Matt Tamminetti (0:01)

Welcome to Today on Broadway for Wednesday, June 4, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamminetti. I'm coming to you on my own today. Grace was at an event at the Meta headquarters in New York. I'm assuming something to do with Broadway and social media, which is obviously something that she is an expert at, so no doubt that she was somebody invited to that. So I'm gonna run you through all of the news that we have for you today, but I will let you know that I just finished recording with Tony Award winning producer and longtime friend of the show, Oliver Roth. We did our annual Tony predictions episode in which OL gave his own personal picks for every category for the Tony Awards, but he also ran us through his proprietary statistical analytical model. But this year, just for fun, he also threw in predictions from ChatGPT and the Deep research element to that. So we have three different predictions from Oliver. His personal, individual human thoughts, his own model that he has been working with and refining for the years, and the AI overlords that will soon take over the entire world. So that will be in in the Patreon feed at the mezzanine tier and above. As soon as I'm able to edit that, we will have one more predictions episode that will be mine. It'll be my wish, want and will episode. That'll come probably on Friday, maybe Saturday at the latest, depending on if I'm feeling confident about my predictions or not. But the wish, Want and will is something that we used to do on Something like It Pop, where we would go through the Emmys and say this is something that I wish had been in this category. And then we'll pick what we want to win in every category and then pick what we think will win in every category. I will do a want and a will for every category and then I'll also throw in a wish for some of the bigger categories as well. You can hear all of that if you head over to patreon.com broadwayradio broadwayradio.com patreon One other thing, just a reminder, if you want to participate in our Tony's predictions pool, you have until Sunday to fill it out. I will link in the show notes. The winner will get a special prize pack that I will send to them once we figure out who that is. So if you want to go head to head with me and some other folks in your Tony predictions, head over to the show notes. All right, before we get into a bunch of random awards news, yesterday someone apparently said Beetlejuice three times Because Beetlejuice the musical is coming back to Broadway. Yes, that is right. Not only did the show originally open in 2019 at the Winter Garden Theater, but then post pandemic, it came back to the Marquee Theater in 2022 and now it is coming back for a third time to play the PAL Theater beginning on October 8th. And while many people would probably like it to happen, this is not going to star Alex Brightman, probably any of the other cast members from the original Broadway production. This will be a tour stop for the first national tour that will come in and do 13 weeks on Broadway. The first national tour is wrapping up its run this year before a non equity tour goes out. By the time it finishes, it'll play 88 cities, including this last stop on Broadway. What's interesting is that both this and Mamma Mia. Will be on Broadway at the same time. They will be essentially the end of the national tours. These two shows that have very passionate fan bases will both have tour stops on Broadway this fall. So if you have been jonesing to see Beetlejuice or Mamma Mia, this is going to be a great opportunity to knock both out. All right, let's run through some of the smaller awards organizations that have announced their winners. In the last day yesterday, the winners for the 2025 Dorian Theater Awards were announced. These awards are presented by the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, which our friend Ashley Steves is a member. And these awards celebrate stage productions with or without LGBTQ themes. So not necessarily LGBTQ stories, but that obviously is is part of the factor as well. The outstanding Broadway musical winner was maybe Happy Ending. Outstanding Broadway play was John Proctor is the Villain. Outstanding Broadway musical revival was Sunset Boulevard. Outstanding Broadway play revival was Eureka Day. Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway production was Death Becomes Her Outstanding lead performance in a Broadway musical. The winner is Audra McDonald for Gypsy. Outstanding lead performance in a Broadway play went to Sarah Snook for the Picture of Dorian Gray. Outstanding featured performance in a Broadway musical went to Jack Malone for Operation Mincemeat. Outstanding feature performance in a Broadway play went to Fina Straza for John Proct Proctor is the villain and outstanding Broadway ensemble was John Proctor is the villain. And in the Broadway Showstopper Award category, we had a Tie. We had Roses Turn, performed by Audra McDonald in Gypsy and Sunset Boulevard, performed by Tom Francis in Sunset Boulevard. Obviously, both the outstanding Off Broadway production and the outstanding LGBTQ Off Broadway production both went to Cats, the Jellicle Ball. Outstanding lead performance in an Off Broadway production was Andrew Scott for Vanya. Outstanding Feature performance in an Off Broadway production went to Andre de Shields for Cats. The Jellicle Ball. The LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Year was also a tie between Jonathan Groth and Brandon Jacobs Jenkins. Sticking in the World of Off Broadway Awards Yesterday the Off Broadway alliance made the announcements as to who won their awards. The Best Musical was All the World's A Stage, Best Play went to Becoming Eve, Best Revival went to hold on to Me Darling, Best Solo Performance went to I'm assuming you know David Greenspan and Best Unique Theatrical Experience went to Odd Man Out. One more awards related piece of news Yesterday the Tony Awards announced their presenters for this Sunday's ceremony. The presenters will include Aaron Tveit, Adam Lambert, Alex Winter, Allison Janney, Ariana DeBose, Ben Stiller, Bryan Cranston, Kerry Preston, Charli D' Amelio, Danielle Brooks, Jean Smart, Jesse Eisenberg, Katie Holmes, Keanu Reeves, Kelly o' Hara, Kristin Chenoweth, latanya Richardson, Jackson Lea Michele, Lea Salonga, Lin Manuel Miranda, Michelle Williams, Oprah Winfrey, Rachel Bay Jones, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Samuela Jackson, Sara Bareilles and Sarah Paulson. Additionally, multi time Tony winner Brian Stokes Mitchell will be the show's announcer. Well obviously all of those people are incredible stars and Broadway fans should be very excited to have them a part of the Tony Awards. Apparently there is a group of fans that are not too happy with the Tonys. An online petition has been launched to get Boop the Musical and Jasmine, Amy Rogers specifically to perform on the Tony Awards. As we mentioned yesterday, real women have curves and just in time which are not nominated for Best Musical did get the opportunity to perform while Boop and Smash did not. And I had said at the time, which I had said previously before the announcement, that I'd hoped that Boop and Smash had the opportunity to do that because they are shows that I think would do really well in a Tony's broadcast format and could really help them sell tickets. As Grace and I discussed like there is a number of factors that go into determining who is going to be performing on the Tonys. As Grace relayed, generally the option is first made to any musical that is nominated for either Best Musical or Best Musical Revival and they kind of go from there. How many perform has to do with how much time they have in the telecast. Obviously we have the Memoriam that's going to take up time. The Hamilton performance that's going to take up time and then productions have to pay for everything that goes into the performance. They have to pay Their actors and crew for rehearsal time. They have to pay to transport everything over there. So it's not free. It does take some money. But both director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell and star Jasmine Amy Rogers have responded to this petition favorably. I also saw Jasmine Amy Rogers online clear up the fact that this was not a financial decision. The production wants to do it. They've got the money set aside to do a production number on the Tony Awards. But that seems to me like she is kind of saying that this was the Tony's decision. And they can't just make time out of nowhere. There's a certain amount of time that they have to allocate for the acceptance speeches. The opening number, which I did hear, was penned by a songwriting team that became EGOT winners back in the fall. So just throwing that out there. So I don't know if there's time or not, but if you remember last year, Stereophonic was not originally going to be a part of the Tonys telecast. But there was such an upheaval throughout the Broadway community that they did figure out a way to sneak in a pretty condensed version of Masquerade into the telecast. So who knows if that's something that's going to be able to happen this year. But I do think it is interesting and I would love to see. Even though I didn't think Boop was good at all, I do think that they have some pretty good production numbers. And I recognize that a lot of people liked it when I didn't. So getting an opportunity to perform in front of millions of people on TV and then have that clip, clip shared, it can only be a good thing. All right, let's talk about last week's Broadway grosses. Obviously, the previous week was Memorial Day, so there's a little bit of a dip coming out of the holiday weekend. In total, there were still 40 shows on Broadway. The grosses came in at $44,949,803, down 5%. Attendance was only down 2%, though, at 333,529 people. And the average ticket price also down, went down by 2% to $134.77. Good night and good luck continues to just set record after record. It was up to $4,245,598. Second place came to Othello at 3.55 million. Wicked was in third at 2.3. Lion King and Glengarry Glen Ross were both just a few thousand dollars north of 2 million. The rest of the shows in seven figures in descending order are Hamilton, the Picture of Dorian Gray, Aladdin Death Becomes Her, Sunset Boulevard Just In Time, the Outsiders, oh Mary, Buena Vista Social Club, mj, Gypsy maybe Happy Ending and the Great Gatsby. In terms of open ended runs down on the bottom side of the grosses, Real Women have Curves came in at essentially $392,000. Dead Outlaw was at $465,538 and then Boop was at 492,211. Not great numbers. All of them are hoping to have a bump from the Tonys. Currently Dead Outlaw and Real Women have Curves are performing on the Tonys. Boop is not Smash. The other one that I mentioned is a little bit higher. Not significantly though, coming in at 625,409 bucks. Call me Izzy. The new one person show starring Gene Smart that is playing at Studio 54 did seven performances last week and brought in $467,848 in grosses. In total, 24 of Broadway's 40 shows played a 90% capacity or more. Wicked, Othello, Operation Mincemeat and omerry were at 100% capacity. John Proctor is the villain. The Outsiders and Picture of Dorian Gray were in between 100 and 101%. Maybe happy ending and Goodnight and Good luck were between 101 and 102% and then just in time led the way at 103.32% capacity. Just yesterday we talked about the Lincoln Center Theater's 2025, 2026 season. There's still a hole in their Broadway schedule, but yesterday Second Stage announced its season as well and it is very, very exciting. The season will start on Broadway in November over at the Helen Hayes Theater with the Broadway premiere of Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison's play Marjorie Prime. It'll be directed by Ann Kaufman. This is a show that has already actually been made into a movie. It starred Jon Hamm, Mia Davis, Lois Smith and Tim Robbins. After that, on Broadway, starting on March 18th of 2026, we'll have the Broadway premiere of the show Becky Shaw by Pulitzer Pulitzer Prize finalist Gina Gianfredo. It is directed by Trip Coleman. The show made its Off Broadway premiere also at Second Stage and got great reviews. So this one is going to be very exciting when people have an opportunity to see it at the Haze. Then off Broadway we will have the world premiere play Meet the Cartousians by Tayleen Monaghan, directed by David Cromer, to begin performances on October 29th. Part riveting historical drama Part scorching satire, Meet the Cartousians pulls back the curtain on a startling chapter of American history you may never have heard. Then, beginning in February, the world premiere of Meat Suit or the Shitshow of Motherhood, written and directed by A.E. ogawa. The first line of the description says, quote, warning, motherhood is not for the faint of heart. And neither is this play. And then the final show of the season will be off Broadway to begin performances on April 15th. It is called the Receptionist and it is by Obie Award winner Adam Brock. There has been no director announced as of yet, but it says, quote, it's business as usual at the Northeast office, where the cheerfully dutiful receptionist answers phones, brews coffee, and gossips with co workers. But when an unexpected visitor from the central office walks through the door, business becomes far from usual. Sounds like a great season for a second stage that continues to do really excellent work with really incredibly exciting artists both on and off stage. One little bit of news before we get into some recommendations and wrap up the show. Yesterday it was announced that Sarah Rules Eurydice, which is currently playing off Broadway, has been extended by a week. The show will now play through June 27. It stars Maya Hawke from Stranger Things fame and Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke fame, I suppose, and Brian d' Arcy James. The two recommendations that I have first are real women have curves. Perform the song I Got it Wrong on the Today show. So check that one out. And then the Broadway production of Floyd Collins released a recording studio video of Jason Gauthay and Jeremy Jordan singing the Riddle Song. 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. Broadway radio, you can follow me on Instagram at bwwmatt. All right, everybody, have a wonderful Wednesday and we'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.