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Today on Broadway: Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025
00:15:40
Stars Announced for PBS ‘Broadway’s Leading Ladies’ Concert, Stage Stars Shine at SAG Awards, Rehearsal Looks at ‘BOOP!’ and ‘Smash’ Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Mon...
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- [00:02]
Matt Tammini
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Tuesday, February 25, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammini, and I'm.
- [00:07]
Grace Hockey
Tell me on the Sunday podcast, Grace Hockey.
- [00:09]
Matt Tammini
Grace, on Sunday, we had the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and we're gonna talk about those here in a little bit. But that means that we are less than a week away from the Oscars. A, what are your Oscar plans? And B, what is a good snack to have for any awards ceremonies, but especially this year's Oscars?
- [00:32]
Grace Hockey
That's a really good question. I think that I normally like to go to a specific movie house and do their Oscars evening. I think that's always really fun because I like to see it with a group. Otherwise, I'm at home posting an egregious amount of red carpet content, which I will still do no matter what. It's one of my favorite things. But I think that the themed cocktails and themed snacks are always fun. I always try to do puns, so I hope that that's on someone's list at least to do some, like, film punny puns for this year's Oscars because there's a lot of good stuff. I mean, like the Brutalist cheese sandwich. I don't know. Like, there has to be something like the substance. Yes, yes. A green elixir for the substance. There's gotta be something there. And a complete unknown cake. I don't know. I'm not good at these right now, but. But normally, give me time.
- [01:29]
Matt Tammini
I'll cook on it something, no pun intended, something Russian for anora, which I feel like has the momentum to win Best Picture. But maybe we'll talk about that a little bit at the end of this week. But let's dive into some news, Grace, and not a lot out there coming to us on Monday. But one of the exciting things was that we got the first round of casting for PBS's upcoming Broadway's leading Ladies concert that's gonna happen at the town hall on March 10th. Again, PBS is going to film it and it'll be released sometime in 20. The first round of people that are going to be a part of it are Lachanze, Jennifer Holiday, Lindsay Mendez, Jessie Mueller, Kate Baldwin, Judy Kuhn, and Jennifer Simard. An incredible mix of people who do a lot of different things. A lot of comedic people, a lot of big Belters, people who can do both legit and more poppy stuff. So very excited to see this concert. Grace. There's still going to be more additional casting announced, as they say shortly. Who is one other person or maybe two other people that you would like to see thrown in there other than the obvious people like Bernadette and, And. And Leia and Patty. Like, those are the. The obvious ones. But somebody else who you think would deserve to be amongst this lineup that isn't already there.
- [02:52]
Grace Hockey
You know, I feel like Kelli Ohara's name is missing from this. Renee Fleming's name is missing from this. And maybe I'm just announcing the cast of the Hours that was the opera, the Lincoln Center. But no, I. I think that, like, there's also a lot of. I mean, you said Jennifer Holiday, which is fabulous. Like, I would vouch to also put Jennifer Hudson in there, Cynthia Erivo in there. I feel like there's. There's missing some of our, like, fabulous. There's a. There's a bunch of women of color. I feel like that also can. Can be added more sprinkled in here as well. But, yeah, no, it's a fabulous list. I know it could. I mean, if we want to go a little younger, you know, I'm going to throw in people like Mamie Paris, because I'm just like. You know what I mean? Like, there's like, this kind of divide with, I think, women in their, like, 40s that I go. But like, Leslie Margarita, like, Leslie Rodriguez, Kritzer Rodriguez. Like, come on. You know, there's. There's people in there that I would vouch for that are coming into that space of, like, diva Megan Hilty. Yeah, there's just. There's a lot of them.
- [04:00]
Matt Tammini
Yeah. I think that when you're talking about leading ladies, there is. It's hard to define exactly what that means because, like, obviously all of the women who are involved in this concert have been, like, the leading lady of a show, but there are so many people who maybe haven't had that opportunity but have, like, stolen shows. So I definitely think there's a ton of other people. I think a name like Kelli O'Hara would make sense from especially, like, a vocal part to balance it out. Obviously, there are other people who are known for legit voices. Kate Baldwin, Judy Kuhn, Jessie Mueller. But a lot of them can do a lot of other things, too. But to hear that kind of like, quintessential, old school, golden age, legit voice in there, I think would make a lot of sense. But we will have to wait and see what happens with the next round of casting for this concert. All right, let's move off Broadway. Initially, we got some information about a new musical called Bo that is going to be coming to New York City this summer. It is written by Douglas Lyons, one of your favorites, Grace and Ethan D. Pakchar. It is going to be presented Off Broadway from Out of the Box Theatrics, and it will run at the Christopher Street Theater that was formerly known as the New Ohio Theater from June 6th through the 27th. It was conceived and written by Lyons and music is by Pakshar and Lyons, and it features eight actor musicians telling the story of Ace Baker, a young queer man whose life has forever changed when he discovers his deceased grandfather is actually still alive. Josh Rhodes is going to direct and choreograph, and we've talked about them quite a bit over the years. But out of the Box Theatrics is starting to really go from a kind of an Off Off Broadway niche theater company to being one where we have to start thinking about them moving up into the upper echelons. They're not at like the Roundabout at MTC or even MCC level yet, but, like, they're moving their way up and having new original musicals by talents like Douglas Lyons really kind of cements them and continues to plant flags in the Off Broadway New York theater space.
- [06:04]
Grace Hockey
I also want to say that this is not a new show. This. This show has been in a short film. They've. They've been making this project for, I would say, almost a decade, if I'm not mistaken. Like, this is. This is a film piece that I know that Douglas and everybody has been working on for quite a while. The creative team has obviously, like, stayed pretty consistent with Josh and Douglas and Ethan. But you can listen online to some of, like, the demos. They have a cast recording that they did a world premiere of. It was also voted, like, best. Like, I've, I, I think that it was part. Yeah, it was part of the Montreal film festival in 2022. So if this property is of interest to you, I know that it's been developed for quite a while and it's gotten so much love over the years that this is a very exciting opportunity for the show to be partnering with out of the Box Theatrics specifically, who I love for something like this. I think that it's hard enough to develop a new piece and the fact that they've been able to do that over film media and then live performance and a cast recording, I'm very excited for this opportunity for them.
- [07:12]
Matt Tammini
Yeah, it has previously played Bucks County Playhouse for like a festival and a Lincoln Center Broadway songbook series. And then like you said, it has a Cast album available from Sony Masterworks Broadway. All right, Grace, I mentioned the SAG Awards and there were a ton of theater people that won, including ya boy Kieran Culkin, who is less than a week away from becoming an Oscar winner. He is the preeminent favorite, has pretty much swept all of the awards for his role in A Real Pain. He is obviously going to be coming back to Broadway very, very soon. In Glengarry Glen Ross, Martin Short, who is already a Tony winner, he took home a SAG award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series. He was not there. Neither him nor Steve Martin showed up. And yet not only did Martin Short win, but the entire cast of Only Murders in the Building, which obviously has tons of theater people, they won for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series, which is like the preeminent award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Selena Gomez accepted the award for the cast. She was obviously very surprised, especially when up against like Hacks and the Bear, which has pretty much won these types of awards all over the place, but only Murders won. However, Jean Smart, a Broadway alum and somebody who I believe will be coming back to Broadway in the next four, five, six months, she won for her role in Hacks. Timothee Chalamet, who has been seen off Broadway, he won for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for what was essentially a musical in A Complete Unknown. And then Zoe Saldana won for outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role for the movie musical. Amelia Perez. And Jane Fonda, who is an iconic Tony nominated performer and obviously someone even more well known for her work on screen, was one of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. So I will have a link in the show notes if you want to figure out where you can stream all of these. Not all of them actually available to stream yet, but if you want to, I'll have a link to where you can figure out where to watch all of these. But sticking with the award show thing, Grace, it was reported by the Hollywood Reporter that Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are not only going to be at the Academy Awards, obviously they, they are both nominated. Wicked is nominated for Best Picture, but they are apparently going to open up the awards ceremony, which is interesting because generally it's the host who opens things and, you know, does a monologue or a song and dance depending on who it is. Conan O'Brien is the host this year, but according to the Hollywood Reporter, it sounds like Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are going to be the ones to kick off the show. So I don't. That obviously doesn't have any impact on the awards itself. But what do you think about that? Do you feel like it should be Conan who opens the show? Maybe he'll be involved somehow. Or do you think that this is a good move to put what is the most successful Broadway musical adaptation front and center at the top of the show?
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Grace Hockey
Yeah, you might as well, because we don't know what these awards are going to shake out for them. And I think that this just makes sense. It's a show. All award shows are shows. So you should have something that is exciting grabbing you. I mean, Conan is a showman himself. Like I'm obsessed with him. But I think that this is hopefully will be very funny and fun and exciting. So hopefully it'll work.
- [10:34]
Matt Tammini
Yeah, who knows? All right, we've got a couple other little short bits of news, but yesterday was announced that the Lincoln center for the Performing Arts has announced a two year term for Clint Ramos to be artist in residence. He has been involved with a ton of different things at Lincoln center and this is not just for Lincoln Center Theater. In fact, there's not a lot of theater related things that are currently on his list for this artist in residency, although that could obviously change. He is going to be designing costume for the Met Operas production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Hopefully I pronounced that right. And he will continue to be the visual director for the Summer in the City Festival which he has been doing since 2022. He will work with the Library for the Performing Arts and a ton of other things. I would not be surprised if he ends up doing some costume design for Lincoln Center Theater as well. He is obviously been represented on Broadway. He is currently represented on Broadway with maybe Happy Ending Eureka Day. He most recently did things like Here Lies Love, K Pop Slave Play Once on this island eclipsed many other things. So one of the great minds working in theater from a design standpoint, a former Broadway radio guest. But this is exciting and I think it's cool when we see people who we know from their like legit theater work getting opportunities to design things in other versions of the medium as well. And then one little bit of news here, Grace something that you know intimately well, it seems like Charli D'Amelio, who I think people weren't exactly sure what this was going to be when she joined the cast of Ann Juliet. Apparently she really likes it because she has extended yet again. She originally joined the production on October 29th and was originally scheduled to leave on January 19th, she extended through April 6th. And now she has decided that she's going to attack on another five months, making it at least a 10 month run. She will be a part of the show's ensemble through September 7th. And I've noticed, Grace, that like, they are including her a lot in like talkbacks and stuff like that and other extracurricular activities, so to speak. And I think that's probably part of a really smart marketing plan. If you're going to have her in there, take advantage of her popularity because obviously she can handle the dancing as we've seen her on Dancing with the Stars and all of those things. But like, if you're going to have a star with that unique of a pool, take advantage of it and help her make the show a little bit more accessible to people that otherwise might not be familiar with Broadway stuff.
- [12:56]
Grace Hockey
No, I think it's great. And listen, like, it's not a small feat. Like, I think that her generosity to be included in those things is not taken lightly. I mean, you're talking about someone who gets close to like, you know, 100k, probably for like brand deals for Instagram and TikTok postings to her channels alone. You know, she has like a Hulu series. Like, this is not an average. Like, oh, can, would you mind? Like, these are big deals for her. And so the fact that she's been this gracious and excited to be a part of the community of Broadway and the show specifically is just not lost on any of us. And I think it's just fabulous. So I love that she's staying. She's excellent in the show, can't wait to see her again. But this is really great stuff.
- [13:38]
Matt Tammini
All right, let's wrap up the show with a couple feel good recommendations. And these are both a little shorter than I would like to be quite honest with you, Grace. But over the weekend we got some edited highlight packages of two shows that are getting ready to come to Broadway from inside the rehearsal room. One of them is Boop the Musical and the other one is Smash. I want to see full rehearsal performances which I have not yet seen, which makes me a little antsy because I really, really want to see them. But we know that these shows are going to be on Broadway very, very soon. Both of these shows are going to make their first Broadway preview on March 11th. Boop at the Broadhurst and Smash at the Imperial. So we are exactly two weeks away from both of these shows having their first previews on Broadway. And I'm I'm super excited about these two grays. I know a lot of people are excited about Smash, which obviously I am as well. But these two shows, whenever I watch videos of them and clips, I just smile. And I think we definitely need that. That's something we need on Broadway to have shows that people can go to and have a good time and laugh and enjoy and kind of old style big body fun musicals and mix those in with some smaller things like Operation Mincemeat and maybe ending and stuff. And Dead Outlaw. Yeah. So I the variety of this and I'm really excited to see what these look like on stage.
- [14:55]
Grace Hockey
Me too. I don't know Jasmine Amy Rogers, like, personally or in shows, but I have not stopped hearing how amazing she is and how much everyone loves her. So I can't wait. And I also, like, was a big fan of the cartoon when I was little. Like, I just love that there was like this bouncy, bubbly kind of figure. I really did watch these cartoons growing up. So I'm very excited to see the show.
- [15:18]
Matt Tammini
All right, that's all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Odderreading. Follow me on instagra Instagram @bww. Matt. Grace. Where can people find you?
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Grace Hockey
You can find me at. It's Grace Hockey.
- [15:27]
Matt Tammini
All right, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday. We'll be back to talk to you tonight.