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Today on Broadway: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
00:15:40
‘John Proctor Is the Villain’ extends on Broadway and gets film adaptation, Moretz to lead ‘Caroline’ Off-Broadway, ‘Sunset’ closing night highlights Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre he...
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- [00:02]
Matt Tiamineni
Welcome to TODAY on Broadway for Tuesday, July 22, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tiamineni.
- [00:07]
Grace Ake
And I'm Tilmi on a Sunday podcast, Grace Ake.
- [00:09]
Matt Tiamineni
Grace, we were off yesterday, but we did have a special episode hit the Patreon Feeds on Sunday night where you and I talked about all things about how social media can influence casting and some of the things that young artists need to think about when they are building their own social media brand in terms of what it can mean for their careers moving forward. So if you want to hear that, head over to patreon.com broaderradio broadwayradio.com Patreon it is definitely an insightful conversation. I learned a lot from that chat we had, Grace. But let's dive into the news because we have not one but two pretty big stories surrounding John Proctor is the villain. The first one came out on Friday and it was an exclusive with a Hollywood reporter. And apparently despite the fact that this Broadway run of the show is going to be wrapping up fairly soon. More on that here in a second. It's not the last that we're going to see of John Proctor is the villain in a very big way because a film version is already in the works with Kimberly Bellflower adapting her own Tony nominated script. But Tina Fey and Mark Platt are going to be producing it alongside the show's original stage star, Sadie Sink. Not a ton more details about it in terms of anything concrete that we can talk about. But Grace, in terms of Sadie Sink's involvement, would you think that this just automatically means that she's going to star in it? They didn't say that she was going to star in it. But is somebody of her stature with her experience in the show on Broadway, Is that just the obvious next announcement or because that wasn't part of this initial announcement, do you think that means that they are going to go with somebody else and Sadie's just going to be there in an advisory producing capacity?
- [02:05]
Grace Ake
I just feel like it would be Cuckoo Luku to not have a film and TV star that originated the role on Broadway that was Tony nominated, not in the role in a film like that just seems cuckoo. But also it could be that they go with a very young cast. Who knows by the time that they get this made, like they might want a younger group. But I don't expect that. Like I think that goodness gracious mean girls, those gals were older than me and so like, who knows, right? So I think that it makes sense that if Sadie signed on that she did that with the caveat that she would star, but then also she would attach her name as a producer. So I think it's. I think it's exciting nonetheless. But I would assume that they would withhold the casting information. So there's a larger casting announcement, but more so to help promote the rest of the run of the Broadway show. To say, you're going to want to say that you'd seen it before it becomes a film.
- [03:02]
Matt Tiamineni
Yeah, I did find the timing of that pretty interesting because it didn't happen with the end of Sadie's run on Broadway. It happened a week later with this announcement, and it didn't happen at the end of the Broadway production. It happened as we're going to talk about, you know, a month and a half before that. So it was pretty interesting. And I, too, assume that Sadie Sink is going to be starring in the film version. She is 23 right now, so like you said, depending on when they actually get moving, she might be 24 by the time it comes out, 25. But that is certainly not an age that would exclude her from playing a high school student on screen because we have seen far more egregious age discrepancies in castings in films as well. But the other bit of Jon Proctor news we found out yesterday is the fact that it will extend a final time. The show is now scheduled to play through September 7th on Broadway. This is the third extension for the show, and it is going to continue running with Kiara Aurelia in the role that Sadie Sink obviously originated in the show. Because Little Bear Ridge Road is scheduled to begin performances on October 7th, that is one month exactly following the final extension that was just announced. So that will give it just enough time to load in after John Proctor loads out. So this feels like the last possible opportunity to extend short of moving to a different theater. Disappointed that it won't have an opportunity to continue to go. I had originally assumed before Little Bear Ridge Road was announced, Grace, that this could be one that, you know, ended up doing something similar to what Omari has done. Obviously, very different shows, very different casting, you know, very different. You know, just about everything other than the fact that they were very, very successful new plays on Broadway this year that had seemingly infinitely growing buzz. Both came to Broadway with a lot of expectations, but both Omari and John Proctor feel like they have just continued to gain a foothold. And unfortunately, it seems like this one is not going to have an opportunity to continue, at least not in its original home, thanks to a Scott Rudin show, which is a little disappointing on multiple fronts. All right, moving Off Broadway, we also got some pretty exciting casting news about an upcoming MCC Off Broadway world premiere called Caroline, which we talked about in the past. This is written by Preston Max Allen, who I have long admired since the musical We Are the Tigers. This is a straight show that we've talked about before. David Cromer is going to be directing. It'll begin performances on September 12th at MCC and is currently scheduled to play through October 19th. The show is going to have a number of very big stars. It'll be led by Chloe Grace Moretz and Amy Lanaker, and they will both be returning to the New York stage for the first time in over a decade. They will be joined by River Lippy Smith and their New York debut. The new play follows Maddie, who is forced to seek the help of her long estranged mother, finds herself unable to shield her daughter Caroline from the circumstances of her fractured family. This is very high on my list, Grace. Not only just because of Preston, Max Allen writing it, not only because David Kramer is directing it, not just because MCC Theater is the producing company. We know how much we love that. But getting to see some pretty exciting stars who haven't been on stage in a long time just continues to have this one climb up the expectations ladder for the fall shows.
- [06:50]
Grace Ake
I got really excited when I saw that this was happening. I love Preston also. He's such a good writer and this is just really cool. I always love mcc. I feel like I have nothing of substance to say besides yay, because I just like all of this. So, McC, once again, I kiss your feet.
- [07:07]
Matt Tiamineni
I feel like Chloe Grace Moretz is not necessarily, like, at the same level of like, a Sadie Sink. And I'm not even sure how old she is. She's probably a bit older than Sadie is. But, like, I feel like there's a certain age group and a certain demographic of pop culture fans and potentially theater fans as well, that she is a very, very big name for. What if. If maybe some of our older listeners, myself included, like, maybe know the name but maybe don't. Like, what are some things that, like, she might be known for?
- [07:40]
Grace Ake
You mean like from Kick Ass?
- [07:43]
Matt Tiamineni
From Kick Ass. She was the star of the kick.
- [07:45]
Grace Ake
Ass movie 500 Days of Summer. She's the little sister. She's from Atlanta, and I saw her at an Apple store once. I don't know what more of a sell that y' all want. I saw her at the Atlanta Apple store once and I thought, two Graces from the south that just want to be stars. Oh, my God. In 2018, she was in this horror film called Greta. It scared the shit out of me. It is so good. It's her and Isabel Hubert, who was obviously a famous, like, French star.
- [08:15]
Matt Tiamineni
French Oscar nominee, yes.
- [08:18]
Grace Ake
That show, if that was a play, you would freak out. It's so good. Like, the performances are so good, but it's like a classic, like thriller, just two women. But it's, it's. It's really good. It's really freaky and it's really good. So that's my recommendation for her. I don't know in like the theatrical sense if she's done other stuff. But I mean, like, I love her in film. So.
- [08:43]
Matt Tiamineni
The only other stage credit that I know of is she did an off Broadway play in 2014 called the Library at the Public Theater. So that is where they're saying, like, it's her return to the stage, but she was also. They remade Carrie in 2013. She played Carrie, did like a three episode arc on 30 Rock and stuff like that. So very big casting, very fun, and apparently great in a horror movie as well. Speaking of some very, very big stars, last week we learned of another huge reading of an iconic show that'll be happening with a ton of very, very big famous people, some of whom, Grace, I know that you love tremendously. But coming up on August 25th at the Guild hall in East Hampton, New York, will be a star studded reading of the iconic Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein biopic, All the President's Men. It will get a 2020 as well, and it will feature such names as Robert Downey Jr. Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Rami Youssef and Kenneth Lonergan and J. Cameron Smith. John Benjamin Hickey, Broadway star and director, will direct the reading, with additional stars to be announced in coming weeks. Obviously right now there's probably a lot of context going from all the President's Men back during the Nixon administration to things happening in the real world right now, which will make this even more prescient than we would probably like. But with stars like this doing a benefit reading, I think that it will be very, very exciting and we will hear quite a bit more about this over the next month. All right, moving Off Broadway, Grace. Yesterday, American Dance Music and the York Theater Company announced a new show that will be a part of the Off Broadway Theater Company's season. It'll begin performances on November 25th and is currently scheduled to play through December 28th. It is called Gotta Dance and it will look at some of the iconic Broadway and movie musical choreograph over the course of time. It will reconstruct choreography from Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Gene Kelly, Michael Bennett, Susan Stroman, Billy Wilson and more. And feature numbers in the original choreo from such things as west side Story, A Chorus Line, Pippin, Singing in the Rain, White Christmas and others. It is conceived by Nikki Atkins and it will feature direction by Atkins and acclaimed director and choreographer Randy Skinner. This will be a part of the York's 25 season which will open with world premiere musical this Is Not a drill on September 9th. All right, not a whole lot going on in this week's theatrical schedule, but we do have two Off Broadway openings on Thursday night. The first, Grace, is a show that you've seen, Ginger Twinsies that will open up at the Orpheum Theater. This of course, is the Parent Trap parody that was written by Kevin Zak. I'm very excited to see what all of the reviews are like for this later this week. And then a show that is opening over at New World Stages is Rolling Thunder. I think we're going to be doing interview around this show coming up later. So excited to see what this one's all about. This is a show that takes a lot of the iconic classic rock songs of the 60s and 70s and puts them into a context with soldiers in and out of the Vietnam War and having to deal with political unrest and anti war protests that kind of defined a generation. So those two shows both opening on Thursday and then of course on Sunday we have our next Broadway closing which is Pirates the Penzance Musical, which will close over at the Todd Hames Theater. If you want information on all three of those shows, you can check it out in the show notes. And speaking of Broadway closings, Grace, this is both our recommendation for today, but also a little bit of a conversation. Since you were there on Sunday, you got to go over to the St. James Theater and witness the final Broadway performance of this production of Sunset Boulevard. I will have like the closing night curtain calls and everything in the show notes if you want to check that out. But I imagine that this was a pretty electric environment over at the St. James on Sunday.
- [12:55]
Grace Ake
It was really crazy. And I think that it's also just like worth noting that like not only did the show start a little late because it had to obviously to get everybody in because it was the last time to get them in, but I don't know, I was doing basically lunges at the amount of times we were doing Standing ovations. And like, I just love when like the ensemble, like speaking tracks are getting like the applause too. Like, it wasn't just Nicole. It was also like the company was getting a lot of the love, which was very exciting. A ton of the supporting cast that also were standbys or covers were on because the last remaining original principal was Nicole. So I got to see young Norma. Norma and Betty Schaeffer were all played by Asian women on Sunday. I thought that was very exciting. And all people of color in that principal company. So it was very special, not only just because the show and I was very proud of the work that I got to do on it, but also just because I really enjoyed it and everybody was just. It was a beautiful celebration. I think Nicole was signing autographs for two and a half hours post curtain. I'm not making that up. Like, she was not at the, the party like with everyone else. And I went back to the theater and was still signing post curtain. So it was really beautiful. And yeah, I was, I was glad that they had such an exciting send off.
- [14:21]
Matt Tiamineni
Yeah, very, very. Christy Altomar, closing of Anastasia. Vibes and energy with that one.
- [14:27]
Grace Ake
Okay, you're the second person to say that. What happened? Yeah, I don't even know what this is.
- [14:34]
Matt Tiamineni
It's just a very similar story on the closing night of Anastasia. There's just, you know, there was always stories of that, like she was just there signing autographs for two, three hours after closing at the curtain call or at the, at the stage door. So I mean, I don't think there's anything beyond that. But I mean, I think Christy was kind of known for how well she interacted with the fans at the stage door. Obviously, Anastasia was a show that had a ton of very young fans, and I think Christy appreciated that and spent a lot of time on closing night rather than going to parties or going home and sleeping at the theater signing autographs. So good for Christy, good for Nicole. And that's always a nice way to thank the audiences who have been supportive of a run throughout its entire time. All right, that's all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Rodri. And you can get all things broadwayradio@broadwayradio.com Patreon Grace, where can people find you?
- [15:27]
Grace Ake
You can find me, Resaki.
- [15:28]
Matt Tiamineni
All right, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow. Sam.