Grace Aki (4:27)

Same. And just so y' all know, like the Baker's Wife, this Gordon Greenberg production has been done over in London. They've been working this. Yeah, for like I think over a year now. They, they had that production. I think it was a. I don't know if it was in the miniature chocolate factory or not, but I'm pretty sure yeah, yeah, a while back. So I know that this is very important project for Gordon. I was curious to see what would happen with it if they were to bring it over. And now it totally makes sense that they were saving it for Mr. Bose, but also that, you know, this is something that they're doing in collaboration with Classic Stage. It's very smart and I totally agree with you on, on the type of catalog that they run. What I found funny was that I saw some people over the weekend on TikTok saying things like, you know, this is like not a known show. I'm kind of like surprised that Ariana is like, doing this one. I'm like, metal Arc is probably one of the top five most overdone fricking songs on the planet. Known for Maker's Wife. And I think that there was also a production that happened a couple of years ago off Broadway that you, you know, we were talking about on the show as well. So, yeah, I think it's. I think it's a little bit more in the zeitgeist than we probably expected. But I'm very excited to hear what all comes out of it and the rest of the cast that will follow.

Matt Tammini (5:39)

Yeah. The London production was at the Meunier Chocolate Factory last year. It starred Clive Rowe, Lucy Jones, Joaquin Pedro Valdez and Josefina Gabrielle. Josefina Gabrielle has been on Broadway and in the West End for decades. Lucy Jones is one of the biggest stars in London theater as well. So they definitely are continuing that trend of going big with their casting. So this will be very exciting. In that production. Matt Cole did the choreography. That has not been confirmed for this production, but I would imag, as you noted, that it'll probably maintain much of the structure in creative team from the run that it had at the Menier last year. Speaking of things, maintaining many of the same people from previous productions as we had announced, I believe last week. Bess Wall's acclaimed Off Broadway show Liberation is set to make its Broadway premiere later this fall. It'll be playing a 14 week limited engagement on Broadway beginning in October. And as I had speculated, the entire Off Broadway cast is returning to the roles that they had performed in last spring's production of the show. That includes Betsy Adam, Audrey Corsa, Kayla Davion, Susanna Flood, Kristalln Lloyd, Irene Sofia Luccio, Charlie Thurston and Idina Verson Grace. I know you didn't see it. I saw it. I thought it was a really, really strong, powerful show. I did feel like I saw it later into the run. So the Hype might have overplayed it in my mind a little bit. I was expecting an A show. For me, it was a B show. It's a very, very good show, but I'm interested to see how it plays on Broadway and if they make any tweaks from a production that was so incredibly well received. But it will begin performances in just about two months at the James Earl Jones Theater on October 8th. And then again continuing to knock it out of the park, whether it is on this side of the Atlantic or the other cabaret, the Kit Kat Club over in the West End has announced its new set of stars. And returning to the role of Sally Bowles, this time in London, having just recently finished up her run of doing it in New York is Eva Noble Zada. Starring opposite her as the emcee is her real life fiance, Reeve Carney. Also joining the production as Fraulein Schneider is the always phenomenal Ruthie Henshaw. The new Cliff Bradshaw will be Baker Mukasa Harris Schultz will be Robert Hands. And the Ernst will be Lucas Koch. And they'll begin performances on the 22nd of September. I mean, they just keep doing it. The fact that Eva is returning to this role in London Grace, I heard so many people, and you might have even been one of them who said, like, if she had originated this role in this production, she would have won the Tony. So having more people on the other side of the pine, getting an opportunity to see her in this show is spectacular. And we know what kind of chemistry that she and Reeve have. And I'm not even talking about, like offstage they're getting married chemistry, but like, their chemistry was electric in Hadestown. So obviously much different dynamic and relationship in this show, but we know what kind of magic those two can make together on stage.

Grace Aki (8:54)

I'm really excited to see Eva continue to harness that role and I'm really excited to hear, you know, how London audiences after, especially having just seen her in Hadestown again. And, you know, it's just, I think that she really loves it over there. So I'm excited for that legacy to continue.

Matt Tammini (9:12)

All right, let's dive into this week's theatrical schedule. It'll start on Wednesday. Over at New World Stages. We have the Off Broadway opening for the show, Jamie Allen's Amaze. This is actually a direct transfer of a show that played London's West End. It is a magic illusion show. Always love seeing those types of things in New York theaters. So if you like this kind of stuff and having your mind blown in close proximity, head over to New World Stages. Just another one of the shows, as we've been talking about here recently, Grace, that are really kind of, to my mind, at least, reinvigorating that space with some really buzzy things over the past few months and leading into next year. Also happening on Wednesday, Grace is the first preview performance Off Broadway for the new show Sulfur Bottom. Recently you had a conversation with the show's playwright, Rishi Varma. Real quick, tell everybody what that show is about and what they can look forward to if they head over to the Jerry Orbach Theater Off Broadway to see it.

Grace Aki (10:12)

So this play very much, you know, and you can listen to our conversation as well, but it kind of talks about, like, the economy and the job promises to this, like, very small town of, like, factories, but eventually, because of, like, you know, the world that we live in, they've got a bunch of, like, dangerous chemicals leaking from some of these plants. And basically this, like, young woman is trying to figure out what to do in terms of protecting her family and her loved ones. And it's set over the course of, like, several decades. So it's. It's about environmental injustice. It's talking about, like, generational, probably trauma, and then a few talking animals in theory. So, you know, there's a lot. Yeah, there's a lot going on, but I think it's very exciting. And, yeah, you can see it in New York. Hello.

Matt Tammini (10:56)

The first preview will be this Wednesday. Then the next night, we have our next Broadway opening of the 2025, 2026 season. And it will happen back where it all began, over at the Winter Garden Theater, where Mamma Mia. Will officially open. Of course, this is a limited run, which is like the end of the anniversary national tour. And it is again directed by Phyllida Lloyd and stars a phenomenal cast that I saw multiple times on tour here at the Dr. Phillips center for the Performing Arts in Orlando. It is led by Kristin Sherrill as Donna Sheridan and Amy Weaver as her daughter Sophie. Great cast, Great production. I think because of the tour and all that stuff. The set is a little less spectacular than it might have been on Broadway originally, but it still really works. I loved this cast. I loved this production when I saw it last year, or maybe earlier this year. I think it was earlier this year in January. So very excited to see it again on Broadway. Anytime we can have Mamma Mia. On stage is good as far as I'm concerned. Then on Friday, we have the first Off Broadway performances of the Return Engagement for Michael Griffo's Pen pals. This will feature a rotating cast of two women telling the story of a friendship through letters over the course of time. Some of the people who you will be able to see in the show start with Nancy McKeon and Gail Weinar. You will also see such names as Paige Davis, Kathleen Chalfont, Ellen McLaughlin, Kate Burton, Paulette Washington, Marcia Cross, Katherine Curtin, Sharon Lawrence, Maureen McCormack, Emily Skinner, Donna Lynn Champlin. With more folks to be announced. So this is playing at the Doctor 2 theater, so get over there to see that as many times as humanly possible. And then on Sunday, Grace, we have two closings, one on Broadway and one off Broadway, where Gypsy will play its final performance at the Majestic Theater on Sunday. Obviously one of the best casts assembled in recent Broadway history, led by Audra McDonald, Danny Burstein, Joy Woods, Jordan Tyson, Kevin Solak, Leslie Margarita, all of those incredible ensemble members as well. So if you haven't seen this production, highly recommend it. Grace, I know you work on the show or did work on the show, and for people who maybe haven't seen it and maybe think they've seen Gypsy and don't need to see this one again because I've seen it so many times before. With one week left, what is your recommendation for why people need to get to Majestic and see it while they can?

Grace Aki (13:31)

Imagine maybe the world's most prolific actor taking on the world's most. One of the world's most prolific characters. I don't know a better sell than that. Like, I really can't tell you. Like, there's just nothing. There's nothing comparable. There's just really not. And it's. It's spectacular to see an artist like her getting to do something that could only happen right now with that creative team, with that. With those actors, with that movement by Camille Brown. It's very special. It's like lightning in a bottle. And we'll never have anything like it ever again. So you have a week. That's a threat. That's it.

Matt Tammini (14:17)

That is a threat. That is a threat. Also closing on Sunday will be the musical Joy Colon, a new true musical. This is a limited run off Broadway at the Laura Pell Center. It is not a roundabout show, but it was a rental, of course, starring the wonderful Betsy Wolf, who is always great in everything. All right, let's run through some real quick news before I get you into the recommendations. Grace. Last week, your friend BD Wong posted an open letter on his Facebook page denouncing the casting of Andrew Barth Feldman in maybe Happy ending and went into a really heartfelt and insightful explanation as to why he was feeling the way that he was. And obviously it was echoed by many, many people because as of now, this open letter was co signed by, at least as a publication, the articles that I'm looking at over 2,400 people, including such famous names as Donna Murphy, Francis Zhu, Ruthie Ann Miles, Ali Stroker Ann Harada Bowen, Yang Awkwafina, Jose Lana, Anthony Rapp, Telly Leung, Lee Silverman and more. This is clearly a conversation that is only gaining eyeballs in terms of the theatrical landscape and beyond what where normally things like this, at least in theater circles, tend to die out a little bit more quickly. I have kind of thought this from the moment that the conversation really started to heat up that I'm not sure that I can see a world in which Andrew can actually take the stage in this show. Maybe I'm wrong because obviously the show's creators, Hugh park and Will Aronson have really dug their feet in on this. But Andrew is supposed to start performances in three weeks on September 2nd. I think that's three weeks. Yeah, three weeks from now on September 2nd. So will that actually happen? We will see. But obviously the more people that sign this open letter and rally behind this cause I think it is less and less likely. All right, let's head out on tour. What we got the cast, or at least principal cast for two upcoming tours that will be heading out this season. The first is the Broadway national tour of Hell's Kitchen, which will begin performances at Cleveland's playhouse square on October 10th. The cast will be led by Maya Drake, who is a recent high school graduate from San Jose, California. She will be playing Ally. Playing her mother Jersey will be Kennedy Coughlin, who is known to Broadway and national tour audiences from for years having played Carole King, Elphaba, even Elsa on tour. She's been on Broadway in Paradise Square, Beautiful, Great Comet. And then playing Miss Liza Jane will be Roz White, who has just did two years on the road as Zelma Bullock in Tina, the Tina Turner musical. She's also been seen on the Dreamgirls national tour and has done a ton of shows regionally as well. So check out this cast when it drops by your city over the next year. And then the upcoming non equity Water for Elephants tour also announced its principal cast. They will begin performances on September 27th in Baltimore, Maryland. Leading the cast will be Zachary Keller as Jacob, Helen Krushinsky as Marlena, Robert Tully as Mr. Jankowski, Connor Sullivan as August. Javier Garcia as Camel, Ruby Gibbs as Barbara, Grant Honeycutt as Wade, and Tyler west as Walter. Now wrapping up with some highlights. Grace. The first one comes to us from the St. Louis Muni, where they have given us some opening night footage from La Caja fall, directed by former Rotary radio guest Marcy Milgram. Dodge. That one stars the fantastic Norm Lewis, Michael James Scott, Terence Archie, Mason Reeves, and more. So if you want to see all of that, head over to the show notes. And then you kind of mentioned this earlier. I mentioned this earlier, at least in passing. Last week we talked about how cool it was to see the Hamilton anniversary celebration and how much we love those things and how we think every show should be celebrating anniversaries like that as much as humanly possible. Well, just a few days later, actually, I think the very next day over at the Walter Kerr Theater, hadestown celebrated its 2000th performance on Broadway. And not only was that special in its own right, but they brought out a bunch of alums to come and sing Cups at the end of the show. Included in there was the original Broadway cast with Eva Noblezada, Reeve Carney, Andre de Shields, Patrick Page. Director Rachel Chavkin was also there. Jordan Fisher was there. A bunch of former fates and workers chorus members were there. So that was very cool. So we have the video of that in the show notes as well. All right, that's all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to Today Today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And if you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio Grace, where can people find you?

Grace Aki (19:24)

You can find me at Grace. Aki.

Matt Tammini (19:25)

All right, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday. Grace, Happy freaking birthday.

Grace Aki (19:29)

Thank you.

Matt Tammini (19:30)

And we will talk to you all tomorrow.