Today on Broadway: Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Summary

BroadwayRadio Podcast Summary Episode: Today on Broadway – Wednesday, July 2, 2025

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Introduction and Patreon Updates

Hosts: Matt Tammani and Grace Aki

The episode kicks off with Matt Tammani discussing upcoming changes to their Patreon feed. Matt emphasizes the importance of establishing a regular schedule for content releases, stating, “If I don’t have a schedule, I am worthless” (00:07). He encourages listeners to visit their Patreon page at patreon.com/broadwayradio to stay informed about these updates. Due to the holiday season, the hosts anticipate a quieter week with fewer news updates, inviting listeners to submit topics or questions via email for potential discussion (01:30).

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UK Premiere of "Mary Page Marlowe" at Old Vic

Matt shares exciting news from the UK regarding the premiere of Tracy Letts' play Mary Page Marlowe at London's Old Vic Theatre. This production, directed by Matthew Warches in his final season as artistic director, will run from September 23rd to November 1st. Highlighting the star-studded cast, Matt mentions, “It will star Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough” (02:15). Grace expresses her enthusiasm for Tracy Letts' work, affirming, “anytime there's a Tracy Letts play, I'm usually there” (02:42). They discuss previous performances, noting the original off-Broadway cast featured talents like Blair Brown and Mia Sinclair Genes, and Matt shares his personal viewing experience with actress Tatiana Maslany (03:10).

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Broadway Grosses Overview

The hosts delve into the recent Broadway financials, noting a decline in grosses this week. The total revenue dropped to $39,314,834 from the previous week’s figures, with total attendance at 298,509. Despite the drop, the average ticket price saw a slight increase to $131.70 (03:50).

Top Grossing Shows:

1. Wicked – $2,435,607
2. Glengarry Glen Ross – $2,000,000
3. The Picture of Dorian Gray – $2,090,000
4. The Lion King – $2,070,000
5. Hamilton – Approaching $2,000,000

Matt highlights that 23 out of 35 Broadway shows operated at 90% capacity or higher, with Oh Mary and Wicked reaching full capacity (04:15). He remarks, “Lots of red numbers last week, of course, as things were already at a super high the previous week” (04:30), reflecting on the typical fluctuations in Broadway grosses during this period.

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Summer Attendance and Marketing Strategies

As summer approaches, Matt and Grace discuss the impact of holidays on Broadway attendance. They note that major vacations, like the Fourth of July, typically see a dip in theater attendance as people seek outdoor activities. Matt asks, “What are the goals here? What are the expectations for shows… compared to the rest of the year?” (05:45), prompting a discussion on marketing strategies.

Grace responds by highlighting the challenges posed by current global and domestic factors, leading to more last-minute ticket purchases. She states, “People don't know where their money is coming from right now. They don't know where they'll need to put it in the event of an emergency” (08:10). This unpredictability makes it difficult for new shows to secure advanced ticket sales and invest in substantial marketing efforts.

Matt shares his personal experience planning trips and securing tickets in advance, mentioning, “I'm going to go see Leslie Odom Jr. in Hamilton… we already bought tickets to a couple of shows that we wanted to see” (09:15). This highlights the importance of securing tickets early amidst a fluctuating market.

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Upcoming Events and Recommendations

Broadway Barks:

The hosts announce the upcoming 27th Annual Broadway Barks on July 12th, hosted by Bernadette Peters and Beth Leavel. They list several Broadway stars participating, including Allie Lewis, Danny Bradley, Victoria Clark, Audra McDonald, Bebe Neuwirth, and more. Matt encourages listeners to attend for a chance to meet these stars and adopt pets from NYC area adoption agencies (11:04).

New Musical "Elephant Shoes":

Matt recommends the new musical Elephant Shoes, a collaboration between Deaf West Theater Company and Two River Theater. Written by Ivan Menshell and Caroline Kaye, the show features the song “Safety in Numbers,” performed by Kay with ASL interpretation by Daniela Malser. The narrative centers on Psy, an inventor revolutionizing communication between spoken English and ASL (13:00).

Muny's Production of "Come From Away":

Grace highlights the Muny’s rendition of Come From Away, featuring a star-studded cast including Heidi Blickenstaff, John Bolton, Ashley Brown, and others. She remarks on the unique aspects of this production, noting its massive stage and large audience of 11,000, offering a fresh take on the beloved Broadway show (13:45).

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Conclusion and Contact Information

Matt wraps up the episode by encouraging listeners to follow BroadwayRadio on social media platforms and to submit questions or topics for future shows via mattroadyradio.com. A humorous exchange ensues when Grace corrects Matt on her social media handle, adding a light-hearted end to the episode (14:30).

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Notable Quotes:

• Matt on Patreon scheduling: “If I don’t have a schedule, I am worthless.” (00:07)
• Grace on Tracy Letts plays: “Anytime there's a Tracy Letts play, I'm usually there.” (02:42)
• Grace on ticket buying trends: “People don't know where their money is coming from right now. They don't know where they'll need to put it in the event of an emergency.” (08:10)
• Matt on securing tickets: “I'm going to go see Leslie Odom Jr. in Hamilton… we already bought tickets to a couple of shows that we wanted to see.” (09:15)

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Stay Connected:

• Website: broadwayradio.com
• Patreon: patreon.com/broadwayradio
• Social Media: Follow Matt and Grace on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @mattroadyradio and @GraceAki

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Whether you're a Broadway enthusiast or just getting started, this episode of Today on Broadway offers insightful updates, engaging discussions, and recommendations to keep you connected to the vibrant world of theater.

Transcript

[Matt Tammani]

Welcome to Today on Broadway for Wednesday, July 2, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammani and I'm.

[Grace Aki]

Tell Me on a Sunday Podcast.

[Matt Tammani]

Grace Aki Grace, we are going to be talking more about Patreon stuff over in the Patreon feed. We're going to come out with a a set schedule that I'll announce later this week, mainly because if I don't have a schedule, I am worthless. You all know I like my spreadsheets. So we'll have a more traditional schedule over on Patreon so you know when things will be airing. You know, with some flexibility, of course, based off schedules and everything, but for the most part, a set schedule. So if you want to hear all about that, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio broadwayradio.com patreon and you'll be the first to hear about it there. But Grace, as we've said, there's probably not going to be a ton of news this week because of the holidays. Everybody is out of town. They're not really worrying about getting press releases out. So we're going to kind of for the rest of this week, do whatever news is here, maybe end episodes early, maybe the talk about some things that are on our mind. So if there's something that you would like to hear us talk about this week as we are wrapping up shows before the 4th of July, please send us an email about it. You can send it to me at Matt rodwayradio and if it's an interesting topic that Grace and I have an interesting opinion on or interesting thoughts on or interesting answers to, we will talk about it on the show later this week. But let's dive in first and unironically. The only big news that we have comes from not the US but the UK because they don't celebrate July 4th as a holiday like we. But it does come from London's Old Vic Theatre where on Monday it was announced that they will be doing the UK premiere of Tracy Letts play Mary Page Marlowe this fall. It will be directed by Matthew Warches, who will be kicking off his final season as the artistic director of the company. It is going to run from September 23rd through November 1st. And the big headline news about this is that it will star Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough to pretty big names of at least varying degr from the big screen. If you aren't familiar with the show, it played at Second Stage off Broadway a number of years ago. I saw it with Tatiana Maslany I don't remember who else was in it, but it follows the same character, obviously, Mary Page Marlowe, through different ages in her life, going from a child up to 70 years old. No other casting has been announced at this time. Tickets are on sale currently for Old Vic members and will go on sale to the general public on July 4. The show made its world premiere in 2016 at Steppenwolf and, as I said, played off Broadway at second stage in 2018. Grace, did you see this one? Was this one that was on your radar when it originally played off Broadway?

[Grace Aki]

No, but, you know, anytime there's a Tracy Let's Play, I'm usually there. So this was very cool to me.

[Matt Tammani]

It was an interesting show. It was a little. It was a little much for me at times. I don't know that it always coalesced, but that production included Blair Brown, Mia Sinclair Genes, Kelly Overbay, Andrea Corsa, Grace Gummer and others. So this is not my favorite Tracy, Let's Play. But like you said, he is such a brilliant writer that seeing anything that he has he has done is worthwhile. His wife, Carrie Coon, actually originally played the roles at the Ages that Tatiana Maslany did off Broadway. She did it at Steppenwolf when it premiered back in 2016. So that's always fun. All right, let's talk about last week's Broadway grosses. Grace. And things were unsurprisingly down following not only the huge week we'd had previously, but also all of the closings that have started to happen following the Tony Awards. We went from 38 shows on Broadway down to 35, and the grosses dropped basically the exact same percentage to come in at $39,314,834. Total attendance came in at 298,509 people. And the average ticket price remained essentially flat, jumping up just 47 cents to $131.70. At the top was Wicked, leading the way at $2,435,607, followed by Glengarry Glen Ross and its final week on Broadway at 2, the Picture of Dorian Gray in a full eight show week in its last week on Broadway at 2.09 million. Then the Lion King wrapped up the $2 million earners at 2.07 million. Then we had Hamilton rounding out the top five at just under $2 million. The rest of the show's north of seven figures in descending order are Sunset Boulevard, Aladdin, Death Becomes her, maybe Happy Ending Just in Time. Buena Vista Social Club, the Outsiders, oh Mary, mj, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and stranger things, the first shadow. In total, 23 of Broadway's 35 shows played to audiences of 90% capacity or more. Oh Mary and Wicked were at 100%. Exactly. Then Hamilton Pictured Dorian Gray and the outsiders were between 101% and 102%. John Proctor is the villain and maybe Happy Ending were almost identical at right around 102.5%. And then at the top was Just in time at 102.83. Lots of red numbers last week, of course, as things were already at a super high the previous week. But it will be interesting Grace here to see how these grosses ebb and flow during the the rest of the summer. Obviously this coming week there's a lot of people leaving town. Going in and sitting in a theater is not normally what people do on major summer holidays like the fourth of July. But after this week, all the way up through Labor Day. From a marketing ticket selling perspective, like what are the goals here? What are the expectations for shows, whether they are new shows from this season or shows that have been running for a number to be doing compared to the rest of the year?

[Grace Aki]

I think people are just hoping that the people that are visiting are coming because like, look, this is always historically like high volume tourism season. Usually like summer vacations. People are, you know, taking their school trips here, they're taking their families to New York City because it's the one time that, you know, the kids are out of school if they're not in camps, blah blah blah. So normally that's a time for this. I don't think that in the past like three years we've had a high fluctuation of like incoming tourism. I think that also, also with the general landscape of like what is happening in the literal world and the fact that it is becoming increasingly even more difficult to like come into the country and people are being questioned about their social media. I mean there's like a hundred factors that, that tie into these things that I don't think that we should be ignorant to. But I do think that currently the Broadway landscape is just trying to stay in a positive float post Tony's, especially with so many shows on the street having just closed. I think we had what, four or five closures just on Sunday alone. And those were due to lim runs. Like a lot of those were not due to like unforeseen circumstances. But you're also getting the last week of boop. This week as well. You're getting you're getting a lot of closures, I think for this particular week versus in years past. So I'm hoping that with the elimination of a lot of shows on the street, unfortunately, it will then turn potential ticket buyers into, okay, what are those long runners I may have missed at this point? Have I seen Six yet? Have I seen and Juliet yet? Have I seen Hell's Kitchen? Like what are the shows that I may have been, you know, skipping or waiting for the national tour if they're in town from another state that they might want to see the Broadway iteration of now for the first time, I don't know. So it's always in flux. But I think that people are monitoring more closely. The level of political intervening of a lot of this is very fascinating because.

[Matt Tammani]

This is a time when so many people are coming to the city because of vacations and all the things that you just mentioned. How important is it for shows that open in the fall to have some sort of presence while those people are here? Whether those are billboards in Times Square, ads in subways, or just being visible on social media. So that while people are thinking about theater and are thinking about New York and are thinking about Broadway, that they're also starting to think about what comes next. Is that figured into the calculus at this time of year or is that something that's pushed off until later?

[Grace Aki]

It's, it's the worst news in the world to tell you that like people are predicting, determined in this current climate to be last minute ticket buyers. People don't know where their money is coming from right now. They don't know where they'll need to put it in the event of an emergency. Like there are so many factors at play that people are becoming more and more last minute ticket buyers day of sales, which is not helpful for anyone trying to open a show in the next 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 months because they're meant to have this like massive advance. That's how they're able to pay for more outdoor advertising. I mean all of these things are, you know, cyclical, right? So I think that it's, it's challenging because as a community and as a industry like this is legitimately happening. But the ways in which we can help give peace of mind are fan presales, you know, cardholder pre sales, you know, like what, what are the things that can be incentivized in place for people and audiences to, to feel somewhat, you know, encouraged to, to make it an advanced ticket sale? I don't know. But that is what most people are trying to do in this moment.

[Matt Tammani]

I know I'm already starting with my friend Heather, who I do a yearly trip with into New York. We're already starting to talk about shows that we want to see either, because I assume I'll get invited, but we already bought tickets to a couple of shows that we wanted to see. We're going to go see Leslie Odom Jr. In Hamilton, and man, I screwed up buying those tickets. Maybe that's a story. I don't know if I've told it or not, but maybe that's a story for another day. We're going to go see Just In Time because these are things we know we wanted to see. And I was surprised, at least in terms of Just In Time, like how many tickets there were available for that show. Hamilton. Hamilton was a complete mess and everything was sold out. But that makes total sense that people are waiting and hopefully we get some sort of semblance of normalcy and people can start getting back to getting things ahead of time sooner rather than later. All right, let's take a break from the news real quick and talk about our sponsor for this week, surfshark. I hate to say it, but all of our digital privacy is under threat. But don't worry, there is a solution that's making headlines for all the right reasons, especially if you've been listening to us for the last few weeks. And that is our sponsor, surfshark vpn. With surfshark, your online activity is encrypted from prying eyes. Think of it kind of as a like a secure digital vault for all of your data. Whether you're researching some sort of sensitive health issue online or you are browsing for news or trying to find the best time to come to New York and see a bunch of Broadway shows. Whatever you were doing online, your activity stays private. Since I've been working with Surfshark for a number of years now, I have felt so much calmer about browsing online. I have had situations in the past where my data has been stolen. Don't know where that has happened from, but I know now I can feel confident that it is not coming from what I am doing online. But in addition to online security grades, there are a lot more fun ways that you can use surfshark as well.

[Grace Aki]

Yeah, one thing about me right now is that I need to unplug from the world sometimes and I need to actually just watch some brain melting garbage. One of those pieces of beautiful garbage for me has been Love island and being able to watch Love island uk. Thanks to surfshark. VPN has changed my life and brain chemistry. So I highly recommend if there are pieces of media that you've not been able to see in the US that utilize an amazing VPN like surfshark. Because one thing's for certain, I need to have brain rot on at all times and why not rot my brain in another country?

[Matt Tammani]

So it's time to take control of your online security. Try Surfshark risk free today and enjoy their 30 day money back guarantee. Go to surfshark.com tob for four extra months of Surfshark. That's code to burfshark.com the URL and code can be found in our show Notes all right Grace Coming up not this coming Thursday the 5th. The following Thursday, July 12th, will be the 27th annual Broadway Barks. We've already talked about this a little bit. Bernadette Peters and Beth Leavel are going to host it. We now know a number of new folks who are going to be joining this we'd already talked about. A whole host of stars are going to be involved, but now we have even more. They include Allie Lewis Borski, Danny Bradley Burstein Victoria Clark, Glenn Davis, Cole Escola, Max Von Essen, Latonya Richardson Jackson John Michael Hill, Harry Lennox, Audra McDonald, Bebe Neuwirth, Brad Oscar Jordan Tyson, Samantha Williams, Azealia Wolf, Gianna Yanelli, Carrie Young and others. So if you want to not only see all of these incredible Broadway folks, but also have an opportunity to take home a new pet from a New York City area adoption agency, head over to Shubert Alley on July 12 and I have a couple recommendations here to wrap up the show. Grace the first one comes from the new musical Elephant Shoes, which is a co production with the Deaf West Theater Company and Two River Theater in New Jersey. This show is coming next summer. It is written by Ivan Menshell and Caroline Kaye and this song is called Safety in Numbers. Kay sings it, but as you would expect with Deaf west, it is signed as well. It is signed by Daniela Malser and the show, if you forget, it follows Psy, who is is an inventor that has created this thing that instantly translates spoken English into ASL and is on the precipice of revolutionizing human connection. So if you want to check that song out, you can do that in the show notes. And then we also have highlights from the Muny's production of Come From Away and Grace. It's always fascinating to me to see these shows that we know so well from their Broadway iterations especially like Come From Away that ran for so long on Broadway and on the road, but is also preserved with a protape on Apple tv. To see non replica productions, especially ones of this high caliber with a cast that includes like Heidi Blickenstaff, John Bolton, Ashley Brown, Adam Heller, Jason Tam and others. Tamika Lawrence. To see a completely different take on it is always fascinating to me. And when you throw in the fact that this is on a stage that is massive in front of an audience of 11,000 people, a very, very different vibe than Coming From Away. So if you love that show as much as I do, check it out 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 odwayradio. And don't forget, if you have something you'd like to hear Grace and I talk about or any questions to ask us from now until the end of the week, please send them to mattroadredio.com Grace. Where can people find you?

[Grace Aki]

You can find me at. It's Grace. Augie. Oh, no, no, you can't. That's not my handle anymore.

[Matt Tammani]

Oh, my God. You got it wrong.

[Grace Aki]

I did it again.

[Matt Tammani]

What is the correct. Oh, that was the first time. What is your correct handle now?

[Grace Aki]

Now you can find me at Grace Aki.

[Matt Tammani]

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