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Today on Broadway: Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025
00:20:10
Broadway musicians give strike authorization, Diane Keaton dies, ‘Mincemeat’ extends Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Monday through Friday.
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Welcome to Today on Broadway for Wednesday, October 15, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tammanini and I'm.
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Tell Me on a Sunday Podcast.
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Grace Aki Grace, we are back after the long holiday weekend. I did drop the latest episode of Some Like It Pop in the Patreon feed on Monday night. So if you want to HEAR what Jennifer McHugh and I were loving in September, head over there at the mezzanine tier and above and sign up for that. But we do have some news I want to get into. But before we do that, I wanted to just point out, since we didn't do our traditional like this week's theatrical schedule, I want to make sure that you realize that tonight over at the Imperial Theater, Chess will have its very first Broadway preview. It'll begin performances obviously again today, Wednesday, October 15, and will open a month later on November16. And then also happening this week on the Broadway up at Lincoln center at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Ragtime will officially open on Thursday. I saw it over the weekend. I will share my thoughts with that in a Patreon Travelogue episode once it is officially open. So that's what's happening on Broadway this week. Tons happening off Broadway. So if you are in or around New York City, go see a show. All right, Grace, One reason why people might want to go see a show now is that there is that looming specter of a potential strike happening as both Actors equity Association and AFM Local 802, the musicians union, are currently negotiating the new production contract with the Broadway League. Last week, while we were out over the weekend, actually it was officially voted on with 802. The membership body gave the union strike authorization, which does not mean that there is going to be a strike. It just means that if the union's leaders determine that a strike is necessary, that the members have approved that to happen. They closed the voting on Sunday night and announced on Monday morning that this was a possibility. And apparently 98% of the membership voted to authorize the strike. And that does not necessarily mean that it is going to happen. I want everyone to keep that in mind. But the 802 representatives did say in relation to their negotiations that the League quote continues to demand unacceptable wages and reduced jobs and benefits. In the current strike talks, we have not heard anything official from Actors Equity yet. So we don't know if they are at the same point as 802. But I would imagine that these two unions are working very closely as they negotiate the production contract with the Broadway League. So I would not be surprised if we get a strike authorization vote announcement here in the next few days, in the next week from Equity. But again, keep in mind, that does not mean that there will definitely be a strike. It just means that they are one step closer to. To potentially having a strike. Grace.
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Exactly. I mean, there's so many, like, tedious parts of announcing such a large scale strike from a union like this. So the authorization is obviously a big part of it, which is why the news is obviously reporting on this. But it obviously is not an indicator that it is in fact in motion. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, just means that they are saying that it's possible. So yeah, it's. It's just again, there's like 1,000 factors, but it very well could happen now.
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Yeah, and we see this a lot. In my day job, I report on carriage and retransmission negotiations between cable and satellite and streaming and channel owners. And a lot of times just talking about the fact that there is a potential blackout happening gives those two sides more of an impetus to negotiate in good faith. And so hopefully this is something where 802 and then potentially even Actors Equity says, look, we have strike authorization, we don't want to use it, but if you keep pushing us, we will, that it gets everybody back to the bargaining table and to come up with a solution that is acceptable for everybody. In a negotiation, everybody is supposed to like, not like everything about their negotiation and whatever resolution they come to. So hopefully everybody can give a little bit to get a new production contract that works for everyone. All right, Grace. Over the weekend, obviously one of the biggest stories in all of entertainment and pop culture was the passing of iconic actress Diane Keaton, who passed away at the age of 79 over the weekend. While she, of course, is an icon, having won an Academy Award, a bafta, two Golden Globes, having multiple Emmy nominations, she did start her career on the stage. She was a member of the original Broadway production of Hair, went on to replace as Sheila in that. And while that would be notable enough, she returned to Broadway the next season in the Woody Allen written play, Play it, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. I don't need to go into Much of her CV and all of that, because at this point, you know Diane Keaton, and we've heard of this over the last few days, but I did. Grace, want to hear your thoughts on Diane Keaton, who I know was very important to you, not only as a film lover, but also of a very specific style of film that I know you've always loved.
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Yeah. I mean, gosh, it's so interesting because, full disclosure, I was at an incredible wedding in Buffalo, New York, this weekend, and we were all talking about how impactful father the bride was to us. And not two hours later, after we were talking about Diane Keaton's performance in that, and baby boom, we were alerted with that news, and it was genuinely so, like, shocking. The idea that one of the trio in the First Wives Club has left us is just really heartbreaking. And I obviously look up to this actress so much. I remember seeing her in soho a few times when I was working, and it was just like, like, like, like truly, you know, a star amongst us, an immortal person. So I'm. I'm devastated by this. But obviously, she lived such an incredible life and career, and I'm just so grateful that we have so many great pieces of media to remember her by.
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In addition to her, like, performances as an actress, Grace, she is also a style icon. This is much more in your world than in mine. But for maybe the younger folks or people who aren't as familiar with Diane Keaton, like, what did she do to kind of revolutionize how a star could dress and be seen?
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Yeah, I think it's just that she lived by her own rules. She really didn't feel like she had to go with the same, like, Hollywood status quo. The things that she liked to wear, her gloves, her hats, her pieced wardrobe, like, she just. She developed her own consistent style. And I think it's something that people often overlook look in originality nowadays, which is to say that, like, she had a uniform. A lot of people, you know, don't have that anymore. And I think it's always a recommendation based on Diane that I always, you know, try to put out into the world to say that, like, if you feel like you don't know what to wear, if you can pick out one or two things that you feel great in all the time, buy it in 100 colors, because that is. That is what she did, and that's how you establish your own creative style. So, yeah, she was just truly an icon of all things.
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Yeah. All right, let's get back to the Broadway news and Yesterday it was announced that Operation Mincemeat has extended yet again. It is originally only supposed to be a 16 week run, but is now extended for a fourth time, adding another month onto its run at the Golden Theater, which means it will now play through March 15th of 2026. And that to me is notable, Grace, because saying that it is going to run through mid March means that it probably is going to extend even further. Or if not, the Golden Theater will probably be dark for Tony season. Because if a show is going to run through March 15, it is pretty much impossible then for another show to load in in time enough to get previews unless you do like only a week or two of previews to be considered for the Tony Awards. So if it had stuck to its original mid February, not original or most recent mid February closing date, they had plenty of time to load out a new show, had plenty of time to lo load in, start previews mid March and then open in mid April. But now it would be cutting it really, really tight if another show was going to try to get into the golden if Mincemeat did close on March 15th. So I would imagine that we will see Operation Mincemeat try to stick around for next summer at least. It's super interesting because as we've been talking about everything with the production contract negotiations, Grace, we had that article from Michael Paulson in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago about how hard it is for shows to survive on Broadway. And I don't discount anything in that article as being true. But Operation Mincemeat has never once grossed more than $843,000 and it has only grossed over $700,000 twice since the start of August. So obviously small show in terms of like the cast, not a ton of tech, but a decent, you know, a little bit of tech. So I do think it's important to like point these out. We don't know anything about recoupment for this show yet, but I do think it's important to note that like shows like this shows like maybe Happy Ending, which has more tech to it. We know that's a fairly tech heavy show, but like these small shows can be successful, can run without the huge, huge multimillion dollar weekly operating nuts. And I hope that these can be ways to show producers how to be able to sustain shows for longer periods of time without having to make it boom or bust. You can have these shows that are mid level hits and continue to run for at least a year or more. So I'm Rooting for this show to continue to do well just because it proves that you can be successful without having to spend a crap ton of money every week just to keep it up.
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Yeah, I couldn't agree more. It's, it's really hard and in the real estate market is half of the game here. So you are 100% right, Matt.
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All right, this is an interesting story and I want to get into like some of the pros and cons of this, but last week it was announced that social media star, social media influencer Trisha Paytas is going to be joining the Broadway production of Beetlejuice. But just for a limited time. She's going to be playing the role of Maxine Dean from November 4th through November 23rd. We know the show is already up and running on Broadway. It is going to be a limited run through January 3rd. As of now, Trisha made her Broadway debut in air quotes last, last season for like in a one night only event. But this is going to be her true actual Broadway debut in a show that's more than just one night. I think from a production perspective, Grace, like I think she's going to sell tickets for, you know, just over just like three weeks of shows. Like she has a huge social media following her one night only thing sold out on Broadway. And I think that this is probably going to do pretty well for Beetlejuice. I'm not sure. Like we said, we haven't seen the grosses for their first week yet but like, I think this is going to help them. But we've also seen some pushback on this. Talia Suskower posted a couple things when this announcement came out. I think her first post was like why, why even bother going to theater school if this is the casting that's going to happen? And kind of then tied it into why Actors Equity was fighting for more assurances where, you know, roles are kind of being splitting up to bring in influencers for stuff like this. I, I don't necessarily have an opinion one way or the other, especially because Actors Equity will also be representing Trisha in this, in this standp. Lots of pros from a ticket selling standpoint and maybe an excitement and buzz standpoint, but also seems to have ruffled the feathers of at least one Broadway star. Grace.
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Oh, I mean the discourse is, is kind of, you know, half and half. Here's the thing. I think that if you're going to have pushback on that, I mean you would then have to bring that argument to every single person who has never been Been to theater school at all and been in a major TV or film production and then, you know, brought into a show to say, like, I don't know, it's just that there's no there. It becomes an elitism that I think is exhausting. I think if there, if anyone is going to be critical of anything with any individual like that, I think that they need to look at the moral and ethics of some of the content that they've put out into the world that might have been racist, anti Semitic, homophobic, whatever you want to say, under the sun. I think that that's more warranting of criticism than being annoyed that somebody has a large following and that they got a job. That's, that is what it is. People pay to see people that they know. I know that's, that's very callous, but it's just, it's a true fact. So I don't, I don't know.
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Well, I think the one other side of that is, and I should have mentioned this at top, at the top is that Trisha is splitting the role with Sharon Saig. So she's effectively taking part of the role that Sharon is normally playing because it is normally Maxine Dean and Juno, which is like splitting. It was just like two roles and Trisha is only playing Maxine Dean. So I think some of it is that she is taking the role of somebody who was already playing it on Broadway and then kind of diving in and not doing the full track. I also don't think that it would have been as big of a deal, like this is such a short run. Like if Trisha had done the entire run, like, I don't think people would have raised as much of an eyebrow. It's just a weird thing to have anybody, social media influencer, YouTube star, whatever, drop in to do half of a role for three weeks of a three month run. So I think it's a weird thing, but I certainly hear what you're saying that like, look, we're talking about selling tickets and trying to keep shows open. So you have to find ways to get audiences excited to come see it. So it's just messy. Like the whole thing is a little bit messy and it's become even messier because of the discourse. But nonetheless, Palace Theater starting November 4th, go see Trisha in her, like, official, official Broadway debut. All right. Yesterday, people put out some pretty cool images from a workshop that happened over the season, something that I'd heard about, but it hadn't really been officially reported yet. But it is a new musical called the Turning and it is written by Zach Zadak and the headliners for this workshop were Lola Tung, most recently on Broadway of Hadestown, but is known for the Amazon series the Summer I Turned Pretty. In the Reading and Workshop, she was starring opposite Jordan Fisher, whom she shared the stage with in Hadestown last year as well. This is being presented by the Center Theater Group and it is certainly working towards a production in la. First Center Theater Group is based in la. In addition to Tongue and Fisher, the principal cast include Kayla Wilcoxon, who I love and Jane Bruce. Also in there are Hilary Fish from the Notebook, Tyler Ross Monet Sable, Tori Trowbridge, and my friend Carson Stewart, also from the Notebook. So some very cool stuff there. It's an original show, it's directed and developed by Sammy Knold and it follows best friends Gracie and Nora as they escape Los Angeles for a secluded wellness retreat in California's towering Sequoia Groves. Interesting that Caleb Wilcoxon is in this show after having been on Broadway in Redwood last season, but excited to hear about this one. Anytime stars like this are together with a workshop directed by Sammy Knaul that is super fun moving forward, I will.
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Say that I talked to Zach on Thursday night after they had been in all week. I was at an event with him and Sammy and I was sad that I couldn't attend this on Friday even though I was graciously invited and just the whole group that was attached to it. But also like hearing what inspired Zach to write this story was so exciting and and the movement behind it is so great that I'm very thrilled for all involved. This is so cool. So shout out to my friend.
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Yeah, all right. Grace, I have two recommendations. One I know that you posted out, so I'll let you kind of take it from there. But it's a video for the song Waiting from Nick Blaymire's musical Soon that is going to be taking place starting later this month on the 29th and running through November 9th at the East Village Basement. So tell people what that video is about because I know you were effusive in your praise for it when you posted about it over the weekend.
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Yeah, if you don't know, Nick has been working on this musical for a while. Alex Brightman starred in it many years ago. Pre Covid in D.C. i believe. So this is a project I've been aware of for quite some time and Nicholas Padani is starring in it now. If you don't know that name immediately, I got to see him in My Other Friend Drew Gasparini's Karate Kid workshop now, five years ago or something. And he also played Billy Crystal in the Saturday Night Live film. And he was so spectacular. He's also. I loved him in the Apple TV plus show that he was on with Billy Crudup. All this to say the East Village basement is a tiny venue that I'm obsessed with. I want to do a show in there. The fact that Nick is doing this a week and a half before my wedding and I am making time to go should tell you everything that you need to know about it. I cannot tell you excited I am for this piece. The music video is super cool. I mean, because it's them, it's real, it's down to earth. It is music that is always such a great earworm and relatable. I'm obviously a fan of my friends, as you can always tell. But I do mean this with some emphatic joy. And I'm hopeful that we'll get to talk to either Nick or the cast in the coming week or two leading up to this show because there are a few tickets left on Today Ticks. That's what I've been able to see because the venue again is so small that I won't be shocked if this sells out in the next couple of days. So you should definitely grab your tickets like I just did. But yeah, I'm just, I'm thrilled.
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Very cool. The other recommendation I want to give to you is from the Drew Barrymore Show. She recently had Anthony Ramos on. And this is such like a cool thing that like only really happens in the theater and in New York City. Ross, who's like the co host of the Drew Barrymore show, was out in the audience getting ready to do a little bit, do a little bit. And they brought in an old friend of Anthony Ramos to kind of surprise him. And if you have been around like the theater community and just like paid attention to anything that has happened at the Richard Rogers Theater over the past 20, 30 years, you probably are familiar with Jimmy, who is the doorman at the Rogers. If you remember back to like the PBS documentary about in the Heights, he's featured in that as well. He continued all the way through Hamilton. He is now retired. But when Anthony looks out into the audience to where Ross is sitting, he is sitting right next to Jimmy. And Anthony gets emotional and like runs out into the audience, hugs him. He starts talking about him and tearing up about how special he was and how welcoming he was. And you know, I always think about these people that work backstage at Broadway theaters that we never see as fans, you know, unless it's like a documentary thing like that. But these are the people that, like, work in your office that you might not work with on a daily basis, but like the people who become a part of your life. So it is very clear that Jimmy was very important to Anthony's early career because as he said, he started in Hamilton. He was 23. It was his first Broadway show. It was just very special. I love that. I'm getting goosebumps just talking about it. I love those kind of sentimental things that we don't get to see super often because everything's polished, everything's about the performance. But it was a really true human moment that I think we should remember is part of working in the theater industry 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. And if you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio Grace, where can people find you?
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You can find me at graceaki.
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All right, everybody, have a wonderful Wednesday and we'll be back to talk to you tomorrow morning. Zoe got donuts.
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Wow, impressive. Let me try. T mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network. Nice.
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Jeffrey, you heard them.
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