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Today on Broadway: Thursday, July 3, 2025
00:20:55
Reviews are in for Rachel Zegler in ‘Evita’ as rumors mount about spring Broadway transfer 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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- [00:00]
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Matt Tammanini
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Thursday, July 3, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammanini and I'm.
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Grace Akey
Tummy on a Sunday podcast, Grace Akey.
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Matt Tammanini
Grace, we're going to talk about it a little bit later in the episode, but for people who maybe don't have anything to do on this coming Monday night, July 7, what should they be doing?
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Grace Akey
You should be with me and maybe 200 other people or so. I'm doing a screening of the Vim Vendors Criterion Collection documentary about Buena Vista Social Club from I believe 1999. This is such a celebrated classic film. It's how I learned about Buena Vista Social Club was through this documentary. And I'm thrilled that I'm going to be talking to Javon Moody who plays young Kampai. If you watch the Tony Awards, you watched him, literally introduced the title. He was the titular intro for the Buena Vista Social Club. He's so good in the show and he and I are going to have a little Q and A before we screen the film. So if you have been interested or seen the musical and thought, wow, I would like to learn more about those people and this project. This documentary is so good and it does not get screened. Like this is really, really special. So I'm thrilled that I get to work with Nighthawk Cinema again and do more with the Stage and screen series at 7pm on Monday. So tickets are available, they're on sale now. But please come and please promote it to other people because I think it's going to be really lovely.
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Matt Tammanini
Yeah, we'll talk a little bit more about that and some of the things that you have coming up at the end of the episode. So if you don't have plans, make sure you check that out. But let's dive in to some news here, Grace, because we are coming off of the opening of one of the biggest theatrical events that is going to happen throughout this entire year in London. And that is of course the Jamie Lloyd directed Rachel Zegler revival of Evita that happened at the London Palladium a few days ago. That show is currently on sale just for a very limited 12 week run through September 6th. We've got some news about that that I want to Talk about here in a second, but first we're going to dive into a real quick rundown on reviews and they were mostly pretty positive. All of those early reservations that we had from those the online social media dust ups from the first previews seems to have mostly been for not the reviews were like I said, mixed to positive, mostly positive with some of those mix thrown in and I went back and looked and it's very similar to kind of the reaction that people had to Sunset Boulevard. So if you liked Sunset, I'm not saying you're going to have the reaction, but in terms of the overall climate of the reviews, they were very similar. Let's start with the Telegraph over in London, who was very positive, said, quote zegler makes Lloyd Webber's music sound better than ever. The talent demands our rapture. Equally, her mass seduction of the audience feels carefully plotted, enhancing the show's thematic thrust. Lloyd Jamie Lloyd ensures the evening stokes a cult of personality, combining whistle stop biography with a parable of our age of showbiz politics. The Daily Mail, also incredibly positive, said, quote it's an audio visual tsunami. More Olympic ceremony than stage show. Details of Ava's tragic life story and early death are washed away in the tidal wave. Will anyone care? Probably not go to be knocked out by Zegler alone. The Stage continues that feeling there about Rachel's star power, saying, quote zegler's astonishing vocals, swooping between sweetness and grit, are as undeniable as her megawatt charisma. Now not every review was enthusiastically positive. The Guardian was mixed saying, quote zegler and her West End debut is phenomenal and then goes on to say, however, if you feel denied of the subtleties of story, character and commentary on populist power, you will still have an eye popping night out. Similarly, the Times was mixed saying, quote, rachel Zegler's character is reduced to a blank eyed marionette for virtually the whole show. Her voice is fine, but it has to compete with the musical director Alan Williams Williams's wildly amplified orchestra. Too many songs whirlpast in a semi audible maelstrom. We'll wrap up with Timeout of London, which gave the show four out of five stars, saying, quote, coherence isn't this Evita's strong suit. But there is so much that is good about it, from Zegler to the choreography to the timely antifascist sentiment to that scene, which of course we all know what that is that I can look past a few negatives. It's not just the London theater event of the summer, but the London event of the summer, full stop and grace. To me, that was my feeling coming out of seeing Sunset Boulevard where like, I didn't think that it all coalesced perfectly and there were some directorial choices that I was like, eh, I might have done something differently, but on the whole I didn't care one bit because I loved the total package so much. So it seems to me that while we all saw some of the visual similarities from the pictures and the videos and all of those things that tie these together as obviously Jamie Lloyd Productions, it seems like it is hitting in very similar ways to how Sunset did when it first premiered over in London as well.
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Grace Akey
Yeah, like I, you know, I don't know the history of. I remember the revival and it in, in, in Broadway that featured Ricky Martin, I believe. And I don't, and I don't remember much other than people saying that it was not as successful as they had hoped. And then I know that in the Broadway national tour, I believe it was Caroline Bowman, that was Evita. So like, you know, I'm only familiar in the most recent history of that. But I think that like, Jamie is very exciting and obviously, like, I've talked to ad nauseam about how much I love and am critical of all of the things that are in the Zeitgeist. I think that the praise for Rachel's performance is important. I know that she's gone through so much in the public eye with her projects in the past, especially two years years, but I think that some of that feedback is interesting, like, talking about like, just like the, the stoicness and not allowing for certain performances to come through. I'm curious to see how I will feel about all of those things. But I, I do think that there, there is a lot of commentary going on about like, people's inability to emote or emote in certain places and like, even the, the commentary you just read about like the music and the, that performance in terms of like the orchestrations and whatnot. So I think it's fascinating, but I appreciate all of the nuance takes. Like, I'd rather that than people be like, I don't like that she goes outside and there's cameras. You know what I mean? Like, I'm just, I'm bored, you know, with the, with that, with that criticism. Because I'm just like, okay, well you just don't like that and that's fine. But like, that has no artistic merit here. Like, you know, so I'm grateful that those seem to be a lot of like, nuanced Conversation about direction and like, what's being you know, conveyed on stage versus just kind of like arbitrary. I don't like that.
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Matt Tammanini
Yeah, no, I definitely agree. And you mentioned you're wondering what you will think when you finally see the show. It sounds like whether you go to London or not, you might have an opportunity to see it. Much sooner than we had perhaps originally thought. Because as we talked about previously, Baz Bamba Boy from Deadline, had reported that it was looking like Evito would not be transferring to Broadway until sometime in 2027 for a. For a variety of reasons. Other Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice shows being on Broadway this season, they didn't want to compete. Rachel Zegler, he mentioned, was in line to be playing Maria Von Trapp in a Broadway revival of Sound of Music. Now Baz is backtracking on basically all of those things because coming out of the opening night party, he is reporting something that I have heard as well, that Evita's probably gonna be a part of this Broadway season, that it will be on Broadway in the spring of 2026. That was not necess explicitly stated, but he quotes basically everybody involved with the show, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, including Tim Rice, talking about they want it to be on Broadway as soon as possible and as soon as it is ready. He also talks with Rachel about the potential of a Sound of Music revival. She unequivocally says she will not be leading a Sound of Music revival on Broadway. For what it's worth, I have heard that that was always kind of a mistake, and it was not a Sound of Music revival, but a Sound of Music concert. So whether that is where she is walking the line of whether or not she's going to be playing Maria Von Trapp or not, we will have to wait and see. But it does appear at this point that Evita is heading to New York as soon as humanly possible. I would imagine that will be the spring of this. Of this season, but I guess it could be the fall of 2026, but I would doubt that. But of course, Grace, that also brings up the question about what about Andrew Lloyd Webber having this and Cats on Broadway at the same time? I've also heard that going back and forth, Cats, which we originally thought was going to be having a commercial run off Broadway, then we had heard that it was going to be having a run on Broadway. I've heard that it is now back to being an off Broadway show. So that would eliminate the need to not have the two Andrew Lloyd Webber shows competing against each other. Obviously, Tim Rice would still have Chess and Evita on Broadway in the same season, but because he controls less of like the production side of things, maybe that's not as big of a deal to him. But lots of moving parts, lots still, still to be determined. But wanted to give you updates on all of that. All right, before we get into the rest of the news, let's talk about our sponsor for this week, surfshark. We've all had this experience before when you've gone online to search something random like how do I change a light bulb? Then all of a sudden across every single platform, every single website that you visit, there are ad every single electrician within a five mile radius of wherever you are at that very moment. Not only is it incredibly annoying, but it's also a bit scary about how much every corner of the Internet knows about every single thing that you are doing and thinking. Thankfully, Surfshark can help you out with that. If you're tired of feeling like you're being followed around the Internet, Surfshark VPN has your back. It masks your real IP address and by doing this it hides your online activity, including encrypts your data and blocks all those creepy trackers. I felt so much safer in the last couple years since I started using Surfshark VPN and I could not recommend it more. But beyond online security, Grace, there are other more fun, entertaining ways that surfshark can help you out as well.
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Grace Akey
Yeah, like here's the thing. I love TV and film. I obviously talk about it way too much on this show, but there are only so many things that are actually streaming for any of my given streaming services in the us and it's so often that there might be a note dubbed film that is playing in Japan somewhere or something that I'd want to see. And that's where VPN comes to play. This is why I love surfshark vpn. Because I'm actually able to consume all of the pop culture that I want without having to be afraid of where my dad is going. The fact that like there are so many great TV shows and films being done in other countries and this is the moment that I have been waiting for to where I can actually tap into those things.
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Matt Tammanini
And surfsharks no longer logs policy means that your data isn't stored ever. So whatever you do online stays yours and only yours. So it's time to take control of your online security. Try Surfshark risk free today and enjoy their 30 day money back guarantee. Go to surfshark.com tob for four extra months of Surfshark. That's codetobsurfshark.com URL and code can be found in our show notes. All right, Grace, let's get back to the New York theater news. And this is a show that has been in the works for years and it has been talked about for well over a decade about coming to New York. They've done a ton of workshops. They did a run in Seattle a couple seasons ago, but now finally Romy and Michelle the Musical is going to debut Off Broadway this fall. The show will begin performances at Stage 42 on October 14th ahead of an opening night on October 28th. It will feature a book by the film's original screenwriter, Robin Schiff, with music and lyrics by Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay, in direction by Rock of Ages director Kristen Hange. No cast has been announced at this point, but they've gone through a number of different iterations with different people of varying levels of fame over the years. So it'll be interesting to see if it is mostly the cast that did the show in Seattle or if they're bringing in a completely new group in New York. But when it played in Seattle a couple years ago, it did not get the best reviews. So I'm hoping over the past couple of years they have had an opportunity to refine that because I think the source material really lends itself to some great musical theater opportunities. Moving from Off Broadway to Broadway Yesterday, Grace Hodgett Young announced that she will play her final performance as Betty Schaeffer in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway on July 13, just one week before the show's extended closing date. Sydney Jones, who currently plays Dorothy and understudies Betty and Young Norma, will play the role from July 15th through the 20th. Very interesting to me, Grace. I know there's been a ton of extensions, so people set up things they had to do. Tom Francis had a movie to film, but it's kind of weird to me that other than Nicole, all of the principals are just piecing out really close to the end of this run. So I'm sorry that everybody won't have an opportunity to celebrate the closing together, but thrilled that some of the understudies and standbys will have a chance to go on, least for a handful of performances before they wrap up the Broadway engagement. Speaking of wrapped up Broadway engagements, the Picture of Dorian Gray announced that it recouped its investment on Broadway. Thanks obviously in no small part to the Sarah Snook Tony Award winning performance. So congratulations to them. And then in some disappointing news. We talked about the show just last week after it announced its Off Broadway plans, but the show Girls Will Be Girls has canceled its Off Broadway run that was scheduled to start in just a couple weeks on July 17th over at the Pershing Square Signature Center. This was not a Signature Theater production, but one that was being a rental. The show by claremac did not give an explanation as to why the cancellation was happening, but ticket buyers will receive a refund from their point of purchase. And Grace, I want to circle back to the stage and screen stuff that we started the episode with before we get back into the series that you're doing at Nighthawk. I did want to mention that NTLive has announced their upcoming theater schedule for this season. It will include three different productions. The first one is a show called the Fifth Step that is from David Ireland and it will star Jack Louden from Slow Horses and Martin Freeman from Sherlock the Hobbit, all the things that he has done. That one will be released in cinemas on November 27, but there's another one that'll happen before that on October 23 and that will feature Imelda Staunton and her real life daughter Bessie Carter playing mother and daughter in Mrs. Warren Profession, directed by Dominic Cook. And then on January 26th of 2026 there will be a new production of Hamlet directed by Robert Hastie and it will be led by Olivier Award winner Hiran Abe Sakira from Life of PI. So if you want more information about all of that, you can check out the show notes. Obviously that is a very different stage and screen collaboration, Grace. But as you are kind of going through this process of all of these Nighthawk screenings, you have Buena Vista coming up on Monday. Then Death Becomes her coming up after that, which I want you to talk about. But in your observations in all of the years of watching films and then turn into Broadway shows, what is the key ingredient you can boil down a successful screen to stage adaptation to?
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Grace Akey
I think that and this is going to sound so reductive and so stupid. Please bear with me. I think that if we're looking at a romantic no, no, let's just say a musical comedy, let's give an example like Death becomes her comedy with the performances that are executed are at the root of the the like how much this film is adored and why, especially within queer culture people continue to watch this film, right? It's like the performances are iconic because they let these characters be full characters. And the comedy exists within those performances is not just the words on the Page. I think that the success of Death becomes her the musical is also rooted in the fact that they understand these characters and these actors who created their version of these characters rooted in comedic Personas. Like Jennifer Simard's version of that character is the one that she is playing. It's not something that can be fully written. It's a collaborative process between the book writer, the music writers, the original intention of the ip, but also her right. And so I think that like, we miss the plot sometimes. The phrase not like the actual plot, but I think that we mistakenly don't look at what makes the film so likable before we start, like trying to adapt it. And I even think about that within like music. Like, what are the things that make Blank Person's music canon so catchy? Is it because the era of disco was so euphoric and like the feeling of being in, in Studio 54 was so intoxicating, whereas outside of that space, is that music as enjoyable? I don't know. But do you know what I'm saying? Like, I think that or not pulling apart, like, the thing that makes this pasta dish so good is not because it's pretty, it's because there's a shit ton of butter in it. Is, is there a lot of butter in this version of that pasta? If there isn't, it might not taste as good. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I, I think that we're not always looking at the things that make the ingredients so delectable within musical comedy or, you know, a dramatic film. I, I don't know that all of those things are being explored. And if they are, I don't think that they're being expl all the time. So I think that that's the opportunity that we have here with adaptation that I am so passionate about because I think it's an opportunity and not the way that other people describe them as. Like, we're tired of these adaptations. I'm like, I mean, okay, but like, this was art at some point. Like, this was a book or this was a thought, like this was a, an award winning film at some time, or this was incredibly campy and funny. So I don't want to poo poo those things, but I think that sometimes it doesn't feel like all of those things are being considered when making the adaptation. And then people wonder why, oh, but it's based on such a popular film. Oh, it's based on such a popular, you know, musician. How could this have failed? And I'm like, well, I don't think that you copied the. The recipe my guy. Like, I, I think that you some. You know the reason that how to train your dragon live action here here's that take is so good is because half of it is shot for shot. The cartoon people like that. Like, you know, I wanted to see Toothless fly. I did. Like, that's, that's the kind of the gag. So I think that that's. That's how I feel annoying about it.
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Matt Tammanini
Yeah, no, I think that's very insightful. So Buena Vista Social Club with Broadway company member Devon Moody will be on Monday, July 7th at 7pm Then death becomes her. The screening will be at 7:15 on Monday, July 14th. Anything else you need to say about that one?
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Grace Akey
I. I just want to say that, like, I'm super excited. The lineup that we're announcing on Social is really excellent of of my panel of guests for the Q and A. I think it'll be really cool and I just love this opportunity. So just again, shout out to RPM and the team behind Death becomes her for collaborating with me on this. This is going to be really cool. And yeah, I'm just excited to continue this series and also get to uplift the. The Broadway community that I love so dearly and talk about the things that I'm passionate about. And also film, because I love movies, too.
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Matt Tammanini
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. And if you want more BroadwayRadio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio Grace, where can people find you?
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Grace Akey
You can find me at graceaki.
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Matt Tammanini
All right, everybody, have a wonderful Thursday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.