but two extensions during its run on Broadway.
- [02:12]
Grace Aki
Yeah, it's very exciting. I can't wait to see this show with you. I think that it's again, like we're really having a really great play season Especially at these, you know, MTCs and LTC, like the, like all of the different, you know, the second stage, like, everyone is having a really, really strong play season. And I'm very excited that this has gotten such a great critical response.
- [02:33]
Matt Tiamineni
Another play that has gotten a great critical response and like Eureka Day started off Broadway before coming to Broadway is Stereophonic. And as that show is getting ready to wrap up its Broadway run this weekend on Sunday the 12th, it has made a number of announcements. The first is that the show has recouped its Broadway investment, so it is now an official Broadway hit show. But also it is going to be heading over to London's Duke of York's Theatre beginning in May for a West End run. And then we'll begin a national tour starting in Seattle in October. I don't know if this is going to be like the full Broadway across America, you know, Lion King type of national tour. It might be one of those things where it goes to a handful of big regional theaters like Ja Ja's African Hair Braiding Did, I Believe last fall. But nonetheless, the fact that this show is getting an opportunity to. To go out and for more audiences to see it across not only this country, but also in the UK is tremendous. Again, if it's playing anywhere near me, I'm going to have to see it on this tour because I'm still not over it. It's been months since I saw it and I'm still nowhere close to being over how incredible this show is. Grace. And one other thing is that Concord Theatricals has acquired the worldwide licensing rights, so you can get it through Samuel French, which is a subsidiary of Conc. So not only are we gonna get it in the West End, we're gonna get it on tour. And we're also gonna get tons of regional theater productions of this over the next five to 10 years. Grace.
- [04:06]
Grace Aki
And I'm available for those. I just wanna be clear. For the second signature, you give me a call? No, but I think this is really great. I was excited for the launch of the West End. I didn't know that there would be a tour, but this is like. This is just so great. It's a great piece of theater. I think that it's gonna do super well on the West End and what an exciting thing. I mean, I'm just waiting for the inevitable Max film of it or the film about it, like, who, who. Who knows? Or who cares? But it's. It feels inevitable and it's the right move. I. I love that there's been an exciting clout or, you know, cult following with this play. It's just so strong. It's my. It was on my Spotify wrapped. It was my number one Spotify wrapped song was bright, fast version. So there you go.
- [04:49]
Matt Tiamineni
Yeah, seems fair to me. We also got some Off Broadway news yesterday that is interesting. And we're going to play a little guessing game here after that. But it was revealed that current Off Broadway Little Shop of Horror stars Sherri Renee Scott and Nicholas Christopher will play their final performances as Audrey and seymour, respectively, on February 23rd. That means that they will have been in the roles for almost exactly four months. But, Grace, it's time for everybody's favorite game. Who's next? Who do you want to see next as Seymour and Audrey Off Broadway in Little Shop of Horrors?
- [05:27]
Grace Aki
You know what? Everything's. Everybody's booked and blessed. Here's what I'd say. You know what I want?
- [05:32]
Matt Tiamineni
Okay.
- [05:32]
Grace Aki
I want Leslie Kritzer and Alex Brightman. That's what I want.
- [05:37]
Matt Tiamineni
That's good. That's a little. That's a little Spamalot. That's a Spamalot reunion. I'll go with.
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Grace Aki
That's a Beetlejuice reunion. It's also.
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Matt Tiamineni
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah.
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Grace Aki
Another green eerie. Exactly. But I think that they would freaking crush in that together. So that's my take.
- [05:54]
Matt Tiamineni
I'll go with another Broadway reunion. And I will go with Chris Fitzgerald, also Spamalot connections there. Chris Fitzgerald as Seymour and Katrina Link as Audrey.
- [06:10]
Grace Aki
You know that we've both just said two box. I just want to say that we've just said two box. So two box make a right. That's what I'm trying to say.
- [06:19]
Matt Tiamineni
Yeah, that's a very good point. Okay, can you explain to me what the whole thing about how.
- [06:25]
Grace Aki
Matt, if you're bringing up Bokdok.
- [06:28]
Matt Tiamineni
Yeah. I don't know what it is. I've seen people making fun of it, but I don't get it. Is it just because, like, she says it weird? Is that what it is?
- [06:36]
Grace Aki
The Internet is a funny place. The genesis of this is that people latched on to the. The actor's pronunciation of Bach, even though, like, everyone, it's a funny name. So it doesn't matter. It's not. It's not, you know, annoying. It's not like this actress messed up or anything. It's just a funny ending to a phrase in a song. Me and Bach. And there's like 100 different versions of different Nessarosa singing that. And people have really latched onto it on TikTok specifically. And then there was also a creator that was obsessed with hating on Bach and is also the one that created the Washington Square Park Bach lookalike contest. And so it's just taken on a life of its own. It's very funny and silly and hopefully in good taste. But honestly, a lot of people were really coming down on Nessa and Bach in the Internet sphere, which is so funny.
- [07:33]
Matt Tiamineni
I mean, you have gone on record talking about how they're both terrible people. Maybe not so much in the first act that we only saw in this movie, but in totality of Wicked. Neither of them are all that good. So I guess it's fair in the long term. But the people who only know them from the movie might not have seen their Wicked sides, I guess. But speaking of Wicked, yesterday we got the complete announcement of the SAG Award nominations. Those were announced yesterday and the winners will be streamed live on Netflix on February 23rd. There were a ton of nominations for Wicked. Actually there were five of them. It got leading female actor for Cynthia Erivo, supporting male actor for Jonathan Bailey, supporting female actor for Ariana Grande, best action performance by a stunt ensemble, and best cast, which for the SAG Awards is the biggest honor. Also some other things that are nominated. A complete unknown, which is the semi musical about Bob Dylan, which has a bunch of Broadway people in it that was nominated for best cast, as was Spanish language movie musical Emilia Perez, which just won the Golden Globe, which many people were very upset about. But that's neither here nor there. But other stage names that have gotten nominations, Colman Domingo, Kieran Culkin, Jeremy Strong, Kevin Kline, Kristin Miliotti, Eddie Redmayne, Allison Janney, Martin Short, Kristen Bell, Liza Colon, Zayas, Jean Smart and others. So some very fun things as we continue to work our way through awards season. This Friday, I believe. Yeah, this Friday is the Oscar nominations. So that will be very, very interesting and very, very exciting to see how those play out for the Academy Awards that'll be announced in. Actually, I don't know if it's in February or March. I'm guessing March. Yeah, probably in March when the Oscars happen. All right, Grace, a fun press release that I got on Wednesday has to do with our dear friend Robbie Roselle. He will have his next cabaret show on May 23rd over at 54 below. This one is called Citation Needed. According to the press release, it'll be Robbie's pitch to indicate that he has achieved Wikipedia level status with songs and stories from his nearly 30 years in showbiz. This one is obviously something you want to put on your calendars. He will, as always, be joined by the Two Drink Minimum, which is his backing band, but just thrilled that Robbie is getting to do this. Although every time he does another show. I don't know if he says this to you, Grace, but every time I talk to him after a show, he's like, that's my last one. I can't do it. I'm too tired. It's too much work. It's too expensive. I'm never doing one again. And then inevitably, he does another one.
- [10:09]
Grace Aki
Listen, Robbie Roselle, King of the cabaret and the 54 below. I'm very excited that this is happening. I was wondering when the next one was going. It's been a second. So this is really, really cool. And obviously we support our friend and are going to have a great time. So make sure that you get your tickets now because they inevitably always sell out. So please, just go ahead, get it, do it.
- [10:33]
Matt Tiamineni
All right, that is our recommendation. Get tickets to Robbie's show, 54 below. You definitely want to do that now, sooner rather than later. But I will have an episode of Some like it pop in the Patreon feed. But if you want to hear all about everything that Jennifer McHugh and I loved in the month of December, and then looking back on our favorites from 2020, 24 in totality, make sure that you head over to Patreon and sign up at the mezzanine tier and above. 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. Oddly reading. You can follow me on Instagram @BW Met Grace. Where can people find you?
- [11:04]
Grace Aki
You can find me at. It's Grace Aki.
- [11:05]
Matt Tiamineni
All right, everybody, have a wonderful Thursday and we'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.