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Today on Broadway: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
00:17:45
Manheim, Esparza join Hollywood Bowl ‘JCS,’ Behlman to play Dolly Parton’s husband, Lorde visits ‘John Proctor’ 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 Tammanini
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Tuesday, July 15, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammanini and I'm.
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Grace
Tell Me on a Sunday Podcast, Grace.
- [00:09]
Matt Tammanini
Aki Grace, we did not have an episode of Today on Broadway yesterday, but we did have a special Patreon exclusive episode that went out on Sunday evening where I spoke with our friend Kate Ranking about their favorite show that they saw this past month. The show that they talked about specifically was at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, a show that they loved. And so we got into all about that. Very likely, I think that that one is going to be coming to New York at some point either on or off Broadway. So listen to that episode. Also over the weekend in the regular feed, Jan Simpson released her latest episode of all the drama in which she went deep on the 1962 Pulitzer Prize winner for drama, how to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. And then on Sunday, of course, we had this Week on Broadway where Peter, James and Michael, along with Jan, talked about a whole host of really exciting show shows, Heather's All Shook up at Goodspeed, Prince F at Playwrights Horizons, Angry Allen at Studio Seaview, and many, many other things. So plenty of Broadway radio content. If you want to hear all of that in the various feeds. If you want to get all of our Patreon exclusive episodes, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio broadwayradio.com Patreon Now, Grace, let's get into the news that we have missed. And it starts out in Los Angeles. As we found out, two more stars that will be joining Cynthia Erivo and Adam Lambert in the upcoming Hollywood bowl production of Jesus Christ Superstar that will take place on Friday, August 1st through Sunday, August 3rd. Joining them will be recent Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Off Broadway, Milo Manheim and the one and only Raul Esparza. Mannheim will play the role of Peter and Esparza will play Pontius Pilate. Of course, Cynthia Erivo will be playing Jesus and Adam Lambert will be playing Judas. Grace this is very interesting casting one, because Milo Manheim is kind of like one of those young actors that is really rising, having not only this opportunity to do Little Shop of Horrors off Broadway, but they just released zombies4 this past week, which is a huge phenomenon on the Disney Channel. And then you've got one of the most exciting and electric theater performers that I've ever seen, Roll Esparza. So if this is just the kind of caliber of star that they're going to keep adding to this production, like I might have to cancel a cruise and just go to LA instead.
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Grace
It's selling you. I love that. That's the.
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Matt Tammanini
Oh, I mean, I was already in. Yeah, yeah.
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Grace
Oh, nice. It's great.
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Matt Tammanini
But other than, like, I don't know, maybe you're a Cameron Manheim fan, but, like, what is your level of experience or knowledge of Milo Manheim?
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Grace
I know that he is featured in the zombie films. I know that he is tall. I know that he was on Dancing with the Stars, and I know that young women love him.
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Matt Tammanini
Okay, good. That's all good. His mother, as I think we've talked about before, is actress Cameron Manheim, who was on the Practice and much of other TV shows, was in the Deaf West, Spring Awakening on Broadway.
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Grace
I know she has rich theater history, so it's not a shock that her son has gotten into the same field because it's obviously a huge passion point for her, which I really love. But I loved her on How I Met yout Mother as the dating strategist that was the person trying to set Ted Mosby up. She was great. But I've loved everything she's done. But yeah, she's fantastic.
- [03:25]
Matt Tammanini
Very interesting. Yeah, she's fantastic. Speaking of some other news that was actually also reported in Deadline that I'm looking at, it appears that Dolly Colon, a true original musical, has found Dolly Parton's leading man. And that will be John Bailman, who recently closed up Smash on Broadway. He will play Dolly's husband, Carl Dean. It's crazy. In this Deadline article, they. They show a picture of Dolly and Carl from however many decades ago, and John really does look like him. It's pretty impressive. So John is a pretty late announcement in terms of the casting here, but the show actually begins previews later this week. So he's already been in rehearsals. They've already been doing all of that. It Begins performances on July 18, and it will open on August 8 at the Fisher center for the Performing Arts at Belmont University in Nashville. Obviously, when it finishes up its run at the end of August, there will obviously be a New York transfer potentially into a theater that is currently occupied and has not yet announced its closing date. But that's the word on the street. But I love John Bailman, Grace. Like, he was in Shucked and Smashed and really showed his comedy chops.
- [04:38]
Grace
I thought, yeah, he's. He's great. And I really loved him. And Shucked, I think he was. He was really good in Smash. Like, I've enjoyed him on stage. I think that he's really talented. And I'm. I know that with the recent passing of Carl Dean, I can't imagine stepping into those literal shoes. Like, I don't, I can't, I can't fathom it. So I think it's a very big deal that everyone has signed on to him portraying this role. I'm very happy for him and I hope. I can't wait to see the show. Every time they've added a cast member, every time they've added some level of whatever to it, I just can't wait. Like, I'm a fan, I love Dolly, I'm a Southern girl. So like this one is very special to me.
- [05:17]
Matt Tammanini
All right, a show that is very special to me opened up late last week and that is Heather's the Musical, which returned off Broadway at New World Stages last week. And I'm gonna run through a really quick bit of some of the reviews. We've talked about this before. Great cast. It has Lorna Courtney as Veronica, Casey likes as J.D. macKenzie Kurtz as Heather Chandler, Olivia Harvey as Heather Duke, Elizabeth teeter as Heather McNamara, Kerry Butler as a number of adult women, Aaron Morton as Martha, and some other great people in that cast as well, including Ben Davis. The show is running at New World Stages. It has already extended into 2026 and the reviews were mostly mixed to positive. One of the big critiques that people have is something that I had with the Roku livestream and then also some of the updated songs that they added for various different iterations that it's had over in the uk. It said it's in trying to become a show that is very popular on the amateur and high school circuits. It is kind of dulled what Heathers is supposed to be about, which we'll talk about. Let's start with Jackson McHenry writing for Vulture, who was mixed and he said, quote, this production tries to hide its rough edges and half hearted staging with a callow appeal to nostalgia for something that isn't even very old yet. But the portrait of bloody popularity politics within Heathers is what makes the story cling to you and it's less clearly reckoned with in this production. David Cody, writing for the observer was positive though, saying quote, beyond its sociological themes, Heather's is a ton of stylish, well crafted fun with top notch acting and top to bottom earworms. After intermission, the score grows darker and introspective, giving individual characters moments to unburden their hearts. Neat thing about Heather's it may appear to be cold hearted and ice blooded, but by the end there's a thaw and everyone is part of the club. Lane Williamson of Exient was also mixed writing quote now the musical plays more like a cautionary tale than a bared teeth satire. Girls avoid toxic boyfriends. Well, yes, killing your classmates is not a good idea, Understood. Andy Fickman's production and the softening revisions Kevin Murphy and Lawrence o' Keefe have made to the book and the score add up to a tepid, if tuneful adaptation of what once was a controversial, giddily violent send up of teen culture. And then finally, Raven Snook, writing for Time Out New York, gave the show four out of five stars, saying, quote the big belting Courtney may not nail Veronica's sarcasm, but she sounds great in her numbers, especially the wistful 17 and likes JD is a revelation. Best known for playing fresh faced teens in Broadway's Almost Famous and Back to the Future, he may have seemed an odd choice for this sinister role, but he manages to make JD both crush and cringe worthy, sympathetic but ultimately scary when he woos her with our love is God you why Veronica is smitten, but you also root for her in the end to fight back against the seductions of violence in a new cultural landscape in which cruelty is often the point, the mere idea of choosing kindness over killing makes this Heather's message feel radical. We've talked about this show a lot, Grace. It is one that I really, really love and I'm excited to have an opportunity to see this show. But I do kind of miss what Heathers was not only with this musical but the original film where it is a satire. It is something that is supposed to hold the mirror up to real life society and point out some of the very ugly, uncomfortable flaws. And it seems like because of how popular it is with the teen editions and the school editions and all that stuff that they've tried to pull back on that. And so I hope that when I see it that we still get the underlying venom that is coursing through the veins of what Heather's is supposed to be.
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Grace
I think it's just hard to do a show where there's school shootings in 2025. I just, I think it doesn't matter the history of the show. I think it's just hard to do and I think that tonally you have to go with something that you can't recreate what was 10 years ago now because it's exactly 10 years ago or plus I guess like 11 at this point of the first, you know, iteration of it. But it's. Yeah, it's a difficult premise. And I think that what makes the show so fun is that they all kind of knew what it was. And you had like really like top tier comedic actors in that show. Like, I remember so distinctly so many of those performances from people that I had never gotten to see before, but like Jessica Keenan Wynn. And like all those people, I was like, I would trust them with any comedy today, yesterday, 10 years ago, whatever. And I think that it's, it's hard because you want to get that like hot, young, fresh faced actor that a lot of, you know, this cast is and, you know, it makes sense. But I think that part of the charm of the original production was very much the fact that you had some just really stellar actors who could, I mean, sing their faces off, but also understood the text in a really great way. Again, I have not seen this production and I can't wait to do so because Heather's is one of my favorites that I've ever seen. But I do, I have a different context for it now. Like, I'm much more sensitive about those topics than I was, I think, 11 years ago because I felt so far removed from it. And we've obviously gotten worse as a country dealing with those topics. And I think that like a young dude that wants to invoke harm on fellow students is just not as funny. So I don't know. You know what I mean? I'm curious how that's being felt in the audience, but I think that the thing that I've noticed online, especially Matt, and I don't know if this has reached you, but the amount they've had to put out a statement today discussing bootleg culture. Yeah. And a lot of the comments were like, this show wouldn't even happen. These people wouldn't even have a show to go to if it weren't for bootlegs. And I just think that that's crazy. Like, it's not about accessibility. Like, you can't just record people on stage without their consent. And it's just, it's, it's weird that that is a part of their discourse right now, which, I mean, it's a very polarizing show. So they're getting, you know, audiences talking, but it is, it is challenging. So I feel for everybody involved, you know what I mean? Like, I hope that everyone's just, you know, bringing amount of grace to it.
- [11:33]
Matt Tammanini
Well, and I think that's an interesting pushback from the people who are doing the filming because bootlegs were one of the main reasons why the original Heathers found an audience and became such a cult phenomenon. And I totally understand that. I don't agree with it. Like, I think that that should be something that we should not be doing.
- [11:55]
Grace
But what I think is funny, like, to your point, it is a big part of why that show was big. I never saw those bootlegs and I was stage dooring. I loved that show. Like, that wasn't a part of what brought me into it. It was because I love the film Heathers. But when people are using that as an excuse to do something illegal and something that is like, without the consent of the performers, I don't care. Like, it's just such a weird argument to me that people are like, well, you wouldn't even be here if it weren't for other people disrespecting you in the first place. So let me disrespect you now. Like, I'm like, that argument is bizarre.
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Matt Tammanini
Yeah. No, that you are 100% right. Also, you mentioned Jessica Keenan Wen earlier. Like she needs to be working more. She is so damn good. It's criminal. I know she does TV and movies. She was in the Mamma Mia sequel, whatever. But the fact that she is not a constant Broadway star is insane to me. I also saw her in Beautiful. She was amazing. I'm a big Jessica Kenan Nguyen fan and her whole entire Kenan and Nguyen lineage for that matter as well. All right, there is not much going on in terms of the theatrical schedule this week, mainly because we're in the middle of summer and things aren't really opening and closing at this point. But we do have some things start first on Thursday over at the Irish Repertory Theater. Their latest production of the we're actually their fourth production officially opens. This is their third one that is happening on stage and their first on stage production of the Conor McPherson play in a decade. They did it a zoom production of it during COVID That's always one of the the hits for Irish Rep. Then on Sunday, of course, we have the final performance on Broadway of Jamie Lloyd's Sunset Boulevard. Many of the original stars have already left for various reason, but the great Nicole Scherzinger, the Tony winner Nicole Scherzinger is finishing out this week and the show will wrap up its run on Sunday. Also happening on Sunday is the opening night for the Off Broadway show Joy, a new true musical starring Betsy Wolf. It is off Broadway until August 17th. I've had like, I think a lot of our mutual friends. Grace got invited to go see the show and really enjoyed and Thought it was a lot of fun. I did not honestly have a ton of expectations for this until like, oh, Betsy Wolf's doing it. Okay. If Betsy's doing it, it has to be pretty good for her to want to put her name on it because I think the world of Betsy. So this is one that I don't know that I'm going to get in town to see. But I know people have enjoyed it and I think they actually give out a couple mops every performance, which I think is hilarious. So if you're interested in the show, the reviews will come out on Sunday and you have a little bit over a month to see it off Broadway. All right, Grace, this is not really a recommendation, although it is kind of a recommendation because I want to point you to something that I want you to read. But over the weekend, there were two fairly major events that happened over at the Booth Theater because not only did Sadie Sink take her final bow and John Proctor is the villain because she had to leave earlier than she originally expected because they changed the filming dates for a certain web slinging movie that she is a part of. But also, and perhaps more importantly for this recommendation, Lord showed up to see the show with. I can't tell the story without getting into some spoilers, but the Lord's song Green Light plays a very important part in this show. So it was obviously kind of lovely and cathartic for Lord to come and see it and to meet the cast. And she actually stage doored with the cast. But the thing that I want to recommend to you is playwright Kimberly Bellflower has a really lovely post about how important not only that song by Lorde has been to her, having started writing the show seven years ago. And that song has been in it from the very beginning. But also just how transformative Lorde's music in general has been to her as a human and as an artist. So if you haven't seen it, the post is great. Tons of pictures of Lorde and the cast and the creative team and Kimberly. But it's a really lovely thing. And I think for. For a lot of people who love the show and a lot of people who love Lorde, this was very, very special.
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Grace
I was gonna say everything you just said, it's just cool. Yeah, I was like, I feel like I can't anything but I can't say I saw that Lorde was going. I know that Lorde had come by after the Met gala, but didn't get to see the full show like a couple of months back. So I Think that it was really special that she was able to fully digest the piece. Obviously, when Kimberly bellflower, like, when you license the show from them, it comes with the rights and the roya royalties to utilize the song green light. That's how into. Yeah. That's how integral this the song is to the piece, that it comes with the right to use it because the show cannot be executed without it. So this is a really special instance that she has allowed for that usage to be in play, especially being a global super pop star. But that's just how important this is. So I just. These things don't happen often, and it's super special that she got to be there and sign the lockers and everything. And she got a stage door, which was very cool.
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Matt Tammanini
Like, at first, I was like, is that the new. Because they. I saw a picture on social media of sadie walking out with somebody to stage. I was like, oh, is that the person replacing her? No. Oh, my God, that's lorde. So, like, it took me a minute to register what was going on. But, yeah, that was a very cool moment, and I'm glad that they were able to make it happen before sadie headed 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 rodwayradio. And if you want more Broadway radio, head over to Patreon. Patreon.com broadwayradio Grace. Where can people find you?
- [17:35]
Grace
You can find me at grace hockey.
- [17:36]
Matt Tammanini
All right, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.