Matt Tamanini (2:30)

Great. And I assume since you have the 35 millimeter cut for Good Night and good luck, George Clooney is going to be on hand to talk about it too, right?

Grace Aki (2:37)

I know. I mean, I doubt, but you know what I mean? Like, it's, it's, it's just really exciting to do, and I'm just hopeful for anything and everything.

Matt Tamanini (2:47)

Yeah. All right, everybody, let's dive into the news. And on Monday night over at the Booth Theater, John Proctor is the Villain officially opened, announcing itself as part of the competition for the best play category at the Tony Awards this year. It is the Broadway debut of playwright Kimberly Belflower and is directed by Danya Taymor. And it features a cast of, mostly, to me at least, grace unknown young actors other than Sadie Sink, who has kind of been the center of the entire lead up and marketing for the show. The only other name that I really know from the production is Gabriel Ebert, who of course was a Tony winner for Matilda and has done a bunch of other Broadway shows. Also in the cast are Nihar devuri, Molly Griggs, Maggie Kunz, Hagan Oliveris Morgan Scott, Finn Estrasa, who I've heard great things about, and Amelia Yu, according to the press notes, with deep wells of passion and biting humor, John Proctor is the Villain is a new comedy from a major new American voice, capturing a generation in mid transformation, running on pop music, optimism and fury, and discovering that their future is not bound by the past. As of recording time, review aggregator site Did They like it? Has collected 21 reviews. Seventeen were positive, three were mixed, and one was negative. We will get to that negative one, although I will not be reading anything from it. But let's start with Jesse Green of the New York Times, who did make the show a critics pick, and he said, quote, bellflower smartly keeps the play for becoming a polemic by moving on several tracks at once. One track is pure high school comedy. Another explores the role of pop music as a vector for bonding and empowerment. Another takes it into the territory of dramatic works like Julia Mae Jonas's A Woman Among a gloss of Miller's All My Sons, and Paula Vogel's Desdemona play about handkerchief overturning Othello that offer feminist revisions of cultural touchstones. And then, he continues, Tamor's production is entirely sympathetic to the characters and to the text. Though thrilling in its refusal to tamp down the show's sometimes anarchic spirit, it does not ignore the dangers of abandonment. Sink's Shelby is beautifully positioned just at the spot where you can't tell the difference between impulse and illness. The other girls stratify at in between altitudes, from Scott's firmly grounded Nell to Straza's high pitched Beth. Then he wraps up his review saying, quote One of the features of the Crucible that this show ignores is how Miller's play succeeds as allegory. Because it is porous. It is about many things. No matter. John Proctor is the villain is too urgently necessary about its one thing to make it worth wishing it were even a little different, that the urgency comes in. An often hilarious, often ecstatic, highly accessible package is all the better. I hope a lot of high school girls and boys see it. Both need to understand that the case against John Proctor is just beginning. Continuing on with other reviews, Brittany Samuel of Broadway News was also positive, saying, quote, john Proctor executes sleight of hand very well. It begs us to reconsider the stories, events and people we're told to trust. And Bellflower gives this ensemble of actors wells of nuance to draw from, demonstrating a clear reverence for girlhood and its contradictions. The result is a John Proctor that handles the deadly serious and deliriously silly with equal skill. Sarah Holdren of Vulture was also positive, saying, quote, forget the villain. Bellflower's play hits as hard as it does because at its heart, fighting their way through one hell of a junior year are the kind of heroes we actually need. Raven Snoke of TimeOut New York was positive, giving it four out of five stars, saying, quote. But although themes and incidents from the Crucible reverberate throughout this work, you don't need to be an expert on Miller's drama to appreciate this. Bellflower's first Broadway play is a galvanizing accomplishment all on its own. Remember her name. Lovia Gierke from the Hollywood Reporter was also positive, saying, quote It's a testament to the subtle brilliance of Kimberly Bellflower's writing and Donya Taymor's direction. You can hardly feel the 105 minute, no intermission runtime of John Proctor is the villain. And then finally, Emilyn Travis, writing for Entertainment Weekly, was positive, saying, quote, combined John Proctor's the villain not only serves as a modern day recontextualization of the original play, but also a laugh out loud, funny and deeply affecting examination of girlhood, feminism, the MeToo movement and the unstoppable power of female friendship. It is pure breathtaking perfection. I did mention there was one negative review. It was unsurprisingly, Robert Huffler from the Wrap, who again for the second time this season, has an article that reads as if he is the anti woke correspondent from the National Review. So take that one negative with however many grains of salt you would like. Grace, have you seen this one yet?

Grace Aki (7:18)

No. I'm really upset that I've not gotten to see it, especially since I love this show. And Kimberly Bellflower, who is an Emory girl where my father went to school, just an incredible playwright. I found this play on new play exchange a number of years ago, thank goodness. But the fact that it is on Broadway right now is so incredibly exciting to me. I really hope that I can get in to see this because it's just, just I'm so happy and ecstatic that it is being this well received. It's just, it's just incredibly. It's great. It's just great.

Matt Tamanini (7:52)

Yeah. I think that there is no doubt that with reviews like this, this has shot up the. I mean I think people expected it to, but now that it's like officially open, we now can firmly put this amongst things like Purpose and the Hills of California and Picture of Dorian Gray and oh Mary and Cult of Love and English as like one of the plays that will undoubtedly not only be in competition for a nomination, but I think like this even rises to the cream of the crop so far with Omarion, with Purpose probably to the top of the contention for the actual Tony. All right, let's move away from Broadway and go into the realm of Hollywood because yesterday Variety reported that a ton of theater stars have joined an untitled new movie musical from A24 directed by Jesse Eisenberg. Obviously we've talked a lot about him because he helps Kieran Culkin get his Oscar. But joining Jesse Eisenberg in this movie that does not have a title yet but is set in the world of community theater will be Bernadette Peters, Bonnie Milligan, Halle Bailey, Colton Ryan, Lilli Cooper, Malik Panchali, Julianne Moore, Havana Rose Liu and Paul Giamatti. Absolutely an insane amount of talent in this show. It is being directed and written by Jesse Eisenberg and it focus a shy woman played by Julianne Moore who loses herself in a role after being cast in a community theater musical and it features new songs from Jesse Eisenberg as well as a script. It is coming from a 24, which I think at this point is one of the most reliable independent studios in Hollywood. Andy Blankenbuehler is going to do the choreography. Bill Sherman is going to be the executive music producer. So lots of great things, theater folks, in this grace that just to me, kind of makes it feel like something everyone's going to have to watch a lot. Like we did with theater camp a year or so ago. This feels perfect for us collectively.

Grace Aki (9:54)

Yeah. I mean, it's just certainly cool and. And, you know, listen, are they going to use that little Cherry Lane theater? I don't know, but I need them to because I don't want to know what's up. I. I appreciate that they're doing a musical, but I'm gonna need answers on that.

Matt Tamanini (10:07)

Yeah. Lots more to come here soon and we cannot wait to hear about that. All right, let's go from the screen now back to the theater, but this time down in Washington, D.C. because the arena stage has announced its entire 2025, 2026 season and there are just so many great people involved. I'm not going to give you their entire season, but I'm going to throw out some highlights for you. It is going to start this September with a reimagined version of Damn Yankees based off of the iconic musical by Jerry Ross and Richard Adler with a book by George Abbott and Douglas Wallop. It features a new adaptation by Will Power and Doug Wright with additional lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. It is gonna be directed and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo. Then we have that production of Pal Joey that we had at City Center a couple years ago that has been trying to work towards Broadway. This will feature an original book by John O'Hara and it'll be co directed by Tony Goldwyn and Savion Glover. Savion does the choreography as well. That will take place starting in January and then one that I kind of had forgotten was actually happening, Grace. But starting in June of 2026 will be the world premiere of Crazy Sexy Cool. The TLC musical obviously features the music performed by tlc. It is written and directed by Kwame Kwai Arma and choreographed by Chloe Odevis. Speaking of Atlanta, people, Grace with Kimberly Bellflower. TLC's Atlanta based too, right?

Grace Aki (11:36)

Yeah. If, lest we forget, Candy Burris, who is now a Broadway producer with Othello and the Wiz. She wrote no Scrubs. I'll never forget. It was a big part of the real Housewives of Atlanta franchise conversation that I may or may not have watched extensively. But yeah, so they are. They are beloved Atlanta natives for sure.

Matt Tamanini (11:58)

I remember when. Oh gosh, was it Left Eye who burnt down Atlanta?

Grace Aki (12:03)

Lisa? Left Eye Lopez.

Matt Tamanini (12:05)

Was it Left Eye? Yes, she burnt down Andre Risen's house. They were together like an on and off again relationship and like she was trying to burn something in the bathtub and the entire house caught on fire. Absolutely. An epic story from the 90s early 2000s. But wrapping up the season with another world premiere from Arena Stage. It doesn't have a date yet. It's just gonna be summer of 2026 is the new musical by the Bengsons. My joy is heavy. It is directed by Rachel Chavkin. Love Rachel. Love the bank sends look forward to this. All right, Grace, let's talk about last week's Broadway grosses really quick. And I love seeing this. Last week was the first time in I don't know how long, maybe, maybe it hasn't been as long, but it certainly feels like a long time that we had 40 shows playing on Broadway. The only house not occupied right now is Studio 54. And that means that last week Broadway accumulated $44,162,127 with attendance just under 329,000 people. The Aver ticket price was at $134. We again had two shows over $3 million, one of them getting damn near close to 4 million as good Night and Good Luck came in at $3,784,028. Othello was at 3.12 million. Then we had three shows that were north of 2 million with Wicked, Glengarry Glen Ross and the Lion King. The rest of the shows above 1 million are Hamilton, Aladdin, the Picture of Dorian Gray, the Outsiders, mj, Gypsy, Death Becomes Her, Moulin Rouge, oh Mary, the Great Gatsby, Harry Potter, Cursed Child, and Sunset Boulevard. In total, 28 of Broadway's 40 shows played a 90% capacity or more with Dead Outlaw in just one show where it did, $106,438 was at 100% along with Wicked, Picture of Dorian Gray just in time and the outsiders were between 100 and 101%. And then good Night and Good Luck and John Proctor is the villain. We're both at 101.4 ish percent capacity. And Grace, something we didn't talk about on yesterday's show as we were recapping all the news, but something that was makes me very sad. And disappointed. But I am just completely happy for the run that it did have, is that Titanic is going to close Off Broadway this summer at the Daryl roth Theater on June 15. I don't know that I'm going to get back to see it one more time, but if you have the opportunity to and you haven't seen it quite yet, get down to the Daryl Roth and check this one out. And then finally, Grace. On Monday night, they reopened the West Bank Cafe in the Lori Beachman Theater with the Renaissance Gala. There were oodles and oodles of stars who were there and performed and all that stuff. I talked with our friend Robbie Roselle, who was there on Monday night, and he said that David Rockwell, who redesigned the space, did an incredible job. But the performers that were on hand included Andre Shields, Lilias White, Matt Doyle, Lauren Patton, Alex Newell, Jack Malone, Brian Batt, Lorna Christine Petty, Joe Iconis, Jelani Remy, Emma Pittman, JJ Nieman, Andrea McArdle, Ariana DeBose, Chip Zion. So many great folks. I have some footage that Playbill shot from the event if you want to check that out in the show notes. And I feel like I've got to get back over there. I don't. I haven't been there in quite a while, so I'm looking forward to checking out what the new space is like downstairs at the Lori Beachman. All right. And I did want to throw out everybody that so far this week, I've had two incredible interviews that are going to pop up in the feeds here very, very shortly. I first spoke with Julia Lest, who is currently in All Nighter Off Broadway. And then I spoke with actually her director from I can get it for you wholesale. A couple seasons ago, Trip Coleman, who is currently represented Off Broadway with We Had a World. And I did ask him the question about whether or not we could potentially see that on Broadway. He could not confirm nor deny, but you might want to hear his answer from that as well. 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. Grace, where can people find you?

Grace Aki (16:03)

You can find me at it's graceaki.

Matt Tamanini (16:05)

All right, everybody, have a wonderful Wednesday and we'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.

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