On Broadway

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. 

I chat with Laura Frankos, author of the book, Broadway Revival, a historical, fictional work that has an actor, David W. Greenbaum, go back in time to save George Gershwin from his early, untimely death.

I speak with Kate Navin, Head of Audible Theater. They just celebrated their 5th year anniversary producing works at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village.

I chat with Michael John LaChiusa, the American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for musically esoteric shows such as Hello Again, Marie Christine, and The Wild Party. We talk, primarily, about The Gardens of Anuncia, where he wrote music, lyrics, and book. The show is based on the life of Graciela Daniele, a prolific figure in modern musical theatre. The musical was performed Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E, Newhouse Theatre within Lincoln Center, running from October 19, 2023 until December 31, 2023. The cast included Priscilla Lopez, Eden Espinosa, Mary Testa, and Andréa Burns.

In this episode, I interview Kevin Winkler, the author of On Bette Midler: An Opinionated Guide. Kevin chronicles her career from the New York City Continental Baths through her recording, stage and movie careers.

This week's podcast episode is a conversation with Susan Dormady Eisenberg, the author of the historical fiction novel, One More Seat at the Round Table. Here's a description of the book: Jane Conroy, tries to juggle her first theater job and her unexpected passion for a gifted singer in the chorus, Bryce Christmas. Part coming of age novel, part love story, part dish-filled history, One More Seat at the Round Table follows the comic travails of Camelot from its New York rehearsals to its lackluster tryouts in Toronto and Boston to its disappointing New York debut.

The 19th 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, we feature the musical Off-Broadway revue, Marry Me a Little. The show is a musical composed of outtakes from Stephen Sondheim's early musicals.

I chat with Robert W. Schneider, an award-winning Director, Producer, Author, Educator, Podcast Host, and Artistic Director of The J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company, about his new podcast – BROADWAY BOUND: THE MUSICALS THAT NEVER CAME TO BROADWAY. It features musicals that had set their sights on Broadway but missed the mark. The first season is entitled “Hooray for Hollywood” and looks at Broadway Bound musicals based on movies: Arthur, The Baker's Wife, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Busker Alley, Enter Juliet, Gone with the Wind, The Graduate, The Mambo Kings, Minsky's, and Paper Moon.

This week I chat with Patrick Pacheco who helped the late Chita Rivera write her autobiography - Chita: A Memoir. Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero – Chita – created some of Broadway's most iconic roles, including Anita in West Side Story‚ Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie, Velma in Chicago, Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Claire in The Visit. Patrick and I talk about these shows and such luminaries as John Kander, Fred Ebb, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Hal Prince, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr., Gwen Verdon, and more.

I speak with Matt Gould, composer and co-librettist, of the new Broadway musical Lempicka. We chat about the show and his approaching to writing music.

Author Stephen Cole talks about his fictional, time-traveling novel, MARY & ETHEL…and Mikey Who?, which has taken the real-life friendship with Ethel Merman and Mary Martin, tossed them into a blender and come up with a fantasy about a nerdy super-fan.

I chat with Martin Fitzgibbon, who was a young drummer in the band during the creation of the The Rocky Horror Show in 1973. In his memoir, Behind the Curtain: My Life and Rocky Horror, he discusses the show, giving his unique insight into how the musical and its participants became an overnight success and created a cultural phenomenon still going strong over 50 years later.

SoundsofBroadway's Stuart Brown talks about our current Bracket Challenge - Favorite Musical From the Golden Age (Oklahoma! in 1943 through the year 1964). Each week, listeners pick the winners in head-to-head matchups – just like ‘March Madness' – until we narrow down the field of 64 to just one ultimate favorite. Vote now! Just go to SoundsofBroadway.com.

I chat with Van Dean, a Grammy and Tony-winning producer who has just launched a new record label, Center Stage Records. Previously, he ran Broadway Records. We talk about, among other topics, his new record company and the art of producing a cast recording.

The 18th 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, we feature the musical The Frogs. The show is a musical "freely adapted" by Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove from The Frogs, an Ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. The Frogs was originally performed in Yale University's gymnasium's swimming pool in 1974. The show was produced on Broadway in 2004 with the book revised by Nathan Lane and the score expanded by Sondheim.

I chat with Brian Stoll, an uber Broadway fan who has seen over 285 shows in the past decade, all at under $60 a ticket. He has developed a presentation, “Broadway on a Budget,” that he has presented at libraries and other venues, where he shares his money-saving tips on how to see Broadway shows, his love for Broadway, and even the history of the Playbill.

I chat with the composer, lyricist, and librettist Douglas J. Cohen about his book, How to Survive a Killer Musical: Agony and Ecstasy on the Road to Broadway. The book chronicles his decade-long quest to bring his musical, No Way to Treat a Lady, to the stage—writing, re-writing, and shepherding it across the US and Europe amidst all manner of adversity and plain rotten luck.

The 17th 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, we feature the musical Saturday Night. This was supposed to be Sondheim's first Broadway show in 1955 until the untimely death of the lead producer scuttled the work.  

I interview theater journalist Eddie Shapiro about his new book, “Here's to the Ladies: Conversations with More of the Great Women of Musical Theater.” In the book, a follow-up to his work, “Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater,” he sits down for intimate, career-encompassing conversations with yet more of Broadway's most prolific and fascinating leading women. They include such luminaries as Barbara Cook, Kelli O'Hara, Heather Headley, Faith Prince, Stephanie J. Block, and Tonya Pinkins.

I chat with Danny Kornfeld, one of the stars of the new Barry Manilow/Bruce Sussman musical Harmony. We talk about the show and his life in the theater.

The 16th 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, we feature the musical Road Show (also known as Bounce and Wiseguy). Rick will talk about how Sondheim worked with a number of collaborators to create the show that never made it to Broadway.

The 15th 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, we feature the original production of 1994's Passion. Rick will talk about how writer/director James Lapine and Sondheim collaborated on the show to create one of the composer's most unique musicals.  

For the Halloween season, an interview with Robert Viagas on his book Good Morning, Olive. The book is about the ghosts that haunt Many of Broadway's busiest theatres and around the world.  Robert Viagas, was the editor-in-chief of Encore Monthly, the national theatre magazine. He has more than thirty-five years' experience, much of it working on Broadway with Playbill Inc. He is the founding editor of Playbill.com and is the author of 22 books.

I chat with Laurence Maslon, the author of the book, I'll Drink to That!: Broadway's Legendary Stars, Classic Shows, and the Cocktails They Inspired. “The book expertly mixes clever cocktails that pay homage to unforgettable Broadway shows with authentic recipes for drinks that played supporting roles in beloved shows. Mason provides a history of the cocktail on Broadway along with a trove of theatrical anecdotes." 

The 14th 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, we feature the original production of the 1987 Stephen Sondheim musical, Into the Woods, which ran for 765 performances on Broadway.

Interview with Michael Urie (Professor Robert Langdon) and Hannah Cruz (Cryptologist Sophie Neveu) who are starring in the American premiere of play based on the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code. The show is playing at the Ogunquit Playhouse (http://www.ogunquitplayhouse.org/) through September 23.

An interview with Greg Dassonville (https://www.dassonvogue.com/), a stylist who has revolutionized how people approach shopping and wearing clothing for all occasions. Since his start, Greg has provided styling for The Tony Awards, The Emmy Awards, Broadway Opening Nights, Concerts, Editorials, and various Red Carpets for Movie premieres. For the 2023 Tony Awards, Greg provided styling for Tony Award Nominee Betsy Wolfe of & Juliet and for Adrianna Hicks of Some Like It Hot. On the podcast, Greg will talk about how he started his business, his views of styling, the collaborative nature of his work, and some of the celebrities he has worked with on the red carpet. Pictures of his work will also be available on the BroadwayRadioPrograms.com website.

On our podcast this week, I chat with Seth Bisen-Hersh, composer/lyricist whose musical, Love Quirks, ran Off-Broadway last summer. We talk about the show and issues trying to mount a musical in New York City. We also discuss his new film project and his hobby of creating crossword puzzles.

The 13th 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, we feature the 1965 Stephen Sondheim/Richard Rodgers musical, Do I Hear a Waltz, his last Broadway show where he only wrote lyrics.

The 12th 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, we feature the 1962 Stephen Sondheim musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, his first Broadway show where he wrote both music and lyrics.

For this week's On Broadway podcast, I chat with author and critic Elysa Gardner on her book, “Magic To Do: Pippin's Fantastic, Fraught Journey to Broadway and Beyond,” which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Stephen Schwartz musical. 

My interview with Kristin Stultz Pressly on her book, I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby: Dorothy Fields and Her Life in the American Musical Theater. Dorothy Fields was America's most brilliant and successful female lyricist. Working with thirteen different composers, Fields wrote the lyrics and/or librettos for unforgettable masterpieces, such as Annie Get Your Gun, Redhead, and Sweet Charity. Her more than four hundred songs include the standards "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Pick Yourself Up," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love."

The 11th 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, we feature the 1971 Stephen Sondheim musical, Follies. We discuss the show and play a number of songs from the Original Broadway production.  

On this episode, I chat with Tony Award–winning designer Derek McLane and fashion and entertainment writer Eila Mell on their book, Designing Broadway: How Derek McLane and Other Acclaimed Set Designers Create the Visual World of Theatre. It is a richly illustrated and information-packed celebration of Broadway set design reflecting on some of the greatest stage productions of the past few decades.

We chat with Jack O'Brien, the former long-serving Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California (1981 – 2007) and multi-Tony Award winning Director, including the original production of Hairspray. We discuss his latest book, Jack in the Box: or, How to Goddamn Direct, where he talks about directing essentials as well as stories about theater personalities he has worked with including Mike Nichols, Neil Simon, Tom Stoppard and John Goodman.

The 10th 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, we feature the 1959 Stephen Sondheim-Jule Styne collaboration, Gypsy, which starred Ethel Merman. We discuss the show and play a number of songs from the Original Broadway production.

I chat with Ted Chapin, the author of the book - Everything was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies. Visit the show page at https://broadwayradioprograms.com/2023/01/interview-with-ted-chapin/.

I chat with Musical Director Andrea Grody who has helmed such Broadway productions as The Band's Visit and Tootsie. She also worked on the Off-Broadway musical SUFFS. In addition, Ms. Grody has written a musical about individuals on the autism spectrum, Strange Faces.