Playbill went to New York Comic Con in October and hosted several panels on Broadway, including Beetlejuice's return, Hamilton's lasting legacy, the rise of Death Becomes Her, Little Shop of Horrors' impact on entertainment history, and a look into the new spring musical, The Lost Boys. We know everyone who'd want to hear these panels couldn't be there in person, so we're turning them into podcast episodes!

The second one we're bringing to you is our panel on Hamilton, and how this remarkable, history-making show has electrified Broadway for a decade and is performed all over the world. On the panel, we had Jisel Soleil Ayon (Angelica Schuyler), Trey Curtis (Alexander Hamilton), Tamar Greene (George Washington), Cherry Torres (Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds), Morgan Anita Wood (Eliza Hamilton), and Patrick Vassel (Associate Director).

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Someone must have said his name three times again...since Beetlejuice is back on Broadway for a third time! Playbill went to New York Comic Con earlier this fall and hosted several panels on Broadway, including Beetlejuice's return, Hamilton's lasting impact, the rise of Death Becomes Her, Little Shop of Horrors' impact on entertainment history, and a look into the new spring musical, The Lost Boys. We know everyone who'd want to hear these panels couldn't be there in person, so we're turning them into podcast episodes!

The first one we're bringing to you is our panel on Beetlejuice, and how fans cannot get enough of the ghost with the most. We brought on the current Beetlejuice and Lydia, Justin Collette and Isabella Esler, to talk about what it takes to put this musical on. We also had Warner Bros.' executive Mark Kaufman and marketing agency SPOTCO executive Callie Goff on the panel to explain how the show, and its public image, were created in the first place.

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Breaking the Binary Theatre is a new work development and community building hub wherein transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ artists come together to reclaim their artistic license and liberty. This year the theatre will celebrate the fourth annual Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival, opening on October 20 with a one-night-only concert of The Drowsy Chaperone at Carnegie Hall featuring a star-studded all-trans and non-binary cast led by Laverne Cox, Alex Newell, Betty Who, Jonathan Van Ness, Dylan Mulvaney, and more. All net proceeds will benefit Trans Lifeline, Black Trans Liberation, and Breaking the Binary Theatre.

In this episode, Playbill Podcast host Alex Birsh passes the mic to Breaking the Binary Theatre founding artist director George Strus who moderates a roundtable with participants of this year's festival: Tony nominee L Morgan Lee, Sis Thee Doll, Samora la Perdida, and Cheeyang Ng. The group discuss their participation in the festival, the importance of representation in the industry (both in front and behind the table), and more!

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One of the recurring multimedia series we make at Playbill is called My Life In The Theatre, and you can find it in the Playbill programs on Broadway, on our YouTube page, and on our website. The premise is simple: we hand a theatre legend a binder filled with Playbills of their past stage shows, and they talk to us about their time in each. The first episode we edited for this podcast was with Jonathan Groff, which got a great listener response. We wanted to turn our most recent installment into another podcast episode, especially because it features the absolute legend that is Audra McDonald, the most Tony-awarded actor in Broadway’s history, who had just finished her run in the iconic revival of Gypsy.

We’ll set the scene: it’s Audra McDonald at a table, with a microphone and a big binder filled with a lot of Playbills, and a lot of memories.

For those who want to watch this episode instead, click this link here!

01:39 - The Secret Garden

03:34 - Carousel 

08:17 - Master Class

11:12 - Ragtime

14:25 - Marie Christine

17:51 - Henry IV

20:43 - A Raisin in the Sun

22:40 - 110 in the Shade

25:14 - Porgy and Bess

26:55 - Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill

30:01 - Shuffle Along, Or….

31:58 - Frankie and Johnny in the Clare 

34:12 - Ohio State Murders

36:28 - Gypsy

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The musical "Death Becomes Her" has become a Broadway mainstay, thrilling packed houses each night and building an impressive audience. For those of you who haven’t seen it, you may have heard a clip of it before, especially if you have a TikTok, as a sound from the song "Hit Me" has gone viral, heard by millions ("That. Was. Rude....").

Broadway star Jennifer Simard plays Helen Shaw, the friend/rival of Madeline Ashton, the over-the-hill stage and screen actress played by Broadway powerhouse Megan Hilty. They both have eyes for fame, acclaim, and love interest Ernest, played by Christopher Sieber. Both women attempt to stay forever young thanks to the magic provided by Viola Van Horn (Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child). This, of course, has its unintended consequences. 

In this episode, host Alex Birsh talks with a theatre friend who’s seen the show, and they’ll go into why "Death Becomes Her" might be for you if you’re heading to Broadway. Following the interview, Alex brings on stars Jennifer Simard and Christopher Sieber, who go into everything it took to create this show and what it's like to put it on night after night. 

00:23 -- Sneak peek of Death Becomes Her

02:27 -- Interview with theatre friend Diep Tran, Editor-In-Chief of Playbill

11:35 -- Interview with Jennifer Simard and Christopher Sieber

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On this episode of the Playbill Podcast, host Alex Birsh talks with "Roastmaster General" Jeff Ross about his new solo show, Take a Banana for the Ride. On Broadway through the end of September. Ross shines the spotlight on himself and his journey, which includes his upbringing in New Jersey and even his bouts with multiple conditions and illnesses, including alopecia.

Birsh and Ross chatted on the rooftop of the Hard Rock Hotel in Times Square before Jeff's press day got fully underway. They discussed what it means to Jeff to make it to Broadway, what he’s most looking forward to, what he thinks opening night is going to be like, and how he’ll be thinking often of his good friends and family who will be with him in person and spirit, such as his late friends Gilbert Gottfried, Norm Macdonald, and Bob Saget.

For tickets and more information, visit jeffrossbroadway.com

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We here at Playbill hope you are having a great summer. It was a whirlwind, wonderful season on Broadway, capped by the Tony Awards in early June. We have slowed down a bit on podcast episode production to take a little break to catch our breath, but fear not -- we will be back with more Broadway show-focused Playbill Podcast episodes later this summer.

This episode is a special one, focused on a 2025 Tony Award winner: the Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, more commonly known as The MUNY, which received the Regional Theatre Tony Award as it celebrates its 107th season. It is the nation’s oldest and largest outdoor musical theater venue, seating a whopping 11,000 at a time, which helps the theater give away 100,000 free seats each season. But even more impressive is just how wild it is to put on a show there, where they need to make a high-quality, larger-than-life version of a Broadway show in only a matter of days.

In this episode, I talk with the creative director of the MUNY, Mike Isaacson, as well as husband and wife actor duo Rob McClure and Maggie Lakis, who are set to play stage married couple Larry and Cynthia Murphy in the MUNY’s Dear Evan Hansen. We talk about the magic of the Muny, what it’s like to put on a show so quickly, and how Dear Evan Hansen is a perfect story for today.

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Hi Playbill Podcast listeners! We make a lot of content here at Playbill: for the Playbill programs, our website, and our social media/YouTube pages. While we’re working on future podcast episodes to be released later this summer, we thought you’d enjoy an audio version of an episode from My Life in the Theatre, our video series where a theatre legend walks us through their career on the stage, one Playbill at a time. 

This episode is our most recent, featuring the star of Just In Time on Broadway, Jonathan Groff. We’ll set the scene: it’s Jonathan Groff at a table with a microphone and a big binder, filled with a lot of Playbills and a lot of memories.

01:41 - In My Life

05:21 - Spring Awakening

09:52 - Hair

13:55 - Prayer for My Enemy

16:07 - The Singing Forest

17:15 - The Bacchae

20:08 - The Submission

20:51 - Red

22:53 - The Pirates of Penzance

25:16 - A New Brain

28:09 - Hamilton

30:41 - Little Shop of Horrors

33:08 - Merrily We Roll Along

35:21 - Just In Time

If you’d like to watch this episode on our YouTube page, visit this link:

https://youtu.be/W5JIgY52ozA?si=9L6PA-8Rh8zCLAmT

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The Tony Awards are on Sunday, June 8, and what better way to prepare for the big night than by talking about what could happen! As a Tony Awards partner, Playbill and host Alex Birsh (Playbill’s C.O.O.) can’t disclose too many opinions…but that’s why we brought on two people who CAN share their thoughts and are Tony Awards voters themselves. 

Adam Feldman (Time Out) and Elysa Gardner (The New York Sun, The New York Times, Broadway Direct) are theatre critics and have plenty of thoughts on who and what they’ll vote for, and who they think will walk away with trophies. And, of course, don’t forget to tune in on June 8 to PlutoTV at 6:40 PM for Tony Awards: Act 1, and CBS for the main broadcast at 8 PM.

If you’d like to jump to specific awards categories, here’s a timecode guide:

05:40 - Best Orchestrations

09:20 - Best Choreography

13:16 - Best Direction of a Musical

17:05 - Best Direction of a Play

20:55 - Best Sound Design of a Musical

23:11 - Best Sound Design of a Play

24:45 - Best Lighting Design of a Musical

26:09 - Best Lighting Design of a Play

27:34 - Best Costume Design of a Musical

29:20 - Best Costume Design of a Play

30:50 - Best Scenic Design of a Musical

31:48 - Best Scenic Design of a Play

33:11 - Best Original Score

34:48 - Best Book of a Musical

37:22 - Best Performance by an Actress in Featured Role in a Musical

39:19 - Best Performance by an Actor in Featured Role in a Musical

41:43 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

44:42 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

47:39 - Best Performance by an Actress in Leading Role in a Musical

52:51 - Best Performance by an Actor in Leading Role in a Musical

56:39 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

58:10 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

59:31 - Best Revival of a Musical

1:01:01 - Best Revival of a Play

1:03:01 - Best Play

1:06:04 - Best Musical

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In the early 1990s, college students Adam Guettel and Tina Landau embarked on a wild idea: writing a musical based on the strange-but-true story of Floyd Collins, the Kentucky man who got stuck in a cave in 1925 trying to turn the cave into a tourist attraction. The topic was so intriguing because of what happened after he got stuck: the news story became one of the country's first "viral stories," reaching far and wide and creating such pandemonium that thousands would gather atop the entrance to the cave, hoping he would get rescued. After making it to an Off-Broadway theatre in 1996, the musical circled the Broadway industry for decades thanks to the clever concept by Landau and beautiful score by Adam Guettel, now a two-time Tony Award winner (and Landau is now a Tony-nominated director).

The musical has finally made it to Broadway and received six Tony Award nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Jeremy Jordan, our guest for the episode. We talk about what it's like to be nominated again, his path to the show, and his thoughts on why Floyd represents the best of him. Before the interview, host Alex Birsh (Playbill's C.O.O.) brings on a theatre friend to go into why the show resonated with him so much.

00:23 - Sneak Peek

01:47 - Interview with theatre friend Logan Culwell-Block

11:08 - Interview with Jeremy Jordan

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