ON BROADWAY

I chat with Laurence O'Keefe, the composer of Bat Boy: The Musical, which was revived for a production at the 2025 NY City Center Encores. We talk about that show, and some of his other works. Two new songs written for the Encores show are premiered.

On this week's episode of 'On Broadway', I interview Mark Cabaniss, author of Miracle of The Music Man: The Classic American Story of Meredith Willson. Cabaniss steps back into the Golden Age of Broadway and brings to life the origins of this classic show, the music behind it, and the unlikely story of its creator. Interweaving behind-the-scenes accounts of people who worked with Willson, Cabaniss looks at his long and unusual career as a composer, conductor, radio personality, and flutist, which reached its pinnacle in The Music Man.

During a 3-year period, beginning in November 2021, Stephen Sondheim scholar Rick Pender and I reviewed every Sondheim musical.

However, a taping of one episode was misplaced - Sondheim's only foray into TV musicals, the show Evening Primrose.

That show, which aired on November 16, 1966 on the ABC Network, and starred Anthony Perkins and Charmian Carr (who played Liesl in the movie of The Sound of Music), is presented here.

I chat with Drew Bastian and Julianne B. Merrill, two cast members from the Off-Broadway, jukebox musical Music City. At the time of the interview, there was no indication the show would close, but the following day, it was announced that Music City would be closing on September 19, 2026.

This week, we explore the music of Charles Strouse.

Long-time listener, Sharon Kahn, made a generous contribution to the Sounds of Broadway studios and earned herself the right to create a playlist for our streaming radio station or serve as a guest host for this podcast.

She chose the latter and talks about the career of Charles Strouse. We play a generous number of selections from the musicals for which he composed the music.

My guest this week is Ethan Popp, a Grammy®, Olivier®, and three-time Tony® Award nominee, who is nominated this year for the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for The Lost Boys. He is also the Music Director for the show.

He has worked with some of the biggest musical acts in the recording business, including Queen, Tina Turner, Elton John, Stevie Nicks, Bono, Alice Cooper, and Smokey Robinson.

In film, he was the Music Production Supervisor for the 2017 film “The Greatest Showman” and served as vocal coach for Academy® Award winner Rami Malek in the movie “Boh...

I chat with Dr. Kristin Stultz Pressley, a Broadway historian and lecturer and the co-host of the Dr. Broadway Podcast. We talk about her new book - Jukebox Musicals: Crazy for You to MJ the Musical (Essential Musicals).

The book explores a style of show that's dominated Broadway for the better part of two decades.

Through a chronological look at the development of long-running hits, like Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys, this book traces the Jukebox Musical from when it was an exception on Broadway to when it became the rule.

...

On this week’s episode of On Broadway, I chat with Adam Gwon, an American composer and lyricist. He made his off-Broadway debut in 2009 with Ordinary Days. He has written eight other musicals that have premiered Off-Broadway and at major regional theaters across the country. 

Gwon has been a recipient of the Fred Ebb Foundation Award, presented to aspiring composer/lyricists, as well as the Kleban Prize for most promising musical theater lyricist.

This week I speak with the composing team of Tom James McGrath and Amy Clare Tasker about their new musical Rising. Songs from the show are incorporated into the episode.

Rising reimagines the 1916 Dublin rebellion through the inner life of Patrick Pearse, its most enigmatic leader. As he leads the charge against the British Empire, Patrick must reconcile his public role with the private self he has kept hidden – his queerness, his sensitivity, and his doubts.

Fighting alongside him are a community of eccentrics: artists, bookworms, socialists and...

I speak to Nicholas Brown-Cáceres, acting chief of the Music Division, and Cait Miller, senior music reference specialist, at the Library of Congress. They talk about Inside the Vault, a collaborative, interactive and virtual exhibit that will be accompanying the national tour of The Sound of Music.

On this episode of On Broadway, I speak with Amnon Kabatchnik, the author of the book, Bloody Broadway – Plays of Menace, Murder, and Mystery – Volume 1 900-1930.

The book’s entries are presented chronologically and include a plot synopsis, production data, opinions by critics, and biographical sketches of playwrights and key actors-directors.

This week I speak with Frank Verlizzo, on his first book of the Retro Broadway Mystery Series – Scenery of the Crime. 

Before becoming an author, Frank Verlizzo was a legendary graphic designer, the man behind such iconic poster art as the original Broadway productions of Disney's The Lion King; Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George, and Ira Levin's Deathtrap.

I speak with actress and cabaret performer Klea Blackhurst, who will be starring in the new Off-Broadway musical, Just Desserts: A Musical Bake-Off. The show opens at the AMT Theater (354 West 45th Street) beginning January 30 and running through February 22. Her podcast episode will available by Friday, January 23.

On this episode of On Broadway, I speak with Henry H. Sapoznik, a Peabody Award-winning coproducer of NPR's Yiddish Radio Project, about his book - The Tourist's Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City. The book offers a new look at over a century of New York's history of Yiddish popular culture, telling the story in over a baker's dozen chapters on theater, music, architecture, crime, Blacks and Jews, restaurants, real estate, and journalism. For the podcast, we focus on the chapter about the Yiddish theater.

I speak with David Armstrong, an American stage director, writer, producer, podcaster, and educator, about his book, The Broadway Musical: How Immigrants, Jews, Queers and African-Americans Invented America's Signature Art Form. "A groundbreaking exploration that reveals the powerful impact of marginalized groups on the evolution of the Broadway Musical."

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 i...

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 Ame...

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...

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...

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 A...

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