Grace Aki (4:35)

I've not seen it, but I know the score really well. Like I used to listen to it, but I haven't seen this production.

Matt Tammanini (4:41)

Okay, I haven't either. So I'm kind of interested about this. As I've said many times before, Adam Guettel is not my thing. I'm not a big Adam Guettle fan, but I'm a big Jeremy Jordan fan. So I am going to wrap up with Juan A. Ramirez from Theatrely who said, quote, floyd Collins is an odd piece which stage asks a little too hard that we mine through dense earth to reach its goal. But this Broadway premiere makes a solid case for its beauty, found through a gorgeous score that draws opera from Americana. Jeremy Jordan at the top of his game with a rich, penetrating voice that at times feels like it could shatter right through that cavern. So this one seems to be mostly mixed to positive, Grace, and I think that Jeremy Jordan is somebody who is on a little bit of a role. I don't think that the that the critics necessarily loved the Great Gatsby, but audiences continue to enjoy it and loved him in that role. I would not be surprised if we find him back in that role at some point, but things going pretty well over at Lincoln center now, Grace, this week's tactical schedule is jam packed. I'm going to go through all of the Broadway stuff and I'm going to mention the Off Broadway stuff. I'm not going to get into the Off Broadway stuff at all, but I will have a complete list in the show Notes what is your week like? What are the highlights for you this week in terms of what's happening on and around Broadway?

Grace Aki (6:02)

Well, tomorrow night, well, I guess today, tonight, this evening, et cetera. I'm opening Stranger Things, the First Shadow on Broadway. And that is, that's the major big moment of the week for me. And then I'm also seeing Orville Peck and even Oblazada on Wednesday. So I'm very excited.

Matt Tammanini (6:20)

Great. That is. That is awesome. We are going to do the best that we can in order to get you the reviews as quickly as possible. One of the things, unfortunately, Grace, with Stranger Things, as you mentioned, it's opening on Tuesday night. It's opening tonight. Those reviews aren't coming out actually until midnight 12am on tonight, Wednesday morning, so we will have to wait on those, but we will get the rest of the reviews hopefully as quickly as possible. I do want to mention that in addition to Floyd Collins opening on Monday night, we also had the final Off Broadway performance of Conversations With Mother starring Caroline Aaron and Matt Doyle. And then that of course brings us to Stranger Things, the First Shadow, officially opening on Broadway at the Marquee Theater tonight. The show was written by Kate Treffery and is based on an original story by Treffery, Jack Thorne and the Duffer Brothers, who were the creators and executive producers and showrunners for the Netflix series Stranger Things, from which this was inspired. It is directed by Stephen Daldry and features an interesting cast of both Broadway and West End performers. But this has been a very interesting one. Grace, as you said, I know that you work on it. For people who don't know what to expect from Stranger Things, the First Shadow who maybe are only tangentially familiar with the TV show. What should they expect from this show?

Grace Aki (7:40)

I think that what really shook me was the fact that it is a highly entertaining piece of theater. And that's not to say that I had, like, you know, I didn't think it would be entertaining, but it's more so to say that, like, I don't have to have had knowledge of Stranger Things to still feel like I went to see a great piece of theater. Like, I really don't think that you have to know the show. So if you are scared of that for that reason, that has been the biggest feedback that I've gotten from people, is that people that are not familiar with the show, they said, oh, that was great, and I didn't have to know the show. You can enjoy it a lot, like in places, you know, if you're familiar. But that's the biggest thing takeaway for me is the entertainment value. It's so good.

Matt Tammanini (8:18)

Yeah. And Ashley Hufford, on an episode that was released a week or so ago that we had here, she had seen it in London and, to be quite honest with you, didn't think much of it over there. Didn't think it was really a great piece of work. When she saw it on Broadway, she said that it was almost a completely different show. Obviously, the story is essentially the same, but they did so much work from London to New York that she said it just feels like a completely different show. And she raved about it and really enjoyed it. We were talking about whether or not it was going to slide into a very, very, very crowded best play category. I think that might be tough for it. But one of the conversations we had is the fact that its best play is a production category, it is not a writing category. So when you throw all of the special effects with all of the substantive changes that they did to the story, it very well could sneak into that category. But also happening tonight, off Broadway, we have the opening of Atlantic Theater Company's Grief Camp. And we also have the first Off Broadway performances for the new groups, the Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse. Then on Wednesday, we have Ryan J. Haddad's new play, Hold Me in the Water, officially opening Off Broadway from Playwrights Horizons. Then on Thursday, we have our next Broadway opening, and this one will take place at the Todd Hames Theater from the Roundabout Theater Company. And it is Pirates, exclamation point, the Penzance musical. This one is currently slated to run through July 27. It is directed by Scott Ellis. Of course, this is A new take on the Gilbert and Sull operetta. It does have no new music. It is all Gilbert and Sullivan's music. But it is a completely new and original book adapted by Rupert Holmes. Warren Carlile does the choreography and the cast is tremendous for this. Stars Ramin Karimlou, Jinx Monsoon, David Hyde Pierce, Nicholas Barish, Preston Truman Boyd, Samantha Williams and more. What I think is important to know about this one, Grace, is that it is set in New Orleans and so a lot of the musical arrangements do favor kind of that vibe. And it very much takes place in the French Quarter in a frame story. So if you think you were just going to see Pirates of Penzance, it is not exactly that. So that is why we do have a slightly different title on this one. Then the next thing that we have on Broadway Happening will be on Saturday over at the Circle in the Square Theater with Just In Time. This is a new musical that tells the story of Bobby Darin. It has a book by Warren Late and Isaac Oliver. It is developed and directed by Alex Timbers. Jonathan Groff stars as Bobby Darin. Also in the cast are Emily Bergle, Erica Henningsen, Gracie Lawrence, Michelle Pac, Cesar Samoya and more. But this one has reinvented the Circle in the Square Theater to make it an intimate club setting. Think Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill kind of thing where you actually have tables and stuff set around where they are performing and then you have the rest of the seats and the pictures have been really interesting. I didn't really know what to expect from this and I'm still not sure that I actually do. But I really enjoyed the videos and the images that we have gotten an opportunity to see. So I'm looking forward to seeing that when I'm in town in a couple weeks. Also happening on Saturday we have two off Broadway closings. The first is from Lincoln Center Theater and it's star studded production of Ghosts. And then another show happening at the Here Arts center from the new George's Theater. Two sisters find a box of lesbian erotica in the woods. And then Grace, you might know a little bit more about this On Sunday we have not one but two Broadway openings. I'm assuming they're gonna have to do them one in the afternoon, one at night just for media purposes. I haven't seen exactly when they are scheduled for, but the official Broadway League calendar has Dead Outlaw first and Real Women have Curves listed second. I don't know if that's alphabetical order or chronological order. Do you know by Any chance, Grace?

Grace Aki (12:27)

I actually don't, but that's crazy.

Matt Tammanini (12:31)

Yeah. I mean, we've had this happen before in the past, but usually, but not always usually it has to do with, like, things getting rescheduled. That's not the case. This is just they're both scheduled for Sunday, so I'm going to go in the order that the Broadway League calendar has them. It might just be alphabetical, I don't know. But that would mean that Dead Outlaw is first. It will officially open at the Longacre Theater on Sunday. It features a book by Itamara Moses and music by David Yazbeck and Eric Della Pena. And it is directed by David Cromer. This is one, as we've talked about many times before, was probably the musical hit off Broadway last season and it features the entire off Broadway cast of Jeb Brown, Andrew Durant, Eddie Cooper, Dashiell Eves, Julia Nettle, Ken Marks, Trent Saunders, and Tom Cessma. Our beloved Tom Sesma. This one is going to be a huge factor when it comes to the best musical race. So we'll see more about that on Sunday night. But another show that very well could enter itself into the best musical race will also open over the James Earl Jones Theater on Sunday, and that is Real Women have Curves. It features a score by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez and a book by Lisa Loomer and Nell Benjamin. It's interesting they are credited separately. The way that IBDB has it is book by Lisa Loomer, book with Nell Benjamin, rather than book by Lisa Loomer and Nell Benjamin. So I'm not sure what the crediting is, is on that. But nonetheless, it is based on the play by Josefina Lopez and the film of the same name. It is directed and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo. And the two main stars are Tatiana Cordoba, who I have heard has been out a little bit this week with an illness. So I think they've had to change around some, you know, some performances and everything. So hopefully this, this final week of previews when all of the critics are going to be there, that she's able to go 100%. Justina Machado, who is one of my favorites, is, is also in this, in this show playing Tatiana's mother. You've talked about Grace Mason Reeves is in this show and many others. So I'm fascinated by this and it just seems like it's a, it's a very fun show with a nice story that again, makes me kind of wonder if this is one that could contend for a Best musical nomination.

Grace Aki (14:53)

There are a lot of really good musicals that are still running. There are a lot of good musicals that are no longer running. You know, I think that it's just going to come down to, like, what people are really vibing with, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know, the way that the different, the boop, the smash, all of these shows that have opened recently factor in. This is really exciting because we've got a lot of great shows that are of contention and New York Times critics pick things like that, but with real women have curves. Like, I haven't heard, like, what people are saying. I'm just excited to see it myself. But yeah, with Dead Outlaw and that one, those are the last two, right?

Matt Tammanini (15:30)

Yep. Those will wrap up the Tony eligibility. And I also think it's really interesting because we have all these critics. Everybody has their say. We have word of mouth, we have friends that go see shows. But really it comes down to like 40 to 50 people who are the Tony nominators. And those numbers get significantly decreased when people have to recuse themselves either for conflicts of interest, because a lot of these people work in the industry. So if they are producers or whatever, they have to take themselves out of contention for shows. And then also like actors or directors or creatives who are working out of town during this season and miss shows, shows, they have to be recused as well. So it's really just a small, small group of people who are going to make this call and the individual tastes of those people play a huge part. So we will have to see what happens with all of that. All right, I'm going to run through what we have very quickly, but let's start off Broadway from Second Stage Theater Company that will end its season with the New York premiere of David Margulis's Lunar Eclipse. It will be directed by Kate Wariski and will star Tony winner Reed Bernie and Lisa Emery. As it was announced yesterday, preview begin off Broadway on May 14th. Then we also had a very crazy story happen over the weekend. The new immersive show Life and Trust that was running off Broadway in the Financial District officially closed with no notice. They had tickets were sold. Tickets had been being sold for months and months to come. And then all of a sudden on Saturday, they just announced that, quote, due to unforeseen circumstances, all the other tickets will be fronted. The show is now officially closed. I do think it's important to keep in mind that this show comes to us from the team behind Sleep no More and that very well might have something to do with the fact that production had a very, very tumultuous last year running off Broadway. So I'm sorry for people who had taken us to see that because I heard it was actually really good, but certainly a lot of it difficulty going on there. Then yesterday we also find out that Michael Urie would be returning to the stage with Red Bull Theater's new one person production of Richard ii. Michael Urie has done a lot of shows with Red Bull Theater actually that's really kind of what got him back onto the theater scene after doing television for so long. So that one should be interesting. It will be a part of the 2025, 2026 season. It is only going to be two performances though. It'll happen on September 27th and September 28th. Then the Atlantic Theatre Company extended, I'm assuming you know David Greenspan. It will now play an extra performance on April 27th. So that is coming up. If you want to check that out, please make sure that you do so. But the show must end on April 30th. Speaking of shows extending off Broadway, the quartet of Carol Church plays at the Public Theater. Glass Kill, what if, IF only and imp have now been extended. They will play through May 25 and then going out of town. Yesterday it was announced that Pamela Anderson and Emmy Award winner Nicholas Alexander Chavez, who will always be Spencer Kassadine from General Hospital to me, are going to do a production of Tennessee Williams play Camino Real. It will run from July 19th through August 3rd. They will be joined in the cast by Whitney Peak. It'll be directed by Dustin Willis. And now Grace, this is something that I think you are probably going to absolutely love for multiple reasons. But take taking the Kieran Culkin of it aside, but yesterday Variety announced its first ever Broadway Actors on Actors series of videos. These are things that happen every year around award seasons and stuff like that where they have two big name actors interview each other. This year we are going to have George Clooney and Patti LuPone talking Audra McDonnell and Jake Gyllenhaal, Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook, Nicole Scherzinger and Jonathan Groff and Cole Escola and Darren Criss. What are your thoughts here? Grace?

Grace Aki (19:38)

It's very exciting, I will say. Back in 2022 I pitched this idea for a certain show and it was really like I was so excited to make it happen and then ultimately it couldn't because then the show didn't run, et cetera, et cetera. And I've seen people trying to, like, do this. So it's. I like that variety is doing it. Obviously they're like the ones that do this. But we've needed to do something cool like this for a really long time, especially in the theater community, because wouldn't you love to have, like, Nathan Lane talking to Jen Simard? Like, I just, I think that. I don't know, it's just food for thought. But. But I like this list. I'm particularly moved by the Nicole Scherzinger Jonathan Groff conversation. I don't know what that's gonna be like, but I'm excited.

Matt Tammanini (20:20)

Wild. Yeah. Yeah. That the, the pairings are interesting. Clooney, who is like, super cool, laid back movie star guy, and Patti LuPone, who has, like, negative amounts of chill. So I think that'll be very interesting. I have seen some people that are a little concerned. Like, these are mostly, with a few exceptions, mostly like TV and film stars talking to each other. That just happened to be on Broadway this season. It's not like.

Grace Aki (20:50)

But how else would that have happened? I mean, this is a series.

Matt Tammanini (20:53)

Exactly.

Grace Aki (20:54)

Yeah. The film people. So it's like, oh, these are mega movie stars that also happen to be on Broadway. We could do something like this. You know what I mean? Like, it wouldn't have happened if it had been just theater people, frankly. But I'm very excited by it.

Matt Tammanini (21:12)

Yeah. And these are all people who are giving excellent performances. And I will be shocked if every single one of these people isn't nominated for. Probably rightly so. All right, let's run through some recommendations very quickly. Jordan Fisher and Solea Pfeiffer, your new stars of Mulan Rouge on Broadway, performed your song on the Today Show. We have the video of that next. We also have an absolutely incredible clip from RuPaul's Drag Race where Liza Minnelli accepts the Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award. You don't want to miss that. And then finally, something years and years and years in the making, backstage at death becomes her. We had a Michelle Williams and Michelle Williams sighting as Michelle Williams Dawson's Creek visited Michelle Williams Destiny's Child in her dressing room after the show. So she posted that. Michelle Williams, who was in the show, posted a video and some pictures. So we have that in the show notes. And then if you want to hear a little bit more about Pirates, the Penzance musical, they were on CBS Sunday Morning, we have that clip. And then a reminder, miscast is now available to stream from MCC Theater. You do have to get a ticket to broadcast it. But it is free. But you do. They're only allowing so many people an opportunity to stream it for free at this time. So if you want to do that, we will have a link link in the show notes. All right, Grace, 25ish minutes in. Anything that I missed, anything that we got to tell people about before we head out?

Grace Aki (22:37)

I have a cool conversation coming up sometime probably in the next week with Daniel Yearwood of Old Friends. I got to talk to him about Sweeney Todd and all the great things. I cannot wait to see the show at mtc. But that conversation is really lovely and I can't wait for y'all to hear it.

Matt Tammanini (22:53)

Yeah, we have that. And I also recently spoke with Amanda Green, who is the lyricist behind Regency Girls, the show that it's currently playing at the Old Globe. And maybe we'll come to Broadway. We'll see. We talk about that. So two great interviews that'll be in your feeds at some point over the next few days as well. 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. Grace, where can people find you?

Grace Aki (23:15)

You can find me at it's graceaki.

Matt Tammanini (23:17)

All right, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.

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