This Week on Broadway for January 19, 2025: Vinny DePonto's Mindplay

BROADWAYRADIO

01/19/25

James Marino,Michael Portantiere,Peter Filichia

This Week on Broadway for January 19, 2025: Vinny DePonto’s Mindplay

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Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about The Giggling Granny, Miss Julie 1925 New Year’s @ Theater for the New City, New York Philharmonic, Stutzmann conducts Wagner’s Ring Without Words, and Vinny DePonto’s Mindplay @ The Greenwich House.

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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 wall calendar – A SHOW TUNE FOR TODAY – 366 Songs to Brighten Your Year – has been released! 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.

James Marino | [email protected] | Facebook
BroadwayStars

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Pre:

Reviews:

PF: The Giggling Granny @ Theater for the New City (TNC), through January 26, 2025
Marilyn Chris in “The Giggling Granny,” a true story of the mesmerizing, innocent and likable serial killer, Nannie Doss (1905-1965) and her lifetime search for true love. Ms. Chris is a veteran actress of soaps, Broadway and Off-Broadway and is a winner of many awards in her varied career. This solo play was written for her by the late Marsha Lee Sheiness. Director is Jim Semmelman. Performances are January 9 to 26 at TNC, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street), Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 3:00 PM.

PF: Miss Julie 1925 New Year’s @ Theater for the New City (TNC), through January 26, 2025
Strindberg Rep invites you to review its production of “Miss Julie 1925,” in which translator/director Robert Greer transports Strindberg’s greatest masterpiece from a Swedish manor house in 1888 to a Long Island country estate in 1925.

MP: New York Philharmonic, Stutzmann conducts Wagner’s Ring Without Words @ Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, through January 19, 2025
Nathalie Stutzmann conducts this 75-minute orchestral version of The Ring Cycle.

PF: Vinny DePonto’s Mindplay @ The Greenwich House, through April 20, 2025
Mindplay invites audiences to an unforgettable, gasp-inducing experience in which your thoughts and memories play a leading role. Infused with intrigue and mystery, DePonto guides participants on a jaw-dropping, interactive journey as he reads minds while also revealing his own. The show was hailed by Broadway World LA as an “inviting, nostalgia-ridden… gem of a performance. Vinny DePonto is a masterful actor, storyteller, mentalist and illusionist, and Mindplay puts all his talents on display in a unique production that is not to be missed.” The Washington Post raves DePonto “brings ‘how did he do that?’ wonder to delight all…”, and demonstrates “enthralling feats of mind-probing prowess…” and “mesmerizing stage magic — including one particularly head-spinning stunt.” Masterfully blurring the line between illusion and reality, while investigating the wildly unreliable nature of memory, Mindplay will send audiences reeling into the night.

Discussion:

Seaview Is Turning Off-Broadway’s Tony Kiser Theater Into Studio Seaview
The former Second Stage Theater space will continue to operate as an Off-Broadway theatre.

MickeyJo on Stage Door Etiquette

Palace Restoration

“Correlation is not causation” Live Updates: Congestion Pricing Begins After Long Delay

SL Green CEO will collect a $10M jackpot if he can land Times Square casino

Los Angeles Fires: Pasadena Playhouse cancels ‘Anything Goes,’ ‘Follies’ concerts as fires threaten L.A. theater scene

Josh Gad in WWDTM
‘Wait Wait’ for January 11, 2025: With Not My Job guest Josh Gad

Jake Gyllenhaal Warned Josh Gad ‘The Book of Mormon’ Was ‘Way Too Controversial’ After Hearing the Music: ‘You Cannot Do Whatever This Is’ by Lauren Coates
Josh Gad, who released his memoir “In Gad We Trust: A Tell-Some” on Jan. 14, says his “Love & Other Drugs” co-star Jake Gyllenhaal warned him not to pursue a role in “The Book …

Here is every show in this year’s Broadway Week line-up
Plus: which ones you should definitely catch by Adam Feldman

SIGNATURE AUDITOR RAISES ‘SUBSTANTIAL DOUBT’ ABOUT NONPROFIT’S SURVIVAL
by Philip Boroff
EXCLUSIVE: Signature Theatre Co. — which raised the bar off-Broadway by devoting entire seasons to the work of major dramatists while offering $25 tickets across the board — is struggling to stay afloat.

Sutton Foster-Led Broadway Once Upon a Mattress to Record Cast Album

Next Week:

Peter’s Brainteaser:

He wrote a 20th century novel that became a 21st century musical that officially opened and closed in the same month.

Among his other novels, he gave one a title that was identical to the title of a very famous musical hit that was produced more than 50 years earlier in the 20th century and was revived in the 21st century.

Who is he? What was the name of the 21st century flop musical? What was the name of the novel that had the same name as the 20th century hit musical?

Michael’s Musical Moments

Michael has additional thoughts on Gypsy.

Music Opener:

OPENER: “Mama’s Talkin’ ‘Soft,” Petula Clark, recorded in May 1959 (GYPSY opened May 21)