r/Broadway

We’ve seen some really inspired casting choices putting drag queens in roles not typically played by one. What other roles do you think would be perfect for a drag queen?

My vote is King George in Hamilton & Fiona in Shrek.

I just came across some old posts from 3 and 4 years ago, people complaining about the horribly behaved audience at MJ.

Well, I finally saw the show, from the mezzanine, and I can give an update: it was absolutely the worst audience I have ever suffered.

Astonishing number of people coming in very very late.

So so many kids who were not properly instructed on how to behave in the theater.

Adults talking constantly, nonstop, about the show, about random other shit, I had to turn around and snap at a group of women immediately behind me who would not shut up. An older husband-and-wife right next to me also would not shut up, they talked to each other loudly at the beginning and ending of every, every song.

People constantly getting up and leaving in the middle of the act....to go get DRINKS....then shoving their way through the long rows of seated people to get back in.

Possibly drunk woman started clapping her hands many times during the show, to the beat. And I don't mean the parts where everyone does it. It was usually just her.

People shouting out in the mezz lobby during the performance that could be very clearly heard inside.

It is usually the mezzanine and not the orchestra where I get annoyed by everyone's terrible behavior. Why is this? Manners are FREE. People in the cheap seats should be expected to sit the f down, stay still, and stay silent except for appropriate applause at appropriate times. How hard is that?

EDIT - I FORGOT THE BEST/WORST PART - at intermission, people started to stand up on the seats and climb over the adjacent rows because they didn't want to wait for their turn on the stairs. And the ushers shouted an announcement over the speakers telling people to stop climbing on the chairs. It was like trashy soccer fans not theatergoers.

Ok end rant.

Side note - MJ was fantastic. Very very very good show. Which made all of the interruptions all the more frustrating. But it's so good. Really appreciated it.

Recently the outsiders tour came through my city and I loved it enough that I immediately booked a trip to NY in October to see it!! The reason why ‘alone’ is in quotes is because technically I’ll be going with my friends, but I’m young so this is my first time travelling outside the country without my parents. I’m a bit nervous!!!

That being said, does anyone have any general show/tourism recommendations? I’ll be there 2 or 3 days, which shows should I see? What’s the best way to save money on shows? Any tips for first time travellers in NY?

If it helps, my favourite shows are the outsiders, & Juliet, kinky boots, and hadestown! (I don’t want to see & Juliet on Broadway because I saw it 10+ times in my city already and I believe that hadestown is coming next year). Any suggestions for shows similar to those?

There was a show that recently closed and I wanted to know if there is any way to still see a show once it gives the final performance? I know some shows travel, but I’m specifically speaking about seeing it on Broadway in NYC.

Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the list of best musical winners.

We currently have the following Tony Best Musical winners running:

The Lion King (1998)
The Book of Mormon (2011)
Hamilton (2015)
Hadestown (2019)
Moulin Rouge (2020/2021)
The Outsiders (2024)
Maybe Happy Ending (2025)
Schmigadoon (2026)

The 8 concurrent best musical winners at the same time might the most ever concurrently (original productions only, revivals of previous winners don’t count).

Basically every year there is another best musical winner, so this number goes up when the prior winners last longer than a year, and goes down when they close more than 1 per year. Once Moulin Rouge closes the number of active best musical winners will go down to 7.

I took a look and despite the longevity of prior winners such as Phantom, Cats, and Les Misérables I couldn’t find another year where there were more concurrent best musical winners actively running. Can someone fact check me on that?

Folks figured out on here that the last EPA was Downstate, but what the heck is this?? I got nothing.

OP here is Julia Schemmer, who is a founder of Puppetry on Broadway, worked at Barbie Dream Fest, and appeared at this year's BroadwayCon. In her IG stories, she's reposted comments of other employees who also haven't been paid. They've been blocked by Mischief Management and its owner, Melissa Anelli, as they've tried to get the money they're owed.

I've considered attending BroadwayCon but haven't been yet. However, I'm not interested in going if this is how it's being managed. The employees and the Broadway community deserve better than that. I figured that folks here would want to know about this as well.

Edit: the owner of Mischief Management has unblocked the people in question to comment on the post, should anyone want to read the company's/owner's response.

Great news for all hot/sexy Javert fans!! 😘 I was curious what he was going to do next once he made the move to NYC and was already looking forward to this show, so this is fabulous! Truly very excited to see where his career goes!

We went to see Paranormal Activity on Broadway last night and we rushed for it. We were aware that rush tickets, although cheaper, can sometimes come with obstructed seats. So we asked the box office attendant if we would be missing any key elements of the play. They told us no, we wouldn’t be missing much.

Turns out that was not true. We ended up missing some key scares that evening.

If you’re planning to see this play, here is my honest advice. Do not sit on the far edges of the orchestra seating on the far left, and avoid orchestra seating past row R and before Orchestra J. Any further back and the balcony starts cutting off the top of the stage setup, since the set is designed like a cutaway dollhouse.

My recommendation would be to splurge on top mezzanine center seats, or stick to middle orchestra center seating, Orchestra J starts to cut off some of the top level stage view.

I really wish the attendant had been upfront about what we’d be missing. We would have gladly paid more for better seats if we’d known what was at stake.

At a recent performance of Paddington the Musical, a swing saved the day, learning the role of "Millicent Clyde" after just four hours of rehearsal. At the performance on 17 August, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, the role's principal actor, was on vacation and the three understudies were unable to perform the role. Rose Mary O’Reilly, a swing, learned the track, taking the stage after four hours of rehearsal.

Really excited to see Jasmine Cephas Jones doing more shows. Wish it was in a different theater though.