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MickeyJoTheatre
Thoughts on the next Broadway season... | Mickey-Jo's early opinions on all the 2025-2026 plays and musicals
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- [00:01]
Mickey Jo
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- [01:56]
Paige DeSorbo
Here's a show that we recommend.
- [01:59]
Mickey Jo
Hey guys. Welcome to Giggly Squad. A place where we make fun of everything but most importantly ourselves. I'm Paige desorbo. I'm Hannah Berner. Welcome to the squad. Giggly Squad started on Summer House when we were giggling during an inappropriate time. But of course we can't be managed. So we decided to start this podcast to continue giggling. We will make fun of pop culture news Shit. We're watching Fashion Trends Pep talks where we give advice, mental health moments and games and guests. Listen to Giggly Squad on Acast or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:31]
Paige DeSorbo
Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com now since I've said on more than one occasion recently that the last Broadway season was of such extraordinarily high quality. It does sort of beg the inevitable question, what does the next season look like? Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Or hello to you if you are listening on podcast platforms. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I am a social media theatre themed content creator as well as a professional theatre critic. I'm based here in the uk, but several times a year I travel across the Atlantic Ocean to go to New York City and see as many Broadway and Off Broadway shows as possible. If you are somehow just now discovering me today, then there are many previous videos I have shared on social media vlogs from previous New York trips, plenty of reviews of Broadway shows, and there will be many more hopefully coming before the end of the year, as well as plenty of other exciting theatre content from around the world. But today we are talking about Broadway and specifically the current Broadway season, the one which began after the end of the last Broadway season at the very end of April. And even though we are already into the 2025-26 Broadway season because of the placement of the Tony Awards annually in June, you don't tend to see the season really heating up until the autumn at least. But then, particularly in the spring, that's when we're going to see the bulk of this season's new openings, many of which have already been announced, but not all of them. And though I have done sort of season preview things before, I never glanced forwards at an upcoming Broadway season this early before. So inevitably there is going to be a lot of change. There are going to be shows announced that I don't know about yet. There may even be shows which have already been announced that for some reason may actually not end up happening. Not that we want to manifest anything like that here on the theatrical Internet, but there is a precedent for that kind of thing having happened before. But I guess what really inspired this video is a conversation I had with some other theatre going friends recently in which we struggled to kind of pin down what seemed like the most exciting opening currently announced for the next Broadway season. What do we think as of right now, even though it's far too early to predict, could be next year's Tony winner. And I am hoping that today by sharing my candid thoughts and early opinions about everything currently scheduled to open in the next Broadway season, that I will discover more enthusiasm than I realized. Listen, we're gonna see what happens. And of course, as always, these are just my own subjective opinions and I would love to know yours as well. Comment with your thoughts about the upcoming Broadway season in comments section down below. Which shows are you particularly looking forward to? Does anyone have tickets to anything already? What is it that we think is going to be the biggest hit of the next year? Now last year I managed to cover more Broadway shows than ever before, and I hope to once again exceed that record this year. So if you want to know what I think of all of these shows as and when they open, make sure you're subscribed right here on YouTube. Turn on notifications so that YouTube lets you know every time I share a new theater review. Or go follow me on podcast apps or other social media platforms where you can look forward to hopefully many Broadway reviews coming over the next year. In the meantime, let's talk about everything we know about the upcoming season so far. Now let's make some attempt to break this down by different types of shows, beginning with the new plays, starting with the new plays, because the first of this current season is already playing at Studio 54. I actually saw this the last time I was in New York, but I haven't made a full review video about it because I wasn't really there in in a critical capacity and also because the show was, I believe, too early in previews for me to offer a genuine consensus. What I will say is that, especially if this season becomes as busy as the past couple have, is that I don't anticipate this getting a lot of love when it comes to the Tony Awards next year. This very possibly could be a show like Redwood, where if you resonate with the specificity of this experience of this woman who is trying to find herself again, who is trying to reconnect to her literary passions and the aptitude that she once had for poetry as a younger person before she got stuck in this entrapped abusive relationship and marriage. If that for whatever reason resonates with you personally, then I think you probably are going to have a strikingly profound experience at this show. I didn't particularly enjoy it. It was reviewed quite well, as was Jean Smart's solo performance on stage. This is a one woman extended monologue. Probably a little later on in the run she got more used to the space because I had issues with the eyeline not being lifted as high as the mezzanine level. But she's a very celebrated and accomplished actor and I'm sure that, you know, through the preview period it only got better and more cohesive. What else do we have in Terms of the new plays, there's all out comedy about life which is a sort of a sequel to all in Comedy about Love, which I paid a very limited amount of attention to in the last season. This, if you don't know, was a non narrative show with a rotating cast of celebrities well known enough that they could charge a lofty ticket price basically. And you know, some people had a very charming experience at this. And this is not me standing in criticism of the writing or of the musicians, the Bengsons who were featured in the show, I believe, or in criticism of any of the individual performers who participated. I just don't really love this model and this kind of a non narrative Broadway money making producing opportunity, or at least that's what it seems to me to be, just didn't interest me at any point. I had no inclination to go to this and it's exciting to get to go and see Lin Manuel Miranda on stage again. And like Jimmy Fallon, I believe did this and a whole host of interesting people, especially interesting to see them alongside each other. And it was nice to see a lot of Broadway talent getting platformed and celebrated with sort of celebrity status in New York. I just didn't. It never interested me and by extension neither does the next one. I don't need them to keep producing new versions of this. What's it going to be next season? We've already had all in all out, so presumably by the bye rules laid out in the Hokey Cokey, next season we will have a play called Shake it all about comedy, about death. Anyway, there's also a play called Dog Day Afternoon. Oh, this is the one with multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe actors. We have Eben Moss Bakrach who is currently start. I say currently starring. I'm so used to talking about shows. He's in a film, he's not currently doing anything. They finished it already. He is in the new Fantastic Four film. Jon Bernthal is best known to me as having played the Punisher in the Daredevil series. And they are doing a play direct, directed by Rupert Gold, interestingly enough, written by Stephen Adley Guerges. I believe that this is an adaptation of a film, that this is a film turned into a play. Perhaps. Yes. Pulitzer Prize winning writer Dog Day Afternoon is apparently a raw, gritty reminder of what happens when passion and desperation collide. Doesn't feel as though I'm going to culturally find much to speak to me personally about this, but hopefully they connect with an audience that does. This is going to be spring 2026. On Broadway, strictly limited engagement. I don't know that it yet has dates or a theater, but it's going to transport audiences back into the sweltering summer of 1972, a time when the Vietnam War looms large, Watergate headlines flood the news, and one man's desperate act captivates the nation. That actually does all sound quite interesting to me. So maybe I take it all back. And then we have the not uncontroversial Little Bear Ridge Road. Not controversial because of who it is written by. It's written by Samuel Hunter. Not controversial because of where it first premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. Not controversial because of who is starring in it. The celebrated and brilliant actress Laurie Metcalfe. Controversial because it is being produced by Scott Rudin, who is returning to Broadway after having been ostracized when he was outed as a violent bully a few years ago in a very public expose. There is plenty to say about Scott Rudin's return to Broadway, and I have said it all already as far as I'm concerned in a previous conversation, if you want to know my thoughts about this play and Scott Rudin's Broadway comeback that we all probably should have seen coming, but I was naive enough to think wasn't going to happen, then you can go and listen to my thoughts in that fuller conversation. As of right now, nothing has changed my mind that I will just be skipping this because I just don't want to support the notion of the whole thing. And, you know, I'm open to hearing people out, but as far as I'm concerned, there hasn't been a substantial enough understanding and expression of remorse. And I'm a little disappointed in everyone else who is allowing this to happen. I'm disappointed in the theater owners and the actors, honestly. And I've said all this before, I'm just repeating myself at this point. As of right now, I have no plans to see this, but it's not looking great for me with new plays this season, I'll be honest. What else do we have? Punch. There we go. One of my favorite playwrights bringing me right back. So this is a play by James Graham, British playwright, one of the most exciting playwrights writing right now, especially when he is writing about interesting chapters. History and Punch is based on a compellingly interesting true story, which I first heard about years ago because I believe I have a mutual friend with the gentleman who has told this story, who is part of this story, whose story it basically is, who went to prison as a result of what happened that fateful night. His name is Jacob Dunn. The description is. As Jacob tears through Nottingham in a whirlwind of drugs, girls and bar fights, he makes a fatal mistake that lands him in prison. But as he struggles to accept the consequences of his actions and build a new life, he finds an unusual source of salvation. The parents of the boy he killed. Hard hitting, fascinating, intriguing. The production is dedicated to James Hodgkinson and all victims of One Punch. It's being produced in association with Nottingham Playhouse. It's being directed by the artistic director of that venue, Adam Penford. And something very interesting is happening with this play because, and I don't remember the last time this happened, it is arriving on Broadway and in the West End at very proximal times. Basically at the same time it is opening on either side of the Atlantic. Now, it has been seen in the UK before, I think it was done first at Nottingham Playhouse regionally, and then it transferred down to the Young Vic. I didn't see it there, to my eternal regret, but I heard astonishing, fantastic, wonderful things. Really blew audiences away and I'm not surprised by that whatsoever. Do I see this in the West End? Do I see it on Broadway? Do I see both? These are the questions I'm now asking myself. But this just became my most anticipated new play of 2025-2026. Confetti. Yay. Disco Ball. How exciting. We have least one play to look forward to. Then there is the Balusters. What the heck is this? Oh, okay. The artwork sort of looks like a fancy balcony with some plant pots that have fallen down and cracked. But it's by David Lindsay Abair, which is always exciting to me. It's directed by Kenny Leon and it's a Manhattan Theatre Club play and they very rarely steer me wrong. To Manhattan Theatre Club. Oh, this is going to be at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, which is a wonderful place to see theatre, so any excuse to go back there. Here we go. The Vernon Point Neighborhood association already? Already that's ripe for theatrical drama, let me tell you. Is a passionate bunch where they're squabbling over historically inaccurate porch railings or debating trash can protocol. Still, no one is prepared for the Neighbour vs Neighbour battle royale that ensues when a newcomer to the board suggests the unthinkable. Installing a stop sign on the corner of the enclave's prettiest block. The Balustas is a raucous, wild ride through a small community with big feelings. Feels a little familiar of Eureka Day, which is one of the last Shows that I saw at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, another Manhattan Theatre Club play, but also potentially has something in common with Punch, because we're still talking about society and how we engage with each other, which is to some extent something we talk about in almost every play that we put on stage. Now, back in May of last year, it was reported that the Sam Morrison solo play Sugar Daddy was going to get a 2025 Broadway bow. Further details have yet to be announced. But written by and starring Sam Morrison. Directed by Stephen Brackett. And this is a solo play about transforming grief into humor on a journey of love, loss, diabetes, see girl attacks, which, believe it or not, I know a little something about. And a few extraordinary coincidence. I just lit up like a Christmas tree then, didn't I? It previously played at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where I did not see it, and of Broadway's Soho Playhouse. Very often you see pieces of theatre shared between those two spaces. But I am immediately interested because that is not a pathway that you see for a lot of Broadway shows. And I think for something to get to Broadway, having played at those kind of venues, it speaks to an inherent amount of quality. So color me interested in that one. Sam Morrison. There is also Kowalski, which I did see off Broadway. This is expected in fall 2025. Written by Greg Ostrin, directed by Colin Hanlon. This is a play about the first meeting between Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando when he was auditioning him on one slightly tumultuous evening for the role of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, the role that would go on to make Marlon Brando a superstar. And he would become synonymous with the role and the play and with the film adaptation. But this is the very tense and sort of sexually loaded first meeting between the two men. But it doesn't become effervescent in its romance and sexuality. It's much more about the sort of power struggle between the two of them. Brandon Flynn was brilliantly well cast, very magnetic as a young Marlon Brando. When I saw this Off Broadway, it wasn't screaming out to me to transfer to Broadway, but potentially work has been done on the play since I saw it last at the. The new 42nd Street Studios, I think, is where I. It was next to. It was on 42nd street and it was next to the Todd Haymes Theatre, whatever that space is called. But I am just about done with these new plays. Let's talk about some new musicals and we know which the first one is going to be. That is the Queen of the Sigh, which is the Next show to open at the St James Theatre where Sunset Boulevard or Sunset Boulevard has just concluded its Tony Award winning run. This is a vehicle for Tony Award winning star Kristin Chenoweth playing. I can't remember the name of the actual woman, but she is playing the Queen of Versailles herself, Jackie. Jackie Siegel. Perhaps this is exciting not just because it's bringing the wonderful Kristin Chenoweth back to Broadway, but also because it is reuniting her with composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. She'll be joined by co star F. Murray Abraham. I think this will probably make the St. James my most visited theatre on Broadway because there's no way I'm missing this. And I would love to tell you because there is great marketing going into this and it's Stephen and it's Kristen. I would love to tell you that I have only high hopes for this show. But if there is one thing that proves as consistent as taxes and political disappointment, it is Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth struggling to land a great show on Broadway since they both left Wicked. Truly, these are two wonderful talents with name recognition across North America and the world who have not been served by great star vehicles on stage in the last two decades. It's a fascinating phenomenon. And Chenoweth, it's worth saying, has gotten closer to a hit show than Adina has. I think since Wicked. Adina has done very well with the Frozen of it all, but this is the first new musical that she will have been in in a very long time and I'm so intrigued to find out why this is the one that she is moving forwards with. Because there has been conversation and rumors for years about is Kristen attached to playing the role of Tammy Faye? She didn't end up doing that show. Show. Is she attached to playing Dolly in a Dolly bio musical that is coming to Broadway this season, but she is not attached to it either. She's doing Queen of Versailles. So what about this show made Kristin Chenoweth say that one? That's what I would like to know. Now what else do we have? The Lost Boys. And if I call this my most anticipated new musical of the season, it is just because Michael Arden is directing the thing. And in Michael Arden at this point we just blindly trust. After his work on Parade for which he won a Tony Award, after his work on maybe happy ending thing for which he won a Tony Award, Michael Arden has become one of the most exciting musical theater directors in the world for me right now. Now I'm aware that this was a movie with like Kiefer Sutherland. Right. It was a vampire movie. I think I know about as much about the Lost Boys as I do about the Outsiders or Warriors. But I am very intrigued. Based on the individuals who have been attached to workshop versions of the show that they have been doing and they have the capacity to include a lot of brilliant Broadway rising stars and young performers. That makes all very exciting to me. I hear that they are spending money on this is one of the details that I have heard about this show. This is going to be spring 2026 in the palace Theater and I am excited. I am curiously excited. I don't really know enough about the material to, you know, be excited with any level of substance, but I am blindly putting my faith in Michael Arden that this is going to be something really great. Now I mentioned it already, so let's talk about it. Dolly, an original musical, I believe is the current title of this show. That was at one point, hello, I'm Dolly. This is Dolly Parton Bio musical, I think that's what it's calling itself at least. A new bio musical inspired by the life and career of Grammy winning singer songwriter Dolly Parton. It was announced to open on Broadway in 2026 after a premiere production in Nashville which began performances only a few days ago. So this has just started. I have seen clips from the Curtain Call. I have seen a photo of all three actresses who played Dolly on stage together. I haven't heard heard any other details about this production. I know that the Sunset Boulevard video team, that is Nathan Amsie and Joe Ransom are I believe, working on this production and the ATG Entertainment are developing it as producers. Obviously it's premiering in Nashville. That all makes sense. But I am with this one, so fascinated about the concept of Dolly signing off on a bio musical about her life because there are so many details about her life that have always remained deliberately mysterious. And I'm also a little concerned by the notion of it being just another bio musical with the same kind of casting premise where we have three actresses playing this music artist at three different stages of her life. We saw this in Summer, the Donna Summer musical. We saw this in the Cher show. And I just don't want this to feel generic. Not for Dolly. Dolly's too special for that. And I mean Cher was as well. And I want each of these shows to feel unique and original. This is calling itself an original music and I just hope that it actually is. Now there has also been a little bit of conversation about the open call that they had over social media and a lot of people are fairly enough very upset about the fact that this was basically just a PR and marketing stunt. They did cast two people from the open call. Neither of them are playing Dolly in a principal capacity. It's not really clear whether any of them might be understudying the role of Dolly unless that has been announced. And I just missed it. I think, you know, we have to come to terms with the reality that many of these open calls, if not all of them, are largely PR opportunities, with the added bonus that they might find somebody brilliant. So I'm not prepared to necessarily hold that against the show at this time. We also have Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I'm sure that there is something. There was like another musical at one point called like the Gardens of Annuncia. And I keep trying to call this Midnight in the Gardens of Anuncia. Not what this is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. This is a musical adaptation of John Barrent's 1994 Pulitzer finalist novel, which I clearly am very uncultured because I have not heard of. This premiered at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in the summer of last year, but it features a score by Jason Robert Brown and a book by Taylor Mack, which is a fascinating combination of creatives and directed by Rob Ashford. I want to say this is the one that J. Harrison G. Was in. Oh, this was made into a 1997 film adaptation with John Cusack and Kevin Spacey. That's cursed. I just want to know what it's about. Oh yeah, there's J. Harrison G. Sierra, Bogus Tom, Hugh Hewitt. Also, the design looks fascinating. It looks sort of gothic, but also like business ladies of the 80s going on right now. What is this show about? Anybody tell me? The murder of a troublesome young man rocks Savannah, Georgia, when the crime is pinned on a top high society figure who also happens to be the man's employer and, it's later learned, his gay lover. Oh, that took some turns. Okay, well, fair enough. I'll issue you no further spoilers. But needless to say, I just became intrigued. And there is, I believe, one more. Now this was announced back in May of this year, Wanted, the new musical formerly known as Gun and Powder, which had a production at Paper Mill Playhouse not too long ago, is set to arrive on Broadway in 2026, but a theater has yet to be announced. I dare say that this is going to be looking for the right kind of space as we head into the spring, seeing which shows survive through January and what becomes available. Featuring a book and lyrics by Angelica Cherie, who is a descendant of the Clark sisters. Wow. And music by Ross Baum. Wanted follows Mary and Martha Clark, black twin sisters who take extraordinary measures to settle their mother's sharecropper debt and save her home in 1893 Texas. I am constantly hearing people say they want to see original stories on Broadway, but they want to see stories reflecting a more diverse and interesting group of people. This is an interesting, interesting, true part of history. And so, you know, this seems like exactly the kind of musical that people would be excited to support. I have been listening to a little bit of the music that they have already released recently and it kind of slaps. There are a couple of bangers in there and certainly the capacity for them to hire some really brilliant actresses to play these two leading roles. I am intrigued. I am more than intrigued. I'm a little bit excited about this one. I will say I am. I am slightly fatigued as well of the one word adjective musical theater titles. And it goes back to Wicked. And a lot of them are parodies of Wicked because you had twisted the Stark Age show, you had unfortunate the Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch and There Is Wanted. They're just all starting to blur just a little bit too much in my brain. And yes, I'm complaining about this title being too short and yes, I complained about the Midnight in the Garden of In the Garden of Gethsemane being too long. But there is, there is somewhat in the middle of these things a good title length. Clearly I'm just being facetious or incredibly difficult. Who knows? Now that brings us to an end, I think. Apologies if I'm missing something of everything new in terms of plays and musicals. Let's talk now about play revivals.
- [25:10]
Mickey Jo
Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. But for millions of businesses, Shopify is the ultimate part. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands Just getting started? Build a stunning online store with Shopify's ready to use templates, boost content with AI powered product descriptions, page headlines, and enhance photography. Marketing is easy with built in tools for email and social media campaigns. Plus Shopify simplifies everything from inventory to shipping and returns. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. Turn your big business idea into With Shopify on your side, sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com try go to shopify.com try shopify.com try.
- [26:17]
Paige DeSorbo
The first of which is coming in August. At the very end of next month, There is Art, a new production of the play by Yasmin Reza, Translated by Christopher Hampton, starring a TR of stars, Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris. This feels like it has a similar kind of star power to the Glengarry Glen Ross revival which was just on Broadway. This is going to be. Where is this going to be? Why don't I know where this is going to be? Oh, the Music Box. This is going to the Music Box, everybody. Bobby Cannavale, a very reliable known actor of stage and screen. James Corden, very known in the US If a little bit divisive with audiences. And Neil Patrick Harris, very charming and beloved of audiences, but also has done a great deal more theatre. So people have had the opportunity to see Neil Patrick Harris on stage. I expect that this will sell decently well. Nonetheless, this is a sleek and sophisticated comedy directed by Scott Ellis. Here's a little bit of the description. Three longtime friends, one ridiculously expensive painting. Is it art or is it just the world's priciest inside joke? What begins as a polite debate over aesthetics and taste devolves into a clash of egos and resentments. I believe when this was last produced on Broadway, it was by the producer David Pugh, and I believe he spoke not too long ago about some eagerness for it to go back to Broadway. It calls itself just 100 minutes of minimalist art, maximalist laughs and a moving look at what we really see and forgive in the people we love. And so I'm intrigued. I haven't seen a Yasmine Razor play before and I will definitely be doing my best to catch this one. Beginning previews a few weeks after that, we have the next Jamie Lloyd Sage project. This is Waiting for Godot, or Waiting for Godot, depending on how you want to pronounce. And the casting coup of this one is that it reunites Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, better known to some film fans as Bill and Ted, of Bill and Ted's most excellent adventure slash bogus Journey. They are going to be playing the two characters in the Beckett play Waiting for Godot, which I don't necessarily enjoy at the best of times. And though Jimmy Lloyd has been winning awards and making headlines and has been hugely talked about about on my own channel here for re energizing a lot of revived musicals, I have also seen A couple of his play revivals over the past year, which I have really struggled to enjoy. I am thinking of Romeo and Juliet and also the Tempest. I did, however, love Much Ado About Nothing. I heard at one point that that was going to be trying to go to Broadway. Haven't heard any more on that front, but I hope that it's still in the works because that was a lovely and joyous production and selfishly, I would like to see it again. Do you know what? I really don't want to see Waiting for Godot. I don't care. Who's that? You could tell me, Tell me that Hannah Waddingham and Bernadette Peters were doing Waiting for Godot and I still wouldn't want to go and see this play. I would still be seeing it. Against my better judgment, I hope against hope that he does something with this to make it compelling. I think the casting coup at the heart of the whole thing is witty enough, but it doesn't thrill me with anticipation of a production of Waiting for Godot, of all things. Good Lord. You know what does thrill me? This next one at the end of October, preview performances because begin for Oedipus. This is being Transferred to Studio 54 by Roundabout Theatre Company. I saw this production, produced by Sonja Friedman at the Wyndham's Theatre in the West End at the very beginning of this year. First show I saw of 2025, right at the end of its run. I bought a return ticket because it was very sold out. This is Mark Strong and Leslie Manville. She won the Olivier Award. Both of them at the height of their theatrical powers, playing Greek tragedy, recontextualized and reconceived by. By the extraordinary and visionary director Robert Eich. This is, let me tell you right now, a captivatingly unmissable piece of dramatic theatre. If you shy away from Greek tragedy, that is not what this resembles. It feels blisteringly and blazingly contemporary and political. And it's just this really fascinating character study between these individuals and everyone else in their doomed orbit. I loved this so much. I'm very excited to see it again on Broadway. I didn't review it when I saw it here in London, and I will do my best to do so. Not if, but when I see it on Broadway. The only thing I dispute is this being characterized as a play revival because it's such a new and wholly different approach to the Sophoclean tragedy. It's not like it's borrowing entire chunks of text, especially in light of the fact that the Picture of Dorian Gray from last season, in which Sarah Snook essentially just read the book on stage, read the novella, was considered a new play that I do find to be just a little bit doofy. Then in November, this is another one that was seen previously in London at the Meniere Chocolate Factory. I don't believe it's the same production, but this is the play Margery Prime. This is coming to the Hayes Theatre in November 2025. Produced by Second Stage Theatre Company, this is a play by Jordan Harrison, directed by Anne Kaufman. What would you say to someone you lost if you could see them again? What if they're a better listener now than when they were alive? Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison reinvents the family drama in his reaction. Richly spare, wryly funny and powerful. Marjorie Prime A heartachingly beautiful rumination on aging and artificial intelligence, buzzword memory and mortality, love and legacy, Marjorie prime examines the blurred line between a life lived and a life remembered. I will be hugely intrigued to see what casting looks like for this one, but I love any opportunity to go back and see another play at the Helen Hayes Theatre. There is also Joe Turner's Come and Gone and August Wilson Back on Broadway. I love an August Wilson play. I am slowly collecting them. This is going to be directed by Emmy and Golden Globe winner Debbie Allen, and it's going to star Taraji P. Henson and Cedric the Entertainer. I'm not familiar with the work of Cedric the Entertainer, but by definition he sounds entertaining. Taraji P. Henson is someone I am very excited about the prospect of seeing on stage. This timeless American classic is set in a Pittsburgh boarding house in 1911, during a pivotal era of migration and transformation. As people move in search of opportunity and renewal, they carry with them art untold stories of loss, resilience and hope. And so much of August Wilson's work speaks to this overarching idea of conveying the realities of the Black experience in 20th century America. And I'm very excited for another opportunity to listen to more of his brilliant words. Where is that going to be? Did I tell you where that's going to be? It's not going to be at the August Wilson Theatre, that's for sure. Maybe they don't have a theater yet. So many of these shows don't have theaters yet. I want to know where I'm going. We have another one from Roundabout Theatre Company season here. This is Fallen Angels at the Todd Haymes theatre in spring 2026. This is a Noel Coward revival starring Emmy nominee Rose Byrne and Tony Award winner and Emmy nominee Kelli o' Hara back on stage, currently being enjoyed on the Gilded Age. I believe. This is also going to be directed by Scott Ellis who is keeping busy this season and I'm excited about the prospect, knowing very little about this play specifically of Kelly o' Hara and Rose Byrne doing Noel Coward opposite each other. It's going to be witty and slightly scandalous and, and naughty and fun. Here's our description. Two upper class wives, their husbands away for the day, share a few toasts through their pre marital dalliances with the same man who just may be en route from France to visit. Old rivalries and past scandals bubble to the surface in this intoxicating romp. I do love an intoxicating romp from one of theatre's comedy masters. You don't get a lot of Noel Coward on Broadway. We don't even get that much Noel Coward in the West End. Not if it's not Private Lives. And anyway, so I'm excited about the prospect of another and as we look towards the last announced play revival, Becky Shaw another Second Stage Theatre Company production, presumably also at the Hayes. Yeah, also at the Hayes Theatre in March of 2026. Prime Tony Awards timing. It occurs to me that this could be a stronger season for play revivals than new plays, which I think is sort of the opposite of what we experienced in this last season. Anyway. Becky Shaw by Gina Gianfrey Frido Directed by Trip Coleman. This has been described by the New York Times as a big box of fireworks, fizzling and crackling from beginning to end. A blind date spirals spectacularly off the rails in this razor sharp dark comedy from two time Pulitzer Prize finalist Gina Johnfredo when it made its New York premiere Off Broadway at Second Stage. There you go. It left critics and audiences reeling and that currently is all we know. But I enjoy an acclaimed play revival. I like a little bit of critical and audience buzz going into something. Finally then, there are five musical revivals, technically speaking, that we need to discuss as part of this upcoming season. The first is going to be Mamma Mia. Which begins preview performances in just a few weeks at the Winter Garden Theatre, returning to its former Broadway home where it played a very decent run. This is, I believe, the US national touring production making essentially a tour stop on Broadway and not the only doing that this season. And in these increasingly financially challenging times, if that's the model that it takes for Broadway musicals to become financially viable, then fair enough. I'm not going to sit here and say that that's Any less of a production for being a national tour that happens to pass through Broadway. I believe there's talk of more productions possibly considering this. One interesting difference between Broadway and the West End is that it costs so much more to mount a show over on Broadway just to set the whole thing up. And also it takes longer to recoup that initial investment. So you have theaters staying dark with no shows there for occasionally a really long time, sometimes up to a year. Even the Imperial Theater, after Bad Cinderella closed, was dark for a really long time. Whereas in the West End, if there's any kind of decent gap, something is going to fill it. Something is going to come in and take that space and take the opportunity to run in the West End. But anyway, Mamma Mia is coming back to Broadway and let's all be honest with ourselves for a second. We all know what Mamma Mia is, and I have an awful lot of time for it. I enjoy Mamma Mia A lot and I'm glad that the touring cast are having the opportunity to play the Broadway run. That is probably as it should be. Was I enjoying my five minutes of fan casting in my head considering the Broadway divas that could go into into this? Yes, yes, I absolutely was. But ultimately I don't think it needs that kind of casting because this is going to do really great with tourists. They have always known how to market themselves. They are the ones who came up with the slogan, you already know that you're going to love it. Which would prove to be an essential part of theatrical marketing over the following decades, because that's now what audiences look for is some sense of certainty before they pay hundreds upon hundreds of dollars for tickets. And as the years have passed, the brand of Mamma Mir, thanks to the film, thanks to the scene sequel, has only grown exponentially. So I hope that this is going to do really well on Broadway as a fun summer arrival. And why not? Much better than just having the Winter Garden Theatre sit dark for no reason. Now, there are other shows that are going to open in the interim, but since we're talking about these Broadway tour stops, let's also talk about Beetlejuice. This is going to be playing at the Palace Theatre on Broadway for 13 weeks only, which will make that the third Broadway theater where Beatles Juice has played. It first opened also at the Winter Garden before being evicted for the literal music man and then finding a second life at the marquee. Now the netherworld wide sensation is going to be returning. Yes, it's back on Broadway before ever treading foot in the United Kingdom. The closest it got here was via the Norwegian Cruise line as their on ship entertainment. And having not boarded that ship and having made no plans to go and see it in Australia or in Canada or Australia anywhere else in the us this theoretically is going to be my opportunity finally to see Beetlejuice on stage. Look, I've got this snake here looking at me. This is going to be, I believe, the time I finally see Beetlejuice on stage and I'm excited about it. I know that the musical theatre community off the Internet love this show. I enjoy the cast recording an awful lot and I'm excited to finally see it, aren't I? Yes I am. Yes I am. Yes I am. And also if the online hype that it developed during its original Broadway run came a little too late late to save the show from closing in real time, maybe now, a few years later it will translate into a huge amount of enthusiasm for its Broadway return. I hope it does. That's what Beetlejuice deserves. Anyway, let's talk about the next one. So we also have the hugely anticipated Broadway revival of Chess, not seen on Broadway since the original production decades back. I have talked about this already when the news was announced. If you want to know my full thoughts about the return of Chess because they are multi layered then you can go and check out that video or podcast. But it's going to star Aaron Tveit, Lia Michele and Nick Christopher. And I have mixed feelings about this cast but I ultimately think they are going to deliver and I am of the belief that there is a great production of Chess in there somewhere and this show has been reinterpreted and reconfigured so many different times. It's a little merrily we roll along esque at this point and like we saw with that show, there was great version to be had. I honestly think there is a great show to be made out of Chess. I don't know if we have seen it yet, but I am very excited to hopefully see it this season on Broadway. And I'm just loving the fact that Chess is coming back to Broadway. I love to see a show that struggled in its initial run getting that kind of a second chance. And Chess is still very well known like we know these songs. It's going to be very exciting for a whole new generation of theatre ghost to get to see Chess for the first time. Do you know what I'm a little less excited about is the marketing artwork that keeps trying to reconcile this bright red font with a bright pink font underneath and giving me bad Cinderella war flashbacks like I don't need. And that's absolutely all I'm going to say about that. Now, you may have noticed I'm wearing a Ragtime baseball cap today. And that's principally because earlier today I had the opportunity to chat with Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens about a new musical that they've written which is coming to London this weekend. Very exciting moment for me. Lovely to meet them both. But as we talked about momentarily earlier today, their musical Ragtime is returning for its third Broadway production, originally seen on Broadway in the late 90s, revived in the 2010s and now coming back again. Both because it is just so good. It is one of the greatest book musicals ever written. The strength of its score, of its lyrics, of its book, it is so phenomenal. But also because the thing stays enduringly relevant for sort of devastating political reasons. But this production has been born of a New York City center encores, staging. And I use the word staging loosely. My greatest hope for this production is that we're going to have more of a set design or just a set design. But ultimately the most important thing is the material. And these performances and those cast members which have already been announced to be reprising their roles are, are hugely exciting. This is going to be directed by Lea de Bassonnet and we have the extraordinary Joshua Henry returning. He could win the Tony Award for this performance. If there's one thing I'm willing to commit to this early, it's that Joshua Henry becomes a front runner for that Tony. We also have the wonderful Casey Levy coming back, truly in her mother era. We have Ben Levi Ross and Colin Donnell. We have Shana Taub. We have so many fantastic people. Brandon Uranowitz, heartbreakingly moving in the concert version. I did make a full review of that when it was at New York City Centre. So if you want to know what I thought of that production of Ragtime and all of these performances, you can go and listen to my thoughts on that one. But I will absolutely be coming back to Broadway to catch this at Lincoln Center. This is probably going to be the highlight of my Broadway autumn and the show by which I decide when my return trip is going to be. There is no way in hell I am missing Ragtime. And I've never seen seen a grand, fully staged production of Ragtime. I've seen it three times. The first time was above a pub theater in London and it was a small, fascinating and great production, but it was very intimate and not of the kind of scale that Ragtime really needs. The second time was this, which was the reunion concert for the original Broadway cast. An extraordinarily special evening at the theater at the Minsk Golf Theatre where the Lion King normally plays. And the third time was New York City Center. So I've never seen Rag Ragtime fully staged, fully realized, and I can't wait. Finally, then, there is one more musical revival which, if done well, could pull ahead of Ragtime and of Chess. I know people are already asking me, who wins the Tony for revival of a musical? Is it Ragtime or Chess? This one could sneak past both of them and win that Tony. And that is the Rocky Horror show, produced by Roundabout Theatre Company. I believe this is going to Studio 54 after each Oedipus. Yes, I was correct. Spring 2026 at Studio 54. Here is the only detail that we know so far. And the thing that's making me hugely excited. This is going to be directed by Tony Award winner Sam Pinkleton, the director of the wonderful and hilarious O Mary. There has been some rumor that Cola Scola could be playing Dr. Frank N. Furter in this production of the Rocky Horror show. Or instead, are they going to be playing Mary Todd Lincoln? If O Mary goes to the West End, are those things potentially going to clash? I doubt dare say it feels like they might based on what I have heard, which is a little tidbit of info for you there, But I am so intrigued. I am sleeplessly fascinated about what this Rocky Horror show is going to look like. And in the hands of Sam Pingleton, that makes me incredibly excited. And I hope it is vibrant and anarchic and colorful and celebratory and riotous in a way that really speaks to the queer community today. And I hope that it is diverse and I hope that it is non binary and trans inclusive as it ought to be. And I don't want to coin the phrase woke Rocky Horror, but that's sort of what I'm hoping for here. Because the treasured original, the cult classic film adaptation do at times start to feel a little bit dusty. Especially the ongoing UK touring production that goes around the uk. I still like going to Rocky Horror because the energy of the thing is still brilliant and I like to experience the communion between the show and its die hard devoted fans. And I hope that it finds that on Broadway as well. But I also think within the material there is something really exciting that we can reinvigorate and just like the title character himself, we can bring back for.
- [44:23]
Mickey Jo
140 years multicare has been in Washington prioritizing long term solutions, partnering with local communities and expanding access to care. Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn more@mycare.org Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. But for millions of businesses, Shopify is the ultimate partner. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US US from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started. Build a stunning online store with Shopify's ready to use templates, boost content with AI powered product descriptions, page headlines, and enhance photography. Marketing is easy with built in tools for email and social media campaigns. Plus, Shopify simplifies everything from inventory to shipping and returns. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. Turn your big business idea into With Shopify on your side side Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com try go to shopify.com try shopify.com try.
- [45:41]
Paige DeSorbo
Back to life but anyway, those have been my thoughts about everything currently announced for the current and upcoming Broadway season. There is much more yet to be announced. Is Cats going to Broadway? There are a handful of other productions that we have heard rumored. If I was to pick one from each category right now as my biggest excitement, I would say my most anticipated new musical is the Lost Boys. My most anticipated new play is Punch by James Graham. My most anticipated musical revival. So intrigued about Rocky Horror, but it's got to be Ragtime just because I love that show and my most anticipated play revival. It's tough to because I have seen Oedipus and I know that it's extraordinary. I'm also very excited about the prospect of Joe Turner's come and gone. Very intrigued about that one. But we are all going to have to wait a little while to find out what you and I actually think of all of these shows. And if you want to know what I think of all of them, make sure you're subscribed right here on YouTube ahead of me sharing hopefully many full reviews of the current Broadway season. Or you can go follow me on podcast platforms. In the meantime, I hope that you have enjoyed enjoyed these very early thoughts and I hope that you share yours in the comments section down below. The sun has set while I have been having this conversation, but I do think it worked a little bit more excited about all of these shows to come as well as everything else that has yet to be announced. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to my thoughts and I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe USAA knows dynamic duos can save.
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Hannah Berner
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Mickey Jo
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Paige DeSorbo
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