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Peter Filichia, James Marino and Michael Portantiere talk about Oh, Mary! @ The Lucille Lortel Theater, Jelly’s Last Jam @ Encores!, A Sign Of The Times @ New World Stages, Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy @ Vineyard Theatre, The Life & Slimes of Marc Summers @ New World Stages, and Nina Conti: The Dating Show @ SoHo Playhouse
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Panel:
Peter Filichia | [email protected] | Facebook
PETER FILICHIA is a playwright, journalist, and historian with a number of books. His new book, Brain Teasers for Broadway Geniuses, is now available wherever finer books are sold. Peter also has columns at Masterworks Broadway, Broadway Select, and many other places.
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.
54 Loves Cast Albums! 2nd Edition
March 7, 2024
People love cast albums! Join us as we celebrate more than 80 years’ worth of recordings of some of the most beloved musicals ever written, showcasing performances by honored musical theater veterans and rising stars in the second edition of 54 Loves Cast Albums!
Featured in the cast of our show will be Karen Akers (Nine, Grand Hotel), Jay Aubrey Jones (Cats, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), Gerard Alessandrini (creator of Forbidden Broadway, Forbidden Sondheim, etc.), Christine Pedi (a frequent star of the Forbidden Broadway series), Robbie Rozelle (A&R Director of Center Stage Records), and John Griffin and George Anthony Papas from the 2022 production of Guys & Dolls at the historic St. George Theatre on Staten Island. 54 Loves Cast Albums! will be co-hosted by Michael Portantiere and Charles Kirsch, with Matthew Martin Ward as musical director/pianist.
Matt Tamanini | [email protected] | Twitter | Instagram
MATT TAMANINI is a theatre, entertainment, and sports journalist who has been covering theatre for more than a decade. He is the news editor for TheStreamable, the co-managing editor for Land-Grant Holy Land, and is a host and producer for multiple shows on BroadwayRadio.
James Marino | [email protected] | Twitter | Facebook
BroadwayStars
Note: This week we had listeners join us while recording. These listeners are Patreon members who support BroadwayRadio. If you would like to join us in the future, become a supporter at Patreon.com/BroadwayRadio.
Pre:
Second Stage to Leave Its Rem Koolhaas-Designed Off Broadway Theater By Michael Paulson
The company said that it was leaving its space in a former bank in Times Square after 25 years because the rent was too high and the lease had unfavorable terms.
Audra McDonald Says Rumored GYPSY Revival is Not Happening by Blair Ingenthron
The six-time Tony award winner is shutting down the rumors that she will return to Broadway as Mama Rose in Gypsy in the 2024-25 season.
Reviews:
Cole Escola and Bianca Leigh in Oh, Mary! — credit Emilio Madrid
PF: Oh, Mary! @ The Lucille Lortel Theater, through May 5, 2024
Oh, Mary! is a dark comedy starring Cole Escola as a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Unrequited yearning, alcoholism and suppressed desires abound in this one act play that finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln through the lens of an idiot (Cole Escola).
MP + PF: Jelly’s Last Jam @ Encores!, through March 3, 2024
Take your seat at the legendary Jungle Inn nightclub for an electrifying musical telling the story of jazz through its self-proclaimed inventor: Jelly Roll Morton. Returning to the New York stage for just two weeks, Jelly’s Last Jam features Nicholas Christopher (Sweeney Todd) as Jelly, John Clay III (Choir Boy) as Jack the Bear, Alaman Diadhiou as Young Jelly, Joaquina Kalukango (Paradise Square) as Anita, Tiffany Mann (Be More Chill) as Miss Mamie, Okierete Onaodowan (Hamilton) as Buddy Bolden, Billy Porter (Pose) as Chimney Man, Leslie Uggams (American Fiction) as Gran Mimi, as well as original Broadway cast members Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, and Allison M. Williams who reprise their roles as the Hunnies.
Encores! Jelly’s Last Jam is led by visionary director Robert O’Hara (X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X) with Tap Choreography by tap icon Dormeshia, Choreography by Edgar Godineaux, and Guest Music Director Jason Michael Webb (MJ, Choir Boy) leading the iconic Encores! Orchestra, who perform onstage in this engagement.
Written by Tony-winner George C. Wolfe (Rustin, Shuffle Along), the original 1992 Broadway production secured eight Tony nominations, three wins, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book. Crafting showstopping numbers and piercing ballads alike from Morton’s own music, lyricist Susan Birkenhead (BOOP!) and composer Luther Henderson create a uniquely compelling musical backdrop for a show that brilliantly utilizes two of this country’s most potent forms of storytelling—jazz and musical theater.
PF: A Sign Of The Times @ New World Stages, through June 2, 2024
A Sign of the Times, a new musical featuring the songs of Petula Clark, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, and other classic pop hits of the 1960s, will play a commercial engagement beginning March 4, 2024 following its limited four-week run from February 7-March 3, 2024 as a production of York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Marie Grace LaFerrara, Executive Director). The news was announced today by producer Richard J. Robin, President, Wells St. Productions LLC. A Sign of the Times begins previews February 7, 2024 in advance of a February 22, 2024 opening night at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street). Tickets are on sale now at Telecharge.com.
A Sign of the Times stars Chilina Kennedy (Broadway: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Paradise Square) as Cindy, two-time Drama Desk nominee Ryan Silverman (Broadway: The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago) as Brian, Justin Matthew Sargent (Broadway: Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Rock of Ages) as Matt, Akron Lanier Watson (Broadway: Hamilton, The Play That Goes Wrong, The Color Purple) as Cody and Tony Award nominee Crystal Lucas-Perry (Broadway: 1776, Ain’t No Mo) as Tanya.
PF: Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy @ Vineyard Theatre, through March 1, 2024
Steve likes Masha; Masha likes Nikolai; and Egor just wants to win a microwave. It’s another day at the office for the workers of St. Petersburg’s infamous (real-life) Internet Research Agency, whose job is manipulating social media to advance Russia’s agenda at home and abroad. Set in the lead-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, office comedy meets political satire in Sarah Gancher’s shape-shifting examination of the power, seduction, and danger of a good story. A New York Times Critic’s Pick in its acclaimed online version, the NYC premiere is directed by Tony Award® winner Darko Tresnjak (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) and features Renata Friedman, Haskell King, Academy Award and Emmy winner Christine Lahti, John Lavelle, and Hadi Tabbal.
Jan Simpson spoke to Sarah Gancher on a recent Stagecraft: Sarah Gancher, Playwright of “Russian Troll Farm”
PF: The Life & Slimes of Marc Summers @ New World Stages, through June 2, 2024
Part interactive game show, part memoir, THE LIFE AND SLIMES OF MARC SUMMERS takes us on one man’s extraordinary journey, both on-screen and off. Marc Summers launched Nickelodeon as the host of the world’s most famous children’s game show, Double Dare . He went on to become a household name on the small screen, having a 20-year relationship with the Food Network as the host of Unwrapped and executive producer of Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible , all while facing immeasurable challenges behind the scenes.
PF: Nina Conti: The Dating Show @ SoHo Playhouse, through March 2, 2024
The quick-thinking queen of ventriloquism and British Comedy Award winner NINA CONTI brings her five-star smash hit show to New York, direct from sell-out seasons in London’s West End and at the Edinburgh Festival.
News:
Next Week:
Peter’s Brainteasers:
Many assume that Cynthia Nixon was the first and only performer to appear in two shows on the same night. In 1984, she was in the first and third acts of Hurlyburly and the second act of The Real Thing, so she had to travel two blocks between theatres every night.
But a very different female performer did this many decades before Cynthia. We know her best from a famous Tony-losing musical whose title actually is part of the title of one of the two shows in which she appeared nightly.
Who is she? What were the two shows she appeared in during the same night? What was the Tony-losing musical for which we know her best?
Michael’s Musical Moments
Music Opener:
Music Closer:
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