This Week on Broadway for January 26, 2025: Forrest Malloy's Nina @ Theaterlab

BROADWAYRADIO

01/26/25

This Week on Broadway for January 26, 2025: Forrest Malloy’s Nina @ Theaterlab

Subscribe: RSS

Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Jan Simpson talk about Forrest Malloy’s Nina @ Theaterlab, Gary Gulman’s Grandiloquent @ the Lucille Lortel Theatre, Kowalski @ The Duke on 42nd Street, Target Margin Theater’s Show/Boat: A River @ NYU Skirball, National Asian American Theatre Co’s Cymbeline @ at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater, and preview of the upcoming off-Broadway play, Still.

Nina production photo: Jasminn Johnson. Photo by Emilio Madrid

“This Week on Broadway” has been coming to you every week since 2009. It is the longest-running running Broadway and theatrical podcast with hundreds of shows giving thousands of reviews and interviews.

Subscribe to BroadwayRadio in Apple Podcasts by CLICKING HERE.

Support BroadwayRadio on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/broadwayradio

Patreon listeners get This Week on Broadway first, on Sunday afternoon before it is released to the general public on Sunday evening.

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

Jan Simpson | [email protected] | Facebook | Twitter
Broadway & Me
Jan Simpson is a theater journalist who writes the blog Broadway& Me and hosts the BroadwayRadio podcasts Stagecraft and All The Drama. She has twice served as a Pulitzer Prize juror.

https://bandmequickies.blogspot.com

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:

Michael is away today, and will be on next week from The Kennedy Center in Washington DC

Reviews:

Nina production photo: Francesca Carpanini. Photo by Emilio Madrid

PF: Forrest Malloy’s Nina @ Theaterlab, through February 9, 2025
Written by Forrest Malloy
Directed by Katie Birenboim
Featuring Francesca Carpanini, Nina Grollman, Jasminn Johnson, Aigner Mizzelle, and Katherine Reis

Nina, a new play by two-time O’Neill semi-finalist Forrest Malloy, invites audiences into the women’s dressing room at a prestigious New York City conservatory. It centers on five young actresses in their final year of study who laugh and cry, fight and flirt, compete, plan and dream… until a shocking revelation forces them to confront the foundations of their bonds. As final performances of Chekhov’s The Seagull loom, themes of love, art, and unfulfilled potential echo onstage and off. Nina is a fast-paced, behind-the-scenes look at the always high-stakes, often ridiculous environment of actor training, illuminating the tensions, intimacy, and even cruelty that define the making of great art and the strongest of female friendships.

JS: Gary Gulman‘s Grandiloquent @ the Lucille Lortel Theatre, through February 8, 2025
Directed by Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Grandiloquent is Gulman’s hilarious new show about insecurity, empathy, self-acceptance and how a thoughtful boy learned to use humor, reading and writing to cope with the consequences of his parents’ blunders. Learn why a seemingly confident middle-aged man feels most comfortable in a large room where a thousand strangers are laughing at him. https://www.gulmanshow.com/

PF: Kowalski @ The Duke on 42nd Street, through February 16, 2025
Written by Gregg Ostrin, directed by Colin Hanlon, that delves deep into the mind of one of America’s most iconic playwrights, Tennessee Williams, as he meets Marlon Brando for the first time

Kowalski is a gripping play that transports audiences to a pivotal moment in theatrical history, exploring the tangled relationships and creative tensions surrounding Tennessee Williams (Robin Lord Taylor) as he crafts his masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire. Set in a 1947 Provincetown beach house, the play unfolds over one sultry night, blending sharp wit and emotional depth to unravel the dynamics between Williams, the fiery director Margo Jones (Alison Cimmet), the tempestuous Pancho Rodriguez (Sebastian Treviño), and a young, enigmatic Marlon Brando (Brandon Flynn). Kowalski offers a behind-the-scenes look at the raw forces that birthed one of the 20th century’s greatest works, weaving memory and myth into a haunting exploration of ambition, artistry, and desire.

JS: Target Margin Theater’s Show/Boat: A River @ NYU Skirball, in partnership with Under the Radar, through January 26, 2025
Obie Award-winning Target Margin Theater, in collaboration with NYU Skirball, presents a daring reimagining of the seminal musical Show Boat, now re-envisioned as Show/Boat: A River. Part of Under the Radar Festival, This bold adaptation reframes the 1927 classic for today’s audience, exploring America’s transformation from the 1880s Jim Crow to the challenges of today —journeying from steamboats to airplanes, vaudeville to radio, and the Spanish-moss South to the bustling city of Chicago amid the Great Migration.

Show Boat is both a powerful narrative and a historical reflection, revealing a legacy marked by violent racism while striving for a more just America. Director David Herskovits, known for his provocative interpretations, brings a fresh perspective to this quintessentially American masterpiece. Building on Target Margin’s renowned tradition of re-envisioning classic works, this new staging promises the company’s trademark extravagant theatricality, intricate design layers, and a vibrant celebration of language, song, and spirit.

Show/Boat: A River challenges us to confront our past and envision a reimagined America for 2025, bridging the gap between history and the present with striking relevance.

PF: National Asian American Theatre Co’s Cymbeline @ at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater, through February 16, 2025

NAATCO, the National Asian American Theatre Co., cordially invites you to discover the all-femme, all-Asian American World Premiere of Andrea Thome’s modern verse translation of one of Shakespeare’s most compelling plays, Cymbeline, presented in partnership with Play On Shakespeare. Thome’s update brings the play’s language into the present, highlighting new resonances and providing a more accessible version of Shakespeare’s play for today’s audiences. The translation was commissioned by Play On Shakespeare.

One of Shakespeare’s final plays, Cymbeline tells the story of the British king Cymbeline and his daughter, Imogen. It is a tale of deceit and jealousy, with accusations of infidelity that often draw comparisons to Othello and The Winter’s Tale.

PF: Still (informational, non-review) @ The Loreto Theater at The Sheen Center for Thought And Culture, January 28 – March 23, 2025
Starring Melissa Gilbert (“Little House On The Prairie,” “Secrets & Lies”), and Mark Moses (“Desperate Housewives,” “Mad Men”), Still is a funny yet heart-wrenching story for anyone who has ever wondered “what if?”. Thirty years ago, Helen and Mark broke up, but they never completely forgot one another. Now, they are getting a second chance at first love. Single, and frustrated with dating apps, they are ready to try again. But Mark has an agenda and Helen has a secret that could derail his plans.

Listen: Jan Simpson’s Stagecraft: Lia Romeo on “Still”

Discussion:

Next Week:

Peter’s Brainteaser:

She never appeared on Broadway, but she did appear in the film version of a ‘50s play as well as the film version of a ‘50s musical.

The play opened a mere 47 days before the musical, and both were hits that ran over 500 performances.

And yet, the two shows had a far more famous person who was connected with both stage shows.

What were the two shows?

Who was the actress in the two films?

What famous person worked on both stage iterations?

Michael’s Musical Moments

Michael’s Musical Moments will return next week!