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Today on Broadway: Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025
00:14:00
‘Wicked: For Good’ trailer, New Jersey Night on Broadway, ‘The Lion King’s’ 11,000th performance 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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From the Cascades to PDX to your kitchen. We recycle like we live here. That's why governments, brands and recycling companies are all joining together to bring change to make recycling better. As in trusting that your recyclables end up in the right places to be made into new things and having brands help fund the cost of recycling. You can find the Latest updates@recycleon.org Oregon. From Mount Hood to the bin under your desk, together we can do this.
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B
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Thursday, September 25, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammanini and I'm.
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C
Tell Me on a Sunday Podcast Grace.
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B
Aki Grace again, we want to make sure that everyone knows we will be doing a Q and A episode over on Patreon here coming up sometime this weekend. So if you have questions for us, send them to us@patreonrodwayradio.com and we'll have a little conversation. We might record it on Sunday since this is no longer summer without an episode of Today on Broadway on Monday. All of our Patreon exclusive episodes won't necessarily be released on the weekends, but we might record it on Sunday and get it out to you sometime early next week. So if you have questions, send them to us. If there are things that you just want to hear us talk about, let us know and we will dive into that sometime in the next few days. But Grace, let's get into the news and again, we are in the middle of Rosh Hashanah at least as we're recording. So not a ton going on in terms of news, but the biggest thing in both the theatrical and really pop culture worlds on was the fact that Universal released the final trailer for Wicked Colon for good. The film is going to be released at this point less than two months from now on November 21st. That is also the same day that the soundtrack is going to come out. So you can pre order that in the video as well. I'll have a link to the YouTube video where you can watch that. It is a visually stunning trailer, Grace. It hits all of the notes and literally and figuratively that you would want from the second half of Wicked. Obviously it's kind of going to be its own structured story since it is not just the back half of the musical anymore. They are expanding it with a couple new songs. There were some pretty interesting shots from the musical that are included in here. We have that epic battle when it's Broomstick versus Wand between Glinda and Elphaba. We Also have kind of our first look at how they are going to handle the shoes on Nessarose. We've talked about in the past how they aren't going to necessarily going to have Nessa walk since Marisa Boddy is a wheelchair user in real life. They are going to kind of use some extra magic to create that scene when she puts these slippers on. We see a little bit of that. We do get a moment of kind of the loving embrace with Fiyero and Elphaba. We get a glimpse of the Tin Man. It's a pretty interesting trailer. Lots of little Easter eggs. Not spoilers, I don't think, but certainly some fun little Easter eggs in their grace that a lot of Wicked fans from the Sage version are probably going to really enjoy.
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C
Oh, yeah. And I think that, like, you know, everyone's been craving that next, like, bit. I saw that Ethan posted, like, you know, the little tin. The. The Tin man photo, which is kind of shocking, frankly, that they were allowed to do that. So good for them. I'm really excited to see the whole thing. I don't like teases. I just want to see it.
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Well, and that's the thing too is it's like this musical has been out for over 20 years. It's based on the wizard of Oz, which has been around for a century at this point. Obviously, there are some twists and turns in Wicked that musical theater fans know that maybe the larger public doesn't. But what do you think about what they can and should spoil in air quotes from trailers like this, either specifically or in general? I just feel like there's not really that much to spoil other than who the Tin man and the Scarecrow are, I guess. Like, other than that, like, there aren't spoilers. It's the wizard of Oz, for God's sake.
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C
Everyone's precious about their ip and that's just how it is. I don't know.
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B
I know. And our friend Kate Ranking said on Twitter that, like, what Wicked considers spoilers and what like Wicked fans consider spoilers are obviously very different because, like in the original cast album for Wicked, they don't include the Wicked Witch of the west song, which I always thought was weird and a mistake. Is that a surprise? Everyone knows that the Wicked Witch of the east song. I'm sorry, Everyone knows the Wicked Witch of the West's sister is who gets crushed by the house. So she's the Wicked Witch of the East. Why is that a surprise that Nessa Rose becomes evil? I don't know. It's all Very strange to me, but very much looking forward to seeing the second half of the Wicked screen adaptation when it comes to us over Thanksgiving this fall. Grace Back over at the Lyceum Theater, we got a little bit more casting news for some of the ins and outs of oh Mary. We already knew that current Mary Todd Lincoln, Jinx Monsoon, would be ending her run in the role on September 28, and we knew that for a couple of weeks. Hannah Solow, who is the understudy for Mary, would be stepping in from September 30 through October 12, and Kumail Nanjiani and Michael Urie are going to be exiting with Jinx Monsoon. We now know that the show is going to be welcoming back two previous cast members to fill in alongside Hannah. Philip James Brannon, who has previously played Abe, will be back. And original cast member James Scully, who is playing Mary's teacher, will be back as well. They will go again from September 30 through October 12, which means they will be ending their run just as Jane Krakowski comes in on October 14th. So that means we don't know who's going to be playing the parts of Abe and John with Jane Krakowski. So I can only imagine we will be getting those announcements here fairly soon since that is in like three weeks. I am very, very interested because we have talked so much about how incredible the casting has been for this show, Grace of what this could be. I would still love to see Titus play Abe after having played Mary to do it alongside Jane Krakowski. But I imagine that there are probably some very, very cool fan casting possibilities to star alongside Jane Krakowski for her eight week run in the show.
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C
Yeah, bring in Ellie Kemper. I don't care, like do it all Tina. What's she up to? You know, like, I think that this is really good stuff. So again, anytime that there's new casting for this, it's always smart.
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What would you think if, I mean, we've seen men, women and non binary people play Mary. How would you feel about a woman playing Abe in this? Do you think that that would work if Tina Fey came in? Obviously if Tina Fey came in, like it would sell out even more than it already is. But just like, do you think that would work if Abe was played by a woman?
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C
Yeah, I think that whenever people are like having these inquiries, I think that the as long as what is being suggested is not taking from a more marginalized space, meaning if a non male actor wants to play a male role, great. But when a more privileged person is taking the Place of a less privileged otherwise part. If you catch what I'm putting down, that's. That's when it becomes tedious. Because I think that we've seen that across other shows that I don't want to get into. But like, that, that's the hang up. It's not, can people do it? Of course people could do it. I think that it's more a question of, like, is the opportunity being taken from an otherwise less marginalized person and like putting a woman in a guy role or whatever you want to call it. Like, this show doesn't have gender. It never has. So I think that anybody could play any of those roles. And if they're funny, it's gonna work.
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Yeah. And obviously everybody who they have brought in as replacements in the show has been hysterical. So I'm also good. I said it before. Carol Kane as Mary Chaperone. I would love that as well. Titus, let's get the full. Let's get the full Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt reunion happening over at the Lyceum Theater now. Grace, have you seen Exorcistic, the rock musical yet?
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Not yet. Not yet, but I want to.
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I have heard so many people talk about how absolutely hilarious it is, and this is probably my fault. I thought this was just like a straight parody of the Exorcist films. And it is, but it isn't. And I didn't realize this. But the reason I want to talk about it is because the show has now been extended at the Asylum NYC. It is going to play through appropriately, Halloween, October 31st. So the show, written by Michael Shaw Fisher, is part self aware parody, but also kind of like an original story. It follows a theater company that is planning to put on a parody of the Exorcist as kind of like a new way to like raise money. But as the company takes the show from staged reading to Broadway money and fame, kind of takes over the art and, you know, personal relationships that go into making theater. And then it leads to the main actress, played by Emma Hunton, actually becoming possessed in the process. So I don't. I mean, I. I feel like I've read that plot description before, but it didn't occur to me and like, it didn't all sink in for me. But I've heard so many people say that this is great and I'm excited that it's been extended. I hope I have an opportunity to see it. In addition to Emma Hunt and the rest of the cast, there is a secret Broadway guest star at every performance. Darren Criss. Did it on opening night. Other names who have been confirmed to appear either already or will at some point during the run include like, Lance Bass, Jamie Sapiro, Garrett Clayton, Frankie Grande, Lena Hall, Marissa Jarrett Winoker, Evan, Rachel Wood, and Lindsay Heather Pierce, Steven Taylor, a bunch of other folks. So I'm hoping to get this one in on my trip in October or if it extends beyond that, hopefully in November as well. Now, Grace, what are you doing on October 22nd? I know you probably don't know at this point, but just in general, October 22, any big plans going on that night?
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I'm sure I do. I'm not even kidding. I am sure that I do. This month is going to kill me.
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All right, well, if you don't, there is a special promotion from the Broadway League specifically for you and millions of other New Jersey residents. It will be the first ever New Jersey night on Broadway. This new Broadway League initiative will include not only discounted tickets, but transportation and dining in a special ticket offer. Almost two dozen Broadway shows are participating and there's a whole slew of buy one get one free deals as well. The tickets are buy one get one free for $17.87 to commemorate the year that New Jersey became a state, 1787. And they include free New Jersey Transit tickets. And the included shows are Aladdin, Angeliet, Beetlejuice, the Book of Mormon, Buena Vista Social Club, Chicago, Death Becomes Her, Great Gatsby, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hell's Kitchen, Liberation, the Lion King, maybe Happy Ending, mj, Moulin Rouge, the Outsiders, the Queen of Versailles, six, Stranger Things, the First, Shadow and Wicked. Although you should note that Angelique, Chicago and the Outsiders will actually do it on the 23rd because the 22nd is a dark night for them. There are 18 different restaurants offering deals for New Jersey night, so if you are a New Jersey resident, I'll have all the information in the show notes and you can check that out there. And this one's fun. Over at Joe's Pub there will be a staged reading of Mark Kudisch and Paul Iacono's unauthorized Batman parody musical Gotham Rogues. It is being directed by Rachel Klein and it is loosely adapted from the the Animated Series episode the Trial, which is very cool. The cast will include Kudish as the Joker, Terrence Archie as Two Face, Ayakono as the Riddler, Lauren Molina as Harley Quinn, Brenda Braxton as Catwoman, Barrett Letty as the Mad Hatter, Eddie Corbish as Mr. Freeze, Burke Moses as Batman, Clyde Vos as Nightwing and Lauren Lester, who actually was the voice of Robin and Nightwing in the Animated Series as the Penguin. With additional casting to be announced, this will happen again at Joe's Pub on October 27th at 9:30pm Grace, I don't know if you were a the Animated Series fan, but like that was a huge cartoon back during the 90s.
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Yeah, no, no, no. I've seen all of it. This was a very big deal. So I was very excited to hear this.
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I love all things Mark Kudish, but seeing him play the Joker feels like it just has to be one of those things that has to be seen to believe. The most bow legged joker you've ever seen in your entire life. And to wrap up the show, I have a recommendation. CBS did a really lovely video on the 11,000th Broadway performance of the Lion King. Took you behind the scenes footage from the curtain call, all of those kind of things. So if you were not in the audience for the 11,000th performance over at the Minskof, head over to the show notes. You can watch that video from there. 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, Rodriguet. If you need more broadwayradio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio Grace, where can people find you?
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You can find me at Grace Hockey.
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All right, everybody, have a wonderful Thursday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.
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Sam.