» This Week on Broadway for October 5, 2025: Punch @ Manhattan Theatre Club BroadwayRadio

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10/5/25

James Marino,Michael Portantiere,Peter Filichia

This Week on Broadway for October 5, 2025: Punch @ Manhattan Theatre Club

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Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about Punch @ Manhattan Theatre Club, MURDOCH: The Final Interview @ Theater555, Caroline @ MCC Theater, Oklahoma! @ Northern Kentucky University, Mexodus @ Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre, The Other Americans @ The Public Theater, Pen Pals @ DR2 Theatre, Marilyn, Mom & Me, Sweeney Todd @ NYU, Torera @ WP Theater, and Nothing Like Broadway! @ The Marjorie S Deane Little Theater

Will Harrison as Jacob, Lucy Taylor as Mum in Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of Punch by James Graham, directed by Adam Penford. ©Matthew Murphy

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Panel:

Peter Filichia | [email protected] | Facebook
PETER FILICHIA is a playwright, journalist, and historian with a number of books. Peter’s new day-by-day desk calendar – A SHOW TUNE FOR TODAY – 366 Songs to Brighten Your Year – is available at finer retailers! Peter also has columns at Masterworks Broadway, Broadway Select, and many other places.

Showtune for Today: Why Can’t We All Be Nice? from Goodtime Charlie

Rehearsal of one of Peter’s play at a high school in Fairfield High School

Michael Portantiere | [email protected] | Facebook
MICHAEL PORTANTIERE is a theater reviewer and essayist. He is the founder and editor of CastAlbumReviews.com. He is also a theatrical photographer whose photos have appeared in The New York Times and other major publications. You can see his photography work at FollowSpotPhoto.com.

James Marino | [email protected] | Facebook
BroadwayStars

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Pre:

Reviews:

Will Harrison as Jacob in Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of Punch by James Graham, directed by Adam Penford. ©Matthew Murphy

PF + MP + JM: Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of Punch @ Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, through November 2, 2025
by James Graham
directed by Adam Penford
Based on the book Right From Wrong by Jacob Dunne
with Camila Canó-Flaviá, Victoria Clark, Will Harrison, Cody Kostro, Piter Marek, Sam Robards, Lucy Taylor

Sam Robards, Vicki Clark, Camilla Canó-Flaviá and Will Harrison in Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of Punch, written by James Graham, directed by Adam Penford. ©Matthew Murphy

PF: MURDOCH: The Final Interview @ Theater555, through December 28, 2025
Controversial media magnate, Rupert Murdoch, faces the cameras, a live audience and a mysterious interviewer as he attempts to secure his legacy. Over ninety minutes Murdoch encounters family members, Presidents, newspaper editors, FOX NEWS creator, Roger Ailes, and finally, wrestles, literally, with an inscrutable monster. It’s the shocking, fair and balanced interview you’ve been waiting for written by an unnamed source, performed by a single actor.

Caroline production photos by Emilio Madrid

MP + PF: Caroline @ MCC Theater, through November 16, 2025
When Maddie is forced to seek the help of her long-estranged mother, she finds herself unable to shield her daughter Caroline from the inescapable circumstances that fractured their family. A world premiere play by Preston Max Allen, directed by Tony Award-winner David Cromer, Caroline is a luminous and intimate story about the possibility of redemption and the complex relationships between generations of mothers and daughters.

PF: Oklahoma! @ Northern Kentucky University, through October 5, 2025
NKU Fine Arts Center – Corbett Theatre
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s first collaboration remains, in many ways, their most innovative, setting the standards and rules of modern musical theatre. In a Western territory just after the turn of the 20th century, a high-spirited rivalry between local farmers and cowboys provides a colorful background for Curly, a charming cowboy, and Laurey, a feisty farm girl, to play out their love story. Their romantic journey, as bumpy as a surrey ride down a country road, contrasts with the comic exploits of brazen Ado Annie and hapless Will Parker in a musical adventure embracing hope, determination and the promise of a new land.

MP: Mexodus @ Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre, through November 1, 2025
Mexodus, written and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, and directed by David Mendizábal.
World Premiere co-produced by Baltimore Center Stage (Stephanie Ybarra, Artistic Director / Adam Frank, Managing Director) and Mosaic Theater Company (Reginald L. Douglas, Artistic Director / Serge Seiden, Managing Director), Washington, DC. West Coast Premiere produced September 2024 by Berkley Repertory Theatre (Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director / Tom Parrish, Managing Director) Berkeley, CA.

Mexodus was developed and presented at New York Stage and Film, Summer 2021 and Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Summer 2021. Additional development Support provided by CRITICAL BREAKS Residency Program at HI-ARTS and The New Harmony Project.

John Leguizamo in The Other Americans at the Public Theater Photo by Joan Marcus

PF: The Other Americans @ The Public Theater, through November 9, 2025
By John Leguizamo
Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
In Association with Arena Stage

Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo is Nelson Castro, a Colombian-American laundromat owner in Queens grappling with a failing business and buried secrets in his new play THE OTHER AMERICANS. When his son Nick returns from a mental wellness facility after a traumatic incident, Nelson’s world unravels. Committed to protecting his family and business, he tackles racial and identity challenges to achieve his dream, proving his success. Nelson must navigate morality’s murky waters to salvage his future. Will he emerge victorious, or will his past consume everything he holds dear? Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson directs this gripping tale of resilience.

MP: Pen Pals @ DR2 Theatre
Written by Michael Griffo; Directed by SuzAnne Barabas

PF: Marilyn, Mom & Me – A new play by Luke Yankee
Backer’s Audition

MP: Sweeney Todd @ NYU (Steinhart School, Vocal Performance)

Jacqueline Guillen and Jared Machado Photo Credit Joan Marcus

PF: Torera @ WP Theater, through October 19, 2025
Torera, written by Monet Hurst-Mendoza (“Law and Order: SVU”), and directed and choreographed by Tatiana Pandiani (Someone Spectacular, AZUL), both making their Off-Broadway debuts. The show will begin previews at WP Theater (2162 Broadway, between 76th & 77th) on Saturday, September 20, with an Opening Night on Sunday, October 5, and play a four-week limited engagement through Sunday, October 19, 2025.

Torera stars Jorge Cordova (“Black Mirror,” “FBI: Most Wanted”) as Don Rafael, Christian Jesús Galvis as Dancer, Jacqueline Guillén (The Equalizer, “Orange Is the New Black”) as Elena María Ramírez, Elena Hurst (Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992) as Pastora, Jared Machado (Buena Vista Social Club at ATC) as Tanok, and Andrea Soto as Dancer.

Elena María Ramírez was born to be a torera, but it’s a rare feat for a woman in México’s bullfighting scene. In order to enter the ring, she must defy society, her family, and legendary torero Don Rafael Cárdenas. Torera is a dynamic, epic family drama that swirls with the action, stakes, and the intrigue of the bullfighting ring. This limited run at WP Theater is produced in partnership with The Sol Project, Long Wharf Theatre, and Latinx Playwrights Circle.

MP: Nothing Like Broadway! @ The Marjorie S Deane Little Theater on 64th street, through November 23, 2025

Josey Miller: Website | Instagram

News:

Patricia Routledge, Hoity-Toity Housewife of ‘Keeping Up Appearances,’ Dies at 96
Before she became known as the snooty suburbanite Hyacinth Bucket, Ms. Routledge was an acclaimed stage performer, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and on the West End and Broadway.

Patricia Routledge @ IBDB

Next Week:

No Show Next Week (!)

Peter’s Brainteaser:

This legendary Broadway performer once received an Oscar nomination as Best Featured Actress.

Some years later on stage, she played a character who had once won an Oscar as Best Featured Actress.

Who is she, and what are the two properties?

Michael’s Musical Moments