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Today on Broadway: Tuesday, March 25, 2025
00:17:47
Reviews for Denzel and Gyllenhaal’s ‘Othello,’ ‘Mincemeat’ Extends on Broadway, Matt Reviews ‘Hadestown’ Tour 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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Matt Tamnini
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Tuesday, March 25, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamnini and I'm.
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Grace
Tell Me on a Sunday Podcast Grace.
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Matt Tamnini
Ake Grace On Sunday night, far later than I was even awake, the reviews came out for the latest Broadway revival of Othello. Even though I drove about an hour and a half north of Orlando to check out the national tour of Hadestown, which I'll talk about a little bit at the end of the episode. By the time I got back at like 11:30, the reviews had still not all been posted. So we're gonna into those today. But before we do, this is a reminder, of course, that this is the latest Broadway revival of the Shakespeare classic. It is currently playing the ethel Barrymore Theater. Word is currently scheduled to play through Tony Sunday on June 8th. It is directed by Kenny Leon and stars Denzel Washington as the title character, Jake Gyllenhaal as Iago, Molly Osborne as Des Tomona, and a ton of other really great names that you will likely remember Neil Bledsoe, Andrew Burnap, Julie Kierda, Jean Gillette, Rob Heaps, Ezra Knight, Christina Sajuz, Kimber, Elaine Sprawl and more. We'd already talked about this Grace because there was a dust up between the show's producers and press team and the New York Post's Johnny Oleksinski. He ended up being disinvited from the show after he wrote a column critical of their over $900 ticket price for certain sections in the theater. He posted his review a little over a week early, an unequivocal pan. Well, I don't think all the other reviews were as bad, but they were certainly not great. As of recording time. Did they like it? Has collected 19 reviews, two were positive, 14 were mixed, and three were negative, including Johnny Oleksinski, starting with the New York Times is Jesse Green. I'm not going to dive into his full review just because by this point, if you really cared, you have already read it. But he said, in short, as I felt the production's blunt force more and more, I grasped its aura and aims less and less. That seems to be the general consensus from the reviews that I have read that there just doesn't seem to be much of a point for this specific revival. Obviously there is a financial point because it is making a ton of money, but there is no focusing idea behind Kenny's version of this show, despite the fact that there are a lot of connections to real world things happening right now. Not only specifically because Iago gets the entire country to turn on a beloved figure based on disinformation. And that is something that I think could have been mined fairly well for this production. But Brittany Samuel for Broadway News was also mixed, saying, quote this Othello is still a once in a lifetime experience. Be it for this towering cast or its relatability to this current social moment. The depth is all there, but this production simply does not live up to its performers. Adam Feldman of TimeOut New York gave the show three out of five stars and he said, as much as you may think you need what Othello calls the ocular proof, the production is not a must see. Dalton Ross, writing for Entertainment Weekly said, quote, there's nothing wrong with updating a Shakespeare classic from over 500 years ago to reflect modern times and sensibilities, but if you're going to do it, then do it. Director Kenny Leon's new production, however, seems caught between reverence for the original source material and a seemingly half hearted attempt to renovate the setting around which the classic action revolves. Sarah Holdren of Vulture was one of the negative reviews, saying, quote, kenny Leon's passionless new production is about as far from that overlap as it's possible to get. Audience and ensemble alike are lost in a hinterland so disconcertingly sleepy and beige that it's hard to summon anything as visceral as fury. One of the very few positive reviews is Roma Torrey writing for New York Stage Review, and we'll finish on this. She said, quote the tale of Othello is as old as time, but it's the timing and the telling that elevates ancient classic. Thanks to a Bravora company. The telling is first class. You know, Grace, I think for a lot of people the fact that this show could cost them up to 900 and something dollars. They were expecting to see more than just two stars. They were expecting to see two stars in a great production. And I think that that has really soured this for a lot of the critics. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to get invited to this one. It's already open and I haven't gotten anything, so I'M assuming that this is not going to be one that I'm going to be able to see. Probably the only show of this entire Broadway not going to see, which is a little bit disappointing. But I'm certainly, you know, if the, if the tickets were normal ticket price though, Grace, I probably would have bought one. Just to be able to say that I've seen every show, but tickets are so few and far between. Getting an opportunity to check this one out is unlikely for me.
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Grace
I will say that, like, if we also look at the height of Hamilton, if we also look at the end of Romeo, like there, there have been so many shows that I have seen tickets going in this price range.
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Matt Tamnini
Yeah.
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Grace
Was it the same for the last week of Bright Star? No, but I. That people, you know, have different thresholds of what they'd be willing to pay to see. I mean, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Denzel, like, I don't know, but I, but I think it varies, you know, and I just want to say that, like, this doesn't, this doesn't seem out of pocket to me as much as I think people are making it out to be.
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Matt Tamnini
Well, I think you're 100% right. We've talked about grosses for years and often talked about the fact that Hamilton at its heyday was certainly pulling in. I don't remember if it was exactly 900, but I know for sure it was over $750 and it probably was 900. I just don't remember off the top of my head. But I feel like that and the Eras tour and Beyonce's tour, I think those ticket prices were often felt maybe a little bit more justified because of the quality of what they were seeing and the hype that went around it because of how good it was. This seems to have been built entirely on just the star power. And I'm not saying that because I haven't seen the show, so I don't know if it's any good, but I mean, because those were the prices before performance even began and a lot of the tickets sold. So you're certainly right there. This is not the only time that we have seen tickets like this. And you often talk about live entertainment being its own thing. Taylor Swift is often the thing that gets referenced. So you are certainly right. I know, I know very good friends who have spent a lot more than 920 bucks on a ticket to see Taylor Swift. But I, you know, based off these reviews, it seems like this doesn't live up to a Taylor experience. But one thing that people are going to be able to see and that did get better reviews on Broadway is Operation Mincemeat, because the show, as we talked about with the reviews, it's extending yet again. The show was only supposed to be a summer run, but now it has gotten its third and its longest extension, as the show will now play on Broadway at the John Golden Theater through February 15th of 2026, barring any potential extension from there as well. That means it will play a full year because it began performance on February 15th of 2025, barring any other changes, of course. But I think this is good. This is a good thing that there is enough interest in this show that they feel emboldened by the reviews that came out last week that they were able to keep this show officially on sale for a full calendar year. And hopefully that this means that a lot of people are going to go, a lot of people are going to see it, and a lot of people are going to enjoy it. GRACE we also got some news about another show officially coming to Broadway next year. The only thing is, we know nothing about it. We know that the show is Noel Coward's classic comedy Private Lives. It was last seen on Broadway in 2011, but it will come in the fall of 2026. It'll be a part of the 2026, 2027 season. We do not know who's starring in it. We do not know who's directing it, but we do know who's producing it. It is Jeffrey Richards and a few other folks. The last time that this was seen on Broadway, it starred Kim Cattrall and Paul Gr. One that I feel like we're probably gonna get. Star cast. It's a show that follows a divorced couple who kind of have this surprise reunion as they are staying at a hotel in rooms with adjoining balconies. Do you have any ideas as to who you would want to fan cast for this one? Grace For.
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Grace
For this one? Listen, I was a big fan when I got to see. Wasn't it present. Laughter yeah, With Kevin Klein a couple of years ago. With Kevin Klein. So I don't know. I mean, I like that Kobi Smulders was in that, but. And I also love Kevin Klein. I don't know. I feel like you can kind of throw anybody, any. Anybody in that. Funny. Like, I feel like there's, like, some people that I'm not thinking of.
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Matt Tamnini
I mean, you mentioned Kobe. Could we get Kobe and Taryn doing this one together?
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Grace
Wait, that's really smart.
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Matt Tamnini
It could. I mean, she's got experience with Noel Coward. I think it's very good. And Taryn was just in the the show the Residence that I binged over this weekend on Netflix with Uzo Adub. He was very funny in that. So check that one out if you haven't seen it yet. But yeah, I would be down with that. I'd be good with that. I assume we will find out more. Probably not anytime soon because this one still has a year and a half before it'll be on a Broadway stage. While we will not have to wait that long to see Floyd Collins on Broadway, we will have to wait at least a day longer than originally planned. The show had been previously set to begin performances on Thursday of this week. That will now happen on Friday. There was no official reason given for the one day delay, but we now know that the show will begin performances a day late. Generally that has to do with, you know, whether it's an illness screwing things up on the rehearsal schedule or some sort of technical thing happening during the tech process, we don't know. But something usually just kind of is a little bit of a hiccup in the rehearsal process. That does not mean that there is any sort of larger issue with the show. Obviously, people who had previously purchased tickets to see the first preview will be refunded. If you have any questions, contact your point of purchase. One of the big things that is going to be a highlight of the spring season in New York theater that is not part of the Broadway season is New York City Center's production of Wonderful Town. We already knew that Anika Noni Rose and Aisha Jackson are going to be playing Ruth and Eileen at the center of that story. We now know the rest of the cast that will be joining them when they begin performances at City center on April 30th. Also in the company will be Itai Benson, Alison Blackwell, DeWitt Fleming Jr. Jesse Hooker Bailey, Javier Munoz, Fergie Philippe, John Rapson, Danielle Torres, Jimmy Ray Bennett, and more. There's a wonderful ensemble of people in there too, Grace. This is smack dab in the middle of one of my trips and I'm so packed with Broadway stuff I don't know that I'm going to get there. But you had me in Anika Noni Rose, who was one of my all time favorites. You throw in Aisha Jackson, who is one of my up and coming favorites of from our beloved Once Upon a One More Time, but you throw in Itai Javi, John Rapson. Like this is a really fun group to do a show that people love Every time they get a chance to see it. Just don't have a lot of chances to actually see it done with a cast of this caliber.
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Grace
Yeah, the second I saw John Rapson was in this, I was like, okay, so it's gonna be good. Yeah, I'm. I'm obsessed with this cast. I really don't know anything about this show. Most of the time at New York City Center, I'm, like, flying by the seat of my pants. I'm just, like, learning as we go. And this is going to be great. So I'm really excited to see all of them.
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Matt Tamnini
Yesterday we also got news from the St. James Theater that Nicole Scherzinger is adding six performances to her Sunset Boulevard run. And these are taking place on Tuesdays. They are Tuesdays beginning on April 8th. There'll be two in April, three in May, and one in June. These are dates that were normally done by Mandy Gonzales. Mandy is not going to be doing those, so Nicole is going to take them over on those dates. If you want to see the exact specific dates, you can head over to the Show Notes now. Grace, yesterday we got the 2025, 2026 seasons of two of the. I don't know about biggest in terms of size or how many people that come in, but like two of the most important regional theaters in the country, both of them in the Northeast. And we will start just in your neck of the woods with the Paper Mail Playhouse. They announced their season yesterday and includes five musicals, including Bull, which most recently played North Carolina and last year and is still trying to, after years and years and years, work its way to Broadway. Then we're going to get Disney's Frozen, a show you're very familiar with. Come from away, 1776 and west side Story. So if you want the complete dates for that, we will have them in the Show Notes. But the season will start in October of 2025 with Bull Durham. 1776 is being done in April of 2026. That will coincide with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So very fun. A really good group there. And this is one that I think is going to be one of the most exciting seasons that Papermill has had in a very, very long time.
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Grace
Listen, the second I saw that Frozen, you know what I did? I had to make a call. But I. I'm excited for this. I'm also really excited for Bull Durham. I really love that movie growing up. I'm very excited to see this on stage.
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Matt Tamnini
Yeah, one of my Go to hats is a Durham Bulls hat. So if that's like one of the ones I throw in my backpack whenever I need an extra hat just in case. So I love anything Durham Bulls related. But the other theater that I'm talking about is Goodspeed Musicals, which you have a connection to as well. Up in Chester, Connecticut, they announced two new shows. They're going to be a part of their season. It will start on May 24 with a new musical review of Maltby and Shire songs called About Time. They have two previous reviews of work called Starting Here, Starting now and Closer Than Ever. This one will be the third in their trilogy and then the other one is called Emusical. So that's like emu in capitals, sickle in lowercase. This is about the great Emu war that happened in Australia. I cannot tell if this is actually a real thing or not based off of the press release release. But this will run on October 3rd and here's the description. I'm just going to read it to you. You can make up your own judgment, but remember that one time that the Australian government sent an army with machine guns to wage war on emus in Western Australia. Neither do most people, but when Edith the headstrong warbler and her flock begin to feed on the wheat of local farmers, the humans take up arms against Australia's favorite feathered friends. Think of it as cats, but with emus, it's the most emusing 90 minutes you'll have in a theater. Don't miss it. I don't know anything about this show. I don't know anything about the people who have written this, but I kind of love it already. Grace.
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Grace
Yeah, that seems like right up your alley. And the pun really got me. So we need to know more.
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Matt Tamnini
Yes, absolutely. All right. This is a recommendation that I'm going to have real quick. I went and saw the non equity national tour of Hadestown. It was actually the 10th time that I've seen Hadestown on stage. The first time I've seen it without the lift and the revolve that is so iconic to the staging of Hadestown. And what's interesting is I actually saw, I think from what I can tell, a pretty special night. Not only did I see an understudy for Eurydice and Hades, but it looks like instead of the normal five workers, they actually did it with four. And there were two swings on covering. I don't know how they split up the five parts, but I love the show, went to London to see it. I've seen it On Broadway. First national tour in London, now the non equity tour. And it just still works. And I think for some people, they'll think, oh, well, you don't have the lift, you don't have the revolve, you don't have the turntable. How does that work? It doesn't matter. It made me even more excited to see future regional productions, future community theater productions, academic productions, college productions, high school, whatever. Because it just shows like the material is just so strong. If you get people that can really buy into what the show is trying to tell, you don't need all of the technical feats that accompany the original production. It really was a great production. I was blown away by a lot of the people in the cast and the current Hermes, I thought they were great. The name of the performer is Jaylen C. Crump. I've seen Hermes referred to as Mr. Hermes. I've seen Hermes referred to as, as Ms. Hermes. But I'm assuming that it's not listed in their bio. But Jaylen was not referred to as either. They always referred to Hermes as like, it's Hermes or something. They, they, they didn't use the gender specific descriptions, which was a very, it seemed like a very conscious thing, which I thought worked naturally. And if you didn't know the show, you wouldn't have noticed. So I thought that was a really kind of a lovely way to show that there, there are dozens and dozens of dozens of different opportunities and different ways that people can be cast in this show and it still works and you don't have to be tied to what was originally done. All right, that's all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to Today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Broadway rating and follow me on Instagram @BWW. Matt Grace. Where can people find you at its Grace Hockey. All right, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.
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