Mickey Jo (0:00)

With so many new plays and musicals opening both on and off Broadway, as well as exciting new cast members going into pre existing shows, I feel like it's never been harder to choose which shows you want to see in New York. So today I'm going to rank the shows that I would be the most interested in seeing. Hypothetically, if I were to be in New York for like a week and a half, which coincidentally is exactly what I'm doing next week. Surprise. 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, obsessed with all things theatre. I'm a professional theatre critic here on social media where I review the shows that I go and see around the world, usually in the West End and on Broadway. I'm also a social media content creator and I'm currently getting ready for my eighth trip to New York since March of 2023, which was meant to be like this one isolated trip of a lifetime type thing with my equally stagey fiance, Erin James. The two of us have since been back an additional six times and we're getting ready for trip number eight and vlogged, I believe, every single one of those trips. You can go back and check those out to find out which shows we've already seen and you can see all of the reviews that I've already posted if there's a show that I don't talk about here today. But we are very much arriving in the spring season, which is a very busy time for Broadway because of when the Tony Awards happens. Because of Tony Awards eligibility. This is kind of the most prime timing for a show to open and stay fresh in the minds of Tony voters and make sure that they are open when the Tony Awards happens, which gives them all a big boost at the box office if they are nominated and even more so if they go on to win. Which is the short answer to why you see so many shows opening around the same time. And that is definitely happening right now. But though I have seen a few of this season shows on previous trips back in November and in January of this year, there are a bunch I haven't seen. So I'm going to be letting you know which ones I plan to see next week, and you can also interpret that as my very subjective recommendation. But that is just what I think about these shows and like I said, I haven't seen them yet. So if anyone does have recommendations for what people ought to be seeing in New York right now, drop them in the comments section down below. And if you have any other questions about planning a Broadway trip, feel free to ask those as well. In the meantime, if you enjoy this and you are excited to hear what I think of the shows I'm talking about in this, then make sure that you are subscribed to my theatre themed YouTube channel with the notifications turned on so that you find out as soon as I drop those reviews or following me on podcast platforms. In the meantime, here are all of the shows I am planning to see in New York, the ones I'm considering seeing in New York, and the ones I make no plans to see in New York or ever again. So I trust you tiny people in my camera and I'm going to let you in on a little bit of a secret here. There are four shows I am already booked in to see. Hopefully by the time that you are seeing this video there will be a few more added to that list. But right now these are the ones that I will be officially reviewing because I'm there on press tickets. The first of these is Purpose. This is a new play from Brandon Jacobs Jenkins. It's going to be at the Hayes Theatre, which is one of my favorite theatres to see plays. It's so intimate. It's just a lovely little space. Is also where I saw a production of another of his plays, Appropriate, which was this blistering revival that scooped some awards last season. That was a really winningly intense theatrical experience and it made me really excited about his voice as a playwright. So as soon as this was announced I was. I knew immediately that I had to go and see. I've also been more and more into plays and talking about plays here on social media this year. I think I'd kind of got to a point where it seemed as though people were never going to be as interested as they are with like big commercial musicals. I think that's still true to a certain extent, but I like having those conversations and I know there's a lot of people who listen or who watch on YouTube who also like participating in those conversations as well. So I will be seeing Purpose. I will also be seeing Buena Vista Social Club. This will be my first time seeing a show other than the Notebook at the Schoenfeld Theatre. This has already had a life off Broadway where it won a bunch of awards. From what I understand about this show, this is a jukebox. I am not familiar with the source material, but it's based on a documentary of the same name about the creation of an album of the Same name potentially. I'm very intrigued and excited just because I've been hearing really great things and when something's already had a very successful award winning pre Broadway life, that can only ever be a good sign. I figure this is definitely going to be in contention for the Best New Musical Tony Award alongside the likes of maybe Happy Ending, which I've already seen, which I love. So I'm excited I will be seeing that. Going from new musicals to musical revivals I am booked in to see the last five years I have been seeing. I have not spoken about it yet, but I. I have been seeing the promotional material they have been putting out, the little TV appearances that the stars have been doing. We are talking about Adrian Warren and Nick Jonas who will be starring in the first ever Broadway production of the Jason Robert Brown song cycle. The Last five Years. This is iconic in the world of contemporary musical theater. These songs were in everyone's rep folders back in the early 2000s. Many of them still are. There's a lot of intrigue around this production and how it might be entirely different. I mean, they have the Cooperman brothers doing choreography who did the choreography for the Outsiders. And unless Kathy and Jamie are suddenly having a sprawling fight in the middle of a storm during the last five years, I, I'm not entirely sure what they're going to bring to this production, how many opportunities there are for choreography in the last five years. Finally, the last one that I currently have confirmed right now is an off Broadway play called We Had a World. This is at New York City center, not in the main space. So it's going to be in a new the theatrical venue that I have not been to before. Technically I became aware of this initially because of the casting. It stars Andrew Barth Feldman, who you might know for his musical theater and also his legit film work. Recently he is alongside Joanna Gleason, who is like royalty to me because I am obsessed with nothing in this world. More so than the original Broadway production of into the Woods. That's what made me aware of this production when it was first announced, when the press release email came through. And then I realized it was a Joshua Harmon play. I love Joshua Harmon plays. I have seen Bad Jews and Admissions and Prayer for the French Republic on Broadway. I think they are all brilliant. I love the way that he writes dialogue. I love the way that he tackles conversations head first. This actually is one of the biggest excitements for me getting to see this play. But there are many other shows I am very excited to see as well, these are the ones that are right then at the top of my list. We are talking about Boop opening at the Broadhurst Theatre starring Jasmine Amy Rogers. I'm really excited to see Boop. It feels just like such a Broadway show. I think there's going to be a lot to enjoy about it, and I've been deliberately keeping myself from it. I've heard that one song. I've heard, like, Where I Wanna Be, but I really don't know too much about it. Is it a little bit in premise, like the Barbie movie, but with Betty Boop as the central character? I think it seems like it's gonna be a lot of fun and I'm excited to go see Boop. Also, there is a dog character in the show and they are selling a plush dog at the merchandise stand, and I am all about that. As you know, you can't see how many Broadway plush animals I'm looking at right now, but it's a really. It's a small army. If I'm ever in a horror movie situation where they all come to life and try and kill me, I'm dead. And alongside Boop, of course, there is Smash. There is no way in hell I was not going to see Smash on Broadway. I am so excited. I know not everyone was aware of Smash while it was was airing. I was acutely aware of Smash while it was airing. I was waiting. I remember, like, running home from school the day I could watch that first episode for the first time. I don't think I watched it legally, but we don't have to reflect on that. I was a little gay British teenager. What was I to do? Was I a teenager? How many years ago was Smash? And I'm really rooting for Smash. And if we as a musical theater Internet community can't get behind that show, then what on earth are we doing? Also just to hear that music again, that's some of the most fun. Like classic Shaman and Whitman Broadway zazzy. Like, just keep moving the line. Don't forget me Let me be your star Let me be your star. I mean, come on now. Now, while we're talking about songwriting, there's a very interesting off Broadway show that I was a little worried we were going to miss this year until we kind of switched up how we were scheduling our trips and the opportunity to do this one materialized. That is the Jonathan Larson Project. Now this, I believe, is the creation of Jennifer Ashley Tepper, who is this brilliant producer and Broadway historian. I've been a huge fan of her work for years. I got to meet her at the opening night of Be More Chill in London when I was working as a sort of a social media brand ambassador as part of the Squip squad. If anyone has that long a memory. That was a time. But she found some lost Jonathan Larson songs. If you don't know. Jonathan Larson was the composer of the generation redefining musical Rent and there's a bunch of his songs, some of which I guess were cut songs from Rent or from other projects that have been put together. They have this all star cast of brilliant performers, vocalists downtown doing this at the Orpheum Theatre. There is no way I was going, going to miss it. And Aaron, my fiance, is a huge Renton Jonathan Larson fan. So I'd have, I'd have had to get divorced and I'm not even married yet. Then we have another off Broadway show, a new musical I know literally nothing about. It's called all the World's A Stage, which also makes it really hard to Google because you google that and you just get the Shakespeare quotation. I discovered this when someone I have a huge amount of respect for, Matt Rhoden, announced that they were going to be part of the cast. I love Ordinary Days, which is the only other Adam Gwan show that I know. All the World's A Stage is a brand new musical about making connections and being true to ourselves even in a polarized world. If only it were piercingly relevant. Oh wait, it is. I'm getting like the prom meets everybody's talking about Jamie meets a man of no importance. Perhaps like somewhere in the middle of all these things, but with a very contemporary musical theater kind of a voice. Very excited about that show and even more so after I read a brilliant endorsement of it that someone made on a previous video. When I mentioned offhand that I was planning to be back in the spring, someone said please, please go and see this show. They'd seen a previous iteration of it. So thank you to that person. You made me really excited about it. And because I'm so excited for those, I feel like I have to categorize the next few shows a little differently. Where I would call myself more cautiously intrigued. These are shows I will probably see. They're each on there for different reasons. It doesn't mean I don't like these shows. It doesn't mean I don't think they're going to be good or worth seeing. They're just not quite as vital to me. One of them is Redwood. I am not hearing the level of buzz that I think I Should be hearing about Redwood if you don't know. This is a new musical that has brought Idina Menzel back to Broadway, back to the Nederlander Theatre where she performed in Rent. I believe she's in the same dressing room. It all comes back to Rent, you see, but for the longest time, all I knew about this show and I've been making this lempicka joke. If anyone appreciates this very niche reference. For months now, I've said all it is is trees. Idina Menzel and trees. Then it arrived on Broadway. I was like, finally, I'll find out more about. And someone said it feels a little bit like it could exist after Dear Evan Hansen. Like, there's a little bit of a kinship with some of the themes, but also trees and Adina belting and sounding great and trees. But, yeah, the buzz is not buzzing in the way that I would hope with Adina coming back to Broadway. Let's also talk about another star vehicle. Good night and good luck. I really do want to see this. I probably will try and see this. This is George Clooney starring on Broadway. Not only that, he's making his Broadway debut. Not only that, he has also co written the Thing with Grant Heslov. I believe this is a stage adaptation of a film that he worked on previously, the themes of which sound interesting, if not blisteringly essential. And a lot of what I like in the world of plays on Broadway is stuff that is, like, dialogue and conversation happening right now. And Lord knows there is enough that America needs to talk about and that the world needs to talk about. Honestly, we're not separate from that. And then you have something like, good night and good luck talking about, like, Red Scare communism stuff. I believe there are ways of making those themes feel pertinent. I worry it's gonna just be a lot of backward glancing. Imagine that's not what it's about. And I've just completely misread that. Again, I haven't seen the play yet. I'm doing this a lot with my hand today. Who do I think I'm conducting? Probably gonna try and see that. It's. It's legitimately exciting, but it's not blowing my mind. Then we have Operation Mincemeat. Do not get me wrong, I love Operation Mincemeat. We know I love Operation Mincemeat. I'm thrilled that it's the five West End cast members taking the show to Broadway, three of whom wrote the thing. It's not something I desperately need to go and see. Imagine that it's changed all that much. I know that little shifts and edits have been made for Broadway. That is the context in which I would want to see it. The only reason for me to go and see this, I mean, I could re review. I might re review. I don't know how vital that would be because I feel like I'd be seeing many of the same things unless the changes are more substantial than I realize. But just to see it on Broadway and to witness the response to it, I think that would be pretty special and pretty exciting. So I might do that. I also think it would be a great jet lag show. Not that it's not very smart and very fast paced and witty, but because I know it well enough and it's also comedy, I think that could be a good choice of like the first show to see on arrival. Something very familiar. And yellow. We love yellow. I'm also thinking of seeing Love Life at Encores. This is a rarely produced show. I don't believe a recording exists, which would be the big incentive to go and see it because it feels like a very rare opportunity. Also, sumptuous voices involved. I believe it's Kate Baldwin. And I think Brian Stokes Mitchell is now doing it because he was going to originally, then he couldn't and now he kind of get whatever Victoria Clarke, I think is directing. This could be it feel. I mean, it's something classic. It could be very divine, very lovely. It's just relative to the encore shows that I have seen on my last few trips and also the ones that I've missed. So sorry you're in town. I couldn't make you work. I was days away. It's just not quite as much a show that speaks to me. But I also feel like. And I. I'm sure someone's going to be popping up in the comments saying, mickey, Joe, you can't miss love life. I feel like I have to go and see it, if only for. For historical purposes. Then we have Glengarry Glen Ross. Now. I. And don't get me wrong, who wouldn't be excited to go and see Kieran Culkin on stage? I. I have never seen Glengarry Glen Ross and I ought to in my lifetime. I know that I'm not gonna have a good experience with David Mamet. I also don't really want to go and see a David Mamet play and support him in the current political climate. I have talked about boycotting other productions because of their problematic authors. I feel like I would be a little bit of a hypocrite if I went this in light of a lot of stuff that David Mamet has said and endorsed. And also, personal objections aside, I really don't like his writing. And listen, you can keep ordering a dish you don't like in a restaurant thinking that you're always getting a version that's not cooked right or hasn't been done properly. After how many disappointing meals do you just decide that that is not a dish for you? And yet I'm also being told that it is one of the more exciting play revivals of the various options open at the mom. Which brings us pretty neatly to the shows that I am actively planning to not see. And this may change because, you know, the schedule may completely fall apart. Something may fall through at the last minute, or I may be won over by a marquee that's happened before. Or people might be talking to me while I'm there saying, you need to go see this again. And I might be like, okay, fine, I will. But much as they may tell me to, I don't feel like I need to go back to the Picture of Dorian Gray. This is one I saw at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. It was Sarah Snook giving this hugely impressive performance, basically performing the entire novella, Oscar Wilde's the Picture of Dorian Gray, with many cameras on stage, with the use of screens. Far more screens than in Sunset Boulevard. FYI, if you thought that was too camera heavy, and you're one of those people saying, I don't go to the theater to look at a screen, which, fair enough, I'm not judging you. But you're going to have way bigger problems with the Picture of Dorian Gray. Let me tell you, I don't think there's any world in which I go see this again and I change even one bit of my mind about it. I would love to see Sara Snook perform it again in the new context where I'm not going like, oh, now this is happening. Oh, now this is happening. Like separated from surprise, where I already know the shape of the thing and I'm not trying to form a critical opinion. I'd like to go and just enjoy her performance. But I feel like I'll get to do that in another play a few years down the line in a very similar vein. Do I need to go and see stranger things, the first shadow again? There's some exciting casting. T.R. knight. I used to love Grey's Anatomy. T.R. knight is going to be in the Broadway production. Louis McCartney, who played the sort of the Central role. I'm not going to give you spoilers. Don't worry. In the production, over here is reprising his performance. But that's the whole reason why I feel like I don't need to go and see it, because I saw it in the West End, and I've been meaning to go back because I was really fresh from just having marathoned all of the Stranger Things episodes that had been released, having never watched it in the past. I watched them all in, like, the two or three weeks leading up to seeing the play. And that set me up for a level of necessity that I don't think the play's plot really provided. It riffed on the idea of Stranger Things. It gave us a little bit of prologue and backstory. And like a lot of these plays, it kind of just felt more like fan fiction. And while I probably will go back and see it again, I will probably do that in London. I don't feel like I need to go and see it on Broadway. I know that they're tinkering with things and they've changed a couple things. And it's very interesting that there's a cast member from the Broadway production who is also filming for the series, what's going on there. But I'm not planning to see it in New York. Then we have Othello, and. And I want to see Othello. I really do. I want to see Denzel Washington on stage. Who wouldn't? I would love to see Molly Osbourne killing it, representing for the West End. If you don't know, she was a British actress who was kind of plucked to join these heavyweights, Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, based on a self tape that she submitted that was hugely impressive because they were actively looking for undiscovered talent. But with Othello, those tickets really are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars. And I'm more comfortable paying that when I have a certain amount confidence that I am going to enjoy the production or that YouTube really wants me to talk about it. And I just don't know if I went to see Othello and I reviewed it, if you'd all be really excited about it as much as you would be with me going to see, like, here's the new leads of the cabaret. So I might try and win the lottery. I mean, the ticket lottery, not the actual lottery, although that would help for Othello and I might send an email, but I'm really not optimistic, and I don't think that's gonna happen. Just to pre warn you all, I will try. I make no promises. Then we have Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends. And this could also go into another section which is shows that are a little bit too early, but I don't think there's different performers. I don't think I need to necessarily see it again. Do I miss out on the chance to see Bernadette Peters performing on stage? That feels like a mistake. I saw it twice in London. It was a religious experience both times. I just don't know if I need to go and see it again when there's a finite number of show slots in New York and there's so much that I do want to see. Now there are a couple of high profile shows I haven't spoken about and you may be thinking, Mickey Jo, why aren't you going to see this new, exciting thing that's about to start previews? Well, there are a few that will still be too early in their lives and I could go and see the first few preview performances. There's nothing to stop me doing that, but I like to review them on social media and it isn't appropriate to go and review early previews. Those shows are Dead Outlaw, which also was a big award winning Off Broadway success. It's going to be another contender for best new musical, I think. Think really, really excited about it. Really want to know more, really want to see it. The timings aren't going to work for this trip, sadly. There's also Real Women have Curves. I know less about that one. I'm seeing little bits and pieces as they're getting ready to start preview performances, but that just won't be in time. Also Pirates the Penzance musical. Is that actually what it's called? This new updated version of the Pirates of Penzance which has this extraordinary cast with Jinx Monsoon and Ramin Karimloo and I'm hoping it's going to be a more queer, inclusive kind of sexy update to Pirates of Penzance, but I don't know if that's actually what it is. I definitely want to see that. It's not going to be on this trip. Oh, John Proctor is the villain. Another hugely exciting new play starring Sadie Sink from Netflix's Stranger Things. Everything is circular and yeah, definitely going to want to see that one as well. But not on this trip, sadly. Which begs the question, when am I going to be back in New York? I. I don't officially know yet, but I've never been in town in June to get pride bills. Also when the Tony Awards happen. And it would be really cool to be in New York, not at the Tony Awards, I don't dream that big, but in New York to be able to watch the Tony Awards in real time and not have to find a way to watch them in the UK in the middle of the night. Oh, also Floyd Collins. I forgot about Floyd Collins. I do really want to see it because I don't know Floyd Collins and I feel like I ought to and a lot of other people who that I speak to and a lot of other theatre loving friends love Floyd Collins and I always feel like a bit of a fraud when it comes up in conversation and I have to reveal that I don't know it that well. So this would be a great opportunity to fix that. And I'm still hoping to go and see a show I like at Lincoln Center. Now, that's all of the new stuff. There are a couple of shows with new performers that I am considering going back to. This includes oh Mary. Titus Burgess is going into oh Mary. That's going to be sensational and hysterical and unhinged and wild. If I can get tickets because that's going to be another one that's hard to get, then I will do my best. Also Cabaret. Even Oblazada and Orville Peek are going into Cabaret. You'd think I'd be more excited about Eva and I am. I think she's going to be brilliant. I have no doubt that her Sally Bowles is going to be a thing of real acting intensity. And particularly, oh, her with the microphone and the wig cap, giving it mine hair in the first act, I think is going to be really brilliantly rageful. But I've just seen her in Hadestown. I've seen her in Hadestown before that and in Miss Saigon. But Orville Peck is this really unknown quantity to me and I'm really intrigued about their performance as the mc. And also all of this chatter about is the mask going to be a feature. If you don't know, this is a queer recording art artist who wears a mask always. I'm also of the opinion there is going to be a mask removal moment at some point. Meaningfully. There is a point in the show that would really work for that. There are a couple actually, and I kind of want to be in the room when that happens. The room when it happens. The room when it happens. Another one with new cast members is the Great Gatsby. I've seen the show a couple times before. I saw their first preview at Paper Mill. Pre Broadway and I then saw it on Broadway. I am getting ready to see it next month hopefully at the London Coliseum. The West End production over here with a cast of a exceptional London heavyweights. It's like the theater world's Avengers happening over at the Great Gatsby. But yeah, I like Ryan McCart and I'd go see it again on Broadway. And also here's the real thing. They have a Thursday matinee so Gatsby don't have to do a lot to convince me to go and see the show again because there's not many other options of things I could see on a Thursday afternoon. I think the Outsiders does some Thursday matinees and I've been starting to think do I need to go back to the Outsiders and separate myself from like the hype of what I was hoping for it to be and give it another chance? If you think I let me know in the comments if people want me to go back to the Outsiders. I know a lot of people love it and I famously didn't Do I need to try again? Is my reaction going to be exactly the same? It's not often I change my mind. It happens sometimes. It happened with Hadestown. Do I try again with the Outsiders? Similar to that? Do I try again with Moulin Rouge? I have not had good experiences at Moulin Rouge on Broadway. I've enjoyed Moulin Rouge multiple times in the West End. It all comes down to casting. Jordan Fisher is going into it and Jordan Fisher was a revelation in Hadestown. Jordan's Orpheus was so, so good. I had kind of vowed that I wouldn't waste my time again with Moulin Rouge on Broadway. Now I think I might be changing my mind just to see and hear Jordan Fisher as Christian because I think that is going to be something remarkable. And then, and this will surprise absolutely no one, maybe happy ending is on my list. This is not because they have new performers. Unless there's a stunt cast in the role of Huaboon that I don't know about. Spoiler alert. That is plant. This is just because I love it and I want to take every opportunity that I can to see this show. And I didn't see it on my last trip and we missed it. We were a little sad not to be seeing maybe happy ending on the trip when we first saw it. We then immediately made plans to see it again a few days later. That's how lovely it is. And I'm also hoping that I will still have the chance to see it later this year. But Still, I might go see maybe Happy Ending again. I know I talked about limited show slots and if it's up against something else then I will probably swap it out and push it till later in the year. But I'm never going to say no to maybe Happy ending if I have the chance. Now, if you were watching or listening to this for recommendations, there are many other shows open. If you haven't seen Gypsy, go and see it. Make up your own mind. You can check out my review here, wherever you are seeing this or hearing this to find out what I thought. Similarly with Sunset Boulevard, which I think is a magnificent production, am I going to go back to see Mandy Gonzalez in Sunset Boulevard if that particular show slot opens up or stays open? I think I'm only there for one Tuesday, then I would consider it. Yes, Death Becomes her is another one that I recently reviewed here after seeing it a couple of times. If there are any other questions about shows that I haven't mentioned at all and you're like Mickey Jo, but what do you think of this one? Let me know in the comments and I will do my best to answer. In the meantime, those are my Broadway plans. Hopefully by the time that this has reached you, they will have evolved a little bit more. Even if not, I'm going to be spending a lot of mornings stood on the street, or I'm going to be spending a lot of money on tickets, because that's how it works sometimes. Stay tuned, obviously, for all of the reviews as well as the vlog content coming from this upcoming trip. Make sure you're subscribed right here on YouTube with the notifications turned on. The vlogs will only be appearing here, but the reviews will also be released on podcast platforms, so feel free to follow me on those if it is easier for you to listen to my voice. Thank you so much for listening to this one. If any of you are planning an upcoming Broadway trip, or if you live in New York and you want to talk about the shows that you're planning to see soon, let us all know in the comments. Which shows this spring are you the most excited for? In the meantime, I hope that you've enjoyed 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.