In a panel discussion recorded outdoors as part of the Backyard at Hudson Yards series, four actors who have starred in "Hamilton" over the years — Thayne Jasperson, Miguel Cervantes, Hannah Cruz, and Edred Utomi — celebrate the show's 10th birthday by sharing their experience of the show's legacy, telling backstage tales from their time in the show, and revealing their most embarrassing on-stage screw-ups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Aug 05, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 253
The recording artist and "American Idol" alum discusses his upcoming appearance as Judas opposite Cynthia Erivo in "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Hollywood Bowl, and shares stories of his early years as a musical theater kid before "American Idol" made him a rock star. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 22, 2025•39 min•Ep. 252
Felix Barrett, the artistic director of Punchdrunk and the creator of “Sleep No More,” takes listeners behind the scenes of “Viola’s Room,” the company’s latest genre-defying piece, and explains why the future of immersive theater might look a lot like videogames. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 08, 2025•36 min•Ep. 251
Mike Isaacson, the artistic director of the Muny in St. Louis, on celebrating the 107-year-old institution's Tony win, how to survive St. Louis summer heat, and what shocked Heather Headley the last time she was there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 24, 2025•42 min•Ep. 250
Three Tony-nominated actors from the cast of the Pulitzer Prize-winning best play nominee "Purpose" — LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Glenn Davis, and Jon Michael Hill — share the story of the show's development and reveal the challenges and joys of working with a playwright who can't help but rewrite up to very, very last minute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 27, 2025•42 min•Ep. 249
The Emmy-winning actor and writer ("Better Call Saul") discusses his Tony-nominated Broadway debut in "Glengarry Glen Ross" — and shares his 30-year-old pitch to playwright David Mamet to do the play with a cast full of comedians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 13, 2025•34 min•Ep. 248
Huerta, one half of the Grammy winning band Jesse & Joy, and her co-songwriter Benjamin Velez discussing bringing the new musical "Real Women Have Curves" to Broadway — and share the surprising details of how the two of them wrote songs together, while apart, during lockdown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 29, 2025•39 min•Ep. 247
The Tony-winning Broadway favorite takes listeners on a tour of her dressing room, reveals her favorite part of her new musical “Redwood,” and reflects on “Rent,” “Wicked,” and what she’s most proud of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 15, 2025•41 min•Ep. 246
Two of the creators of "Stranger Things: The First Shadow," writer Kate Trefry and co-director Justin Martin, talk through the complicated puzzle of making theater scary — and making good TV that’s also good theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 01, 2025•41 min•Ep. 245
Breakout newcomer Jasmine Amy Rogers and Tony-winning favorite Faith Prince talk Broadway nerves, the enduring legacy of Betty Boop, and how their new musical 'Boop' brings the iconic character to life in three dimensions and full color. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 18, 2025•38 min•Ep. 245
Kandi Burruss, the former Real Housewife of Atlanta, is now a regular Broadway producer of shows including “The Piano Lesson” and the current “Othello” starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. Here’s how she hopes her work is helping to make a new Broadway for everyone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 04, 2025•34 min•Ep. 244
Get to know the complete cast of the West End hit "Operation Mincemeat" — David Cumming , Claire-Marie Hall , Natasha Hodgson, Jak Malone , and Zoë Roberts — all now on Broadway in the New York transfer of the award-winning musical comedy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Feb 18, 2025•38 min•Ep. 243
With Toossi's Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy "English" now on Broadway, the playwright and her lead actor, Neshat, talk translation, Trump, representation, the power of comedy, and the one audience reaction that makes Toossi really, really mad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 04, 2025•31 min•Ep. 242
Join the playwright, screenwriter and director for a wide-ranging conversation about her Broadway debut “Cult of Love,” the “gift” of her Seven Deadly Plays cycle, her thoughts on character vs. genre, her Star Wars series “The Acolyte,” the fans’ reaction to it, the seismic upheaval of motherhood, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 21, 2025•44 min•Ep. 241
Woods, a rising star of the New York stage, never thought much about "Gypsy" because she never thought there'd be a role for her in the landmark 1959 musical. Now she's appearing opposite Audra McDonald in the new Broadway revival — and finding ways to make the role of Louise her own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 24, 2024•34 min•Ep. 240
The Shed, a relatively new multidisciplinary arts institution in Manhattan, has already made a habit of presenting buzzy theater productions — including the current, sold-run of "King Lear" starring Kenneth Branagh. Artistic director Alex Poots talks about how that show grew out of a years-along rapport with Branagh, and how the Shed's theater work fits into the broader landscape of Broadway and New York theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Dec 10, 2024•37 min•Ep. 239
The Tony-winning actor James Monroe Iglehart on how he nails the legendary voice of Louis Armstrong in the new Broadway bio-musical “A Wonderful World” – and why he hopes his involvement as co-director of the show leads to more directing gigs in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 26, 2024•40 min•Ep. 238
The stars of the new Broadway musical adaptation of "Death Becomes Her" talk comic timing, macabre special effects, and why Hilty always knew "Death Becomes Her" would make a great musical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 12, 2024•31 min•Ep. 237
Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen, the stars of the new Broadway musical "Maybe Happy Ending," on cross-cultural storytelling, navigating their show's technologically complex set, and why robots are uniquely suited to telling a very human story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 29, 2024•39 min•Ep. 237
In this supersized episode of Stagecraft, we bring you three conversations from Variety's Business of Broadway breakfast, featuring the stars, creators and producers behind some of the biggest shows on Broadway this fall. In our first conversation, Erik Piecuch of City National Bank moderates a discussion with the producers Hunter Arnold ("Maybe Happy Ending," "Othello"), Caroline Kaplan ("Redwood"), Mara Isaacs ("Gypsy," "Hadestown"), and Sammy Lopez ("How to Dance in Ohio," "JOB"). In our seco...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 236
The Tony-winning playwright and Oscar and Tony-winning director talk memory, loss and making “The Hills of California,” their latest Broadway play. Plus: the joys and pitfalls of franchise moviemaking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 01, 2024•43 min•Ep. 235
The "Lost" and "Hawaii Five-0" actor takes listeners behind the scenes of his return to Broadway, portraying a flawed, fictionalized version of the playwright David Henry Hwang in Hwang's comedy of mistaken racial identities, "Yellow Face." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 17, 2024•36 min•Ep. 234
Jeanine Tesori, the Tony winning composer of “Kimberly Akimbo” and “Fun Home,” talks about her upcoming Metropolitan Opera debut, “Grounded,” and what it’s like when a musical theater composer finds herself working with an 80-piece orchestra and 60-voice ensemble. Also discussed: the launch of the “Kimberly Akimbo” national tour, the revisions she and David Lindsay-Abaire made to “Shrek,” and why “Soft Power,” the musical she wrote with David Henry Hwang, is like the Renaissance Faire. Learn mor...
Sep 03, 2024•34 min•Ep. 233
There's a new tarot deck that brings Broadway to the tarot through the work of legendary caricaturist Al Hirschfeld — and I got a taste of the deck in action with a reading from its creator, Emily McGill, in a conversation about the spirituality of theater, the "casting" of theatrical icons as specific tarot cards, and how theater fans might use the deck for insight and self-reflection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Aug 20, 2024•37 min•Ep. 232
Talking with Tony-winning Broadway star, who says she’s playing “an unhinged version of myself” in the new Broadway revival of “Once Upon a Mattress.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 06, 2024•31 min•Ep. 231
Behind the scenes with three of the creators of "Cats: The Jellicle Ball," the colorful, queer reimagining of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that's become a breakout hit of the summer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 23, 2024•39 min•Ep. 230
Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, the directing-producing duo behind the Tony Awards telecast, talk wowing the audience, innovating the staging, and why the Tonys always have the best acceptance speeches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 14, 2024•37 min•Ep. 229
The Tony-nominated star of "Appropriate," Sarah Paulson, and its nominated playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins share some real talk about Tony season, reveal how the extended run of "Appropriate" has changed things both for the actors on onstage and for the audiences in the house, and banter about why Paulson should maybe play Prince in "Purple Rain." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 04, 2024•43 min•Ep. 228
The Tony-nominated stars of "Cabaret" take listeners backstage for a peek at the "synchronized chaos" behind the scenes, and talk rowdy crowds, critics, and Redmayne's fourth go-round in the role of the Emcee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 28, 2024•37 min•Ep. 227
Oscar, Emmy and Tony winning actress Lange, now on Broadway in a Tony-nominated performance in "Mother Play," discusses premiering a new play on Broadway, explains why she could do without Wednesday matinees, and reveals why her recent work has her feeling "wild and liberated." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 14, 2024•37 min•Ep. 226
