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Today on Broadway: Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024
00:16:16
Kara Young to Return to Broadway This Spring, Terrence Mann to Join ‘Gatsby,’ ‘Wicked’ Movie Choreo Instructions 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 Tammini
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Tuesday, December 10, 2024. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammini, and I'm.
- [00:07]
Grace Ake
Tell me on a Sunday podcast. Grace Ake.
- [00:09]
Matt Tammini
Grace, on Sunday night, you were over at the Palace Theater at the final Broadway performance of Tammy Faye. Obviously a show that closed far sooner than it or any of its fans had wanted. But what was the vibe like in the theater for that final performance?
- [00:27]
Grace Ake
I'll tell you, Katy Brabin brought the house down, like, really incredible. She was delivering. I mean, the whole cast was delivering, and they were dancing their ass like it was an amazing final show to be at because knowing the challenges that, of course, come with a closure, inevitably the feeling of love was palpable in that room, especially at the Palace Theater. And I'm glad that. I mean, there was not an empty seat in the orchestra, and that's where I was. And it was just really feeling. And it was great for that crew and cast to be supported in that final moment, like with people that were just cheering them on. It was really amazing.
- [01:08]
Matt Tammini
Awesome. That's all you can ask for in a closing performance, whether it's a show that's been running for two months or two decades, is for that last company to feel the love from the audience one more time. All right, Grace, let's dive into the news. And we are living. I feel like you and I have been on this bandwagon as close to the beginning as you could possibly be. But the Cara Young hive is rejoicing again, because yesterday it was announced that Tony Award winner Cara Young will be back on Broadway this season with the Broadway premiere of Tony winner Brandon Jacobs Jenkins new play Purpose. This one had originally played at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater earlier this year, and much of the cast and all of the creative team will be returning. It was, of course, directed by another Tony Award winner, Felicia Rashad. She will be back. Many of the people in that company will be joining the Broadway production as well. Harry Lennox, John Michael Hill, Glen Davis, and Ilana Arenas. But in addition to Cara Young joining the cast, the always fantastic latanya Richardson Jackson will also be a member of this company. It is set to begin performances at the Helen Hayes Theater on February 25 ahead of a March 17 opening. And it follows an Illinois family of civil rights leaders, pastors, and congressmen who are all pillars of black American politics. But they also have secrets lying just beneath the surface. The family's youngest son, Nazareth, returns home with an uninvited friend that ultimately forces the family to reckon with itself, their faith, and the legacies of black radicalism. Grace, I don't know that we need to say anything more than Carrie Young back on Broadway.
- [02:47]
Grace Ake
No, that's it. That's the tweet. Carrie Young. I'm excited about this. Feelings about Felicia Rashad aside, I'm excited about Brandon's work, and I think that I, you know, I love that we are spoiled rotten by Kara's talent, I keep saying to you, and I know she's been doing TV and film work, so it's, you know, only a matter of time where that picks up even more. But, like, you know, keep giving her these incredible roles, please. Like, let's keep that moving. You know what I mean? Like, she's our queen. So, yeah, I'm very excited about this.
- [03:21]
Matt Tammini
I have to imagine that she is coming in and whether she thinks of it or not, like, she's a front runner to go four for four here. Like, four Broadway shows, four Tony nominations. I don't know if that is. I don't know anything about this show at this point, but I imagine Carrie Young in a show by Brandon, like, that has a lot of really juicy potential coming up for it. Speaking of some juicy casting, yesterday we got another casting change happening over at the Great Gatsby. And while one person who I love immensely is leaving the show, and that is Eric Anderson in the role of Meyer Wolfsheim, he is being replaced with a literal Broadway legend, and that is the one and only Terence Mann. He will begin performances in the role of meyer Wolfsheim on January 8, and he will depart the role on April 20. So it is a short run for Terry in this one, but I have to say we are living because just actually on Monday morning, while I was working and doing some administrative work, I had a Hallmark movie on. And not only did it feature former Broadway Glinda Jenna Claire Mason and current Broadway Fiero Jordan Litt, it also features Terence mann's wife, Charlotte D'Ambois. So that whole family is booked and blessed, and anytime we can see one of them on Broadway is great. But now having one of them coming back to Broadway and another one in a Hallmark movie makes my heart very, very happy. Grace.
- [04:49]
Grace Ake
Yeah, I think that the pipeline, like, we need, like, a Broadway HD collab, you know, if we're going to do all these crossovers, we really need that kind of streaming to be a part of it as well, so.
- [05:01]
Matt Tammini
Okay. To veer off a little bit on a tangent, I interviewed the VP of programming for Hallmark a couple of months ago as they were getting ready to rebrand and re release their streaming service, Hallmark plus for my day job. And I mentioned that I thought it just kind of in passing that it was time that they did a Hallmark movie musical because so many of them have music like that one. Carol for two is like set at like kind of like a 54 below Ellen Stardust diner hybrid. And they did one also starring Jenna Claire Mason a couple of years ago that was like somebody in the Rockettes. And so there's a lot of these theatrical overlays and there's a ton of Broadway people who appear in them. Aaron Tveit, Patti Murin, so many people. And of course I can't forget Mary Lou Henner, of course, and all of those as well. I think they need next season to do a Hallmark movie musical. Can you imagine how geeked up and excited I would be if they did that though, Grace? I don't know how I would contain myself.
- [05:59]
Grace Ake
Yeah, that is very your brand. That is, that is who you are as a person.
- [06:04]
Matt Tammini
Said it in Columbus, Ohio and I am officially, I will, I will just die of excitement. But anyway, moving back to the stage, yesterday, the MCC Theater, which we obviously love, announced the final show of its 2024, 2025 season. It will not begin previews until June 5th of next year, but it is the American premiere of the play Trophy Boys by Emmanuel Matana. This is a show that has had a number of productions in Australia, but coming to the US it will be directed by Tony Award winner Donya Taymor and it follows members of an all boys prep school debate team who are given the prompt for the debate. Feminism has failed women. This is a satire and it is officially described as Saltburn meets Promising Young Women. But here is the kind of conceit behind the show. In previous casts, all of those high school boys were played by female and non binary actors and it appears that that will be the case here even though they have not announced the complete cast. But the playwright Matana will be in the cast as well. So it looks like this will be a play featuring high school boys but not featuring any male identifying actors. So this one should be very interesting. The show is scheduled to run just from June 5 through July 13. But anytime you can get a new show that seems like a really exciting concept and at MCC I think the opportunities for success are very, very high.
- [07:39]
Grace Ake
One trillion percent. I think that's super cool. You know mcc. You and I talk about MCC so often. There are certain like off Broadway theaters and theater companies that like we just really adore kind of overall in the programming and they're one of them. So when I, when I saw this announcement, I got very excited today as well.
- [07:55]
Matt Tammini
And to me it's interesting. Grease because it's not always the theaters that like have that direct pipeline to Broadway. In fact, it's often the ones that don't. Mcc of course has had some shows transfer to Broadway, but it's mostly to me about theater that like do interesting things that aren't necessarily focused on being big commercial successes. Obviously with a show like Shit Meet Family, you have all of those stars in it. Like that of course is going to drive a bunch of ticket sales. But doing a show like this, that kind of pushes the envelope and isn't afraid to like not be middle of the road. Like those are the ones that I gravitate towards. Off Broadway especially, you know, we've talked about before. Like my taste often can be very basic. But you know, having the opportunity to balance out the Broadway basicness that I love with some exciting and unique programming, Off Broadway really makes for a, you know, a great theater going diet. Grace, one of your great friends is getting ready to premiere a new show over in the West End. It'll be happening at the Savoy Theater on April 28th of next year. And that is Drew Gasparini's new show. We aren't kids anymore and we already knew some of the cast including Sam Tutty and Amy Atkinson. And there will be two more cast members announced. But yesterday it was confirmed that Dylan Mulvaney has joined the cast of that show. This is a one night only concert of this new show and it will also feature a special concert that Drew is going to give along with the cast and special other guests to do some of the songs from his other works across the years. So Grace, I don't know a ton about this show being part of the morons extended family. Is there anything you can tell us about we aren't kids anymore.
- [09:47]
Grace Ake
You know, this album was released during the pandemic and I really, I love, I love the piece. I obviously, you know, I love Drew like one of our closest friends. So this is totally biased obviously, but the way that Drew's like song cycle like albums have kind of taken on a life of their own. If you look at I Could Use a Drink, which was kind of his debut album many years ago, like a decade plus ago, that has now morphed into this kind of like richer story. People have written like you know, kind of like fan fiction but like off of Some of those songs they've written their own shows. Literally, the song that f sings on that album, Dear Lucy, someone wrote a whole, like, half hour piece about that character from that song that they got to listen to, which is from We Aren't Kids Anymore. No, no, no. From I Could Use a Drink. So, yeah, so now with We Aren't Kids Anymore, he developed this, like, beautiful album. But then it's kind of like taken on a life of its own and becoming like a larger story and there's, you know, things being written for. So I'm very excited for this iteration of this piece being done live because I think this is what we might have had if it had released in a time where we could all gather. So this being done in London is very exciting. They did last year. I think it was last year there was a performance of I Could Use a Drink in London as well. So I think that, you know, across the pond, big Drew Gasparini fans, I'm very excited about this and I will obviously need to be there. So I've got to figure that out. But this is just really exciting stuff.
- [11:20]
Matt Tammini
All right. Moving over to some developmental news. Yesterday it was announced that there will be two industry readings happening on Thursday of a new play by Rob Ackerman called Back Talk. It'll be happening in Manhattan. Those are invitation only, but it is being directed by Jeremy Webb and includes a cast of some wonderful people including Kathy Fitzgerald, Frances Zhu, Sharia Moultrie, David Patterson, Hiram Delgado. It is a romantic comedy about first dates and second thoughts and it follows a real estate developer who starts falling for a plumber. Her inner voice has a few questions, so does his. So Francis Zhu, Kathy Fitzgerald, they are both hilarious actors, so I imagine that this one will be a ton of fun. And then finally in the news section, Grace happening on Saturday, 8pm Performance over at the Stephen Sondheim Theater. There will be a one night only walk on performance in the show and Juliet by Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. I like. How do you go from like members of iconic 90s, early 2000s boy bands having little guest spots with and Juliet to having the first black female Supreme Court justice have a walk on in this show that is wild.
- [12:43]
Grace Ake
To me, that's called range. Matt, I think what you're describing is range. Okay, I love that AJ Maclean and Ketanji can. Can converge in one place. You know what I mean? Like, there's just something special about Britney Spears music and. But I do think that there is some, like, I mean, there's Powerful black women, the show. There's like a lot to be said for, you know, a lot of the literal social justice that happens in the show that I think is going to happen there. But I think it's very cool. And yeah, we're listen, we're living in a different time and I'm very excited by that.
- [13:19]
Matt Tammini
In her memoir, Lovely One, that was released in September, Jackson said, I, a Miami girl from a modest background with an unabashed love of theater, dreamed of one day ascending to the highest court in the land. And I had said so in one of my supplemental application efforts essays, I expressed that I wished to attend Harvard as I believed it might help me to fulfill my fantasy of becoming the first black female Supreme Court justice to appear on a Broadway stage. So there you go. She's knocking it out of the park. She is achieving all of her life goals thanks to the music of Max Martin. And then finally, Grace, I have three different videos that I want to throw out in recommendations. If you have been on social media at all over the past couple weeks, you have seen basically every cast of every show go anywhere doing the choreography to what Is this Feeling? So if you if it's a little too fast and you can't get all the music's music and all of the moves, the show's choreographer, Christopher Scott, who I have long loved on so youo Think youk Can Dance, he breaks down that choreo and shows you how to do it. So we will have that link in the show notes. Then over the weekend, Paul Mescal appeared on Saturday Night Live and did a skit that was a musical version of his new film, Gladiator 2. Of course, we know that Mescal will not only be appearing in A Streetcar name Desire at BAM this spring, but also in like, I don't know what, 18 years, will be starring in the film version of Merrily We Roll along along with Beanie Feldstein and Ben Platt. So you can check this out if you want a little bit of a preview of his Franklin Shepherd. But then this is the one that I want to point out the most, Grace, because this is a little bit more under the radar. I assume you are familiar with the actress, comedian and musician Ricky Lindholm. Yeah, she is. She's an actress. You've seen her everywhere. She's also a part of the musical duo Garfunkel and Oates, but she's released a new song and music video that is just her. It is called so Long Farewell, which you might. Oh, that might have a musical connection, but parenthetically, it is also called a breakup anthem for Baroness Schrader. So she is playing the Baroness from the Sound of Music and kind of throwing her whole relationship with Captain Von Trapp into a different light. It is very, very funny. So I will have a link to that in the show notes. Big fan of Ricky Lindholm, and you should all definitely check that one out. 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. Audrey, Radiant, you can follow me on Instagram @bww. Matt, Grace, where can people find you?
- [16:01]
Grace Ake
You can find me at. It's Grace Hockey.
- [16:03]
Matt Tammini
All right, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday and we'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.