As You Were

BroadwayWorld is saddened to learn of the passing of playwright and performer Andy Halliday. Halliday passed away at age 73, and was known for his work Off-Broadway, and with longtime friend Charles Busch.

Friendship is nearly always a side element in musicals. From the comic sidekick of the leading character to the backup pals who provide background vocals, friends are part of the fabric of many shows—but rarely are they the main event. 

In a time on Broadway where so many shows are based on familiar IP, it's refreshing to have a new story come to the stage. In 2022, Suffs opened on Broadway at the Public Theatre, and then kept marching to Broadway, and now it is marching across the US.

THE MUSIC OF US: FROM THEN TO NOW on 3/13 celebrated America's 250 years in music. The trio of phenomenal guest singers - Max Clayton, Nova Payton and Ephraim Sykes brought down the house at the famed venue. Bravo!

Thanks to de Santos’ insightful direction, the on-going dialogues never seem to drag and the action flows at a pace which keeps the audience interested in just what happens between these well-written characters.

The large majority of our 41 Broadway theaters were built to be Broadway theaters. Other than the Winter Garden, which was originally a horse exchange, the Nederlander, which was originally a carpenter’s shop, and the Broadway and Lunt-Fontanne which were originally movie theaters, every current Broadway house was intended from the beginning to present Broadway shows. As for off-Broadway? The opposite is true.

One of the best parts of seeing a show in New York City is how there is often a relevant historic spot to visit, just steps away from the show you’re seeing. Here's just a few examples...

BESSIE COLEMAN, FEARLESS AND FREE was educational, inspiring, and uplifting. The storyline was impeccable, the cast was superb, and the use of technology enhanced the overall production. A great production for all ages.

The sensational Christmas Season musical, Christmas in Killarney, An Irish Christmas Celebration, is coming to The Coppell Arts Center for two performances.

While the large majority of plays that make it to Broadway were written in English, a small fraction of plays were originally penned in a different language and translated. 

An intermission-less, two-character, conversational-centric play that focuses on a pair of women's specific immigrant experiences—marked with loneliness, hopes, fears, and puzzlements big and small—Pulitzer Prize finalist Lloyd Suh's absorbing, touching, and occasionally (thankfully) very funny play explores the emotional tug-of-war between comfortable, familiar cultural traditions left behind and the need to accept, learn, and assimilate to the often confounding realities of their new home environment—a sometimes exciting, but sometimes heartbreaking concept that many first-generation immigrants know all too well. Continues at South Coast Repertory through November 16, 2025.

For 250 consecutive weeks, Crytzer will release one track of SONGBOOK SESSIONS at a time. Read a conversation about the album, dedicated to music of the first half of the 20th century played authentically to the times.

The National Touring production of the Broadway musical SUFFS, now playing at ASU Gammage until October 19, didn’t arrive on the stage quietly. Like its subject matter, it gathered like a movement and was shaped by persistence. The show, written, composed, and, on its Broadway opening, led by Shaina Taub, is a reclamation of voices long overlooked and of equality battles still to be won. 

Director MacQueen keeps the action moving along at a steady pace, a much-needed component of a 2.5 hour play offering so much information to absorb about the history of women's suffrage. Highly recommended.

A new documentary entitled This Place Matters! Ten Chimneys premiered on Monday, October 6, 2025, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City. BroadwayWorld was there and you can check out photos here!

As the fight for women to have equal rights and opportunities has evolved, so has the presence of plays telling these stories. When I wrote my book, Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy that the History Books Left Out, the first-ever book about female musical theatre writers, I researched many musicals that are in this genre as well.

James Mirrione, the bookwriter behind The Grippe, invites audiences to revisit a pivotal moment in history through the lens of theatre. Inspired by the overlooked story of the 1918 Spanish Flu and its striking parallels to contemporary society, Mirrione combines rigorous historical research, personal family history, and music of the era to craft a play that is both enlightening and emotionally resonant.

Multiple lost Broadway theaters intersect with the Hammerstein family. This follows since Oscar Hammerstein I was a theater owner and builder. In addition to Hammerstein’s which was named after him and is now the Ed Sullivan, and the New Victory which he originally built, there is also the Hammerstein Ballroom. Read more here!

Today, Tuesday, August 26th, is National Women’s Equality Day, commemorating the certification of the 19th Amendment granting women a constitutional right to suffrage. Even after female suffrage was granted in the United States in 1920, women still struggled to defy social norms and break out of traditional gender roles. However, one major example of women getting to make their mark as part of the global fight for freedom occurred during the Second World War. The hit Broadway musical Operation Mincemeat tells the story of some of the women who helped make the allied success possible. 

June Squibb is a beloved actor with an incredibly long career—but does 96 make her the oldest actor to play Broadway in a regular production with 8 performances a week? According to our research, that is indeed the case! 

If you want to have an evening or afternoon of hilarity, go see The Play That Goes Wrong now playing at Roxy’s through August 10th, 2025. The team at Roxy’s has created a carefully rehearsed farcical romp to delight their audiences.

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater are open this July with a full slate of nightly performances! See the full lineup here and learn how to purchase tickets!

The new musical Goddess can currently be seen in its New York premiere production at the Public Theater on Lafayette Street. Directed by the Public’s associate artistic director and resident director Saheem Ali, who is currently Tony Award-nominated for directing Buena Vista Social Club, Goddess is playing at the Public’s largest space by capacity, the Newman Theatre.

The Butterfly’s Evil Spell was the first play written by twentieth-century playwright and poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Drawing much of its inspiration from the works of Yeats and Maeterlinck, the plot of Lorca’s play deals with the journey of an injured butterfly who is temporarily stranded amongst other insects, but does indeed fly away despite the love of a cockroach.

The 2025 Tribeca Festival has unveiled its audio storytelling lineup, sponsored by Audible, featuring a dynamic mix of live episodes, immersive audio experiences, and world premieres.