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Today on Broadway: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
00:17:37
Kerry Butler Joins ‘Heathers’ Cast, Boy George’s ‘Taboo’ Gets New Book, Matt Reveals His Outer Critics Circle Votes Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Monday through Frida...
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- [00:02]
Matt Tammanini
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Tuesday, May 20, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammanini. This is going to be a little bit different episode today, not a hybrid in terms of news and interview, but what we're going to do is I'm going to run through a couple little bit of news stories, got a handful of recommendations, and then I'm going to go through the major categories in the outer Critics Circle Awards and tell you what I voted for. I am a member. This is my second voting year as a member and we announced the winners of our awards last week. So I'm going to go through what I voted for in all the major categories. I'm not going to do like lighting and sound because those are less exciting for most of the listening audience. I understand. But I will go through the production, the performance, maybe the directing and writing, but we'll, we'll see about that. So listen for that at the end of the episode. But let's dive into the news first. And we're going to start in Sherwood, Ohio, which is a fictional town, but that is where Westerberg High School is in the movie Heathers because we have the complete cast announced for the upcoming Off Broadway revival of Heather's the Musical. We already got the five stars of the show. We know that Lorna Courtney is going to be playing Veronica Sawyer, Casey likes is playing JD MacKenzie Kurtz is playing Heather Chandler, Olivia Hardy is playing Heather Duke, and Elizabeth Teeter is playing Heather McNamara. Now, we know the rest of the principles and the rest of the ensemble, but let's start with somebody who I feel like probably could still have been cast as Veronica or one of the Heathers because she has been playing 16 year olds for 30 years. But Tony nominee the great Kerry Butler is going to be playing Mrs. Fleming and Veronica's mom, which is just a delight anytime any production I've seen of this show. Those roles are kind of throwaways. But clearly that's not going to be the case with Kerry Butler then playing the role of Martha Dunstock. Veronica's best friend will be Aaron Morton, who is a senior at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, who became TikTok famous because of her viral performance of the song Creep by Radiohead. I want to put a link to that in the show notes because it is something that at this point I think it's over 13 million people have seen. So her getting a chance to play Martha in an off Broadway revival, because in large part because of that video is amazing. Then we're going to have Xavier McKinnon as Ram Sweeney, Ben Davis most recently seen on Broadway and Once Upon a Mattress. I actually saw him the second time I went. He went on for Sir Harry. He's playing Rams dad, Big Bud Dean and Coach Ripper. Cameron Loyal and is playing Kurt's dad, Veronica's dad and Principal Gowen. Which is interesting because Cameron Lora was supposed to play Caiaphas at the Ocelo Rep in their production of Jesus Christ Superstar that I saw over the weekend and I got a little email from the press team there that he wasn't going to be in the show a couple days before opening and I didn't know why. Now I know why because he is doing this show off Broadway. We also have the rest of the ensemble in the show notes as well if you want to check that out. But as I've said before, Love Heathers. Really looking forward to seeing this production off Broadway when it Begins performances on June 22nd at New World Stages. It is currently scheduled to play through September 28th. So very much looking forward to that. So back when I was in college there was a production on Broadway that got a ton of attention, mainly because erstwhile United States citizen and resident Rosie o' Donnell plunged a whole bunch of money into this, into this production. And it was a musical called Taboo, which told the story of Boy George. Boy George was also in it. It featured the music of Boy George and unfortunately for George and for Rosie, it was a big old Broadway flop. It played 116 performances just over three months spanning the holiday season of 2003. When the show had originally originally played London, Mark Davies had written the book. Then when it transferred to Broadway, it got a new book by Charles Bush, obviously one of the great writers of the American theater, especially at that time. Well, now the show is getting a new book. This one is going to be written by Olivier nominated writer and performer Jack Holden. Thomas Hopkins Productions is investing in it to see what might happen with a new book. The music is is great in that show. Coming up this week they're going to hold a private reading of the new production, London, which will be the first of a number of steps to try to get the show back on its feet for a commercial run. That original Broadway production of the show features one, I think one of the most beautiful songs that I had heard for a long time that was Stranger in this World, which was actually in the show, I believe was sung by Raul Esparza but was sung by Luke Evans on the cast recording.
- [05:42]
Kerry Butler
You Always knew didn't you mother. You always knew as mothers always do. You always knew, didn't you, mother? I was a stranger in this world. This dull medication.
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Matt Tammanini
But also in that original cast was Liz McCartney. Ewan Morton played Boy George, was Boy George himself played Lee Bowery, who was an artist in London who kind of was a mentor for George. Also in that cast were Jennifer Cody, Curtis Holbrook, Gregory Trico, Jeffrey Carlson, Kerry Shields, and some other folks that you might recognize. So interested to see what this looks like. This was always one of those shows that felt like it could have been something if things had worked out differently. Now maybe we'll see if that's actually true with a different book.
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Kerry Butler
You always knew bit of.
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Matt Tammanini
You always.
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Kerry Butler
Knew as mothers always do. You always knew Dinner to mother. I was a stranger in this world.
- [07:06]
Matt Tammanini
All right, we're gonna take a break real quick to talk about our sponsor for this week, Cash App. Now, I am old, so my natural inclination if I owe somebody money is to give them cash for it. Because that's the generation that I'm from. And I've had so many issues in the past of trying to pay people back electronically. There is a certain other app, not the Cash App, that will remain nameless, although it is embedded in my bank's app that I've tried to use to pay people back before. And despite the fact that I put in their phone number and I send them money, it goes through. It doesn't get to them because they didn't register their account with their phone number. So even though it let me send them money, they don't get it. So then I have to wait two weeks for them not to claim it and then it'll come back to my account rather than having the opportunity to a, make sure that it actually sends the first time and b, get it back if there is some sort of issue. That is not the problem with Cash App. Cash App is safe, easy. It's a fast way to send, receive, or transfer money to friends, family, or in my case, what I use Cash App for. This is how I pay my accountant who does my taxes for me every quarter. Because I own my own business, I pay my accountant through Cash App. But I know when Sal, my accountant, said that he wanted me to send money through Cash App, I was like, I don't want to set up another payment system. I've got all the other big ones that other people want me to use. But the setup was incredibly easy. All I had to do was enter my phone number or my email address. No bank account info was needed. I didn't have to have routing numbers or account numbers or anything like that. And then I was able to just send the money. It confirmed that the number that I was sending it to was to my accountant Sal. And everything was smooth. And within seconds, Sal sent me a text, said received. My old soul still feels more comfortable because there are fewer variables at play just to hand somebody cash. But sometimes that's not possible. So in lieu of that, Cash App is the next best thing. Now for a limited time only new Cash App users can use our exclusive code to earn some additional cash. For real. There's no catch. Just download Cash App and sign up. Use our exclusive referral code Broadway in your profile. Send $5 to a friend within 14 days and you'll get $10 dropped right into your account. Of course terms apply. But that's money. That's Cash App. All right, I'm going to run you through some real quick recommendations. Then we're going to talk about who I voted for in the Outer Critics Circle Awards earlier this season. First, we have a video of six different songs from the circus themed production of Cats that is happening at the Paramount Theater in Aurora, Illinois. So check that out. Very cool. I've got a friend going out to see that this weekend. Then members of the Company of Death becomes her headed down to the NPR studios in Washington, D.C. to do a tiny desk concert. So we've got that for you as well. Then one of the best musical nominees, Dead Outlaw, released a video of Andrew Duran singing the song I Killed a Man in Maine. If you listen to the travelogue episode, when I talked about this show, I mentioned that about the first 15 minutes of the show. I thought it was incredible. This was like the last song in that 15 minutes of the opening. So take that for what it's worth. And then finally on yesterday's show, I mentioned the fact that Aladdin celebrated not only its 4,000th performance on Broadway, but the posthumous 75th birthday of Howard Ashman. And they were going to be releasing videos from that celebration. Those videos are now available. We had performances from Little Shop of Horrors. We also had a performance from the original voice of Ariel Jodi Benson. And then the longtime collaborator of Howard Ashman, the great Alan Menken performed Proud of your boy as well. So check those out in the show notes. We will have them there. Now let's turn our attentions to my ballot for the Outer Critics Circle Awards. Now there is an option to abstain. And there were a couple categories when I chose to abstain and how I decided to do that was there were a number of categories, especially off Broadway where I didn't see all of the shows. However, when one of the nominees was a show that I felt comfortable voting for, I voted for it. In categories where maybe I didn't see all of the nominees and I didn't feel super great about voting for a winner, I abstained. There is no rule like in the Tony Awards where you have to see every show to vote on it. Obviously because of the massive breadth and depth of shows off Broadway it is near impossible if you are not somebody who lives in New York City or somebody who is honestly part of the nominating committee to see everything. So there is not the assumption that you're going to see everything. So that's why I chose to vote in some of these categories that I didn't see every every nominee and chose not to vote in some of the categories when I didn't see every nominee. But let's start with the production categories. In the outstanding new Broadway play category, the winner was John Proctor is the villain. I voted for Cult of Love. As I've said many times, Cult of Love was my favorite play of this season. The other nominees in here were also great the Hills of California, obviously John Proctor, Purpose and Stranger Things. The first Shadow. If I didn't vote for Cult of Love I probably oh man, it would have been a really tough toss up between John Proctor as the villain and Purpose probably would have hued towards John Proctor is the villain. But I really enjoyed all of these shows Stranger Things to a little bit less or maybe different degree because I think the first four are great works of literature where Stranger Things is probably a better use of technology and production. But moving on to outstanding new Broadway musical the the winner was maybe happy ending. That is what I voted for. To be quite honest with you, I would not have voted for any of the other nominees. Death Becomes her Boop. Operation Mints Meet Real Women have Curves. Yeah, that's the only one I would have even considered voting for There outstanding new off Broadway musical. The nominees were the Big Gay jamboree, Drag the Musical and We live in Cairo. Drag the Musical one, but that's the only one I didn't see out of that group. I voted for we live in Cairo because that is a show that I really enjoyed. I didn't think it was a perfect musical but I thought it was really, really good and really interesting and really different. Now outstanding new off Broadway play. The nominees are the Antiquities Grangeville. Here there are Blueberries Liberation and Table 17. Liberation is the only show that I saw in that group and I liked it. I expect it to come to Broadway. But I didn't feel comfortable voting for that as the best new play. So I abstained in this category. The John Gassner Award, which is given to a new American play, preferably by a new playwright. The winner went to Goodnight and Good Luck from George Clooney and Grant Heslove. I voted for Pre Existing Condition by Marin Ireland. I did not see Walden from Amy Berryman, still from Leah Romeo or Becoming Eve from Emil Weinstein. But I thought Pre Existing Condition was brilliant, so I voted for that. Outstanding revival of a musical. Went to Cats, the Jellicle Ball. I voted for, no surprise, the other Andy Lloyd Webber show that was nominated, Sunset Boulevard. Outstanding revival of a play. The winner was Vanya. I voted for Yellowface. Outstanding lead performer in a Broadway play. The winner was Laura Donnelly for the Hills of California. That is who I voted for. Outstanding feature performer in a Broadway play. The winner was Frances Zhu for for Yellowface. I voted for Francis Jiu from Yellowface. Outstanding lead performer in a Broadway musical. The winner was Jasmine Amy Rogers. As I talked about when these were announced, I thought that was a huge upset in a lot of ways because the other nominees were Darren Criss, Jeremy Jordan, Audra McDonald, Nicole Scherzinger and Jennifer Simard. I voted for Nicole Scherzinger, which will not be a surprise to anybody listening to this. Outstanding feature performer in a Broadway musical. The winner was Jack Malone for Operation Mincemeat. I voted for Jack Mullen from Operation Mincemeat. Outstanding lead performer in an off Broadway musical. The winner was Nick Adams from Drag the Musical. I abstained in this category because I did not see Drag or Safety not guaranteed. And four of the five nominees were from those two shows. Outstanding featured performer in an off Broadway musical. The winner was Andre Deshields for Cats, the Jellicoe Ball. I voted for Alice Louis Borsgi from We Live in Cairo. Outstanding lead performer in an off Broadway play. The winner was Adam Driver for Hold on to Me Darling. I abstained in this category because that was the only show in that category that I saw and I didn't feel comfortable voting for Adam Driver there. Outstanding feature performer in an off Broadway play. The winner was Michael rashawn for table 17. I abstained from this one as well because all that I saw from there was Liberation, which had Betsy Adam as a nominee and Frank Wood from Hold on to Me Darling and I didn't feel comfortable voting for those outstanding solo performance. The winner was Sarah Snook for the Picture of Dorian Gray. That is who I voted for. And then let's just do the direction categories. Outstanding direction of a musical. Michael Arden from maybe Happy Ending was the winner. That is who I voted for. An outstanding direction of a play. The winner was Donya Taymor for John Proctor is the Villain. I voted for Trip Coleman for Cult of Love. I really love having the opportunity to be a member of the outer critics circle and to vote on these awards. I know that I'm just one of many people who are part of this organization, but I take it seriously. I have my spreadsheets. I have a notebook that I make notes in from every show that I see. I actually have already busted out a new Moleskine notebook for the 2025, 2026 season that I will take with me. I made it a big one. It used to be a small, smaller, like, pocket notebook, but I realized that my notes, I can't write straight in the dark, so I'm busting out a big one. So sorry to people who go see shows with me. That's going to be really annoying. But that is how I'm going to do it for the 2025, 2026 season. But I consider it an honor and a privilege and a responsibility that I take very, very seriously. 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 at Broadway rating. You can follow me on Instagram at. Have a wonderful Tuesday. Don't forget, Grace's show is running through Sunday the 25th at the Soho Playhouse. Link to get tickets is in the show notes and my travelogue episode wrapping up. All of the new shows from this season is in Patreon now, so if you want to listen to that, you can sign up at the Mezzanine tier and above or you can purchase it for just $3 to hear that standalone episode. All right, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow. Sam.