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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Few shows on Broadway get to be considered a "breakout hit," but the original play Oh, Mary! at the Lyceum Theatre has officially hit the mainstream, hosting sold-out crowds and major celebrities like few other Broadway shows this season. Most surprising of all: it is a farce, a smash hit comedic play based on the mostly untrue story of Mary Todd Lincoln and her husband, former US President Abraham, during his final weeks. In this episode, host Alex Birsh brings on the creator and star of the show, Cole Escola, and the director, Sam Pinkleton, to discuss how this show came to be and what it's like bringing it to audiences every day.

Before the interview, Alex brings on the theatre friend of the episode, Logan Culwell-Block, to chat about why this show resonates with him so much.

00:23 - Sneak peek

02:47 - Interview with Logan

12:50 - Interview with Cole and Sam

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What would happen next if Shakespeare's Juliet decided not to take her own life? The story told each night at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre is an answer to that question.

&Juliet came to Broadway in 2023 and has captivated the hearts of theatergoers with its infectious story and pop music hits, all produced by one person: Max Martin, the five-time Grammy Award winner who has worked with the likes of The Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, and more. Each of these artists, plus a host of others, has songs in the show that help tell the story of the continuation of the most famous romance in history.

As we do each episode, host Alex Birsh brings on members of the production: Maya Boyd, who plays Juliet, and Alison Luff, who plays the narrator of the show, Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare's real wife's name....it's true). Before the interview, he brings on a theatre friend who will tell us why the show resonated with him so much, to the tune of seeing the show 11 times(!).

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In this episode, we talk to Idina Menzel, one of Broadway's brightest stars, about her musical Redwood. Co-created by Menzel and writer/director Tina Landau, Redwood the Musical is about finding inner peace within the beautiful Redwood Forest. Menzel talks about what it's meant to her to bring Redwood to the Nederlander Theatre, as well as how surreal it is to be back in that specific theatre, in her old dressing room, from her days in RENT. Before the interview with Idina, host Alex Birsh brings on Ethan Treiman, Playbill's videographer and editor, who discusses why Redwood resonated with him.

0:39 - Peek into the show

2:09 - Interview with our theater friend, Ethan Treiman

10:06 - Interview with Idina Menzel

If you want to see Redwood, head to RedwoodMusical.com or visit Playbill.com for more information about every show on Broadway. Redwood is set to close on May 18, 2025.

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This episode highlights one of the most captivating new Broadway shows today: Operation Mincemeat! Winner of London's Olivier Award for Best Musical in 2024, the show tackles the complex but exhilarating story of British intelligence officers in WWII fooling the most dangerous man in the world.

Playbill Podcast host Alex Birsh brings on Natasha Hodson and Jak Malone, two stars of the show. Natasha is also one of the creators, first thinking about this concept thanks to a podcast episode. Before their interview, Alex brings on Bryan Campione of the Playbill staff to chat about why this musical is his favorite of the season.

:28 - A quick summary of Operation Mincemeat

2:21 - Bryan and Alex's thoughts on the show

9:37 - Alex's interview with Natasha and Jak of Operation Mincemeat

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When Broadway returned from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, it needed a jolt, a bolt of lightning. Happily, we did not just get one. We got SIX.

In this episode, host Alex Birsh talks with Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the creators of SIX: The Musical, to discuss how an idea developed in a university dorm room turned into a smash-hit musical that has played over 1,400 performances on Broadway and around the world. Before the interview, Birsh chats with Meredith Ammons, Playbill's Social Media Coordinator, about why she suggests SIX to her friends and family who ask her, "What Broadway show should I see?"

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Could a show about robots be Broadway's best new love story?

On this episode, we talk with Golden Globe winner Darren Criss (American Crime Story, Glee) who stars in Maybe Happy Ending, one of the buzziest new musicals on Broadway. He chats with Playbill's Alex Birsh about what the show means to him and what it's like bringing it to audiences each week. The episode also features an interview with the theater friend of the week, Diep Tran (Playbill's Editor-In-Chief), who talks about why this show resonated with her so much.

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