My guest today is Jesse Green who, in addition to being the Chief Theatre Critic for the New York Times, is the author of the most acclaimed and talked about theater book in recent memory – SHY: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers. This is the first of two episodes in which Jesse Green shares with us the story of how Mary Rodgers selected him to tell her remarkable, sometime harrowing, and ultimately inspiring story, and how he was able to perfectly capture her unique voice so perfe...
Jan 19, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 93
This is the second half of my conversation with author Elysa Gardner whose new book is titled: Magic To Do — Pippin’s Fantastic, Fraught, Journey To Broadway And Beyond. On our previous episode Elysa shared the story of how PIPPIN’s composer & lyricist, Stephen Schwartz, first began work on the show when he was a student at Carnegie Tech (soon to be Carnegie Mellon) University, where an early and very different version of PIPPIN was first produced. After graduating and returning home to NYC ...
Jan 12, 2023•37 min•Season 2Ep. 92
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Jan 05, 2023•42 min•Season 2Ep. 91
This is the second of two special holiday bonus episodes of Broadway Nation. Just like the first, this is an audio version of a Broadway Nation Live! performance that was given in December of 2019 at the Vashon Center For The Performing Arts on Vashon Island, WA. If you prefer to watch a video of this performance you can stream it on their website at: vashoncenterforthearts.org In Part One we looked at how the Jewish-Russian immigrant songwriter, Irving Berlin -- in addition to being one of the ...
Dec 29, 2022•44 min
Here is the link to join the Backstage Pass Club and support Broadway Nation: https://broadwaynationpodcast.supercast.com/new_landing This is a special holiday reprise of one of Broadway Nation's most popular episodes: It's an audio version of a Broadway Nation Live! performance that was presented in December of 2019 at the Vashon Center For The Performing Arts on Vashon Island just outside of Seattle, WA. Several previous episodes of Broadway Nation have explored the crucial role that the Jewis...
Dec 22, 2022•34 min
This week’s special ENCORE Episode is in celebration of Noel Coward’s birthday! Noel Coward was born just outside of London on December 16, 1899, and in fact he was named him Noel because his birth came so close to Christmas! For some reason, ever since I was very young, this lower middle-class, midwestern American gay boy from Cincinnati, Ohio has had a strong affinity for everything Noel Coward — his songs, his plays, his books, his movies, his TV performances, and his musicals. Why? I have no...
Dec 15, 2022•37 min
My guest this week is author Laura Frankos whose delightful and entertaining new novel is titled Broadway Revival — What If Gershwin Had Lived? Although this is the first work of fiction that I have featured on this podcast, as you will hear, Broadway Revival is filled with fascinating and meticulously researched Broadway history. One of the greatest joys of this book is that it provides all of us the opportunity to go back in time and experience legendary Broadway musicals of the 1930s, 40s, &a...
Dec 08, 2022•44 min•Season 2Ep. 90
This is the second half of my conversation with my dear friend and frequent co-host, Albert Evans, in which we explore the differences between stage and film musicals. If you missed part one you may want to catch up before listening to this one. Of course, we don’t really hate any movie musicals, and as you heard on the previous episode and will continue to hear on this one, we actually love quite a few of them. Hollywood and Broadway musicals are closely related to one another and share many of...
Dec 01, 2022•35 min•Season 2Ep. 89
This episode is in response to a question I get quite often from listeners: Is Broadway Nation ever going to focus on movie musicals? Well, today is the day! Of course, I don’t really hate any movie musicals. And I love quite a few of them. In fact, it was largely old movie musicals from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s that I watched on TV when I was a kid back in the 60s and 70s that made be fall in love with show business in the first place. No doubt because so many of them were backstage musicals set...
Nov 24, 2022•33 min•Season 2Ep. 88
My guest this week on Broadway Nation podcast is Paul Salsini, author of the memoir, Sondheim & Me. Many listeners will know Paul as the founder and original editor of the much beloved magazine, The Sondheim Review, the first only quarterly magazine ever devoted to a living musical theater composer. Paul launched the magazine in 1994 and over the following ten years Paul exchanged notes, letters, faxes and phone calls with Stephen Sondheim — who it was clear was reading every word of every i...
Nov 17, 2022•39 min•Season 2Ep. 87
New episode out now! My guests this week are JULIE BOARDMAN & DIANE NICOLETTI — the founders and driving forces behind the Museum Of Broadway! In this episode Julie and Diane share with us the story of how this first ever Broadway museum has come to be. They profile the team extraordinary talents they put together to create it, and most importantly they give us the inside scoop on what to expect when this highly immersive and experiential museum opens next week on November 15, 2020, in the h...
Nov 10, 2022•44 min•Season 2Ep. 86
This is the second half of my conversation with Adam Abraham, author of the engaging new book Attack Of The Monster Musical – A Cultural History Of Little Shop Of Horrors. If you missed the previous episode you may want to catch up with that one before listening to this one. Last week Adam shared the unlikely behind-the-scenes story of the making of Rodger Corman’s original low budget horror film The Little Shop Of Horrors, and then how that inspired a young writer and director named Howard Ashm...
Nov 03, 2022•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 85
This special Halloween edition of Broadway Nation! This is the first part of my conversation with Adam Abraham, author of Attack of the Monster Musical – A Cultural History of Little Shop Of Horrors. In this terrific new book Adam relates the unlikely story of how Roger Corman’s schlocky, low budget, 1960’s monster movie was transformed 20 years later into a smash hit, long-running, Off-Broadway musical that became an international sensation and spawned a hit film musical adaptation as well. And...
Oct 27, 2022•53 min•Season 2Ep. 84
My guest this week is Ted Chapin who’s captivating 2003 book Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical “Follies,” has recently been reissued in a revised and updated edition. As you may know, this book is based on Ted’s first-hand experience as the production assistant on the original Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, & James Goldman landmark musical Follies. Of course, the expression, “I just couldn’t put that book down” is a cliché – but in this case, it has ...
Oct 20, 2022•48 min•Season 2Ep. 83
My guest today is Peter Filichia who is the author of the new book that he calls The Book of Broadway Musical Debates, Disputes, and Disagreements. As a prolific theater journalist and critic Peter has written for Playbill, Theatermania, Broadway Select, Encore, and if you are in my age range you may even remember a magazine namedTheater Week! You can hear him every week on the Broadway Radio podcast This Week On Broadway. Most significantly he is the author of five previous books about Broadway...
Oct 13, 2022•58 min•Season 2Ep. 82
As you have probably heard, The Phantom Of The Opera – the longest running show in Broadway history –– recently announced that it will close this coming February, just over 35 years after it first opened on Broadway. This New York production of Phantom has been seen by nearly 20 million people and has grossed $1.3 billion dollars. Globally the show has been seen by 145 million people in 42 countries. Since this week marks the anniversaries of both CATS – which first opened on Broadway on October...
Oct 06, 2022•37 min
This special Encore episode of Broadway Nation celebrates the birthdays this week of two of Broadways greatest composers -- George Gershwin & Vincent Youmans. Both were born 124 years ago in 1898 and they came into the world just one day apart – Gershwin on September 26, and Youmans on September 27. And even though they were both born in NYC, they came from different worlds. Gershwin’s parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants, and George grew up on the Lower East Side where his father worked i...
Sep 29, 2022•33 min
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Sep 22, 2022•30 min•Season 2Ep. 81
My guest on this episode is Tony Award winning lighting designer Ken Billington who created the lighting for an incredible 105 Broadway plays and musicals, including 21 productions that were directed by Harold Prince. Ken’s career spans from his very first Broadway show in 1967 when he was the assistant to legendary lighting designer Tharon Musser, to his most recent Broadway show, the hit musical, Waitress. Along the way he designed the original productions of Sweeney Todd, On The 20th Century,...
Sep 15, 2022•39 min•Season 2Ep. 80
This episode is the second half of my conversation with Gary Flannery regarding the life and career of Broadway dancer, director, choreographer, writer and producer, George White. Between 1919 and 1939 George White produced 19 Broadway shows including 13 editions of his own lavish and legendary revue – The George White Scandals. In part one Gary shared the story of George White’s unlikely rise from the slums of NY’s Lower East Side to his first triumphs on Broadway. Gary also began making his ve...
Sep 08, 2022•33 min•Season 2Ep. 79
This is the first part of my conversation with Gary Flannery who somehow, while pursuing his own spectacular career as dancer, also found time to become the leading expert on the tumultuous life and career of George White – the fabled Broadway producer, director, choreographer, writer, songwriter and dancer. White rose to fame in Vaudeville and as a featured performer in The Ziegfeld Follies and then, between 1919 and 1939, went on to produce 19 Broadway musicals including 13 editions of his own...
Sep 01, 2022•37 min•Season 2Ep. 78
Continuing our celebration of the 20th Anniversary of HAIRSPRAY – The Musical, my guest this week is the show’s original choreographer JERRY MITCHELL who shares with us a first-hand, behind-the-scenes look into the creation of that Tony Award winning musical -- especially in regard to the how the show’s unique staging, choreography, design, as well as many of its most memorable moments were first dreamed up and executed! You will also get an inside view of Jerry’s close collaborations with Hairs...
Aug 25, 2022•49 min•Season 2Ep. 77
My guests on Broadway Nation today are the Tony Award winning songwriting team of Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman who join me to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Hairspray – The Musical. That’s right! It was 20 years ago, during the summer of 2002, that Hairspray first received its World Premiere in June at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre (where at that time I had the great pleasure and privilege of serving as that theater’s Producing Artistic Director). Then, just three months later, the show be...
Aug 18, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 76
This is the fourth and final section of my conversation with author Margaret Hall, about her recent biography of Paul Gemignani that is titled Gemignani – Life And Lessons From Broadway And Beyond. If you missed the previous episodes in this series, you may want to catch up on those before listening to this one. Paul Gemignani served as the Music Director for more than 40 Broadway musicals including those that are the focus of this episode -- Sunday In The Park With George, Into The Woods, Crazy...
Aug 11, 2022•49 min•Season 2Ep. 75
This is the third part of my conversation with author Margaret Hall, whose captivating new book is titled Gemignani – Life And Lessons From Broadway And Beyond. If you missed the first two parts you may want to catch up on those episodes before listening to this one. As the title suggests Margaret’s book is a biography of Paul Gemignani who served as the Music Director for more than 40 Broadway musicals including the 3 shows that are the focus of this episode. The first two are Sweeny Todd and M...
Aug 04, 2022•44 min•Season 2Ep. 74
This is the second part of my recent conversation with author Margaret Hall, the remarkable young theater historian whose new book is titled Gemignani – Life And Lessons From Broadway And Beyond. If you missed part one, you may want to catch up on that episode before listening to this one. Margaret spent much of the pandemic interviewing Paul Gemignani who is without a doubt one of the most significant figures in the history of modern Broadway musical. Beginning as a replacement with the origina...
Jul 28, 2022•40 min•Season 2Ep. 73
My guest this week is Margaret Hall, a remarkable young theater historian who is the author of the celebrated new book Gemignani – Life And Lessons From Broadway And Beyond. As you will hear, Margaret spent much of the pandemic interviewing Paul Gemignani who is without a doubt one of the most significant, and at the same time most under-appreciated, figures in the history of modern musical. Since 1971 Paul Gemignani has served as the Music Director for more than 40 Broadway productions includin...
Jul 21, 2022•36 min•Season 2Ep. 72
The 1920's brought the second great era of musicals that were written by, staged by, and starring Black theater artists to Broadway. In this episode I profile these brilliant creators and stars including Eubie Blake & Noble Sissle, Flournoy Miller & Aurbry Lyles, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and their musicals -- "Shuffle Along", "Runnin' Wild", "Blackbirds of 1929", "Hot Chocolates" and more. It also includes a brief history of that great African-American/Irish-American co-creation -- Tap...
Jul 14, 2022•29 min
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Jul 07, 2022•34 min
This is a special holiday rerelease of the very first episode of Broadway Nation. In this episode David Armstrong and Albert Evans begin to tell the remarkable story of how Immigrants, Jews, Queers, and African-Americans invented America's signature art form -- the Broadway Musical. This includes a special emphasis on George M. Cohan, the grandson of Irish immigrants who to a great extent invented the Broadway "Musical Comedy", as we know it. And after many years of controversy, recent research ...
Jul 04, 2022•31 min
