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Today on Broadway: Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025
00:13:00
Cerveris to play Scrooge Off-Broadway, Steinbreener’s granddaughter producing ‘Damn Yankees,’ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ on cruise ship Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headline...
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Morning Zoe. Got donuts.
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Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage?
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Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T mobile commercial like you teach me.
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A
Wow, impressive. Let me try. T Mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.
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Nice.
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Je free.
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You heard them.
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T Mobile is the best place to.
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Get the new iPhone 17 Pro on.
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Dude, my work here is done.
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Earlier Cancel Finance Agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs 1099.99 A new line minimum 100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and fees required. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Oklahoma Speed Test Intelligence Data 182025 Visit T mobile.com welcome Today.
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On Broadway for Wednesday, October 8, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamminini.
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D
And I'm Tommy on the Sunday podcast Grace Aki.
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C
Grace we are diving into what is going to be a very, very busy week here on Broadway in New York with all of the theater stuff going on. Not only do we have a ton of openings and shows beginning previews, we have all of the looming specters of potential strikes going on. But assuming that doesn't happen, I will be in New York next week starting on Sunday seeing a bunch of shows. I had one more confirmed, so I'm just waiting on one other new show to let me know if I can get in and I'll have my complete schedule ready to go. But I will have all of those travelogue episodes from New York City coming up in Patreon. So if you want to hear all that, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio or broadwayradio.com patreon but let's get into the news, Grace. And this one starts not on Broadway but off Broadway over at the Perlman Performing Arts center with their upcoming Off Broadway, I guess revival of the Christmas Carol that was written by Jack Thorne that plays the Old Vic regularly, had a 2019 Broadway run before the pandemic. It is going to run off Broadway from November 23 through December 28 and yesterday we got the star studded group of performers that will be making it happen. Leading the company as Ebenezer Scrooge will be two time Tony Award winner Michael Cerverus. Joining him in the production will be George Abood as Fred, Chris Hock as Marlee, Julia Knitel as Belle, Nancy Opal as the Ghost of Christmas Past, which I absolutely love. Izzy Alina, Rita as Tiny Tim, Rashidra Scott as Mrs. Cratchit, Paul Whitty as Fezziwig and more. So if you want to see the complete cast of that, you can head over to the show Notes, but this is one grace that get to see on Broadway. But I saw it during the Pandemic when the Old Vic did the streaming version of it. A very cool conception for this show that has been done a number of times over there. Matthew Warches directs it. Very cool visuals and all of that. So I'm looking forward to the opportunity to hopefully see it again off Broadway because as we've talked about many times before, I feel like I have to see A Christmas Carol at least once every year, regardless of what version it is. Like I want to see A Christmas Carol in one form or another.
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D
Yeah. And again, like even if it does not have Tom Sesma, we will be there, you know, so this is very cool.
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C
I kind of feel like they should all have Tom Sesma though. Like that would make it better.
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D
I was really hoping because one of these, you know, posts, it obviously hit everywhere on Social that this production was happening. A friend of mine said, I really want to comment Michael Cerberus as who just to see like what people were, you know, like saying in terms of like, you know, who everybody would be playing. But obviously we know.
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C
Yeah, my, my aunt and uncle used to live in the Dallas Fort Worth area and there were some theater and I think they still do it. I don't know which one it is, but my uncle has like some of the T shirts or sweatshirts or something. Like they every year do a production of A Christmas Carol and every year it's a different version. Now they might rotate some over the years but like one year it's a musical. One year it's a one man version, one year it's a fully staged play. I think that's a tradition that like, man, I really could get behind on Broadway and just have some house that's open every year, bring something in. Whether it's the Jefferson Mays one man version, the Aarons and Menken, not Aarons and Flair, but Aarons and Menken musical version that was at MSG for a long time. Like let's get that going every year, work this one back in and I'm all for it. Another show that is eyeing Broadway, and we've talked about this a number of times, Grace, is the Damn Yankees that is currently playing at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. yesterday there was a big article in the New York Times about this show and it said some things that I did not realize. So first off, the production that's in D.C. right now has raised an additional $1.8 million to support the Arena Stage production. Since that is a nonprofit organization, they raised an extra nearly $2 million to put this on there. But the producer who raised that money is Hayley Swindell, who you might know her name. She's been on Broadway multiple times. She's kind of like one of those people who regularly rotates in to play matron Mama Morton in Chicago on Broadway. She produced last season Sunset Boulevard and Swept Away and a bunch of other things over the years. What I did not realize, though, and maybe I should have, is that she is the granddaughter of George Steinbrenner, the longtime late former owner of the New York Yankees. So I did not realize that. Obviously she has a connection not only to baseball, but to a show that references her family's legacy. But they are currently working on lining up more potential investors to increase the budget on Broadway. If you're familiar with the Arena Stage, it is done in the round. So no idea, as I mentioned kind of the other day, whether this is like aiming to take over circle in the square when and if just in time wraps up or if they're going to look for a more traditional proscenium space or maybe they might try to work out a way to modify a current theater. But this is a show that a lot of people have been very excited about and it's kind of like an old school throwback with a little bit of a slight update. And I knew they had done an update, but I didn't. I guess I never put together who had worked on it. But that original book by George Abbott and Douglas Wallop has been updated by Willpower Doug Wright and Lynn Ahrens, all great writers in their own right. So I'm excited about this. And like, I think that's a kind of an extra cool little connection between the real life baseball world and the Broadway baseball world that hopefully will be coming back to New York very soon.
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D
Grace, listen, I'm excited for any and all prospects with it. I'm A baseball girly. You all probably know that. For as much as I always talk about, you know, the Mets, I remember going to an Orioles game when I was younger. Know that they've taken that new twist to the project recently. So I am really excited about its prospects, for sure.
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C
Yeah. I grew up in central Ohio. My favorite team, obviously, has always been the Cincinnati Reds. But my other favorite team growing up was the Baltimore orioles. Cal Ripken Jr. Is my favorite player of all time.
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D
Wait, I didn't know that. He used to be my client.
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C
Yeah, we've talked about this before. You told me, like, at your. One of your retail jobs, like, he would come in a lot, right?
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D
He was so nice. He and his wife would come in. I think his son was in the area. Like, he was doing college in Hoboken, New Jersey. And I'm telling you, like, he was the nicest, most wonderful dude in the world. I miss seeing him, honestly. Like, I. I hope that he's well. I know he's had some, like, health things, you know, in the past. So all that to say, come on, Cal.
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C
Yeah, love, Cal. I would not be surprised if this does come to Broadway if he ends up, like, at opening night or something. And hopefully you'll be working the red carpet so you can talk to him there. So that would be very cool. All right, let's get into last week's Broadway grosses. In total, they were down one show to 27 total things playing on Broadway last week, but grosses were up 2% to come in at $31,428,040. Attendance rose by 900ish people to come in at 234,508 people. And the average ticket price increased to $134.02. Again, Hamilton continues to lead the way with Leslie Odom Jr. Still leading that company. It brought in $3,743,602. Wicked was a little bit over 2 million. The rest of the shows, in descending order were the Lion King at 1.9, Waiting for Godot now in eight shows was at 1.87. And then Mamma Mia. Rounding out the top five at 1.6. Then we had Art Just In Time, death becomes her, M.J. maybe happy ending, Aladdin and Buena Vista Social Club, all north of seven figures. Ragtime was very close, but they only did seven shows last week. As they add that eighth show, I'm sure they will get there as well. In total, 17 of Broadway's 27 shows played to 90% capacity or more. That includes Ragtime, Waiting for Godot and Wicked that were all right at 100%. Hamilton was at 101.5 and then just in time led the way at 102.8. And yesterday Grace, the Keen Company, which is under new artistic leadership by Kelly Kirwan and producing director Annie Middleton, announced their 2025, 2026 season and they are planning a series of one night only theatrical experiences instead of the traditional plays and musicals that they have done in the past. Each entry in this upcoming series, they're calling it the Mixtape series, will feature performances curated by an artist or a company with a surprise of genres, ideas and voices. The first one will take place on Space at Irondale and it'll be curated by Monica Bell Barnes and Robbie San as Diva Terry, with performances by Ira Glass, the Bingsons, David Kahle and more. Then in the spring, on March 2, the entry will be curated by Adam Guan, who has worked with Keen Company quite a bit in the past. All the World's A Stage most recently had its world premiere there. That evening will feature an excerpt of a new musical by Rhona Siddiqui. Also Bryce Pinkham will perform and others. And also throughout the season, A Two Blanks in Wood and Monoman Soar will have performances and evening. So a very interesting, cool way to do it. You know, it's getting expensive to run new shows, so in a season where you're trying to do a transition on the artistic standpoint to do something cool like this, Grace feels like a really good idea.
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D
Yeah, of course. And like, you know, we're big fans of King Company over here, so whenever I see, you know, you know, continued investment in composers like Adam and so on that they, they do kind of throughout the year the way they did with Nick Blaymire as well. I'm just always in favor of it.
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C
Coming up on October 24th, there will be a reading of a newly revised version of Alfred Yuri's Plays Without Walls. Yuri is updating the show and kind of bringing it into a more modern context. He first wrote it in the early 2000s, but then set it aside for 20 years and then he decided to revisit it. But that three person show will be led by the one and only Wayne Brady. He will be joined by David Iacono from the Summer I Turned Pretty and John Proctor is the villain star Amelia Yu. It is going to have two different performances. If you are an industry member and want to be a part of that, we will have a link in the show notes for how you can sign. And then finally, Grace, this one hits some of my Venn diagrams very, very well. But late on Monday, Royal Caribbean sent out a huge press release and a bunch of information about their newest ship, Legend of the Seas, that will debut in the summer of 2026. They have a lot of the same things that on a lot of their Icon class ships have. They've got all these different neighborhoods, but they're kind of doing some new kind of immersive railway dining experiences, which they have one on the Utopia. This one is going to be set in, like, a Hollywood supper club from the golden age of Hollywood. But from a theatrical standpoint, they announced that their headlining entertainment will be a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. So, I don't know, Grace, does f want to go back into that show? Does f want to jump on a ship for a contract to do something?
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D
They want to jump off a shift if they're doing that? No.
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C
Okay, all right, fair enough. Fair enough. You can still hear f Michael Handy on the original Broadway cast album of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, though. But yeah, so I love this. My next cruise I am on, I think, has Hairspray. I pretty much only do Royal Caribbean, but I've got a sailing on the Symphony, which has Hairspray, on the Icon, that has wizard of Oz, on the Liberty, that has Saturday Night Fever. Those are the three Broadway shows that are on shifts that I have sailings for scheduled between now and next spring. So I guess at some point I'll have to add the Legend and check out Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 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. If you want more Broadway radio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio Grace, where can people find you?
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D
You can find me at graceakis.
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C
All right, everybody, have a wonderful Wednesday. We'll be back to talk to you tomor.
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A
Sam.