Grace Hockey (3:21)

I would love that personally. Make it happen.

Matt Tammanini (3:24)

Yeah, make it happen. Speaking of things happening in London, yesterday, Variety had an exclusive report that the Tony winning director, John Doyle, will mount a major revival of the Secret Garden at the York Theatre Royal starting next spring. It is going to run from March 17 through April 4. That seems like a very short run of that show, so maybe that will be extended and maybe it will transfer somewhere else in London, as these things often do, from smaller theaters into West End theaters. The article kind of just goes through what the Secret Garden is and who John Doyle is. But one of the things that it does note is that like many of his productions in the past, this will feature a cast of actor musicians. So haven't seen one of these from him in a while, at least not on Broadway, I guess. We did see Assassins. We saw it together, actually. Grace. We saw it off Broadway with Assassins. He did it with Sweeney Todd. He did it with Company. The Color Purple didn't have that, which he. Which also earned a Tony Award. But I'm.

Grace Hockey (4:24)

And the 12. The 12 at Goodspeed. Opera.

Matt Tammanini (4:27)

That's right. Starring 1F Michael Haney.

Grace Hockey (4:29)

Exactly.

Matt Tammanini (4:30)

Yeah. I, I know some people, like get tired of it and think it's like it's kind of just a cliche and an annoying trick now, but I've Always really kind of liked that idea. I think it does bring something a little bit more intimate and interesting to a production.

Grace Hockey (4:47)

I mean, listen, you gotta. I don't wanna say gimmick, but like, you gotta have something, right? And I think that this is a cool. I think that a lot of actors that play look forward to this opportunity because he's one of the few. I. I think he's the only, you know, constant creative that does allow for people to be more nuanced in their performance with their musical capabilities. So I think it's a great opportunity and I do like this construct for this show.

Matt Tammanini (5:16)

All right, so let's talk about Moulin Rouge, Grace, because most recently over the weekend, you went and saw the new cast. Although Taye Diggs was out, now we know who is going to replace him when his run as the Duke of Monmouth ends later this month on September 28th. Returning to the role will be David Harris. He originated the role on the North American tour and then joined the Broadway production making his Broadway debut later. He will come back to the Al Hirschfeld Theater on September 30th to take over that role.

Grace Hockey (5:45)

Can I just say, he is spectacular in that role. And, you know, sometimes accents can drive me nuts. He is so good. He's so good. He's so powerful. He's scary. He's. The few times that I've taken people to see the show where they go, oh my God, wait, I'm siding with the Duke. Like, he's really great. And I just think that it's so fabulous that they've got him back. That's all.

Matt Tammanini (6:09)

I love it. Very cool. Speaking of guys returning to roles that they have previously played on Broadway for one week from September 11th through the Philip James Brannon will return to the role of Abe in Omar while Kumail Nanjiani is out for a week. I don't doing something else. I suppose Kumail will come back after that one week run and he is scheduled to be in the show through September 28th. Our friend Ashley Steeves just went and saw the new cast of Omar over the weekend and she said it is still fantastic. Everybody is great. She did say it is the screamiest version of the cast that she has seen between Jinx Kumail and Michael Urie. So if you haven't seen this new cast, you've got to go collect it like Pokemon. All right, let's go from Broadway out onto the road because we got the entire cast announced for the upcoming North American tour of Hell's Kitchen. We already knew that Maya Drake would be playing Ally, Kennedy Coughlin is playing Jersey and Roz White is playing Miss Liza Jane. We now know that Desmond Sean Ellington is going to be playing Davis and John Avery Worrell will be playing Nuck. We also have the entire ensemble in the show notes if you want to check that out. The tour will be starting with a three week engagement at the Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Omeo, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio on October 10th and then Grace coming back to New York for the first time actually will be the musical soon. This was written by Nick Blaymire, who we love, but it originally had its world premiere at Washington D.C. signature theater 10 years ago in 2015. It will now be the first musical to ever play the new performance venue, the East Village BAS basement. It is going to run from October 29th through November 9th and is going to be directed by Will Blum, who you might have seen in Beetlejuice. And it is going to feature Ava Delaney as Charlie, Nicholas Pottany as Jonah, Mike Millen as Steven, and Melina hall as Adrian. And the show is about a young woman who avoids the oncoming apocalypse, watching TV and eating peanut butter on her couch until she's forced to reckon her own role in her solitude. Now, Grace, you are a connoisseur of all things Nick Blaymire. Is this a show that you are familiar with?

Grace Hockey (8:16)

I don't know the show yet, but obviously I love Nick. He's a friend. I also really love the East Village Basement. I'm obsessed with them. I want to do a show in there. Like, it's so cool and I really like this collaboration. It's only two weeks so I'm hopeful that they extend. But otherwise I like that this is going to hopefully become a new home for emerging artists. And by emerging I mean people that have literally had their shows on Broadway like Nick Blaymire. But also, you know, this just sounds like a great concept. I also think that, like, if anybody knows how to write about impending apocalypse or you know, youthful collaborations, I mean like Safety Not Guaranteed is very much in that vein and I just know that Nick has such a good grasp on that style of subject matter. So I'm very intrigued and I really hope I see this.

Matt Tammanini (9:03)

All right, let's go into the developmental realm because yesterday it was announced that there is a stage musical being adapted based off of Fyre Fest and it's Fraudster creator Billy McFarland. This musical is in the works. It is going to feature a score by Skyfall songwriter Paul Epworth and book and Direction by Brian Buckley, who directed the film the Pirates of Somalia. The producers behind it, in addition to Buckley are some folks you might have heard of, Oscar winning director Taika Waititi, his wife, actress, singer, and for my purposes, the masked singer judge who replaced Nicole Scherzinger. Rita Ora. Also involved are Rock of Ages producer Matthew Weaver and global production company Hungry Man Productions. They're working on a new version, a musical version of Fyre Fest which just seems insane. The official description is this. It's not just a Greek sized tragedy of one man's con. It's a satirical indictment of an entire generation. Fyre Fest, the musical. It's about as wrong as a bad idea can go. And I say this all the time, Grace, and I've probably said it to you many times in the past. I think the best musicals are built on bad ideas like Sweeney Todd should not work. But it's a near perfect musical because it takes a bad idea for a musical and does it extremely well. I'm not saying this is going to be Sweeney Todd, but I think it is such a wild, bizarre, bonkers idea for a musical that it just could be something really special.

Grace Hockey (10:38)

Yeah, I mean, listen, I feel like a little bit of a ship has passed on its like documentary cultural relevancy. So I. But like I'm curious to see how this kind of like feeds into the modern zeitgeist.

Matt Tammanini (10:53)

Yeah. And I feel like if somebody is going to help helm a production about this, like Taika Waititi makes sense. Like his bizarre off kilter sensibilities really seem to work with that. So I'm interested to see what happens with this moving forward. All right, Grace, I have two recommendations here. The first comes from the the Today show on Monday morning where Lorna, Courtney and Casey likes seeing 17 from heathers. And then the other one comes from the Booth theater. We've talked about the fact that John Proctor is the villain closed at the booth on Sunday and as part of the closing night curtain call, the show's director, Donya Taymor came out and led the entire cast, everybody who was on stage and everybody in the audience in a ritualistic scream. And everybody on the stage got down on hands and knees and were pounding much like they do in the show. So Grace, I don't if you saw this, but this felt like the perfect way to wrap up this show's run on Broadway.

Grace Hockey (11:54)

Yeah, I think that because I'm going to clip it when when Kimberly Bellflower said a story about where she grew up, a North Georgia girl writing about other North Georgia girls and that like teenagers shouldn't be discounted. Like, it just obviously like moved me as a person who has that experience, but also just like as a person who looks forward to the future of theater. I mean, right now that show has just wrapped. It's been so monumental and seismic to just playwriting women as a whole. We're about to open Liberation, you know, as, you know, another female led playwright, et cetera, that are both not really helmed around a major star. I know that Sadie Sink is a star in her own right, but these aren't the same that we're talking with like the George Clooneys of the world with this like mammoth productions which I understand like the very much need for those in the theater. But I just want to call out that like this beautiful success I am hopeful for for years to come. I think that the ripple effect of it is going to be what I hope to be very good for everybody.

Matt Tammanini (13:05)

And even though John Proctor as the villain is closed on Broadway, the story of John Proctor as the villain is not done because obviously the show will be done everywhere. This is going to be one that is going to be in every major regional house over the next five, ten years, I assume. But then also there's a feature film in the works and while Sadie Sink has not been confirmed to be starring in it, she is executive producing it. And I imagine that she is going to star in it as well. I just think that was a no brainer as long as her schedule allows. So we will have to wait and see. But I would put some money on that being an eventuality. 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.com broadwayradio Grace. Where can people find you?

Grace Hockey (13:48)

You can find me at Grace Hockey.

Matt Tammanini (13:49)

All right, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.