Category: Broadway’s Best

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Women Composers & Lyricists

In the world of Broadway, where melodies and lyrics transport audiences to new realms of emotion, the spotlight has long shone on remarkable talents responsible for crafting the songs that define our favorite musicals. While the overwhelming majority of composers and lyricists are men, a roster of brilliant women has long been making waves, breaking barriers, and leaving an indelible mark on the Main Stem. Here, we celebrate Broadway’s Best Women Composers & Lyricists, highlighting the small but mighty group of women who composed for the stage in the 20th century. 

Mary Rodgers

Rodgers is perhaps best known for the 1959 musical Once Upon a Mattress. Later writing credits included 1978’s Working. Her sardonic memoirs were published posthumously in 2022 with the help of her friend, New York Times critic Jesse Green, and they detail, with her signature sense of humor, how she found it nearly impossible to be both a composer and a parent, eventually transitioning into writing children’s books, such as the original Freaky Friday. Mattress will receive a production in January 2023 at City Center Encores!, starring Sutton Foster and Michael Urie, and directed by Lear DeBesonnet (Into the Woods). 

Sarah Jessica Parker performs “Shy” from Mattress

Carol Hall

Carol Hall was one of the first composers to introduce country western styles to Broadway audiences, with her score for 1978’s The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. The musical was turned into a film starring Dolly Parton, and it turned Hall’s song “Hard Candy Christmas” into a holiday season standard. Her body of work is not entirely “adult” material – Hall contributed music to the landmark 1972 children’s album Free to Be You and Me, along with Mary Rodgers, and wrote songs for the early seasons of Sesame Street.

The original Broadway cast performs “Hard Candy Christmas” 

Micki Grant

Micki Grant first rose to prominence as an actor, appearing in the Langston Hughes Broadway shows Tambourines to Glory and Jericho-Jim Crow in the 1960s. In 1972, she was the first woman, and the first African-American, to write both the music and lyrics for a musical, for Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope. She became a 3-time Tony nominee that season, as well as receiving an OBIE award. Grant, like Rodgers, later contributed songs to 1978’s Working, and also contributed writing to Your Arms Too Short to Box With God and Eubie. 

“If I Could’ve Been”, the act 1 finale of Working, contributed by Grant:

The entirety of the Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope LP is on YouTube:

Lucy Simon

Lucy Simon began her songwriting career with her sister, Carly Simon. After contributing songs to the Off-Broadway revue A…My Name Is Alice, she composed the music for 1991’s The Secret Garden, for which she was nominated for a Tony. Garden was the first musical to have an all-female writing and directing team.

“Lily’s Eyes” from The Secret Garden

Elizabeth Swados

Elizabeth “Liz” Swados won an OBIE award and was nominated for 5 Tonys for her 1978 musical Runaways. Originating at the Public Theater, the unconventional revue told the stories of homeless youth in New York City who had run away from home. Swados also directed and choreographed the production. After the success of Runaways, Swados contributed the music to the Broadway musical Doonesbury, and later became an off-Broadway stalwart. She influenced generations of theater artists as a professor at NYU. 

“I Can Have It All” from Doonesbury

The Encores! Off-Center revival of Runaways.

A soon-to-be member of this list is Shaina Taub, a celebrated composer-lyricist set to make her Broadway debut as both writer (and star?) of Suffs. The new musical is due to open at the Music Box Theatre in April 2024 after Purlie Victorious’s limited engagement ends in February. 

The world premiere of Suffs at the Public Theater

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Rising Stars

There’s no one way to become a Broadway star–some blow up at the beginning of their careers, while others work for decades before their big break comes. We want to highlight some of the former understudies, and mid-run replacements, originating roles this season, as well as one director making her debut this season. The Broadway to Hollywood pipeline is real (we’ll get into that in a different article). But we’d like to hang onto the below talents in the theater space for as long as we can!

Julie Benko as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Photo by Evan Zimmerman/MurphyMade

Julie Benko

Julie Benko became an internet darling in 2022 and 2023 as the alternate Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Lea Michele was out every Thursday evening, and fans would flock to see Benko’s equally excellent Fanny. Before that, she understudied all five of Tevye’s daughters in Fiddler on the Roof, and was a backup Cosette in Les Mis. This fall, Benko gets to originate a role on Broadway for the very first time, in another very Jewish project, as Ruth in the new Barry Manilow musical Harmony.

Isabella McCalla & Caitlin Kinnunen in The Prom. Photo by Deen Van Meer

Isabelle McCalla

McCalla, a former Jasmine in Aladdin, played the soft spoken love interest Alyssa Greene in 2018’s The Prom. She can currently be seen as Maizy in Shucked, while original star Caroline Innerbichler takes maternity leave. Her breakout moment might be coming next year – McCalla received glowing reviews for Water for Elephants’ Atlanta tryout, and it’s likely that she’ll move from 40th to 45th Street when Elephants starts performances at the Imperial on February 24th. 

Santino Fontana and Julia Lester in I Can Get It For You Wholesale. Photo by Julieta Cervantes

Julia Lester

Julia Lester started her acting career on television, breaking out as wry theater geek Ashlyn on Disney+’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Theater audiences were introduced to her in summer 2022, playing Little Red Riding Hood in the Encores! Revival of Into the Woods, which later transferred to Broadway. After becoming one of the youngest Tony nominees ever for that performance, she can be seen this season in the Classic Stage Company revival of I Can Get It For You Wholesale, as the beleaguered secretary Miss Marmelstein.

Sky Lakota-Lynch in Dear Evan Hansen.

Sky Lakota-Lynch

Lakota-Lynch made his Broadway debut replacing Will Roland as Jared Kleinman in Dear Evan Hansen, the only actor of color to play the part on Broadway. In spring 2023 he starred as Johnny in The Outsiders at La Jolla Playhouse, based on the classic novel about working class 1950s teenagers. The Outsiders starts performances at the Jacobs in March 2024. 

Heather Alicia Simms and Billy Eugene Jones in Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch. Photo by Marc J. Franklin

Billy Eugene Jones

Jones has been an understudy on Broadway seven times, including in Kenny Leon’s 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Earlier in 2023, he was both Rev and the ghostly Pap in Fat Ham (the equivalent of Claudius and Hamlet Sr. in the show’s rewrite of Hamlet) making a memorable entrance in an all-white ensemble billowing smoke. After nearly two decades on Broadway, Jones was singled out by critics for his performance as Gitlow Judson in Purlie Victorious, currently at the Music Box. 

Whitney White in the rehearsal room. Photo by RJ Eldridge

Whitney White

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, by Jocelyn Bioh, premiered on Broadway in October 2023. Many critics attribute the play’s success to Whitney White’s direction, which balances a dozen different characters with wildly different personalities, keeping the tone comic but not cartoonish. White makes her Broadway debut with the show, after directing downtown hits like What to Send Up When It Goes Down at the Public and Our Dear Dead Drug Lord at Second Stage.

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Inexpensive Pre-Theater Meals

Photo: Los Tacos No. 1

As a follow-up to our pre-theater dinner recommendations, here are our recommendations for where to eat dinner before a Broadway show on the cheap. Our criteria: they must have entrees for under $20, a meal there can’t take longer than 30 minutes, and no national chains. (And we promise, we’d never send Broadway’s Best Shows readership to any establishment without an A from the Health Department.) 

Los Tacos No. 1

229 W 43rd; https://www.lostacos1.com/# 

Everyone orders at the counter at this authentic and efficient taco spot, which also offers quesadillas and tostadas, which are open-faced tacos on a crunchy tortilla. They make the masa for the tortillas from scratch every day, and gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan options abound for all preferences. Make sure to ask your server for “con todo,” so you get all the toppings– guacamole is no extra charge. 

Lucky’s Famous Burgers

370 W 52nd St; https://luckysfamousburgers.com/ 

Lucky’s has been a Hell’s Kitchen institution since 2005, arguably even essential infrastructure – they’re open until 4:30 in the morning on Friday and Saturday nights. They offer the menu of a big fast food chain even though 52nd street is their sole location, and you can order combos like the #1, a burger with fries and a drink. 

Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles II

648 9th Ave; http://www.tastyhandpullednoodles2.com/ 

This outpost of the legendary Chinatown noodle shop features the same menu, with its signature options for noodle thickness and shape– it’s in the name, they really do pull the noodles fresh by hand for each order. Unlike the downtown location, the Hell’s Kitchen shop accepts credit cards! 

Lovely’s Old Fashioned 

642 9th Ave; https://www.lovelysoldfashioned.com/ 

Designed to look like a 1950’s burger counter, Lovely’s opened in early 2023. The Charlotte’s Special cheeseburger with special sauce is just $8.50. They’re open until 1 am on weekends, and while they don’t sell milkshakes, they do offer a killer chocolate pistachio Bundt cake. 

Capizzi

547 9th ave; https://capizzinyc.com/ 

There are a million slice counters in Midtown, but Capizzi offers something a bit more elevated– every pie is made from scratch, and is personal-pizza sized. It’s very quick and unpretentious, so you can avoid the line over on 40th street at Joe’s and try something new, like a white artichoke pie, or an egg, pancetta, and provolone pie. 

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best “Broadway Week” Shows

The Mayor’s Office for Tourism and Conventions’ annual Broadway Week promotion is almost upon us, which means that you can now get 2-for-1 tickets to select Broadway shows for performances between September 4-17! (Yes, Broadway Week is actually two weeks long. Lucky us!) 

Unlike TDF’s Half Price Ticket Booth, which only offers same-day discounts, the Broadway Week tickets can be purchased up to a month in advance. Use code BWAYWK23 to access this exciting offer today. Participating shows are also offering premium orchestra seats, usually $250-$400, for just $125 with code BWAYUP23. Check the official website for full details. 

Here are some of the shows we recommend catching while this offer lasts:

HADESTOWN

The 2019 Best Musical Tony Award winner recently welcomed new cast member Solea Pfeiffer in the lead role of Euridyce! Betty Who and Philip Boykin join the company Sept. 5 as lovers Persephone and Hades, respectively. See them alongside Lillias White as Hermes and Reeve Carney as Orpheus.

SOME LIKE IT HOT

This toe-tapping big band musical is from Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman (the composer-lyricist duo behind Hairspray!, Catch Me If You Can, and Smash) and book writers Matthew López and Amber Ruffin. With direction and Tony Award-winning choreography by Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Aladdin, The Prom), this one is not to be missed!

KIMBERLY AKIMBO

Last season’s Best Musical stars two-time Tony Award winner Victoria Clark as Kimberly herself, with music by Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Caroline, or Change, Shrek: The Musical) and a book & lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire in an adaptation to his 2001 play of the same name.

PURLIE VICTORIOUS: A NON-CONFEDERATE ROMP THROUGH THE COTTON PATCH

Leslie Odom, Jr. (of Hamilton Tony-winning fame) stars as the titular role in this first ever revival of Ossie Davis’ landmark 1961 satire, directed by Kenny Leon. Two-time Tony Award nominee Kara Young co-stars as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins. Performances begin Sept. 7!

HERE LIES LOVE

The immersive disco bio-musical with music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim tells the life story of former Filipino first lady Imelda Marcos. Here Lies Love is a fascinating parable about fascism, the media, and the effects of 20th century American cultural dominance and empire on so-called “Third World” countries like the Philippines. We recommend using your Broadway Week discount to splurge on a Dance Floor ticket, where you’ll be inches away from the actors and part of the storytelling. Good luck getting the title song out of your head. 

SIX

This UK export retells the story of the six ex-wives of King Henry VIII, with a pop concert twist. The Tony-winning score by Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow features pop-powered showtunes such as ‘Heart of Stone,’ ‘Don’t Lose Ur Head,’ and the iconic ‘Megasix’ encore to wrap it all up.

THE COTTAGE

Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) makes his directorial debut with this brand new England countryside-set comedy by Sandy Rustin. The cast features Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) in his Broadway return since appearing in 2012’s Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, Laura Bell Bundy in her Broadway play debut after leading the 2007 musical Legally Blonde, Lilli Cooper (POTUS, Spring Awakening), Nehal Joshi (Flying Over Sunset, All My Sons), Alex Moffat (Saturday Night Live), and Dana Steingold (Beetlejuice the Musical).

BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL

Time travel back to 1985 (and beyond) for this musical adaptation of the classic film, straight from its hit world premiere in London’s West End! Casey Likes (Almost Famous) is Marty McFly and Roger Bart (The Producers) is Doc Brown, reprising his acclaimed performance on the other side of the pond.

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Iconic Costumes

Sometimes a musical leaves you with a tune you’re humming for weeks afterwards. But sometimes, you’ll remember a costume look for the rest of your life. Here are our favorite truly iconic costumes that, in some cases, became even bigger than the shows they were in. 

Photo by Joan Marcus

The Glinda bubble dress

Wicked costume designer Susan Hilferty had the unique challenge of creating costumes that reminded audiences of The Wizard of Oz, but that also placed characters in the musical’s much darker story. This enormous flouncy gown for Glinda’s entrance at the top of the show is all overstated femininity, while putting Glinda in blue instead of the pink she wears in The Wizard of Oz signals that we’re in for a very different story – and avoids any copyright violations. You can even buy the Glinda dress for American Girl dolls.

Honorary mention: The Fiyero Pants. Father/son duo Norbert Leo Butz and Aaron Tveit are among the many Fiyeros who have donned the vaguely Edwardian white jodhpurs that Fiyero wears to the Ozdust Ballroom. 

Photo by Joan Marcus

Mark’s Sweater in Rent

The blue sweater with the red horizontal stripe – we immediately associate it with Rent’s Mark Cohen, and Anthony Rapp’s original 1996 performance in the role. (Add the black-and-white striped scarf and a mic taped to your cheek and you’ve got a great Halloween costume.) Costume designer Angela Wendt described the sweater as “not too flamboyant but still interesting enough,” for Mark to wear for the entire show. It might be the most comfortable costume in the show, compared to Roger’s rockstar leather, or Angel’s Mrs. Claus drag look, but also the most memorable.

Photo by Martha Swope

Morales’ long sleeve color block leotard in A Chorus Line, tied with Cassie’s bright red leotard and skirt

A Chorus Line happens in real time over the course of a cattle call audition, and the performers are in one costume over the course of the show. The differences in each auditionee’s choice of dance garb telegraphs so much information about each character. Cassie’s red leotard, with its long sleeves and skirt, is far less utilitarian and more elegant than everything else onstage, immediately commanding attention, and creating unique stage pictures for Donna McKechnie’s virtuosic number “The Music and the Mirror.” Diana Morales, originally played by Priscilla Lopez, wears a jewel-toned sweater over her leotard and tights – equal parts practical and vibrant. 

Photo by Martha Swope

Dolly Levi’s Red Dress

The Hello Dolly revival did not directly draw from the original Broadway production, but there was one visual that the show would simply be incomplete without – the red ensemble Dolly wears to descend the staircase into the Harmonia Gardens restaurant, which she also wears for the titular song. The v-neck bustled ballgown would be memorable enough, but Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey, Bette Midler, Donna Murphy, and Bernadette Peters all also donned a 2-foot-tall red feathered headdress. 

Photo by Matthew Murphy

The Phantom Mask

A plain white mask that covers the right half of the Phantom’s face for most of the show became synonymous with Phantom itself, eventually serving as its key art and Playbill cover. It’s maybe the simplest costume on this list, and arguably the most powerful. 

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Comedy Shows

Mike Birbiglia in "The Old Man and the Pool." Photo by Emilio Madrid.

Blurring the lines between theater and standup, these virtuosic performances brought comedians to the Main Stem. Here are some of our favorite comedic offerings in recent Broadway memory.

Alex Edelman’s Just For Us

After multiple sold out Off-Broadway runs, Alex Edelman’s one-man-show, Just For Us, opened at the Hudson Theatre on June 26, 2023. Edelman recounts the true story of the time he, a Jewish man, attended a neo-Nazi meetup in Queens, NY because it called for people who are “curious about their whiteness.” This experience leads to a thoughtful and hilarious rumination on his Boston upbringing, his career in comedy, and the idea of being a “good person.” The show is scheduled to run through August 19, 2023.

Photo by Emilio Madrid

Mike Birbiglia: The New One and The Old Man & The Pool

Often credited as the pioneer of the part-standup, part-monologue form, Mike Birbiglia has brought two of his specials to Broadway stages. The New One, about his experiences as a new father, played the Cort Theatre (since renamed the James Earl Jones) in 2018 and was eventually released as a Netflix special following the run. Years later, his pondrance on aging and mortality entitled The Old Man & The Pool, ran at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. That show is set to play the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe followed by the West End’s Wyndham Theatre in the fall.

Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me

Comedy icon Martin Short, who stars in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, starred in his own Broadway musical in the 2006-2007 Broadway season. With music and lyrics by composing duo Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman (Some Like it Hot, Hairspray!), the semi-autobiographical work, in which Short played an exaggerated celebrity-obsessed version of himself, also featured Brooks Ashmanskas in the cast, earning him his first Tony nomination.

Oh, Hello on Broadway

Nick Kroll and John Mulaney brought their elderly alter-egos, Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland, to the Main Stem with the Broadway iteration of their two-hander, The Oh, Hello Show. Mulaney and Kroll had originated the characters on TV’s The Kroll Show. The two friends ramble about their pasts and ambitions, and the show eventually culminates in the serving of a dubious sandwich with “too much tuna” to a special guest (which included the likes of Tina Fey, Steve Martin, Ben Platt, Katy Perry, John Oliver and Alan Alda.) This too was eventually released for your streaming enjoyment on Netflix.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Dame Edna’s The Royal Tour, Back With a Vengeance & All About Me

After making his Broadway debut as Mr. Sowerberry (and the understudy for Fagin) in the original 1963 production of Oliver! Barry Humphries brought his iconic character Dame Edna to the Main Stem in three separate shows. In 1999, The Royal Tour opened at the Booth Theatre, followed by Dame Edna: Back With a Vengeance at the Music Box Theatre in 2004. Edna’s third Broadway outing came in spring 2010, when All About Me opened at Henry Miller’s Theatre. The latter musical, a double bill, saw Edna go toe-to-toe with singer Michael Feinstein, and every night was a competition over who got to be the star. It was Barry Humphries’ final appearance on Broadway as Edna before the storied performer passed away in February 2023.

Will Ferrell in You’re Welcome America

Just months after George W. Bush left the White House, Will Ferrell brought his impersonation of the early aughts president to the Broadway stage in You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush. The character, which originally debuted on Saturday Night Live in 2000, took the opportunity to address the country one last time, regaling the audience with stories of his early life and political career. The play ran at the Cort Theatre in early 2009, and was broadcast on HBO the night before the play closed on March 15.

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Shows for Fans of the Barbie Movie

By Katie Devin Orenstein

If you had a blast with Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and the rest of the Barbie movie crew, here are some Broadway musicals of yesteryear that might suit your fancy! Some even served as inspiration for director Greta Gerwig’s take on the classic doll brand.

Legally Blonde

What could be more Barbie than a musical all about how you can be smart and independent and wear bright pink at the same time? Legally Blonde, based on the movie of the same name, takes aim at dumb blonde stereotypes, and puts female empowerment and solidarity front-and-center. It’s so much better than getting the guy. 

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

If you’re looking for a whip-smart, funny show that pushes back against the objectification of women, look no further than The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which ran on Broadway for four years starting in 1978, and was also made into a movie starring Dolly Parton. Its songs are by the late Carol Hall, one of Broadway’s very few female composer-lyricists. 

Singin’ in the Rain

Director and co-screenwriter Greta Gerwig cites the vividly Technicolored, dance-heavy Singin’ in the Rain as one of her main inspirations for the tone and visuals of Barbie. The 1954 film was written by Broadway stalwarts Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who turned it into a stage musical in 1985. You can clearly see the influence on the set design, lighting, and even the tailoring of Ryan Gosling and the Kens’ costumes from the classic Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse dream ballet: 

Avenue Q

Avenue Q uses puppets and upbeat songs to teach the lessons Sesame Street forgot to include, like how to pay your bills, or how to handle romantic rejection, or what people really use the Internet for. Like Barbie, it uses the aesthetics of childhood to explore how scary adulthood can be sometimes.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

This show is a frothy, comedic romp about two female cabaret performers going after what they want, whether that’s men or money – this is the musical that gave us “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Notably, the show’s book is co-written by Anita Loos, who also wrote the bestselling novel on which the show is based, and who was the very first female screenwriter in Hollywood.

Megan Hilty performs “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”

My Fair Lady

Who are you, if you’re someone else’s creation? George Bernard Shaw first explored this idea in his 1913 play Pygmalion. In 1957, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe turned Pygmalion into the musical My Fair Lady. If you enjoyed watching the human and doll men in Barbie flail and flounce and postulate, you’ll like My Fair Lady’s take on gender relations, when upper-class Henry Higgins bets his friend he can turn poor flower girl Eliza Doolittle into a fine lady by teaching her a refined accent, without any regard for her own agency. A musical about patriarchal men wrecking their own lives by hewing too close to patriarchy…delicious. 

Rex Harrison blusters his way through “A Hymn to Him”

Dames At Sea/Grease

Dames At Sea and Grease both take satirical aim at the gender norms of the 1940s and 1950s, respectively, very similar to how Barbie tackles today’s cognitive dissonance about how feminism apparently won, while the patriarchy remains in subtler ways. John Travolta as Danny in Grease gets a shoutout in Barbie, and these two shows share the movie’s blunt, on-the-nose sense of humor. 

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

As the title suggests, this musical is one big existential crisis. With bright costuming reflecting Pedro Almodovar’s original film, this 2011 musical has an energetic score by Tony winner David Yazbek. If you loved Barbie’s ability to take cracks at depression and ennui without minimizing the issue, this might be your new favorite cast album. 

Laura Benanti performs one of musical theater’s best panic attack arias, “Model Behavior”

Evening Primrose

If you loved a movie about dolls, how about a musical about mannequins? In all seriousness, this rare gem, a one act musical by Stephen Sondheim written for television in the 1960s, shares many of the same themes as Greta Gerwig’s vision for Barbie – the desire of an object, or an objectified person, to be real. Gerwig is a known Sondheim fan (see: the Merrily sequence in Ladybird) and there’s a chance she was inspired by this show, about department store mannequins who come alive at night, and the human who discovers them, and tells them about the outside world. 

Kelli O’Hara sings “Take Me to the World” from Evening Primrose:

Into the Woods

America Ferrera and Margot Robbie’s conversations in Barbie are so reminiscent of the Baker’s Wife-Cinderella dynamic in Into the Woods, each one jealous of the other’s dilemma. This musical is famous for its childhood stories turned to adulthood seriousness. 

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Horror/Thriller Shows

While the horror and thriller genres are typically reserved for the screen, Broadway can sometimes be a spooky place, where audiences have been left with their hearts racing, for one reason or another. Just like in film, horror theater productions often use their thrills and chills as social critiques. Read on if you dare…

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Theater’s ability to comment on social issues while leaving audiences breathless and entertained might just have reached its pinnacle with the nightmarish Sweeney Todd. It’s class warfare via cannibalism, when a barber back in London after 15 years of wrongful imprisonment starts killing those responsible while shaving them, and since the price of meat is otherwise too high (“times is hard”), his downstairs neighbor bakes the bodies into pies. Maybe the most horrifying part of Sweeney is how, as we learn about the wrongs committed against Mr. Todd and his wife and daughter, they’re just so awful that his string of murders feels almost…reasonable? It’s that moral dilemma that writers Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler explore in the show. Sweeney Todd came back to Broadway in spring 2023, in a Tony-nominated revival starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford. 

Grey House

Photo by MurphyMade

The first play of the 2023-2024 Broadway season, Grey House intentionally pulls from the American horror film oeuvre. Set during a blizzard in an isolated cabin inhabited by weird and precocious children, a collection of horror movie tropes that the play’s script acknowledges, the production utilizes jumpscares, eerie underscoring, and innovative special effects and makeup to scare theatergoers.

1984

This adaptation of the George Orwell novel was infamously gory–it made Broadway audiences faint and throw up during its run in the summer of 2017. It used the book’s political dystopia as a basis for intense horror, divoting almost a third of its runtime to the ‘torture room’ sequences, unlike anything seen on Broadway before. 

The Pillowman

This 2004 murder mystery made playwright Martin McDonough a household name, with an incredibly dark story of a series of gruesome child murders that are eerily similar to the work of a murder mystery novelist. Particularly shocking to audiences was that, somehow, this play was also funny. 

The Humans

On the surface, Stephen Karam’s 2016 play might seem like a typical Jewish American family drama, set at a contentious Thanksgiving dinner. But something else is lurking in this Chinatown walk-up apartment, as the floors start to creak. While it’s left ambiguous, there are some forces in The Humans that might not be, well…human.

Angel Street

Have you ever wondered, where did the term “gaslighting” come from? Its source is the 1938 play Gaslight, which premiered in New York in 1941 titled Angel Street, and was later a 1944 Hollywood film. On Broadway in 1941, Vincent Price played Mr. Manningham, a London aristocrat who secretly turns the gas lights in his mansion lower and lower over time for nefarious reasons– but when his wife Bella asks him, he says the lights haven’t been lowered, making her lose her mind. 

Sleep No More

Though not on Broadway, New York theatergoers have this McKittrick mainstay on the menu for their ghostly cravings. This immersive take on Macbeth lets you roam the halls of this abandoned hotel-turned-performance venue, which also has other productions besides Sleep No More running from time to time. 

Little Shop of Horrors

Howard Ashman and Alan Menken used tropes from B horror movies and creature features from the 1950s to create Little Shop, a parable about a poor flower shop assistant on Skid Row who raises a mysterious carnivorous plant he names after his crush, Audrey. A revival directed by Michael Mayer has been running off-Broadway at the Westside Theater since 2019, with a revolving door of stage notables playing Seymour, Audrey, and Orin the Dentist. Joy Woods of Six stars as Audrey – here’s her singing “Somewhere That’s Green” with Menken on the piano.

Across the pond, London audiences have had their fair share of scare with the following shows.

2:22: A Ghost Story

A woman hears noises through her baby monitor every night at 2:22 AM. She and her husband invite two close friends over to stay up and try to figure out what’s going on, and to prove that it’s not a ghost. That’s the concept for 2:22: A Ghost Story, which finished successful runs in the West End in 2021 and 2022, as well as Los Angeles in Fall 2022– it might even start terrifying Broadway audiences soon. 

The Woman in Black

This play by Stephen Mallatratt ran continuously in London from 1989 to 2023, for a total of 13,232 performances. It’s a chilling tale of a ghostly apparition and family trauma in Northern England, with a cast of only three actors playing dozens of parts. 

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Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Directors Who Started As Actors

By Katie Devin Orenstein

Which Broadway directors gave onstage performances before leaping to the other side of the table? Find out below!

George Abbott

The larger-than-life Abbott, who lived until he was 107, directed over 50 Broadway shows, including the original productions of Pal Joey, On the Town, The Pajama Game, Once Upon a Mattress, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He made his Broadway debut as an actor in The Misleading Lady all the way back in 1913. 

Michael Arden

This year’s Tony winner for Best Direction of a Musical for Parade, Arden made his Broadway debut as an actor in the 2003 revival of Big River, and also performed in Twyla Tharp’s The Times They Are A-Changin’. 

Vinnette Justine Carroll

Vinnette Carroll became the first Black woman to be nominated for a directing Tony in 1973, for Micki Grant’s Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope. She was nominated for both directing and writing the book of Your Arms Too Short to Box With God in 1976. Her numerous acting credits include the 1961 revival of The Octoroon. 

Gower Champion

Champion was the original director and choreographer of hits like Bye Bye Birdie, Hello, Dolly!, and 42nd Street. He got his start as a dancer in 1940s revues like The Streets of Paris. 

David Cromer

In between directing The House of Blue Leaves and The Band’s Visit on Broadway, Cromer found time to play racist Homeowner’s Association member Karl Lindner in Kenny Leon’s revival of A Raisin in the Sun, as well as appear opposite Jeff Daniels in the pilot of HBO’s The Newsroom. He is also currently starring in an off-Broadway production of Uncle Vanya.

Graciela Daniele

Graciela Daniele started her career as a dancer for legends like Bob Fosse and Michael Bennett – she was in the original company of Follies, and was the original Hunyak, a.k.a. Uh-Uh in “Cell Block Tango,” in Chicago. She’s since choreographed 9 Broadway shows, and directed and choreographed another 6, including Once on this Island. She is the only Latina nominee in history for Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical at the Tonys, and she won a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2020. 

Graciela Daniele’s Tony-nominated choreography:

Bob Fosse

Before he was the legendary director-choreographer of Pippin, Chicago, The Pajama Game, Sweet Charity, and the director of movies like Cabaret and All That Jazz, he made his Broadway debut as a dancer in the forgotten 1950 revue Dance Me a Song. He understudied the role of Joey in the 1953 Pal Joey revival that turned it into a hit, and played the role at City Center in between choreography jobs in 1963. 

Maria Friedman

Friedman will direct this fall’s upcoming revival of Merrily We Roll Along. She is a celebrated Sondheim interpreter, and earned Olivier awards for her performances as Fosca in Sondheim’s Passion, as well as Mother in Ahrens and Flaherty’s Ragtime. 

Tony Goldwyn

Tony Goldwyn is co-directing the upcoming Pal Joey rework at City Center, but he’s best known to television audiences as Scandal’s President Fitz, and he’s also going to appear this summer in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. 

Kenny Leon

While Kenny Leon was the artistic director of Atlanta’s Alliance theater in the 1990s, he also found time to act in a number of TV shows– including The Rosa Parks Story, starring Angela Bassett. He won his Tony for directing A Raisin in the Sun in 2014, and is next represented on Broadway with Purlie Victorious, opening this fall. 

Patrick Marber

Marber actually began his career in British sketch comedy. He then began writing for the English stage, and wrote and directed Closer, which transferred to Broadway in 1999 and was turned into a film directed by Mike Nichols in 2004. He is now known best for his work directing Tom Stoppard plays, including 2017’s Travesties and this season’s Leopoldstadt, for which he won his first Tony award. 

Jerry Mitchell

Jerry Mitchell started dancing on Broadway as a replacement in A Chorus Line. He worked his way up to being Jerome Robbins’ assistant on Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, and choreographed You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1999. His first time directing on Broadway was the beloved Legally Blonde.  

Jerry Mitchell backstage at The Will Rogers Follies,

Casey Nicholaw

Nicholaw, who won a Tony this year for choreographing Some Like It Hot, was an ensemble member in 8 Broadway shows, including dancing Susan Stroman’s choreography in Crazy For You, and understudying Horton the Elephant in the original Seussical. Those performance chops came in handy this March, when Nicholaw went on as an emergency understudy in Some Like It Hot. 

Nicholaw in the ensemble of Seussical (far right).

Jerome Robbins

Robbins, the legend at the helm of West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, and Gypsy, was born Jerome Rabinowitz, and began his career as a dancer in the 1920s in Yiddish modern dance companies. He was also a soloist with American Ballet Theatre in the early 1940s, and danced in George Balanchine’s Broadway revues. He choreographed Fancy Free for ABT, which he and Leonard Bernstein then transformed into his first Broadway choreography credit, On The Town. 

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Santiago-Hudson was Tony nominated for his direction of August Wilson’s Jitney, and has acted in three other Wilson plays on Broadway. He also wrote, directed, and starred in his one man show Lackawanna Blues. 

Jessica Stone

Stone made her Broadway directing debut this year with Kimberly Akimbo, but her many credits as a performer include Frenchy in the 1994 Grease revival and replacing Sarah Jessica Parker as Rosemary in the 1996 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Her next project is directing the Broadway-bound Water for Elephants, which just premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. 

Jessica Stone in Grease, with Billy Porter as the Teen Angel.

Susan Stroman

Five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman, represented on Broadway this year with New York, New York, made her debut as a dancer in the country Western musical Whoopee! in 1979. 

Schele Williams

Schele Williams, who will direct the upcoming revivals of The Wiz and Aida, was an ensemble member in the original production of Aida in 2001. 

Williams understudied the title role in Aida – here she is singing “Easy as Life” from that show:

Jerry Zaks

Jerry Zaks is a four-time Tony winning director, including for his Broadway directing debut, The House of Blue Leaves. He’s also known for lavish revivals like Hello, Dolly! and The Music Man. His Broadway resumé goes back quite far – he originated the role of Kenickie in Grease. 

Categories
Broadway's Best

Broadway’s Best Shows about America

by Katie Devin Orenstein

Celebrate the 4th of July weekend with Broadway’s Best Shows as we run through some of the top patriotic musicals in the can(n)on (get it?).

1776 is a musicalization of the 4th of July holiday’s origin story, as founding father John Adams suffers through a sweltering Philadelphia summer to try to get the Declaration of Independence completed and signed by the Continental Congress. The show highlights just how hard it was to make democracy happen – and the contradictions within, including the simmering fight between Northern and Southern states over slavery, in the song “Molasses to Rum.” While all the signees of the Declaration were men, 1776 makes sure to include Abigail Adams’ influence on the proceedings.

Ragtime tells an epic story about the American Dream at the turn of the 20th century, interweaving the lives of Black Americans, Eastern European Jewish immigrants, and the wealthy white people at the top of New York society. Ragtime is a moving story about America’s flaws and its immense potential. 

Working, with a rousing opening number that takes its lyrics from Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing,” is a love letter to everyday Americans, and the American melting pot. Its songs are from a variety of writers, including Stephen Schwartz, Mary Rodgers, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The song “Steelworker” is actually by folk music legend James Taylor, in his Broadway songwriting debut:

Of Thee I Sing is a gentle satire of that which we celebrate on the 4th of July, American democracy. The first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize, way back in 1932, the show features songs by the Gershwin brothers, including “Who Cares?”, and a book by George S. Kaufman. The plot concerns a presidential campaign, and a candidate who suddenly starts to go up in the polls when he switches his platform to “LOVE”, proposing to his lady love at every campaign stop, instead of a stump speech!

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is a musical about early American politicians, using a contemporary music genre (in this case, punk and emo rock) – and it was on Broadway five years before Hamilton! With music and lyrics by OBIE winner Michael Friedman, the show chronicles controversial populist president Andrew Jackson’s rise and fall in the 1830s and 40s. With catchy tunes and a bit of onstage gore, BBAJ captures the essence of an angry, formative moment in American history:

Of course, no list of 4th of July-themed musicals would be complete without Hamilton. Here’s Leslie Odom, Jr., star of the upcoming play Purlie Victorious on Broadway, performing “Wait For It”