Podcast appearances and mentions of Charles Isherwood

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall   The lads grab their broomsticks and defy gravity as they cover Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's megahit musical: Wicked. Topics include the twisted mind of Gregory Maguire, the highs and lows of Stephen Schwartz, and how to reckon with a show that is simultaneously trying to tackle the horrors of fascism and the inherent melodrama of wanting to kiss a hot Winkie.   Media Referenced in this Episode: Wicked. Book by Winnie Holzman, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Dir. Joe Montello. 2003. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. ReganBooks. 1995. Before 'Wicked' was a smash, it was stumbling in San Francisco by Jenny Singer. The San Francisco Standard. November 23rd, 2024. "Defying Gravity": Queer Conventions in the Musical "Wicked" by Stacy Wolf. Theatre Journal, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Mar., 2008). The John Hopkins University Press. “Gregory Maguire on Wickedness Post-Bush” by Erika Milvy. Clamour. February 27th, 2009. “John Bucchino and the Origins of Wicked the Broadway Musical” Still Popular: Chenoweth and Menzel Talk ‘Wicked' by Jackson McHenry. Vulture. October 24th, 2023. “THEATER REVIEW; There's Trouble in Emerald City” by Ben Brantley. NYTimes. October 31st, 2003. “‘They changed my ending, I felt aghast': how we made Wicked” by Chris Wiegand. The Guardian. September 27th, 2021. “Wicked Review” by Charles Isherwood. Variety. October 30th, 2003. “Wicked Review” by David Finkle. Theatremania. October 30th, 2003.   TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com   Interstitial: “Baritone” // Music by Stephen Schwartz // Lyrics by Dr. Samuel Bultch, D.D.S. // Featuring Dr. Samuel Bultch, D.D.S. as “Dr. Samuel Bultch, D.D.S.” and David Armstrong as “Stephen Schwartz”.

We have nothing in common...I like ESPN, and you like books and movies! Julia and Drew are joined by 1440 Business and Finance Editor Phoebe Bain to discuss Season 2, Episode 18 of Gossip Girl. This extremely fun episode has it all: school plays, Serena flirting with her gay drama teacher, a Charles Isherwood cameo, Kristen Doute's entrepreneurial ventures, and a slurpable new treat you can find at your local movie theater. XOXO, Girls Room. TW: This episode discusses themes of sexual misconduct and grooming. Follow Girls Room on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Drew on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Julia on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Phoebe on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

The Dolls take a trip to the Holiday Inn this week to explore the do's and don'ts of the making of a holiday classic. Join Em and Chelsea as they talk through the background and history of this Irving Berlin classic that Charles Isherwood calls "polished and pleasant". We are bringing back LISTENERSODES! Send your stories about theater, ghosts, fails, triumphs as an actor/performer via winesanddolls.com or winesanddolls@gmail.com! As always, feel free to reach out via email at winesanddolls@gmail.com or social media! Cheers! Help W&D be the best they can be by supporting us on Patreon at patreon.com/winesanddolls for a cheers on the show and other perks for Patreon members. Cheers to our current members: Bob, Noah, Victoria, Saundra, Julia and John! Follow us on instagram, Facebook TikTok, and twitter @winesanddolls Artwork by From Pen to Paper Studios Music from Guys and Dolls, 1992 on Spotify --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/winesanddolls/message

Bonus Episode Alert! Your favorite podcast hosts Jason A. Coombs and Samantha Tuozzolo are live on the red carpet of Monty Python's Spamalot from Thursday, November 16! Featuring interviews with the stars and production team of the show including Christopher Fitzgerald, James Monroe Iglehart, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Ethan Slater, Jimmy Smagula, Michael Urie, Nik Walker, Eric Idle, Josh Rhodes among others! Plus we chat with other attendees including Vanessa Williams, Julie White, Montego Glover, Adam Pascal, Douglas Lyons and more! ALL HAIL SPAMALOT! The Tony Award-winning musical comedy is back for the first time ever and Broadway is a happier place! Peter Marks of The Washington Post exclaims it's “gloriously hilarious! The jokes crackle, and the production numbers sparkle. SPAMALOT is funnier than ever.” Charles Isherwood of the Wall Street Journal raves the show is “deliriously funny. SPAMALOT is blazing like a burst of summer sunshine as winter draws near, it's pure glee.” And Jesse Green writes “it's a blissful Broadway revival” and awards it a New York Times Critic's Pick! Everything that makes a great knight in the theatre is here, from flying cows to killer rabbits, British royalty to French taunters, dancing girls, rubbery shrubbery, and of course, the Lady of the Lake. Seated at the round table are a royal court of jesters, filled with Tony winners, nominees, and Broadway favorites. Christopher Fitzgerald is Patsy, James Monroe Iglehart is King Arthur, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer is the Lady of the Lake, Ethan Slater is Prince Herbert, Jimmy Smagula is Bedevere, Michael Urie is Brave Sir Robin, and Nik Walker is Sir Galahad. The role of Lancelot will be played by Taran Killam through January 7th. Alex Brightman rejoins the cast as Lancelot on January 9th. More info and tickets on the show here! You can support the podcast and the hosts at www.buymeacoffee.com/SurvivalJobsPod and on Instagram at @surivaljobspod | @SammyTutz | @JasonACoombs.  Info on Your Hosts:  Broadway World Article on our Season 2 Launch Party Follow Samantha: Instagram.   |  Samantha's Official Website here Follow Jason on Instagram  | Twitter. Check out Jason's Official Website here Check out and support The Bridgeport Film Fest Important Links: Support the citizens of Gaza Native Land Map US Interior Indian Affairs NPR: "How To Help Puerto Rico" Article How to Help the People of Florida Article Abortion Funds Website Plan C Pills Website National Write Your Congressman Link How to help Uvalde families NPR Article Where to Donate to Support Access to Abortions Right Now Support Us... Please!  If you're feeling generous, Buy Us A Coffee HERE! Please don't become complacent: Support the Black Mamas Matter Alliance Support Families Detained and Separated at the Border.  Support the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund. Support Black Trans Folx here Donate to the Community League of the Heights (CLOTH) Support the People of Palestine How to be an Ally to the AAPI Community 168 Ways to Donate in Support of Black Lives and Communities of Color The New York Times: On Mexico's Border With U.S., Desperation as Migrant Traffic Piles Up PBS: How to help India during its COVID surge — 12 places you can donate Covid quarantine didn't stop antisemitic attacks from rising to near-historic highs Opening and Closing Theme Music: "One Love" by Beats by Danny | Game Music: "Wake Up" by MBB.  If you enjoy Survival Jobs: A Podcast be sure to subscribe and follow us on your preferred podcast listening app! Also, feel free to follow us on Instagram and Twitter! Thank you!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever since he burst onto the Broadway scene in the 1990s, Frank Wildhorn has remained an intriguing figure in American Musical Theatre. But Wildhorn's journey is far from a conventional success story, nor was it a typical path to the Broadway stage. But among his seven Broadway musicals, three of them have appeared at the Marquis Theater: Victor/Victoria, Wonderland, and a 2013 revival production of Jekyll & Hyde. (In fact, the title of this episode comes from a New York Times review of that revival by Charles Isherwood.) Now, Victor/Victoria will actually get its own episode to close out the first season of this podcast, so this one is actually going to be a combo episode, covering the other two shows together. That's because they both share a lot in common: Wonderland and Jekyll & Hyde were both written by Wildhorn, both were based on famous literary stories, both were universally panned, and both of them ran for less than a month. Here are the stories of how and why that happened. Follow on Instagram and listen to Closing Night on your favorite podcast app. --- Closing Night is a production of WINMI Media with Patrick Oliver Jones as host and executive producer. Dan Delgado is the editor and co-producer, not only for this podcast but also for his own movie podcast called The Industry. Maria Clara Ribeiro is co-producer, and a big thank you goes to E. Clay Cornelious for sharing his experiences with the short-lived Jekyll & Hyde revival and its cast and creatives. Click here to find the transcript for this episode and a full list of links and resources used. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Catherine Waller is an award winning actress and creator. Her solo show The Creeps has won awards internationally; (Best Female Performer Hollywood Fringe, Best of Amsterdam Fringe, Best Interactive Show, Best Physical Theater United Solo Festival) and her performance has been described as "an eerie, unforgettable marvel" (Charles Isherwood, Wall St Journal). She's worked with directors including Eric Stoltz (Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk), Janicza Bravo (Netflix's LOVE), and her role Amber on Hounds (Best Comedy Series NZTV Awards; "The Best Kiwi Comedy Ever Made", NZ Herald) premiered in the US on Netflix and garnered the Best Newcomer nomination (TV Guide's Best on the Box Awards.)   “ATTENTION SPOTIFY LISTENERS: IF you want to WATCH this with VIDEO, you can also subscribe to our video version: https://open.spotify.com/show/5e9KnBRZdjUTXTvCe6Nrqm?si=6639537c61044396” @theatreartlife Thank you to our sponsor @clear-com The TheatreArtLife Podcast is a branch of our larger TheatreArtLife Community. Come visit us at www.theatreartlife.com

Catherine Waller is an award winning actress and creator. Her solo show The Creeps has won awards internationally; (Best Female Performer Hollywood Fringe, Best of Amsterdam Fringe, Best Interactive Show, Best Physical Theater United Solo Festival) and her performance has been described as "an eerie, unforgettable marvel" (Charles Isherwood, Wall St Journal). She's worked with directors including Eric Stoltz (Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk), Janicza Bravo (Netflix's LOVE), and her role Amber on Hounds (Best Comedy Series NZTV Awards; "The Best Kiwi Comedy Ever Made", NZ Herald) premiered in the US on Netflix and garnered the Best Newcomer nomination (TV Guide's Best on the Box Awards.)   @theatreartlife Thank you to our sponsor @clear-com The TheatreArtLife Podcast is a branch of our larger TheatreArtLife Community. Come visit us at www.theatreartlife.com

The Flood is honored and thrilled to be invited by Mike Murdock and Nora Ankrom to be part of their Alchemy Theater's new production of the musical, Bright Star. This evening is opening night!The show runs for the next two weekends, July 7-9, 14-16 at Huntington's new Geneva Kent Center for the Arts at 68 Holley Ave. Doors open at 7 p.m. each evening. In addition, there is one matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 9.Besides joining the wonderful Mark Smith and John Kinley in the house band, we'll also be playing a little pre-show Flood set before each performance. That starts at about 7 each night.Because railroads play a big part in the play's story line, we'll offer a traditional train song or two in our set, like this Huddle Ledbetter classic. For the backstory on Lead Belly's great old tune, see our earlier Flood Watch article:All About “Bright Star”Bright Star — which opened on Broadway in the winter of 2016 after being workshopped three years earlier by New York Stage and Film at the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College — was written and composed by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.The story is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in 1945–46 with flashbacks to 1923. It opens with literary editor Alice Murphy meeting a soldier just home from World War II; something about the young man awakens Alice's longing for the child she lost many years earlier. Haunted by their unique connection, Alice sets out on a journey to understand her past. What she finds has the power to transform lives throughout the community.At its debut, Bright Star received high praise from critics. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times, for instance, called it a “shining achievement.” He added, “The complicated plot, divided between two love stories that turn out to have an unusual connection, threatens to get a little too diffuse and unravel like a ball of yarn rolling off a knitter's lap. But the songs … provide a buoyancy that keeps the momentum from stalling.”Spoiler Alert: The True StoryAs Alchemy Theater's posters for the show observe, Bright Star was inspired by a true story, and we're prepared to tell you that story. However, you might not want to know these details before you see the show.So — flash! — this is your spoiler alert: If you want the story to unfold on stage, stop reading right now. After you've seen the play for yourself, you can always come back here to read the rest of the story.That story begins on an August evening in 1902 near the town of Irondale, Missouri, when a 67-year-old farmer named William Helms was walking along the railroad tracks gathering lumber for a barn he wanted to build.Along the way, he watched the No. 4 engine of the Iron Mountain Railroad cross the Big River bridge on its run to St. Louis. Just then he heard a strange sound. Following it, Helms found a suitcase on a sandbar sticking out of the river. Inside he discovered a 5-day-old baby.Having fallen 50 feet, the child was badly bruised with a pronounced dent in his head. Helms took the baby home to his wife, Sarah Jane, and together they nursed him back to health. The suitcase also contained an extra set of clothing and some black thread, but nothing to identify the child. Although the Helms were up in years and had already raised a family, the couple decided to keep the infant.They gave him a name that was as long as his tumble from that train: William Moses Gould Helms. (“William” after his new foster father, "Gould” for Jay Gould, the owner of the railroad, and "Moses," because the boy was found at the water's edge like the biblical baby.)The story of the "Iron Mountain Baby" ran in St. Louis newspapers and spread across the country that summer and fall. Many came to see the baby and some offered to adopt him. At least one lady came, dressed in black, and claimed the child was hers.From Newspapers to Folk SongThe story might have ended there, but in early 1903 a preacher named Rev. J.T. Barton wrote a ballad called "The Iron Mountain Baby,” setting it to a traditional tune ("The Blind Child's Prayer"). Barton's song mistakes certain key details — like the number of the train, even the names of the principals — but it became very popular in its day: I have a song I'd like to singIt's awful but it's trueAbout a baby, thrown from a trainBy a woman, I know not who.Th' train was running at full speedT'was northbound number nine An' as it crossed th' river's bridgeShe cast it from the door.A Mother unkind, a Father untrueAnd yet, I'm bound to sayIt must have grieved that Mother's heartTo cast her baby away.The leaves in which this baby was foundWas fourteen inches longFive inches wide, six inches deepAn', O, so closely bound.It was Bill Williams who found this babe He heard its helpless cryHe took it to his loving wife;She would not let it die.She bathed and washed its little headAn' soon, it hushed its cryGod bless them both while they liveGod bless them when they die.We'll name him William Roscoe Because he has no nameThen, if he grows to be a manHe'll wear it just th' same.This ends my song, my story I've toldI'll say, goodbye to allUntil we meet around the throneIn that bright world above all.The RecordIn the late 1940s, the story reached yet another new audience, this time when Missouri-based country music star Johnny Rion recorded Barton's song.And the real Iron Mountain baby was still alive to hear the song on the air, though it is said that William Helms never really enjoyed his peculiar fame.More Re-TellingsNonetheless, his story simply wouldn't die.In 2007, Evault Boswell of Greenville, Texas, published a novel, The Iron Mountain Baby, which imagines a young William going to St. Louis to track down his real mother. There he finds intrigue and dishonesty in high places, and, of course, romance.Meanwhile, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell visited the story even before they wrote Bright Star. It was the subject of "Sarah Jane and the Iron Mountain Baby," from their 2013 album, Love Has Come for You.Baby Bill's LifeAfter the death of his foster father, William Moses Gould Helms moved with his adoptive mother to Salem, Missouri. He attended Southwest Missouri State Teachers College (his education paid for by the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway). He became a printer and sometimes-newspaper editor. In the 1930s, William and his new wife, Sally, moved to Texas, where he lived until his death in 1953.When the body was carried by rail back to Missouri for burial, it was only the second time that William ever rode a train. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com

Debra Messing (WILL & GRACE) returns to the stage in BIRTHDAY CANDLES as Ernestine Ashworth, who spends her 17th birthday agonizing over her insignificance in the universe. Soon enough, it's her 18th birthday. Even sooner, her 41st. Her 70th. Her 101st. Five generations, dozens of goldfish, an infinity of dreams, one cake baked over a century. What makes a lifetime… into a life? A writer of "freewheeling ambition" (Charles Isherwood, The New York Times), Noah Haidle makes his Broadway debut with a poignant new play as fearless in scope as it is tremendous in heart. Hear from critics Juan Michael Porter II, Bedatri D. Choudhury, and Christian Lewis as they review BIRTHDAY CANDLES. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Young Jean Lee is a playwright, director and filmmaker, as well an Associate Professor in Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford. Her plays include The Shipment (2009), Untitled Feminist Show (2011), and Straight White Men (2014). In 2012, Charles Isherwood called her "hands down, the most adventurous downtown playwright of her generation." Laura and Adrian talk to Young Jean Lee about that sense of adventure: what it takes to scare yourself, what feminist theater looks like today, and the role of hope and pleasure in performance even in dark times.

All In All With Stacy Keach Stacy Keach is an American actor and voice actor. He has played mainly dramatic roles throughout his career, often in law enforcement or as a private detective. His most prominent role was as Mickey Spillane’s fictional detective Mike Hammer, which he played in numerous stand-alone television films and at least three different television series throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The role earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination in 1984. Keach has appeared as the lead in films such as Fat City and The Ninth Configuration. He has also performed as a narrator for programs including CNBC’S American Greed (2008–) and various educational television programs. Comedic roles include Ken, the father of comedian Christopher Titus in the FOX sitcom Titus (2000–2002), and as Sergeant Stedenko in Cheech & Chong’s films Up in Smoke (1978) and Nice Dreams (1981). Keach won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for the television miniseries Hemingway (1988). An accomplished pianist and composer, Keach composed the music for the film, Imbued (2009), directed by Rob Nilssen, a celebrated film festival favorite, in which Keach also starred. He has also completed composing the music for the Mike Hammer audio radio series, “Encore For Murder”, written by Max Collins, directed by Carl Amari, and produced by Blackstone Audio. But it is perhaps the live theatre where Keach shines brightest. He began his professional career with the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1964, doubling as Marcellus and the Player King in a production of Hamlet directed by Joseph Papp and which featured Julie Harris as Ophelia. He rose to prominence in 1967 in the Off-Broadway political satire, MacBird, where the title role was a cross between Lyndon Johnson and Macbeth and for which he received the first of his three Obie awards. He played the title roles in Henry 5, Hamlet (which he played 3 times), Richard 3, Macbeth, and most recently as King Lear in Robert Falls’ modern adaptation at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, which Charles Isherwood of the NY Times called “terrific” and “a blistering modern-dress production that brings alive the morally disordered universe of the play with a ferocity unmatched by any other production I’ve seen.” Mr. Keach’s stage portrayals of Peer Gynt, Falstaff and Cyrano de Bergerac, and Hamlet caused the New York Times to dub him “the finest American classical actor since John Barrymore.” Keach is an inductee of the Theater Hall of Fame and was honored with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019. Of his many accomplishments, Keach claims that his greatest accomplishment is his family. He has been married to his beautiful wife Malgosia for twenty-five years, and they have two wonderful children, Shannon Keach (1988), and daughter Karolina Keach (1990). Website Link: 

If you’re an actor who’s signed on to share scenes with Michael Shannon, you’ve got yourself a bit of a dilemma. On one hand, you can count on people watching; on the other, you can be pretty certain they won’t be watching you. To be fair, nothing could be further from Shannon’s intent; co-stars and directors routinely praise his generosity and dedication to the success of any project he’s in. It’s just that the guy is – inherently, chronically and helplessly – riveting. Evidence of this seemingly hypnotic power came to light most publicly with his fairly small role in Revolutionary Road. Variety wrote, “The pic’s startling supporting turn comes from Michael Shannon, who’s mesmerizing as the clinically insane son of local realtor and busybody… When Shannon is onscreen, it’s impossible to watch anyone else.” In that instance, “anyone else” included Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Or take 99 Homes, which Time magazine called “a showcase for Shannon, who magnetizes all eyes, like a cobra in the corner.” Those are just two in a canon of some of the most consistently beaming reviews an actor could ever hope to paste in his scrapbook, though Shannon doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to keep one. If he did, it would be encyclopedic, as he’s piled up over 50 award nominations and an impressive number of wins over a career that comprises at least 100 film, TV and stage credits. So why is he not a household name? Hard to say, unless actors have to become “stars” to claim any permanency in our memory banks. What’s more confounding is that Shannon never planned to be an actor. He was a troubled, late-blooming kid who floundered in school and only defaulted to drama to get out of sports. He left school at 16 and with no formal training, was on stage in a year, TV the year after, and in Groundhog Day the year after that. Shannon tried working with an acting coach only once in his career, and said it was the worst audition he ever had. With fate apparently having done the heavy lifting, an impressive range of directors were quick to capitalize, including Michael Bay, Cameron Crowe, Oliver Stone, Peter Bogdanovich, Sydney Lumet, and even Tom Ford. As did HBO, casting him as Boardwalk Empire’s repressed G-man Nelson Van Alden. But no one has taken better advantage of Shannon’s facile embodiment of complex characters than Jeff Nichols, who directed him in Take Shelter, Midnight Special, and Shotgun Stories. Nichols has said, “Shannon makes me a better writer. He certainly makes me a better director. I wanted [Midnight Special] to be a very lean screenplay in terms of narrative and exposition, and if you’re writing that part for Mike, he’s going to be able to fill those spaces with all the subtext that you don’t want to have to write about. He can carry all of that on his face, and that makes him a very powerful tool for a writer/director like me.” What more directors need to take advantage of is Shannon’s range, which seems to be hiding in plain sight. He’s known for playing menacing, angry, possibly crazy guys whose ability to keep it all just beneath the surface keeps us in their thrall – quiet bears you do not want to poke. While he plays them subtly and brilliantly, he also made a surprisingly good low-key romantic lead in Frank & Lola. His comic chops are most evident on the stage, where he still spends as much time as possible. Look no further than his portrayal of showbiz huckster Felix Artifex in the comedy Mistakes Were Made, a role he’s reprised several times to wildly enthusiastic crowds and ticket sales. The New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood said Shannon shouldered the part “with a full arsenal of gifts: a subdued but strong natural presence, a voice rich in grit and capable of imbuing Felix’s wheedling and needling with a variety of emotional colors, a keen understanding of how pathos can feed comedy and vice versa.” Roger Ebert put it more succinctly: “His performance in Mistakes Were Made was one of the most amazing I have ever seen.” Given that it’s a one-man play, it may also be the only performance in which Shannon risked being upstaged. For all the taut wiring that sparks below his surface, Shannon says he’s learned to relax a bit more these days, and that approach has made him a better actor. Besides begging the question whether it’s possible for him to be any better, it also demonstrates a broad interpretation of the word “relax”. He already has eight projects in the works for next year, including Horse Soldiers, a Special Forces drama with Chris Hemsworth, and Signature Move, which he’s executive producing. He admits he may have a small problem turning down a great script. All the better for us. Maybe Shannon wasn’t looking to become an actor, but sometimes fate just gets things right.

Watching Elisabeth Moss as Mad Men’s sec-turned-exec Peggy Olson (as millions did for 88 addictive episodes) and in recent projects like Top of the Lake, High Rise and Queen of Earth, you’d be forgiven for assuming she’s a capital-S Serious or capital-M Method artist. Even director Jane Campion might’ve drawn the same conclusion from Moss’ Top of Lake audition tape. “It was remarkable…I just found myself really interested in watching this gentle, quiet, obviously interior performance. At the end of about six hours, I was still really interested. She’s a little bit like a Mona Lisa. There’s a lot that she’s not showing you.” It’s an impression Moss sometimes wishes were true, but acknowledges that capital-C Class Clown is more apt. (That was, in fact, the title unanimously bestowed by her Mad Men cast mates). So much for our illusions. As she told The Guardian in 2016, “I wish I was super-serious, anguished. I see those actors and think, God, they are so cool and seem so interesting. I don’t take acting that seriously.” But she does it seriously. Tales from several sets support her seeming ability to perform the acting equivalent of doing zero to 60 for a scene without ever appearing to bear down on the gas. “I was shocked at how quickly she metabolized the material,” Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner once marveled. “She is that kind of actress where we don’t ever intellectually delve into what is going on with her character. It’s almost like it doesn’t pass through Elisabeth’s brain. It’s completely instinctive. She works hard, but I think she also works hard to hide it. Either that, or she’s an alien.” Weiner may deal in alternative facts, but we’re going with the former, which begs the unanswerable question, what is instinct anyway? That’s probably not something an eight-year-old thinks much about. Moss just liked playing the TV roles she started getting at that age. But she also liked dancing, studying ballet seriously while being homeschooled as she pursued both. She earned her GED at 16 and decided acting offered the more physically enduring career option. She worked steadily in supporting film and TV parts like Girl, Interrupted and Picket Fences before being cast as first daughter Zoey Bartlet on West Wing. That led to Weiner’s casting her in Mad Men, which subsequently led to six Emmy nods and fame as an unintentional feminist icon. As Peggy Olson grew in confidence and complexity, her character’s storyline grew more compelling, rivaling Don Draper’s for our interest. If making us believe and champion Peggy’s huge personal and professional transformation is an accomplishment, an even bigger one is emerging from a seven-season national TV phenomenon without being forever identified with or pigeonholed by it. But even before the show ended, Moss told The Telegraph UK, “I think it’s up to you as an actor to make choices that are different, to stretch your ability, to not get too comfortable doing something you know you can do. Of course, if you play one character for five years, people are going to think of you as that character. But you can break out of that.” Can, and did. If viewers weren’t quite ready to move on, Moss was. She’s since chosen a string of largely independent projects that allow her to tell stories as diverse and interesting as the women in them. You’ll find virtually enslaved housewives (High Rise) single-minded detectives (Top Of Lake) and mourning, possibly unhinged vacationers (Queen Of Earth). Harder to find is a bad review. Just one of way too many to list is The New York Times’ take on the latter. “It is Ms. Moss, with her intimate expressivity, who annihilates you from first tear to last crushing laugh.” In addition to landing an emotional punch, she has a talent for landing herself in stories that regardless of time period or milieu are strikingly relevant to current times. None more so, unfortunately, than The Handmaid’s Tail, Hulu’s excellent and much buzzed-about adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel. On the off chance you’re not convinced of her versatility – or guts – know that when Moss decided to try the stage for the first time in 18 years of acting, she did it on Broadway, in Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, no less. And there was The Heidi Chronicles. While you could argue there’s no one better suited to play its evolving, wisecracking proto-feminist lead, taking on an iconic 1989 role and making it resonate in 2015 is a gamble. It paid off with a Tony nod and raves from noted theater critic Charles Isherwood, who called Moss “a superb actor who possesses the unusual ability to project innocence and smarts at the same time.” High praise, but as far as Moss is concerned, Get Him to the Greek is as valid a choice as the largely improvised indie The One I Love, if it makes her a better actor. Whether that’s possible is debatable, but what’s not is this: More than ever, we need stories about heroic, flawed and completely believable women, and few actors play them better.

Brantley, Ben, and Charles Isherwood. “Critics' Picks.” The New York Times, 1 June 2008. Isherwood, Charles. “On This Rock, Build a Future for Musicals.” The New York Times, 24 June 2007. Isherwood, Charles. “Breaking the Mold of the Musical.” The New York Times, 24 Feb. 2008. Green, Penelope. “Setting the Stage, Offstage.” The New York Times, 20 Mar. 2008. Robertson, Campbell. “A Season With an Unpredictable Plot.” The New York Times, 13 May 2008. Robertson, Campbell. “This Year's Tony List Is Filled With Unusual Suspects.” The New York Times, 14 May 2008. Robertson, Campbell. “Roads to Recognition That Were Really Short.” The New York Times, 1 June 2008. Robertson, Campbell. “Sunday in the Dark With Tony?” The New York Times, 13 June 2008. Brantley, Ben. “On the Big Stage, No Urge to Disturb.” The New York Times, 15 June 2008. Robertson, Campbell. “Big Shows and Tonys Are Talking Happy Talk.” The New York Times, 17 June 2008. Holden, Stephen. “Not Your Mother's Original-Cast Albums.” The New York Times, 27 June 2008. Blankenship, Mark. “On the Stage, No More Mr. Tough Guy.” The New York Times, 27 July 2008. Schmidt, Gregory. “Broadway's Marketing Turns Interactive.” The New York Times, 26 Nov. 2008. Lyon, Shauna, and Shauna Lyon. “Tony Awards Q. & A.” The New Yorker, 19 June 2017. Lunden, Jeff. “Reading the Tony Awards Tea Leaves.” NPR, 15 June 2008. “Finally, Some Drama at the Tonys: Could 'Passing Strange' Upset 'In the Heights'?” Vulture, 12 June 2008. McCarter, Jeremy. “In the Heights - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Dead Man's Cell Phone -- New York Magazine Theater Review - Nymag.” New York Magazine, 13 Mar. 2008. Isherwood, Charles. “Broadway's Not Stale, So Why Are the Tonys?” The New York Times, 21 June 2008. Itzkoff, Dave. “'In the Heights' Recoups Its Initial Investment.” The New York Times, 9 Jan. 2009. Ryzik, Melena. “Heights Before Broadway.” The New York Times, 14 Mar. 2008. Isherwood, Charles. “From the Corner Bodega, the Music of Everyday Life.” The New York Times, 9 Feb. 2007. Robertson, Campbell. “You're 27. Here Are Millions to Stage Your Musical.” The New York Times, 18 Feb. 2007. Isherwood, Charles. “The View From Uptown: American Dreaming to a Latin Beat.” The New York Times, 10 Mar. 2008. Itzkoff, Dave. [“'In The Heights' Movie in the Works.”}(https://www.artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/in-the-heights-movie-in-the-works/?searchResultPosition=174) The New York Times, 7 Nov. 2008. Als, Hilton. “Friends And Lovers.” The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2008. Ross, Lillian. “Local Boy.” The New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2007. “Lin-Manuel Miranda of 'In the Heights' on No Longer Being in the Heights.” Vulture, 7 Mar. 2008. McCarter, Jeremy. “In the Heights -- New York Magazine Theater Review.” New York Magazine, 14 Feb. 2007. Finn, Robin. “When Brush With Broadway Ends, She'll Play On.” The New York Times, 20 June 2008. Lee, Felicia R. “A Broadway Mother of Many Identities.” The New York Times, 8 Mar. 2008. Isherwood, Charles. “Look Back in Chagrin: A Rocker's Progress.” The New York Times, 15 May 2007. Sontag, Deborah. “A Musical Star Plucked From the Underground.” The New York Times, 21 May 2007. Solomon, Deborah. “Interview: Strange Magic.” The New York Times, 17 Feb. 2008. Isherwood, Charles. “It's a Hard Rock Life.” The New York Times, 29 Feb. 2008. Isherwood, Charles. “Look Back in Chagrin: A Rocker's Progress.” The New York Times, 15 May 2007. “UrbanEye: 'Passing Strange'.” The New York Times, 29 Feb. 2008. Kachka, Boris. “Stew on Taking Passing Strange to the Screen With Spike Lee.” Vulture, 21 Aug. 2009. Als, Hilton. “Young American.” The New Yorker, 18 June 2017. Bianculli, David, and Jeff Lunden. “'Passing Strange,' a Musical With a Rock Swagger.” NPR, 28 Feb. 2008. Ebert, Roger. “Passing Strange Movie Review & Film Summary (2009): Roger Ebert.” RogerEbert.com, 19 Aug. 2009. Scott, A. O. “A Young Artist's Journey, This Time on Film.” The New York Times, 20 Aug. 2009. Martin, Michael. “Can 'Xanadu' Make It on Broadway? -- New York Magazine.” New York Magazine, 25 May 2007. David, Cara Joy. “Old Movie, New Musical, First-Time Producers.” The New York Times, 7 July 2007. Als, Hilton. “Chasing The Muse.” The New Yorker, 18 June 2017. Bosman, Julie. “Whoopi to Join 'Xanadu'.” The New York Times, 15 July 2008. Piepenburg, Erik. “Returning to Broadway on Celestial Roller Skates.” The New York Times, 17 June 2007. Robertson, Campbell. “Insert Tony Stunt Here.” The New York Times, 15 May 2008. Miller, Winter. “Last Actress Standing.” The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2007. Robertson, Campbell. “In 'Xanadu' Did Actors Get Banged Up.” The New York Times, 22 Sept. 2007. Isherwood, Charles. “Serious Conductor Answers the Call of the Roller Disco.” The New York Times, 2 Sept. 2007. Isherwood, Charles. “Heaven on Wheels, and in Leg Warmers.” The New York Times, 11 July 2007. Brantley, Ben. “Swivel-Hipped Rebel and Restless Virgin Meet Cute.” The New York Times, 25 Apr. 2008. Pincus-Roth, Zachary. “Give Their Attitude to Broadway.” The New York Times, 13 Apr. 2008. Levy, Ariel. “How John Waters Maintains His Warped Obsessions -- New York Magazine.” New York Magazine, 21 Mar. 2008. Woolf, Brandon. “Negotiating the ‘Negro Problem’: Stew’s Passing Made Strange.” Brandon Woolf Performance , July 2014.

Laura Dreyfuss sat down for a live interview with Ilana at the W Hotel in Times Square on a rainy Sunday night and they talked about everything from life after Dear Evan Hansen, their friendship with Tony Award winner Ben Platt and their mutual love of dogs! Dreyfuss just wrapped season one of the highly anticipated Netflix series THE POLITICIAN, created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. In it, she stars opposite Ben Platt, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Lange. Before that, Dreyfuss starred in and originated the lead female role of “Zoe” in the Broadway musical, “Dear Evan Hansen.” Dreyfuss played the role since the musical made its world premiere in 2015 at Arena Stage in Washington D.C. She was nominated for a 2016 Helen Hayes Award for Best Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Musical on behalf of that performance. Dreyfuss then performed in the role off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater before its highly anticipated transfer to Broadway’s Music Box Theatre in December 2016. Since its Broadway debut, “Dear Evan Hansen” and the individual performances have been acclaimed by fans and critics alike. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times called Dreyfuss’ performance “sensitive” and “altogether lovely.” The musical won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Dreyfuss received a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album, and a Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program. Previous stage credits for Dreyfuss include the 2010 U.S. National Tour and 2011 Broadway revival of “Hair” understudying the roles of Sheila Franklin and Crissy. She also appeared in the original Broadway production of “Once”, eventually playing the lead female role, Girl, opposite Steve Kazee. “Once” was awarded the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2012. On the small screen, Dreyfuss is best known for portraying Madison McCarthy in the sixth season of the FOX television series, “Glee.” She appeared in 11 episodes and can be heard on the series’ covers of “Chandelier” by Sia, “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and “Come Sail Away” by Styx. She can currently be seen in a recurring role on the second season of the Emmy winning Amazon series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Dreyfuss holds a BFA in Musical Theater from the Boston Conservatory.

 Owen O'Neill is a veteran of the Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, having performed stand-up or theatre gigs there for over twenty years. He was nominated for the 1994 Perrier Award with his show "It's a Bit Like This", and won a Fringe First in 1999 with Sean Hughes for the theatre show "Dehydrated and Travellin' Light".[4] Theatre sets have included 12 Angry Men, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and The Odd Couple. Stand-up has included "Off My Face" and "It Was Henry Fonda's Fault". As a writer, his debut feature film Arise and Go Now was screened by BBC2 and was directed by Danny Boyle and starred Ian Bannen.[5] He has adapted a number of his works of short fictions to be plays or films. His short film The Basket Case won the best Irish short at the 2008 Boston Irish Film Festival. O'Neill's play Absolution performed on Off Broadway in 2010 to good reviews. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times praised the effective writing and O'Neill's performance as "hold[ing] the attention fast with its understated, almost offhand intensity".I met up with him in my dressing room at the Stand 2 during the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The Emmy, Tony and Oscar award winner Joel Grey looks back at a sensational career that has spanned seven decades. It all started back at the Cleveland Playhouse when he was just 9 years old and still flourishes on Broadway and in Hollywood to this day. Subscribe and download on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Tune In, Stitcher. In this episode, Mr. Grey talks about how he overcame antisemitism, hid from his sexuality, and made his way from the nightclub circuit to the bright lights of Broadway where he originated his famous role as the M.C. in Cabaret, a role that brought him a Tony and an Oscar. Wonderful stories throughout this episode including gems about Cabaret and the movie's director Bob Fosse, his co-star Liza Minnelli and many more. As part of our Broadway series, the former NY Times theatre critic Charles Isherwood hosts this entertaining episode with the series producer Brad Newman. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram. We want to know what you think. Pitch us an artist, or simply spread the word and find out more about the series. #childrenofsong

The two-time Tony Award winner, Chita Rivera looks back at her sensational career from charming the master choreographer George Balanchine, to wowing audiences in the American classic West Side Story... and beyond. This episode includes her journey with the composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb and their winning collaboration in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Subscribe and download on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Tune In, Stitcher. Ms. Rivera and her daughter Lisa Mordente provide colorful stories and rare insight into what it was like to grow up inside a musical family and on a Broadway stage. As part of our Broadway series, the former NY Times theatre critic Charles Isherwood hosts this lovely ride down memory lane with the series producer Brad Newman. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram. We want to know what you think. Pitch us an artist, or simply spread the word and find out more about the series. #childrenofsong

In this episode, the Broadway star Andrea McArdle stops by to talk about the little red-headed orphan she made famous 40 years ago.  With her big distinct voice, Andrea brought an edge and a softness to the title character that's been emulated by every girl who's played Annie in the award-winning musical ever since. Subscribe and download on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Tune In, Stitcher. Andrea provides some rare insight in how she landed the role.  We'll find out she was actually the first actress to audition for the part, but strangely enough she was not the producers first pick.  We'll learn how she got the part, how she dealt with being part of a cultural phenomenon and how she and the cast would wind down at the famous nightclub Studio 54 after big performances. As part of our Broadway series, the former NY Times theatre critic Charles Isherwood hosts this wonderful ride down memory lane.  The series producer Brad Newman adds color and insight. Like us on Facebook.  Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.  We want to know what you think.  Pitch us an artist, or simply spread the word and find out more about the series. #childrenofsong

The Tony-award winner Jim Dale is one of the most physically gifted comics of his generation, yet most people only know him as the voice behind the wonderful Harry Potter audio books.  In the popular J.K. Rowling series, he plays 147 distinct characters which is a Guinness Book world record.  In this episode, we learn how Jim came up with the voices behind those quirky characters, some of whom he met on the street, and others he borrowed from his eccentric family. Subscribe and download on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Tune In, Stitcher. Jim shares stories from his early days doing physical comedy in the English music halls across the U.K.  He also talks about getting signed by the famous Beatles producer, George Martin and his short but productive stint as a pop star.  We also hear about his rise in the theatre, first working with Laurence Olivier's company and then crossing the pond where he won a Tony for his turn as the title character in the musical, "Barnum." The former NY Times theatre critic Charles Isherwood hosts this entertaining episode, which is part of our Broadway series.  The series producer Brad Newman adds insight. Like us on Facebook.  Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.  We want to know what you think.  Pitch us an artist, or simply spread the word and find out more about the series. #childrenofsong

They grew up in tiny towns in different corners of the heartland, but Kristin Chenoweth and Kelli O'Hara both found their way to the one and only Florence Birdwell.  A tough vocal coach who would challenge their talent, Mrs. Birdwell insisted on their best, and ultimately supported and championed their careers for the rest of her life. Subscribe and download on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Tune In, Stitcher. In this episode we'll hear from the joyful, passionate, no-nonsense Mrs. Birdwell and see how she touched these lovely Broadway stars, developing their emotional core, as much as she cultured their craft. Kristin and Kelli share intimate stories about their beginnings in New York, the funny quirks of their wonderful teacher, and the lasting mark of a mentor who has never left their side. Former NY Times theatre critic, Charles Isherwood hosts this wonderful trip down memory lane with the series producer, Brad Newman. Like us on Facebook.  Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.  We want to know what you think.  Pitch us an artist, or simply spread the word and find out more about the series. #childrenofsong

Our very first mini-episode (though, we're calling them intermissions)! A little Theatre Geek gabfest about various items of the day. Including: Correction regarding Annie 2, Donna Murphy in Hello Dolly, and Charles Isherwood v. NYT. So much to fit into 20 min!

We tackle Aaron Hernandez's double homicide trial, Darrelle Revis' superhero antics on Pittsburgh's southeast side, Harrison Ford's near miss at John Wayne, Charles Isherwood's firing from the NY Times, the custody battle between Paula Patton and Robin Thicke and what it means to be a lawyer on reality television.

Booth One continues its string of lively guest co-host episodes with our good friend Paul Stroili, actor, writer, director and filmmaker, sitting in the hot seat for still-recuperating Roscoe. Who has, by the way, rented a Barca Lounger to watch movies from for his convalescence. We're going to need a photo of that. Frequent Booth One listeners will remember that Paul has appeared on past episodes, talking about his long-running hit production of Tony n' Tina's Wedding and just being his hilarious, Booth One type entertaining self. He's working on writing a sequel to that outstanding piece of audience interactive theater. We can't wait! Gary and Paul take a look at the current Broadway season, highlighting Glenn Close as Norma Desmond in the new revival of Sunset Boulevard. The NY Times says that her reinvented performance after 22 years "may well guarantee its status as one of the great stage performances of this century." And "one of those rare instances where more is truly more." An actor cannot win a Tony for the same role, even in different productions. Yul Brynner was given an honorary Tony when he appeared in a revival of The King and I. Could there be a "special" Tony Award in the offing for Close? Read the full review here. We also discuss the upcoming revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, featuring Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon in the roles of Regina and Birdie, directed by Daniel Sullivan at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Here's the catch - the actresses will alternate parts at select performances! Now that's something worth seeing in back-to-back seatings. We'll eagerly await the notices when this show opens in mid-April. And hope to see it ourselves. A fun fact: The title of the play was suggested by Dorothy Parker. One of our favorite theater reviewers, Charles Isherwood, is leaving his post at the New York Times for points unknown. Isherwood not only reviewed Broadway and off-Broadway fare, but he was a frequent viewer and critic of Chicago and other regional theater productions. Booth One has always enjoyed his insight and candor. There's a wonderful opportunity here for the up-and-coming new generation of cultural art critics. If you or a loved one are interested in pursuing this position, American Theatre has published the full job description. See how many of the requirements you qualified for. Who knows? We might be quoting from your review some day on Booth One! It's that time of year again....OSCAR time! Gary and Paul handicap their favorites in the major categories alongside picks received from Roscoe! Will La La Land make a sweep? Or is Hidden Figures the dark horse for best picture? Natalie Portman, Emma Stone or Meryl Streep as Best Actress? Denzel or Casey? What to say about Mahershala Ali in Moonlight! Play along with the guys by downloading your own Oscar ballot here. Judy Garland no longer rests in New York State. Her remains were recently exhumed and transferred to Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, ostensibly to be nearer her three living children. Now residing near the burial grounds of Cecil B. DeMille and Mickey Rooney, Judy's coffin is at rest in the Land of Angels. "City of stars, are you shining just for me?" Paul tells of his experiences watching films projected on the side of Douglas Fairbank's memorial in Forever Cemetery. Perhaps one day soon they will screen The Wizard of Oz in tribute to a great lady. A final tidbit of information for our listeners - check out Ryan Murphy's newest series, Feud: Bette and Joan upcoming on Sundays to FX. This latest FX anthology will no doubt thrust stars Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon, who play Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, respectively, into awards conversations for next year. Kiss of Death David Shepard - Film Preservationist Shepard began accumulating old films at age 12, buying them reel by reel with money he earned from his paper route. Over the years,

The New York Times fired theater critic Charles Isherwood after evidence suggests he had a friendly relationship with producer Scott Rubin that could have been viewed as a conflict of interest.  Wait, what?! The New York Times is worried about a bias?   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

Charles Isherwood is an American theater critic. He wrote for Back Stage West in Los Angeles. In 1993, he joined the staff of Variety, where he was promoted to the position of chief theatre critic in 1998. In 2004, Isherwood was hired by the New York Times. He has been working at The Old Gray Lady for over a decade now, reviewing shows all over town (and the country). He sees hundreds of shows per year. Hundreds. You try that sometime . . . and then try to write a logical, coherent, and entertaining article about it. (What we forget about critics is that not only do they have to be super schooled in the theater . . . but they also have to be great writers – and whether you agree with Charles or not, no one can dispute his way with a few hundred words.) Charles was generous enough to sit down with me and chat about the state of theatrical criticism and all sorts of other stuff, including: Why we’ll never go back to making reviewers review the opening night performance. What he thinks when he sees a quote from one of his reviews splashed an a marquee. Why Writers should NOT read his reviews. What he’s looking forward to this season. How he responds to “hate mail.”   Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway www.theproducersperspective.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most interesting musicals to appear on Broadway this season brings a new look to an almost century-old story. Ninety-five years ago, Shuffle Along was an unprecedented sight on the Great White Way: a show written, produced, directed and performed by an African-American cast of characters. The not-quite-a-revival carries the unwieldy full title: Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, which New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood calls "truth in advertising."  The current production, starring Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell with choreography by Savion Glover and direction by George C. Wolf (who also wrote the book), has earned 10 Tony Award nominations. Isherwood explains why the show is deserving of those accolades.

The 2016 Tony nominees were announced on Tuesday, and Charles Isherwood, theater critic of The New York Times, joins WQXR morning host, Jeff Spurgeon, to gab about the big news. Most notably, the juggernaut known as Hamilton met lofty expectations with a record 16 nominations.  The musical about founding father Alexander Hamilton headlines a diverse list of potential winners, in contrast to the pool of Academy Award nominees that begat the #OscarsSoWhite social-media movement. In addition to trying to predict how many statuettes Hamilton creator Lin Manuel Miranda will take home, Isherwood mentions who was snubbed and which of the year's races are the most competitive. Listen to the discussion in the audio above.

Broadway is home to another a new musical based on a movie. Waitress springs from the 2007 film of the same name and tells the story of a small-town girl, who dreams of an escape from her small-town existence. It stars Jessie Mueller, who makes an even stronger impression than in her Tony Award-winning portrayal of the songwriter Carole King in Beautiful, the Carole King Musical. Pop artist Sara Bareilles wrote the songs for the show with care toward the characters and attention to language. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood joins WQXR morning host Jeff Spurgeon to offer more about what this Waitress is serving to theater audiences at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

Tracy Letts, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (August: Osage County) and Tony Award-winning actor (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf), has a new play running at his home company, Chicago-based Steppenwolf Theatre. The play, Mary Page Marlowe, tells the story of one woman at various points throughout her life. And to accomplish this, she is played by six talented actresses with a supporting cast of equal caliber. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood visited the Windy City to see the production and offers his impressions of the play, Anna D. Shapiro’s direction, reasons behind dividing the title role into a half dozen parts and whether it may land in New York in the near future.

Set at an urban public school on the brink of closure for the usual reasons — poor test scores and low graduation rates — playwright Ike Holter's Exit Strategy is an indictment of the state of public education but not a polemic. Much of the play takes place in a teacher's lounge, where faculty discuss their previous stints failing schools. When one enterprising student hacks into school's website, creating a Kickstarter campaign for last-ditch fund-raising, several teachers are inspired to act. Despite the serious subject matter, "the play is quite funny," says New York Times theater critic, Charles Isherwood. "The characters are wisecracking their way through this crisis in their careers."

This spring, England’s Royal Shakespeare Company has taken up residence at the Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It's presenting four of Shakespeare’s plays — Richard II; Henry IV, Parts I and II; and Henry V — in a package called King and Country: Shakespeare’s Great Cycle of Kings. Our intrepid critic, Charles Isherwood of The New York Times, has traveled far from Broadway to take in approximately 12 hours of the Bard's prose and verse over three days. During that period, he experienced David Tennant as Richard II, Antony Scher as Falstaff and Alex Hassell as Prince Hal, who becomes King Henry V, and reports that the company is in good hands. Click on the audio above to hear more of his impressions. Performances of the productions continue through May 1.

Dry Powder, a new play that just debuted at The Public Theater, is bringing the same discussions about the world of finance to the stage as the film The Big Short brought to the movies. The title refers to cash reserves or highly liquid assets, which are central to playwright Sarah Burgess's plot about an executive facing a PR nightmare after throwing himself a lavish party at the same time his firm is forcing layoffs. The play comes to The Public with a big endorsement as co-recipient of this year’s Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, given to an unproduced full-length play by an emerging playwright. The award comes with a $25,000 prize for the playwright and $50,000 for the company first mounting it. It also boasts a star-studded cast, featuring Claire Danes, Hank Azaria and John Krasinski, in his stage debut. Meanwhile, its director, Thomas Kail, has another show running now in New York — perhaps you've heard of it: Hamilton. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood lets us know his investment in the production. 

With its suggestive exclamation point, the title of the new Broadway musical Disaster! hints at the campy, over-the-top qualities it brings to the Nederlander Theatre. Set on a cruise ship precariously moored along the Hudson River, the show spoofs disaster movies such as The Poseidon Adventure and Earthquake that were popular in the 1970s. It also features a number of disco hits and pop songs of the era. Written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick, the production has assembled a cast of well-known Broadway names: Faith Prince, Roger Bart, Adam Pascal and Kerry Butler, among them. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood has experienced this Disaster! first-hand and weighs in on its less-than calamitous results.

Zimbabwean-American playwright Dania Gurira is having a moment. Her play Eclipsed has just transferred to Broadway in a production starting Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o at the Golden Theatre, and her work, Familiar, is now running at Playwrights Horizons. New York Times theater crick Charles Isherwood joins us to talk about this notable feat.  "For dead white men it's not that unusual," to have two plays simultaneously on stage in New York City, he says, adding, "but for a black women it's quite remarkable. And in fact Eclipsed has made history in the sense that it's the first Broadway play that is directed by written by and entirely acted by black women." Eclipsed is the darker of the two works, exploring of the brutal treatment of women during the Liberian civil war. Familiar provides a little more levity, as it follows the drama set in motion when a Zimbabwean aunt visits her family in Minnesota.

As the Obama era is about to begin, four brilliant, accomplished people — Harvard types, all of them — consider racism in America in “Smart People” by playwright Lydia R. Diamond. While the hot-button issue is difficult for these intellectuals to articulate, it manifests concretely through the characters' relationships with each other. Kenny Leon directs the production by Second Stage Theatre, featuring a strong cast comprised of Mahershala Ali, Joshua Jackson, Anne Son and Tessa Thompson.  New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood checks it out to see if the play is as smart as the characters in it.

Actor Len Cariou has enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Among his many appearances, he created the role Sweeney Todd in the eponymous Stephen Sondheim musical. Perhaps less well-known is Cariou’s long résumé of Shakespearean roles. Early in his career, he performed in several of Shakespeare's plays at both the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Now, in his new one-man show, Broadway and the Bard, Cariou presents Shakespeare's soliloquies alongside apt show tunes. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood shares his impressions.

While on the latest of her many supposed deathbeds, a "tart-tongued" mother, played by Tony-winner Linda Lavin, reveals to her children the details of a tryst from decades past that may resonate in the present in Richard Greenberg's "Our Mother's Brief Affair." The play, directed by Lynne Meadow, also features Kate Arrington, Greg Keller and John Procaccino. Lavin is "an occasion unto herself," says New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood, as he weighs in on the merits of this 11th collaboration between Greenberg and the Manhattan Theatre Club, which is currently running on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

To mark last year's centennial of the birth of the writer and theologian Thomas Merton, the Actors Theater of Louisville has produced a play about him called "The Glory of the World." Merton spent much of his life in a Trappist monastery near Louisville. The play, written by Charles Mee and directed by Les Waters, has now blown its way into the Harvey Theater at BAM. The play is by no means a straightforward biographical drama and, in fact, it's unusual enough that we’ll just let New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood explain. "The Glory of the World" can be seen at the Harvey Theater through Feb. 6.

The beloved 1964 musical "Fiddler on the Roof," with its book by Joseph Stein and score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, is back on Broadway this season. Based on writer Sholem Aleichem's Yiddish tales of Tevye the milkman, this new production of "Fiddler" is the show's fifth return to the Great White Way. The role of Tevye was originated by Zero Mostel, played on stage and film by Chaim Topol, and on Broadway by Herschel Bernardi, Theodore Bikel, Leonard Nimoy and Harvey Fierstein, among others. In this production, five-time Tony Award nominee Danny Burstein has the role, and the director is Bartlett Sher, acclaimed for his Rodgers and Hammerstein revivals on Broadway. But do we really need yet another "Fiddler on the Roof?" New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood explains why we just might. "Fiddler on the Roof" runs through July 3 at the Broadway Theatre.

Arthur Miller’s "A View from the Bridge" hasn’t exactly been a stranger to Broadway. It has already been revived three times, most recently in 2010 in a production starring Liev Schreiber. But it’s back once more this season in an innovative production from the Dutch director Ivo van Hove. The staging was originally seen at London’s Young Vic Theater and later in the West End. Ivo van Hove is known for his radically stylized productions of classic plays by authors ranging from Ibsen to Moliere to Lillian Hellman. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood lets us in on how the director approaches this particular American classic. "A View from the Bridge" runs through Feb. 21 at the Lyceum Theatre.

The new musical "These Paper Bullets!" at the Atlantic Theater Company bills itself as a "modish ripoff" of Shakespeare’s comedy "Much Ado About Nothing." The new adaptation is by Rolin Jones, who has updated the setting to London during the swinging sixties. The production, directed by Jackson Gay, also features new songs written by Billie Joe Armstrong, the front man for the band Green Day who wrote the Tony Award-winning musical "American Idiot." We are used to seeing Shakespeare plays set in any number of times and places, and we ask New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood if this production sounds like something more radical.

One of the world’s most successful musicians returns to his musical roots in his latest Broadway show. Andrew Lloyd Webber, best-known for "Phantom of the Opera," "Evita" and other shows that feature pop music in an operatic vein, has made a musical out of the movie "School of Rock." The 2003 film starred Jack Black as a slacker dude who gets a job as an elementary school teacher.  It’s a throwback for Lloyd Webber, whose first successes, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Jesus Christ Superstar," were musically cast in a more pop-rock idiom. The new show also features a book written by Julian Fellowes, creator of "Downton Abbey." New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood checked it out to see if Lloyd Webber still has his magic touch. "School of Rock" can be seen at the Winter Garden Theater.

A downtown theater playwright, a sensational Broadway actress and a most unusual family are all part of the show called "Hir" (pronounced "here"). Playwright Taylor Mac is probably best known — to those who follow downtown theater, at least — as an androgynous singer and actor who appears in his own shows. But with "Hir," in which he does not appear, he’s advancing his career in a new direction. The family-in-crisis story involves a returning war veteran, an angry spouse and more than a little gender-bending. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood looks at this twice-extended bold comedy, which has been extended yet a third time to run through Jan. 3 at Playwrights Horizons.

Actor George Takai is best known as Sulu from "Star Trek," as well as for his LGBT activism and funny posts on Facebook. He and Lea Salonga, the original Kim in “Miss Saigon,” are the headliners in the new Broadway musical "Allegiance," which tackles a tough historical subject. Like many thousands of Japanese-Americans, Takai was interned by the U.S. government in camps during World War II after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood offers his review of "Allegiance," which features a score by Jay Kuo and book by Kuo, Marc Acito and Lorenzo Thione, in a production directed by Stafford Arima. It runs through September 2016, at the Longacre Theatre.

Charles Isherwood on Robert Wilson's interpretation of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's “Threepenny Opera”.

Charles Isherwood on the Atlantic Theater Company's production of “Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling,” the new play by Adam Rapp.

Charles Isherwood on the new play “Imagining Madoff” by Deborah Margolin.

Charles Isherwood on the Stephen Sondheim — James Goldman musical “Follies”.

Charles Isherwood on the Sydney Theater Company's revival of "Uncle Vanya" at the Kennedy Center in Washington.