» This Week on Broadway for September 27, 2026: Helder Guimarães’s The Hope Theory @ New York City Center BroadwayRadio

BROADWAYRADIO

09/27/26

James Marino,Michael Portantiere,Peter Filichia

This Week on Broadway for September 27, 2026: Helder Guimarães’s The Hope Theory @ New York City Center

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Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about The Dining Room @ Antrim Playhouse, The Sound of Music @ The Paris Theater, Schmigadoon!, The Invention of Love @ Theaterlab, Guys and Dolls Studio Cast Recording, and Helder Guimarães’s The Hope Theory @ New York City Center

Note: This week there was an audio issue on James’ microphone. We were unable to fix it for this episode.

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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!

Larry, The Big-Time Broadway Producer @ The Hopkinton Center for the Arts (HCA)
October 9 – 18, 2026

Showtune for Today: What Makes Me Love Him from The Apple Tree

Michael Portantiere | [email protected] | Facebook
MICHAEL PORTANTIERE has been a theater journalist for more than 50 years. The founder and editor of CastAlbumReviews.com. He is also a theatrical photographer whose photos have appeared in The New York Times and other publications. Additionally, Michael is known as a producer and director of shows at 54 Below, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, and other venues.

Coming up: 54 Loves Cast Albums! 3rd Edition – October 4, 2026

New York theater story: Spring Awaking LMM at Drama Book.

James Marino | [email protected] | Facebook
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Reviews:

PF: The Dining Room @ Antrim Playhouse (Tappan, NY), through October 4, 2026
Set in the dining room of a typical well-to-do household, The Dining Room is a mosaic of interrelated scenes – some funny, some touching, some rueful – which, taken together, create an in-depth portrait of a vanishing species: the upper-middle-class WASP. The actors change roles, personalities and ages with virtuoso skill as they portray a wide variety of characters, from little boys to stern grandfathers, and from giggling teenage girls to Irish housemaids. Each vignette introduces a new set of people and events: a father lectures his son on grammar and politics; a boy returns from boarding school to discover his mother’s infidelity; a senile grandmother doesn’t recognize her own sons at Christmas dinner; a daughter, her marriage a shambles, pleads futilely to return home. Dovetailing swiftly and smoothly, the varied scenes coalesce, ultimately, into a theatrical experience of exceptional range, compassionate humor and abundant human

MP: The Sound of Music @ The Paris Theater

JM: Schmigadoon! (third time), through April 4, 2027

PF: The MAP Theater‘s production of Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love @ Theaterlab
The MAP Theater is proud to announce the complete cast and creative team for its rare revival of Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, the Tony-winning play that premiered on Broadway in 2001. Starring eight-time Obie winner David Greenspan as poet and scholar A. E. Housman, this strictly-limited-engagement, directed by Zachary Elkind and featuring original music by Julian Hornik, will run September 17 – October 3, 2026, at Theaterlab (357 W 36th Street, Manhattan) as part of TLAB SHARES, with an opening set for Sunday, September 20. Tickets are now on sale at www.themaptheater.com.

MP: Guys and Dolls Studio Cast, 2026 (Chandos, 2 CDs)

PF: Helder Guimarães’s The Hope Theory @ New York City Center, through December 6, 2026
Witness an ordinary immigrant transform into “a master of illusion” (The New York Times). It’s not a magic trick; it’s the story of The Hope Theory, a critically acclaimed solo show that “proves hope is more than an illusion” (Los Angeles Times). Directed by Academy Award-winning producer Frank Marshall (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Sixth Sense, Raiders of the Lost Ark), and written-performed by Helder Guimarães

Discussion:

Rachel Dratch, Jeff Hiller Complete the Cast of Encores! You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown By Logan Culwell-Block
The company is also replacing the previously announced Hallelujah, Baby! with the Gershwins’ Let ‘Em Eat Cake.

Let ’Em Eat Cake replaces the previously announced Hallelujah, Baby! at Encores! from March 17 through 28, 2027

The production will be directed by Zack Winokur (Artistic Director, AMOC), in association with Opera Philadelphia, with Guest Music Director Rob Berman leading The Encores! Orchestra. Hallelujah, Baby! will be presented during a future Encores! season to allow more time for creative development.

It was also announced today that Rachel Dratch as Patty and Jeff Hiller as Schroeder complete the cast for Encores! You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, which opens the 2027 Encores! series, February 3 through 14.

Future Episodes:

Peter’s Brainteaser:

The final full song of a Cole Porter property – meaning that we’re not including the reprise of a number that started the show, but the final full song — starts with the star singing a line that may be the worst prediction ever made in the history of music.

What’s the line? What’s the song? What’s the property?

Michael’s Musical Moments

Music Opener: “If I Were a Bell,” from GUYS AND DOLLS: OFF THE RECORD – Josie de Guzman