» This Week on Broadway for October 18, 2026: Other Desert Cities BroadwayRadio

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10/18/26

James Marino,Michael Portantiere,Peter Filichia

This Week on Broadway for October 18, 2026: Other Desert Cities

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James Marino, Michael Portantiere, and Jan Simpson talk about Other Desert Cities, Anon @ MCC, Slam Frank @ Orpheum Theatre, A Ghost in Your Ear @ Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre, Good Time Charlie @ The Public, Memoirs Of Amorous Gentlemen @ The Night Egg at The Culture Club, and The Hairy Ape @ the Irish Rep.

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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:

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 the Laurie Beechman Theatre and other venues.

Jennifer Simard Will Be Schmigadoon!’s New Mildred Layton on Broadway

Jennifer Simard Reveals She Was in the Emergency Room ‘Hemorrhaging’ at End of DEATH BECOMES HER Run

James Marino | [email protected] | Facebook
BroadwayStars

Jan Simpson | [email protected] | Facebook | Twitter
Broadway & Me
Jan Simpson is a theater journalist who writes the theater blog Broadway & Me and hosts the BroadwayRadio podcasts “All the Drama” and “Stagecraft.” She has served three times as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and currently sits on the executive board of the Outer Critics Circle, is a nominator for the Lortel Awards and is a member of the Drama Desk and the American Theatre Critics Association.

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Reviews:

JS: Other Desert Cities @ Hudson Theatre, through January 17, 2027
11-time Emmy Award winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus will make her Broadway debut alongside Tony Award nominee and four-time Academy Award nominee Ed Harris, and two-time Tony Award nominee, Academy Award winner, and seven-time Emmy Award winner Allison Janney, Actor Award winner Joe Keery, and Tony Award nominee Lily Rabe in the first Broadway revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s Tony Award-winning play Other Desert Cities, directed by Tony Award winner John Benjamin Hickey.

MP + JS: Anon @ MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater, through November 1, 2026
by Anne Washburn
directed by Anne Kauffman
When a gay pride flag is unfurled across the street from Jeanie, an increasingly online TikToker in a suburb in Texas, two seemingly different households…freak out. How well do you know the people you live among, and with, in an America where the line between fantasy and reality has become increasingly optional?

The cast of ANON will include Jeff Biehl (The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire), Crystal Finn (Cold War Choir Practice), Andrew Garman (The Holdovers), Izabel Mar (Family), and Obie Award winner and Tony Award nominee Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park).

JS: Slam Frank @ Orpheum Theatre, through November 30, 2026
The Anne-Frank Afro-Latin Hip-Hop Musical
Music and Lyrics by ANDREW FOX
Book by JOEL SINENSKY

MP: A Ghost in Your Ear @ Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre, through December 12, 2026 (extended!)
written and directed by Jamie Armitage
featuring sound design by the duo Ben & Max Ringham
starring Lucas Iverson and Owen Campbell

JS + MP: Good Time Charlie @ The Public’s Martinson Hall, through October 25, 2026
written by Ryan J. Haddad
directed by Danny Sharron
As a young man, Charlie dreamt of a life on the stage, but his parents thought dentistry sounded better, so he channeled his passion for culture into his nephew Ryan—a fellow theater-loving gay kid with Broadway ambitions. Spanning more than three decades, GOOD TIME CHARLIE is a multigenerational story of gay men growing up, falling in love, and cherishing the arts. This comedic, theatrical love letter celebrates the people who teach us how to dream. 

The complete ensemble-cast of GOOD TIME CHARLIE includes Sherz Aletaha (Understudy), Timothy Bagley (Lou), Nicholas Barrón (Understudy), Michael Cristofer (Sheldon), Ryan J. Haddad (Ryan), Beth Malone (Janice), Nael Nacer (Charlie Sr./Bob), Artemis Pebdani (Joan/Judy), Jonathan Raviv (Charlie), and Doug Shapiro (Understudy).

JS: Memoirs Of Amorous Gentlemen @ The Night Egg at The Culture Club, through January 3, 2027
Based on the manga graphic novel “Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen” by Moyoco Anno
music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik
book by Leah Nanako Winkler
directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford

JS: The Hairy Ape @ the Irish Rep, through November 15, 2026
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly
Starring Jon Beavers, Jonathan Crimeni, Nayib Felix, Joanna Glushak, Ariyan Kassam, John Keating, Hassiem Muhammad, Adam Petherbridge, Elizabeth Teeter, Harrison Tipping, Audrey Cardwell, Richard Hollis

Discussion:

Future Episodes:

Peter’s Brainteaser:

These five Broadway productions are listed in a sequence that brings to mind a mega-hit Tony winning musical.
Next Time I’ll Sing to You
The Flip Side
Fire
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Moose Murders

Michael’s Musical Moments

MARILYN LOVELL: “A Cockeyed Optimist,” 1993 MDA Telethon