← BroadwayRadio
BroadwayRadio
Today on Broadway: Wednesday, May 7, 2025
00:18:11
Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Monday through Friday. Any and all feedback is appreciated:Grace Aki: grace@broadwayradio.
Loading summary
Transcript23 lines
- [00:00]
Line2 Advertiser
Some matches are temporary, but your privacy shouldn't be. With Line two you get a second phone line just for dating. No need to share your personal number until you're ready. You can chat, text and even block numbers, all while keeping things fun and private. It's perfect for online dating, blind dates or just keeping things light. When you're ready to move on, Line two lets you cut ties without any drama. Dating should be fun and carefree. Line two keeps it that way. Ready to date on Your terms? Visit line2.comaudio or download line2 in the app Store today.
- [00:33]
Matt Tamminini
Welcome to Today on Broadway for Wednesday, May 7, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamminini and I'm.
- [00:38]
Grace Maki
Tell Me on a Sunday podcast, Grace Maki Grace.
- [00:41]
Matt Tamminini
It was officially announced with press releases and everything. I got a press release about To Free A Mockingbird going to the Soho Playhouse. We talked about it on yesterday's show. We'll have a link in the show notes on where you can purchase tickets t to see To Free a Mockingbird at the Soho Playhouse starting on Monday. How many times between now and then are you going to run the show?
- [01:02]
Grace Maki
Oh, I don't even know how many full, you know what I mean? It's like I've already gotten F asking me like, oh, how many rehearsals? So we'll figure it out. But too many to count, honestly. But it's kind of embedded in my brain at this point.
- [01:15]
Matt Tamminini
Yeah, F was very sweet last night, suggesting that they would help you, you know, go through it multiple times over the weekend. But like you said, you wrote it. You and I cannot wait to see it next week. But one thing that we talked about on yesterday's show as well, that is going to be officially coming back to New York City is Ragtime. Because yesterday we talked about the tease that featured presumably Joshua Henry's back inside Lincoln Center Plaza. And yesterday it was confirmed that Ragtime will return to Broadway beginning in September, September 26th, and it is currently scheduled to be a 14 week run through January 4th. We'll see what happens with that. It is being directed as it was at New York City center for its gala production by Lyre de Bassinet, who is now the who by that point will be the new artistic director at Lincoln Center. Joshua Henry will reprise his role as Coalhouse Walker Jr. Casey Levy will be playing Mother, as she did at City center, and Brandon Uranowitz will be back as Tatya, as he was with that production earlier this year. There is no other further casting that has been announced I would believe that many of the same people who joined them at City center will be back. I would be shocked if there is too. Too many major changes, although we have seen some of those with Lear's previous works moving from City center to Broadway. What's interesting is, is that there are no creative team members announced for this show, which is a little unusual. Sometimes you can get them delayed a little bit, but with the first casting, you normally do get some fairly substantial creative team members. I do wonder if, in the gigantic space that is the Vivian Beaumont Grace, if they're gonna have to do something, because there was nothing really at City Center. And it would seem to me that that would be a pretty cavernous place to not have something. Although I guess there's not a whole lot of set for Floyd Collins, which I haven't seen yet, but I'm just guessing. So I am interested the fact that there was no creative team announced. Perhaps this might mean that we're going to get something different than what was seen at City center, because if it. I'm assuming if it was the exact same, they probably would just announce the creative team. But maybe I'm just reading too much into it, but nonetheless, Grace, very exciting. Tickets will go on sale to LCT members on May 13 and then available to the public on May 28. One of my favorite shows saw my first trip to New York City, and look forward to seeing this one, even though the City center version was not my favorite production of this show in the world.
- [03:43]
Grace Maki
I think it's super exciting, though, that so many people that responded so positively to the show being at City center that they're having this exciting month's anticipated announcement of sorts. So it's really exciting.
- [03:58]
Matt Tamminini
Yeah, absolutely. And this is something that people have been wanting for a long time. There was that very brief revival at one point that didn't run very long, but I have a feeling this one will be incredibly well received and will probably do very well, hopefully at the box office as well as in the award season. But speaking of awards, we got another set of award winners yesterday as the New York Drama Critics Circle announced their winners. Now, if you have forgotten since last year, the New York Drama Critics Circle does things a little differently. It is a very small group of individuals. There are only 23 active members, and they have a meeting where they have ballots where people can vote on the first ballot for whatever the category is. If a certain person or show wins a majority, they are the winner. If there is not a majority on that first ballot, they then have A second ballot to determine if they will actually give an award in that category. And it was just a few years ago and we had Adam Feldman on at the time. They decided not to give an award for Best musical. That is not the case. They have not only given awards for all of their normal categories, but they have actually added additional categories which we'll get into here in a second. The Best Play award goes to Brandon Jacobs Jenkins for Purpose. They actually went through four ballots for this purpose won with 34 points. Hills of California with 31 points. John Proctor as the villain had 27, and then Liberation had 22. In terms of the musicals, they only needed one ballot because maybe Happy Ending won a majority of the votes on the first ballot. So that one won pretty handily there. And then they have a new category called Best Individual Performance. This is not necessarily a solo performance, but it is just somebody gives a great performance into and of themselves. But ironically, this did go to a solo performance because it went to Andrew Scott for his performance in Vanya. Ultimately, Andrew won with 29 points, followed by Cole Escola and Sarah Snook, who Both tied with 26, and then followed by Jasmine Amy Rogers with 21. They had another new category called Best Ensemble Performance. This one was won on the fourth ballot by Liberation, which had 29 points, followed by the Hills of California at 27, cast the Jellicoe Ball at 26, and Purpose with 20. The circle also decided to award a couple of special citations. The first one went to Cole Escola for O Mary, then went to Cat's the Jellicle Ball and then to David Greenspan for lifetime achievement. The awards will be presented at a private ceremony on May 15. So congratulations to all of those shows and to all of those winners. All right, let's dive into last week's Broadway grosses. And as we are coming down from, like the spring breaks and the Easter and Passover holidays, we are kind of seeing May kind of get a little bit back down closer to normal. It is still very high compared to previous years, especially post Covid. But the month of May, Grace maybe explain to people like, despite the fact that it's warm and there's all these new shows, it's not exactly the robust month at the box office that either in April or a June on the other side of it are.
- [07:01]
Grace Maki
No, this is an incredibly hard time for any show on Broadway, especially long runners. You know, you've got all this Tony attention. You've got Spring breakers that have already left because they were here for April. It's a weird time. It's a genuinely weird time. But then you've got, you know those like box office record breaking limited celebrity runs that are happening right now with like Good night and good luck with the 4 million and stuff. So I just. It totally vacillates, but this is definitely a tough time.
- [07:29]
Matt Tamminini
So in total last week, Broadway had 40 shows on the boards. It dipped nearly $4 million to come in at 43,063,490 bucks. Attendance was at 332,820 people and an average ticket price was 120. But as you mentioned, Grace, Good night and good luck did not fall into the $3 million category because it eclipsed $4 million. Not the first time that has ever happened on Broadway, but it is the first time that has happened in a Shubert house as they broke the Shubert record over at the Winter Garden. It came in at $4,003,482, which it's been flirting around there fairly recently. But it is now up above 4 million. We will see how long continues. Othello, though was still north of $3 million at 3 million 65, 728 bucks. Then we had Glengarry, Glenn Ross at 2.3 million and Wicked at 2.2 million. Also up there in the rarefied air, the rest of the shows above seven figures in descending order are the Lion King, which was literally one ticket away from being at 2 million at like $271 away. Then we had Hamilton, the Picture of Dorian Gray, Aladdin, mj, Moulin Rouge, the Outsiders. Just in time, Gypsy Death becomes Her, Buena Vista Social Club, oh Mary and Sunset Boulevard. There are some shows, Grace, as you were talking about things that were struggling, things that I'm a little worried about, to be quite honest with you. There's always the shows that are in subscription houses that look worse than they probably actually are. Things like Purpose and Pirates. But down at the bottom we've got real women have curves at like $317,000. We have Dead Outlaw at 484,000 DOL. John Proctor is the villain. I'm not worried about because that's a small house and it's a limited run play. But then you've got boop at just over $508,000. Those are all pretty expensive shows. Less so Dead Outlaw, but I'm a little worried about those. Despite some of them, especially Dead Outlaw getting some some Tony Love. I'm worried that if we don't see a turnaround soon that some of those might not be long for the world. I assume Dead Outlaw will last the longest just because it is going to at least play through the Tonys because it is going to hope to ride. You know, some Tony wins in that wave, but real women have curves. Boop. Those are expensive shows and I'm a little worried based off of what those grosses look like. Currently in total, 21 of Broadway's 40 shows played to 90% capacity or above. Othello and Wicked were at exactly 100%. The picture of Dorian Gray was a little bit above Goodnight and Good Luck was just under 102%. And then just in time led the way at 103 points. Now, Grace, this is something you talk about literally every year. But this time of the year when we are getting ready for the spring road conference to happen in New York City, we're getting another show announcing a national tour, and that is Buena Vista Social Club. It is in the running for best musical. It is a show that people loved Off Broadway, but I feel like it has been like in the second tier of best musical potential shows. This is going to be part of its campaign, I assume, to remind people that it's around and to remind especially the road voters and the road producers that it's still here and it deserves consideration. Not only to bring it to their houses around the country in future seasons, but for the Tony voting as well.
- [10:57]
Grace Maki
And I just want to say, like, it's a perfect show to tour. Like, you look at that set, you look at, you know, the band, it's so lively. It's such an important piece. Like, it's going to tour super well. And I don't say that about every single show. I think that not every show is meant to be on the road like that and also doesn't always transfer well from Broadway to a tour nationwide. But this one I feel really strongly about. So really glad they announced this.
- [11:21]
Matt Tamminini
And I feel like maybe it's because as I'm kind of like winding down the season, I'm talking to more people. I do feel like there's some momentum for this show in the best musical race. I certainly still feel like it's maybe happy ending by a considerable margin. But I feel like rather than Dead Outlaw being the one that everybody assumed would be contending with maybe happy ending, the more I hear people talk, the more I am starting to get the vibe that maybe Buena Vista is the one to potentially push maybe happy ending. It obviously opened more recently than maybe happy ending, so it has that a little bit of a benefit. It just announced a tour, so it has that bit of a benefit. And as you said, it is such a fun, energetic and lively show that if there is an upset, I'm starting to think it's going to be that rather than Dead Outlaw. All right, let's get into some show and casting news because yesterday Hell's Kitchen announced a couple of pretty big things. One, they're going to release a new deluxe edition of the album that'll feature three bonus tracks. First, it'll include the river, led by Alicia Keys, you might have heard of her, as well as Amanda Reed, who is going to be taking over the role of Ally on May 27. She was an understudy for a number of roles, including Ally from the Broadway opening, but she's going to be taking over the role full time. So in addition to doing the river with Alicia Keys, she is also going to be doing if I Ain't Got you with Darrell Tank Babs, who is currently playing her father in the show. And then Tank is going to do Not Even the King for this bonus album as well. So that will be available on digital platforms beginning next Friday, May 16th. Grace for a show like this that is so rooted in the music and a lot of songs that people know other than just like, having something else to talk to and point to how important is getting new music out, which is like, kind of hard for musicals to do unless they just, like, do new versions of songs when, when they do cast replacements. Like, it's hard to get compelling new things for people to get excited about and listen to. A year plus after opening, it's a.
- [13:23]
Grace Maki
Constant struggle for any show to kind of like, think of, like, what, what are those next, like, key moments that we can celebrate? This current cast, the orchestrations, the music team. I mean, mo more times than not, what you' usually seeing that from are people that are connected to some level of music industry. But I think that it's always cool and exciting because you're not just, like, resting on something, just being a good time in the show. You have to be thinking about more innovative ways to get people talking again, to generate community engagement and buzz and all of those really fun, you know, corporate jargon words that I get to use. But it's great. Like, I love this kind of stuff.
- [14:03]
Matt Tamminini
Yeah, it's a very, very cool thing. So one last little bit of casting news. This one's coming to us from the St. Louis Muni, where they're going to be doing Evita from July 18th through the 24th. Of course, that is going to be in the middle of the run of the Evita that Jamie Lord is doing in London. But this one is going to be led by Katarina McCrimmon, who of course starred as Fanny Brice in the Funny Girl tour. She's going to be joined by one of your favorites, Grace, Paulo Jot as Perron, Omar Lopez, Sapero as Shay and Daniel Torres as Magaldi. Additional casting will be announced. Love this show. Love the Muni. Might have to head out there. I don't know. Maybe. We'll see. And then Grace on I will just say on Tuesday afternoon I went over to the St. James Theater and got to be a part of the audience for a special SiriusXM on Broadway Town hall with the stars and director of Sunset Boulevard. It opened up with Jamie Lloyd, then Nicole Scherzinger, Tom Francis, Grace Hodget Young and David Thaxton. Great conversation. And even more important was the fact that we got three songs performed. It started with with Tom doing Sunset Boulevard, then Tom and Nicole did kind of a stripped back version of the Perfect Year. And then Nicole sent us out with as if We Never said Goodbye. Then they did an album signing for all five of them actually, including Jamie Lloyd. So I got a vinyl signed even though I'd already ordered the new special edition red vinyl that hasn't been delivered to my house yet. But now I'll have two vinyls, one of them autographed. But it was a very cool thing nonetheless. I mentioned that because it is going to be available to listen to on Sirius XM beginning a week from Today on Wednesday, May 14th. So if you want to hear that, it was very cool and some really fun inside scoop that was shared. And again, this is just like we talk about Grace, like cool event for the fans and awesome for people to be able to listen to it on SiriusXM. But this is just another key prong in a Tony campaign to make not only your show but your stars and creatives visible to as many people as humanly possible. All right, that's all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to Today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Broadway Radio. And you can follow me on instagram @bww mattgrace. Where can people find you?
- [16:11]
Grace Maki
You can find me at The Soho Playhouse May 12th through the 25th.
- [16:14]
Matt Tamminini
I love it. I think you should continue to do that even after it's over and just find me at the Soho Playhouse just sitting there. That's awesome.
- [16:22]
Grace Maki
Yeah, just vibing or at its Grace Hockey. Thank you guys.
- [16:26]
Matt Tamminini
Real Quick though, because you talked about it last night. What are all of. Are you able to announce some of the very cool things that you're going to be doing in conjunction with your run at the Soho Playhouse yet?
- [16:36]
Grace Maki
Yeah, so we haven't announced it on socials or anything yet, but I will be doing a talk back with Maggie Hill on May 17th and also with our dear friend Ashley Hufford on May 23rd. We're also working on a grief life and soul party for after a show for one of those. So stick around for that whenever we're able to announce it. But we've got lots of cool programming for 10 shows. We're packing it out. We're doing everything we possibly can because life is short, famously. If you know the show, you know and you might as well do everything you can.
- [17:03]
Matt Tamminini
I don't know Maggie Hill. Obviously she's a friend of yours and and you work with her. But I have followed her for a while. She is so great.
- [17:11]
Grace Maki
A fellow Georgia native who is also a film nerd. Yes. So this will be a really great conversation. Super insightful person.
- [17:18]
Matt Tamminini
If. Yeah, if you don't follow her, find her on social media. She is so good at breaking down and analyzing films and now she's doing more theater content as well. She is very, very fun and very, very smart. So that should be a wonderful Q and A. All right, everybody, have a wonderful Thursday. We'll be back to talk to you tomorrow.
- [17:43]
Dutch Advertiser
Time is precious and so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24,7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch. You'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.