← BroadwayRadio
BroadwayRadio
Today on Broadway: Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025
00:14:28
‘Punch’ opens on Broadway, ‘Schmigadoon!’ teases Broadway announcement, first look at ‘Masquerade’ Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Monday through Friday.
Loading summary
Transcript15 lines
- [00:02]
A
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Tuesday, September 30, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamminini and I'm.
- [00:08]
B
Tell Me on a Sunday podcast, Grace.
- [00:09]
A
Aki Grace this episode is coming out a little later than normal on Patreon because for the second night in a row we had an opening on Broadway and we're going to get to all of the reviews for Punch, the new play that opened at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater for the Manhattan Theater Club. We'll get to all of that in here in just a second, but as we head into October, I am getting ready for my next New York trip. I have some of it planned, still waiting on confirmation for some shows that I'm going to be seeing or at least that I've submitted requests for. So once I have all of that put together, I will inform you all about what I'm going to see. But of course there will be travelogue episodes while I'm up there. So if you want to hear all about my adventures seeing new shows from the 20252026 season, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio broadwayradio.com Patreon now Grace, as I said, on Monday night, Punch opened over at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater. This is the written by James Graham that is actually currently also playing in London, which is kind of interesting. It is directed by Adam Penford and it is based on the book Right From Wrong by Jacob Dunn. If you are unfamiliar with the story of this show, the press notes read thusly. As Jacob tears through Nottingham in a whirlwind of drugs, girls and bar fights, he makes a fatal mistake that lands him in prison. But as he struggles to accept the consequences of his actions and build a new life, he finds an unusual source of salvation. The parents of the boy he killed. The cast of Punch is led by Will Harrison as Jacob. Also in the cast are Camilo Cano, Flavia Victoria Clark, Kim Fisher, Cody Castro, Peter Merrick, Jacob Orr, Sam Robards, Lucy Taylor, and Amber Roushin Williams. As of recording time, the review aggregator site Did They like it? Has recorded 13 reviews, eight are positive, four are mixed, and one is negative. We will start over at the New York Times, where they still are without a full time theater critic, so they have a number of rotating critics coming in. Elizabeth Vincentelli, who is often a stringer for the New York Times reviewing shows, did handle the job for this one. As is often the case with Elizabeth's reviews, she gives a little bit more away from the plot than I would feel comfortable with. So I'm not going to give a ton of detail from her review, but if you want to read more of it, obviously it'll be linked in the Did They Like It? Review roundup. But she is mixed saying, quote Punch comes up short in capturing the exchange between the victim's family and the perpetrator because it always leans on Jacob's perspective down to an ending that shows him happily moving on in his life, as if James's death had been a positive in terms of his personal life's arc. But are we meant to think that meeting Jacob was enough to give Joan and David closure? Those are the parents that I referenced earlier of Jacob, who James threw the titular punch killed, going over to Sarah Holdren from Vulture, who I'm still holding out hope will be the New York Times full time critic, but she was positive saying, quote it's quite a story, though not necessarily the kind that makes for the most astonishing theater. That's not to denigrate Punch, which is solidly built and well meaning without sanctimony. Graham Penford and the company have done just about all they can do to build an engaging stage event, and if the play can't avoid feeling a bit like an embodied pamphlet for restorative justice, then at least we're all gathering to hear about something that this world inarguably needs. Robert Hoefler of the Wrap was negative, saying, to criticize a play that tells this story of transformation is to be a grump, but good intentions aren't enough to make a good play. The suspense leading up to the first meeting between the parents and Jacob is palpable, and in those early moments it's clear that there's a lot of pent up emotions ready to erupt at the mere choice of a wrong word, much less a whole question or pointed accusation. The resolution here is much too easy and pat. Maybe that's the way it transpired in real life, but the stage is another world. Emilyn Travis of Entertainment Weekly was positive, saying, bold and deeply human, Punch is initially a bit slow on the wind up, but its stellar cast help weave together an almost unbelievable story of compassion and empathy in its second act that left many theatergoers sniffling in their seats. Adam Feldman of Time Out New York gave the show three out of five stars, saying, while story itself is inspiring, some central emotional focus seems missing from the way it unfolds in Punch, which winds up feeling less like a full blown play and more like a digressive PSA about the dangers of street fighting and the value of restorative justice. Harrison's performance aside, the play's blows are hit and miss, connecting here, grazing there, but not quite landing a proper hit. We'll wrap up with the review from Tim Teeman of the Daily Beast, who was positive, saying flawed and also powerful. Punch tells an astonishing story and is a chastening corrective in this era of terrible human behavior. It doesn't just ask how we should behave, but how we could behave. The real tragedy is that its display of decency, its proposal that as part of the human contract we forgive, understand, heal and repair, is so rare. So Grace, this is one that I have a request in for when I'm in New York. I know you haven't seen it either, but still sounds like a pretty moving and impactful show as generally everything from Manhattan Theater Club is, oh, 100%.
- [05:22]
B
And I think that just from the creators that I've talked to that have gone, they really were moved by the piece. So I'm really excited to see what everyone has to say.
- [05:29]
A
And let's move on to some news and this show I'm going to say again, haven't seen Punch yet, but I'm going to say that this show that we're going to talk about here is the polar opposite to Punch. Because yesterday we got a tease that makes it seem like we are finally going to add a musical comedy to the 2025, 2026 season because we're a little light on new musicals and musical comedies in particular. But yesterday the Instagram account for Schmigadoon posted a little teaser saying that tomorrow or today, Tuesday, there was going to be some sort of announcement. And then our friend Ashley Hufford, who's a guest here semi regularly posted that she got an email from Schmigadoon creator Cinco Paul, who's also been a guest here on Broadway Radio before, thanking her as he sent these out to many people saying that today, Tuesday, there's going to be a special announcement in Entertainment Weekly, he said it is not about season three. So Grace, I have to imagine that this is going to be for a Broadway run of Schmiga doing the musical. Obviously this had a world premiere at the Kennedy center earlier this year and had another reading for it that came up over the summer. The Kennedy center cast had some great folks. It starred Sarah Chase, Alex Brightman, Isabel McCullough, Kevin Delagula, Ryan Vasquez, Emily Skinner, Javier Munoz, Anne Harada, who was also in the TV show Angel, Rita, Brad Oscar and Mackenzie Kurtz Some of those were involved with the reading, some of them were not. Don't know if any of them will be back in the cast when this comes to Broadway, although Alex Brightman in a recent interview did say that he was going to be in a show on Broadway this spring. So put two and two together. But this is always fun. Grace, you and I talked a lot about this first season of Schmigadoon, which the musical is based on when it came out. And looking at what this Broadway season is when it comes to new musicals, the only three new musicals that have been announced are the Lost Boys, not a comedy, the Queen of Versailles, probably funny, but not a comedy. Two Strangers Carry a Kick Across New York. More rom com than like traditional musical comedy. And then the revivals are Chess, Mamma Mia, Ragtime and Rocky Horror. Obviously some humor in some of those, but not a traditional musical comedy like Schmigadoon will be. So I'm excited to add this to the mix so that we do get a little bit of variation in what we are seeing in the season.
- [07:52]
B
That would be really cool. I would love that to happen.
- [08:00]
A
Don't you love it when your day job and your radio job overlap, Grace?
- [08:04]
B
I sure do, especially when embargoes exist. But you know what, I can say that artwork looked really good and if I knew the person who made it, I'd pat him on the back and.
- [08:16]
A
I might, yeah, have done that. Maybe the art in question is a very nice picnic basket or picnic basket if you're yogi to bear that has something glowing in the middle of it. It might be corn pudding, it might be something else, who knows. But very excited about this announcement to see what happens from there. But that was not the only major announcement, although it's only kind of a quasi announcement in and of itself that we got yesterday because we found out that thanks to MCC Theater, coming up in December there will be a one night only benefit reunion concert of the Bridges of Madison County. The show will feature a 20 piece orchestra directed by Jason Robert Brown, the composer, directed by Bartlett Shear who did the original Broadway production, and it'll be at Carnegie Hall. On hand to recreate their original Broadway performances will be Kelli o', Hara, Steven Pasquale, Whitney Basher, Caitlin Kinnnon, Derek Klenna, Cass Morgan and many, many other people from the original Broadway cast as well as several other original ensemble members. You know, this is not one of my favorite JRB shows, but the outpouring of excitement that so many theater people had on social media. Yester it is pretty clear that a lot of people love this show.
- [09:36]
B
I love that people love this one. I mean, I didn't get to physically see it, but I certainly listened to that whole cast album a lot. So I really like when things like this happen. For sure. I love cast reunions where people are still able to do them.
- [09:53]
A
Yeah. And get to reunite and people who obviously still enjoy being around each other. So that is very cool. On yesterday's show we talked about the fact that Off Broadway had like this super uber intimate revival of Tartuffe Off Broadway starring Andre Ada Shields. Well, yesterday we got information for the upcoming Matthew Broderick led revival of Tartuffe that's going to be happening at the New York Theater Workshop. It'll be beginning performances on November 28th ahead of a December 16th opening and it is currently scheduled to play through January 11th. It is being directed by Sarah Benson who helmed Teeth Off Broadway. In addition to Matthew Broderick, we also have just an absolutely stellar cast of David Cross, Emily Davis, Bianca Del Rio, Amber Gray, Ryan Haddad, Frances Zhu, Lisa Krohn & Ike UFO Madu and choreography by Raja Feather Kelly and music by Heather Christian. Like this is when we talk about like star studded teams both on and off stage. I don't know that there is one that is more star studded than this one this season. Grace.
- [11:02]
B
There's a lot of that, you know, we, we've obviously been talking about a lot of these different types of things for, for star studded events like that. So I'm glad to see. I mean I think you're very excited and that's all that matters.
- [11:16]
A
I don't know about that. Going from New York Theater Workshop a little bit uptown to the Claire Tower Theater over at Lincoln Center. Yesterday, LCT and Seaview announced some additional comedians that are going to be a part of their the Comedy series which is part of the program of the Off Broadway Claire Towel Theater this fall. I feel like there were some previous names that were announced and are no longer part of this press release. So I'm not sure what that is all about. But we know that from November 12th through the 16th, Jerrod Carmichael is going to be doing his show live on stage at the Lincoln center and then Sam Jay is going to be performing we the people. From December 3rd through the 14th they joined the previously announced Ver Das who is doing his solo show hey stranger from October 29th through November 9th. I believe and I didn't look this up, but I believe Jenny Slate was announced to be a part of this at one point. So I don't know if she booked a movie or TV show and is no longer going to be able to do it. But obviously Grace blending off Broadway theater, one person shows and stand up comedy is something right up your alley. So I'm interested to see what this looks like and hopefully it is something that LCT and Seaview can continue doing in the future. Next, we have information on the reading for a new musical called Desa Parecidas. This one will feature a book by Georgina Escobar and songs by Jaime Lozano and Florencia Quince. Quenza is also going to star in that reading and is going to direct so she is going to be very, very busy with this one. It's going to take place on Wednesday, October 1st. It is set at a Mexican State Fair and the work quote explores the strategic erasure of female voices in the fight to end gender based viol and borderlands disappearances of women and girls. Along with Quinta in the cast will be Maella Barrera, Sarah Ornelas, Shelby Acosta and Ashadia Fares. And this has previously been done as a concert at Joe's Pub and Jack space back in 2024. So always love seeing Jaime and Florencia work together. That's very cute. And then Grace, I've got three recommendations. One of them has to do with the opening night that we had, the gala opening night that they had on and then the official opening night of Masquerade Off Broadway on Monday. And they finally gave us a look at kind of like what this show is. They gave us some behind the scenes. They gave us kind of stunning portraits with all of the phantoms and Christines. So we will have that in the show notes if you want to check that out. And then I have two videos from weekend shows. First, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winner talked Waiting for Gadot on CBS Sunday Morning and then Leslie Odom Jr. Talked about his return to Hamilton and Broadway in general on Sunday Today with Willie Geist. So if you want to check those out, they are in the show notes. 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 broadwayradio if you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio Grace, where can people find you?
- [14:15]
B
You can find me at graceaki.
- [14:17]
A
All right everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.