ON BROADWAY

I interview Rupert Holmes, known for his Tony Award-winning musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I spoke to him, primarily, on his adaptation of the Gilbert and Sullivan musical, The Pirates of Penzance. Retitled Pirates!, the reimaged production, which played last year on Broadway, has the setting now in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The show infuses the score with jazz, Caribbean, and blues influences.

We welcome back Sondheim scholar Rick Pender, who talks about his new book, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: Behind the Bloody Musical Masterpiece. "An award-winning Sondheim expert dives into all facets of this unique, murder-filled masterpiece-its slimy roots, original production, characters from killers to lovers to bakers, soaring score, gripping storytelling, and lasting power."

I speak with Frankie Dailey, the New Works Director at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. The organization’s 37th Annual Festival of New Musicals will take place on October 23-24, 2025 at New World Stages in New York City.   The Festival features eight new musicals in 45-minute staged reading presentations in front of an industry-only audience. This event brings together theatre producers, presenters and developers from around the world to celebrate the future of these promising new musicals!

I speak with Rob Ruggiero, the Artistic Director of TheaterWorks Hartford, who is directing the 50th anniversary production of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical, A Chorus Line, at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Ct.

I chat with Mike Hadge - comedy writer, content creator, producer and songwriter - about his musical Doofyland, where he wrote the book, music and lyrics. A brief description of the show: DoofyLand is a bawdy musical satire that explores how easily our happy place can become a cage and how its up to us to truly “embrace the enchanthood.” Featuring a score that echoes classic Disney composers with a pop-rock sprinkling.

I speak with Jeffrey Seller about his memoir Theater Kid, which is a coming-of-age tale from the most successful American producer of our time. He is one of the masterminds behind the Tony Award winning musicals Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights, and Hamilton.

A rollicking conversation with the composing team behind the current Broadway hit, Dead Outlaw - David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna. The two, life-long friends, engage in an entertaining and revealing discussion about the show and musical theater in general.

I interview with Daniel Jenkins (Big River, Big – the Musical), who is appearing in the new Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire revue, About Time.   About Time, which runs at Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theater in Chester, CT from May 24 - Jun 15, 2025, is the third revue created by the composing team. Here is a brief description of the show: From long-ago love affairs and ambitions of the past to tech-savvy grandkids and lost keys, this funny and touching revue features all new songs about people navigating the joys and challenges of growing older while staying young in spirit.

I interview John Yun, who is currently the music director for the Broadway production of Maybe Happy Ending. We talk about this multi-Tony Award nominated musical. John has served as the associate conductor for the Broadway production of Hell’s Kitchen – The Alicia Keys musical, the associate music director for Broadway productions of Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, as well as Tina: the Tina Turner Musical. 

In this week’s episode of On Broadway, I speak with James Magruder, author of the new book, The Play's the Thing : Fifty Years of Yale Repertory Theatre (1966-2016). The book’s four chapters are dedicated to one of the Yale Rep’s artistic directors to date: Robert Brustein, Lloyd Richards,Stan Wojewodski Jr., and James Bundy. Numerous sidebars—dedicated to the spaces used by the theater, the playwrights produced most often, casting, the prop shop, the costume shop, artist housing, and other topics—enliven the lavishly illustrated four-color text. The work is enlivened by interviews with some of America’s most respected actors about their experiences at the Rep, including Paul Giamatti, James Earl Jones, Frances McDormand, Meryl Streep, Courtney B. Vance, Dianne Wiest, and Henry Winkler.

I speak withTed Vives, who has written the score and book to a musical entitled Scientific Method. The show is unproduced, but did recently receive an honorable mention by the American Prize for Excellence in the Arts. We chat about the genesis of the musical, its plot and structure and hear a few songs from the show. For information about Scientific Method and to hear more songs from the score, go to: scientificmethod.godaddysites.com

I chat with the highly opinionated and entertaining John Kendrick - author, teacher and theatre and film historian. His 2008 book Musical Theatre: A History is a comprehensive history of musical theatre from ancient times to the present. He is also the webmaster for Musicals101.com: The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film.

I chat with Trevor Boffone, a social media content creator and author, about his new book - TikTok Broadway: Musical Theater Fandom in the Digital Age.

I chat with Tom James McGrath (book, music & lyrics) and Amy Clare Tasker (book & lyrics) who wrote the new British musical - The Queen is Mad. The plot: The Queen is Mad is inspired by the true story of “Joanna la Loca”. The elder sister of Catherine of Aragon, Joanna is outspoken, spirited and headstrong – everything a 15th century princess is not supposed to be. When Joanna inherits the Spanish throne, her father and husband convince the court that she is insane, take her crown, and lock her away. She went down in history as Joanna the Mad. What if she wasn’t crazy, but furious?

I chat with Karen Mason about her career and latest recording, Karen Mason and All That Jazz!, which celebrates the songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb. I also play a few selections from the recording. Ms. Mason has starred on Broadway, Off-Broadway, television, in concert, and in the recording studio. She’s been praised for her “fierce emotion” by The New York Times, her “innate comic ability” by Playbill and her “delightful instrument” by the Daily News. She is a 14-time Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) Award winner; most recently she was the recipient of the 2019 MAC Lifetime Achievement Award.

chat with Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley, co-founders of the on-demand digital streaming service BroadwayHD. The company records and distributes live theater performances and previously recorded theatrical productions through its platform.

My guest on this week's episode of 'On Broadway' is Ellis Nassour. He is the author of the new book, Jesus Christ Superstar: Behind the Scenes of the Worldwide Musical Phenomenon.

The 20th, and final, episode in a series on the complete works of Stephen Sondheim. Rick Pender, the author of the The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia, is our musical guide. For this episode, Rick and I discuss our Top 8 Stephen Sondheim musicals.

Just in time for Halloween, I chat with George Reinblatt, playwright, television and comedy writer and lyricist and co-composer to Evil Dead - The Musical.

I chat with with Joshua Rosenblum on his book, Closer than Ever: The Unique Six-Decade Songwriting Partnership of Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire.