» This Week on Broadway for November 16, 2025: The Baker’s Wife at Classic Stage Company BroadwayRadio

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11/16/25

James Marino,Michael Portantiere,Peter Filichia

This Week on Broadway for November 16, 2025: The Baker’s Wife at Classic Stage Company

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Alex Lauer joins us from Minneapolis to give us a review of the pre-Broadway production of Purple Rain. Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about The Baker’s Wife at Classic Stage Company, The Queen of Versailles, Weer @ Cherry Lane Theatre, Romy & Michele: The Musical @ Stage 42, Archduke @ Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre, and Fiddler on the Roof @ Signature Theatre.

Classic Stage Company production of The Baker’s Wife. Production photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

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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.

Peter Filichia (via Facebook)
I made a post about ticket STUBS, and some readers didn’t quite know what I meant. Here’s a collage of them hanging in my hallway.

Showtune for Today: Flying Over Sunset

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

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:

An Evening with Len Cariou @ The Laurie Beechman Theatre
Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Len Cariou is well known and beloved for his indelible performances in musicals and plays on and off Broadway, in classical theater, and in other media.

His major credits include Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, and Applause on Broadway, Blue Bloods on television, etc.

Join us at the Laurie Beechman Theatre as he shares reminiscences of his storied career and the many legends he has worked with in an on-stage interview conducted by theater journalist Michael Portantiere.

The evening will include clips of Mr. Cariou’s greatest roles, plus live performances of a song or two, followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

Reviews:

Kris Kollins in PURPLE RAIN – Photo by Matthew Murphy

AL: Purple Rain @ State Theatre, Minneapolis, MN, through November 23, 2025

Alex Lauer is a journalist based in Minneapolis. He’s the features editor at InsideHook, and runs a blog about theater in the Twin Cities called One Fan Show. You can find it at OneFanShow.com or on Instagram at @OneFanShow.

“Purple Rain” Musical Review: This Is What It Sounds Like When Duds Tryout by Alex Lauer

Rachel Webb in PURPLE RAIN – Photo by Matthew Murphy

Classic Stage Company production of The Baker’s Wife. Production photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

PF: The Baker’s Wife at Classic Stage Company, through December 21, 2025

Classic Stage Company’s The Baker’s Wife, featuring a book by Joseph Stein, music & lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, based on the film La Femme du Boulanger by Marcel Pagnol, adapted from Jean le Bleu by Jean Giono, choreography by Stephanie Klemons, and direction by Gordon Greenberg.

Classic Stage Company production of The Baker’s Wife. Production photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

The Baker’s Wife will star Golden Globe winner Scott Bakula (“Quantum Leap”) as Aimable Castagnet and Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) as Geneviève, with Wendi Bergamini (New York, New York), Savannah Lee Birdsong (Little Shop of Horrors), Arnie Burton (Machinal), Tony Award nominee Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll & Hyde), Alma Cuervo (On Your Feet), Tony Award nominee Kevin Del Aguila (Some Like It Hot), Bill English (Days of Wine and Roses), Zachary Freier-Harrison (Off-Broadway Debut), Samantha Gershman (Water For Elephants), Nathan Lee Graham (“Mid-Century Modern”), Tony Award nominee Judy Kuhn (Fun Home), Sally Murphy (The Minutes), Manu Narayan (Company), Mason Olshavsky (Off-Broadway Debut), Kevin William Paul (The Outsiders), Will Roland (Dear Evan Hansen), and Hailey Thomas (Little Shop of Horrors).

In a quiet French village, a baker and his wife bring fresh bread…and fresh gossip. But when temptation stirs and hearts wander, the whole town gets caught up in a swirl of romance, mischief, and melody. The Baker’s Wife brings Stephen Schwartz’s soaring score, including the iconic “Meadowlark,” to life in its full-scale production in New York City. Sweet, surprising, and full of heart, this long-awaited production celebrates love in all its perfectly imperfect recipes.

The creative team for The Baker’s Wife includes Charlie Alterman (Music Direction), Jason Sherwood (Set Design), Catherine Zuber (Costume Design), Bradley King (Lighting Design), Jason Crystal (Sound Design), Casting by The Telsey Office (Craig Burns, CSA), and Production Management by Libby JVera / LJPM. Jason Weixelman serves as Production Stage Manager.

The Baker’s Wife is presented by special arrangement with the Menier Chocolate Factory (David Babani, Artistic Director), Creative Partners Productions, and Aaron Glick.

MP: The Queen of Versailles @ the St. James Theatre

Sherie Rene Scott will play the role of Jackie Siegel on
November 25 (Tuesday), December 3 – Matinee (Wednesday), December 3 – Evening (Wednesday), and January 20 (Tuesday)

Natalie Palamides’ WEER Photo Credit – Cherry Lane Theatre / A24

PF: Weer @ Cherry Lane Theatre, through December 21, 2025
WEER is a one-woman comedy written by, directed by and starring Natalie Palamides. Perhaps you know the piece already – recap – the play starts with a couple’s fight at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve 1999. Showing their relationship unfold, Palamides plays Mark on one half of her body, Christina by the other.

This Subversive Comedian’s Stage Shows Are Her Clowning Glory by Elisabeth Vincentelli
Natalie Palamides’s mind-scrambling work oscillates between big laughs and pathos. Her show “Weer” is the first long run at the renovated Cherry Lane Theater.

MP: Romy & Michele: The Musical @ Stage 42

(back row) Patrick Page (Dragutin “Apis” Dimitrijevic)
(front row; l to r) Jason Sanchez (Nedeljko), Adrien Rolet (Trifko), Jake Berne (Gavrilo)
(CREDIT: Joan Marcus, 2025)

PF: Archduke @ Roundabout Theatre Company‘s Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre Laura Pels Theatre, through December 21, 2025

Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) brings his signature wit and imagination to the New York premiere of Archduke.

Directed by Tony Award® winner Darko Tresnjak (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) and featuring Jake Berne, Tony nominee Kristine Nielsen, Tony nominee Patrick Page, Adrien Rolet, and Jason Sanchez, this darkly comic play follows Gavrilo Princip, better known as the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his fellow revolutionaries, reimagined not as masterminds but rather a hapless, helpless band of teenagers.

With razor-sharp humor, Archduke transforms a pivotal moment in global politics into an absurdly relevant theatrical experience, reminding us that too often history is written by the least qualified recruits.

News:

Elizabeth Franz, Versatile Tony-Winning Actress, Is Dead at 84
She won the award for her performance as Linda Loman in a 1999 Broadway revival of “Death of a Salesman” and played the matriarch Kate Jerome in two Neil Simon comedies.

Future Episodes:

Peter’s Brainteaser:

You’re on a subway in Boston. The train is noisy, so you can’t quite make out what passengers are saying to each other.

But when you hear a person mention “I saw a musical,” you try to hear the rest.

When he praises a performer, the name means nothing to you.

But when he says the name of the character the performer played, you can narrow the musical down to WOMAN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN or ANNIE.

Explain.

Michael’s Musical Moments

Douglas Sills (Tevye), with Lily Burka (Hodel), Beatrice Owens (Tzeitel), Mia Goodman (Shprintze), Rosie Jo Neddy (Chava), and Allison Mintz (Bielke) in Fiddler on the Roof at Signature Theatre. Photos by Daniel Rader

MP: Fiddler on the Roof @ Signature Theatre, Arlington, VA, through January 25, 2026