This Week on Broadway for September 27, 2026: Helder Guimarães’s The Hope Theory @ New York City Center
Sep 27, 2026
Show notes
Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about The Dining Room @ Antrim Playhouse, The Sound of Music @ The Paris Theater, Schmigadoon!, The Invention of Love @ Theaterlab, Guys and Dolls Studio Cast Recording, and Helder Guimarães’s The Hope Theory @ New York City Center
Note: This week there was an audio issue on James’ microphone. We were unable to fix it for this episode.
“This Week on Broadway” has been coming to you every week since 2009. It is the longest-running running Broadway and theatrical podcast with hundreds of shows giving thousands of reviews and interviews.
Subscribe to BroadwayRadio in Apple Podcasts by CLICKING HERE.
Patreon listeners get This Week on Broadway first, on Sunday afternoon before it is released to the general public on Sunday evening.
Panel:
Peter Filichia | peter@broadwayradio.com | Facebook PETER FILICHIA is a playwright, journalist, and historian with a number of books. Peter’s new day-by-day desk calendar – A SHOW TUNE FOR TODAY – 366 Songs to Brighten Your Year – is available at finer retailers!
Showtune for Today: What Makes Me Love Him from The Apple Tree
Michael Portantiere | michael@broadwayradio.com | Facebook MICHAEL PORTANTIERE has been a theater journalist for more than 50 years. The founder and editor of CastAlbumReviews.com. He is also a theatrical photographer whose photos have appeared in The New York Times and other publications. Additionally, Michael is known as a producer and director of shows at 54 Below, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, and other venues.
Note: This week we had listeners join us while recording. These listeners are Patreon members who support BroadwayRadio. If you would like to join us in the future, become a supporter at Patreon.com/BroadwayRadio.
Please let us know if you run into any problems or have suggestions.
Reviews:
PF: The Dining Room @ Antrim Playhouse (Tappan, NY), through October 4, 2026 Set in the dining room of a typical well-to-do household, The Dining Room is a mosaic of interrelated scenes – some funny, some touching, some rueful – which, taken together, create an in-depth portrait of a vanishing species: the upper-middle-class WASP. The actors change roles, personalities and ages with virtuoso skill as they portray a wide variety of characters, from little boys to stern grandfathers, and from giggling teenage girls to Irish housemaids. Each vignette introduces a new set of people and events: a father lectures his son on grammar and politics; a boy returns from boarding school to discover his mother’s infidelity; a senile grandmother doesn’t recognize her own sons at Christmas dinner; a daughter, her marriage a shambles, pleads futilely to return home. Dovetailing swiftly and smoothly, the varied scenes coalesce, ultimately, into a theatrical experience of exceptional range, compassionate humor and abundant human
JM: Schmigadoon! (third time), through April 4, 2027
PF: The MAP Theater‘s production of Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love @ Theaterlab The MAP Theater is proud to announce the complete cast and creative team for its rare revival of Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, the Tony-winning play that premiered on Broadway in 2001. Starring eight-time Obie winner David Greenspan as poet and scholar A. E. Housman, this strictly-limited-engagement, directed by Zachary Elkind and featuring original music by Julian Hornik, will run September 17 – October 3, 2026, at Theaterlab (357 W 36th Street, Manhattan) as part of TLAB SHARES, with an opening set for Sunday, September 20. Tickets are now on sale at www.themaptheater.com.
PF: Helder Guimarães’s The Hope Theory @ New York City Center, through December 6, 2026 Witness an ordinary immigrant transform into “a master of illusion” (The New York Times). It’s not a magic trick; it’s the story of The Hope Theory, a critically acclaimed solo show that “proves hope is more than an illusion” (Los Angeles Times). Directed by Academy Award-winning producer Frank Marshall (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Sixth Sense, Raiders of the Lost Ark), and written-performed by Helder Guimarães
Let ’Em Eat Cake replaces the previously announced Hallelujah, Baby! at Encores! from March 17 through 28, 2027
The production will be directed by Zack Winokur (Artistic Director, AMOC), in association with Opera Philadelphia, with Guest Music Director Rob Berman leading The Encores! Orchestra. Hallelujah, Baby! will be presented during a future Encores! season to allow more time for creative development.
It was also announced today that Rachel Dratch as Patty and Jeff Hiller as Schroeder complete the cast for Encores! You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, which opens the 2027 Encores! series, February 3 through 14.
Future Episodes:
Peter’s Brainteaser:
The final full song of a Cole Porter property – meaning that we’re not including the reprise of a number that started the show, but the final full song — starts with the star singing a line that may be the worst prediction ever made in the history of music.
What’s the line? What’s the song? What’s the property?
Michael’s Musical Moments
Music Opener: “If I Were a Bell,” from GUYS AND DOLLS: OFF THE RECORD – Josie de Guzman
Music Closer: “Anthem” from CHESS, sung by BJ High
Special Episode: Joshua Owen, Rory McGregor on ‘Human Things’
Sep 22, 2026
Show notes
On today’s episode, Matt Tamanini is in conversation with director Rory McGregor and playwright and producer Joshua Owen to discuss their new play “Human Things’ currently running at the West End Theater on Broadway and 86th. Opening night is Friday, Sept. 25, and the run is slated to go through Sunday, Oct. 18.
In the show, Greg and Margaret are on the rocks. More specifically — they are on an atoll in the South Pacific where Margaret is studying a dwindling population of migratory birds, and Greg is doing… something. He’s not quite sure what he’s doing, actually. He’s doing his best. When Bo and Darce arrive, stranded, having crashed their beloved boat, Hula-Hoop, into a nearby coral reef, they bring with them a storm that threatens to reshape the world in ways both big and small.
The show stars Victoria Clark, Rebeca Robles, Ben Rosenfield, and Michael Mulheren.
Last Week on Broadway: Monday, Sept. 21, 2026
Sep 21, 2026
Show notes
Duncan Sheik dies at 56, Bernie Williams joins ‘Buena Vista,’ J. Harrison Ghee take medical leave from ‘Oh, Mary!’
Every week, Matt Tamanini will bring you the biggest news from across the theatrical landscape and will prepare you for what’s ahead over the next seven days.
Any and all feedback is appreciated: Matt Tamanini:matt@broadwayradio.com | @BroadwayRadio
For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@broadwayradio.com and include the episode name.
This Week on Broadway for September 20, 2026: The Ford/Hill Project @ BAM
Sep 20, 2026
Show notes
Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about The Ford/Hill Project @ BAM, Pre-Existing Condition @ Greenwich House Theater, 54 Sings Broadway’s Greatest Hits! @ 54 Below, The Body of Mary @ The Gym At Judson, Sweet Charity (Roadshow Version) movie @ Paris Theater, Ben Franklin In Paris @ 54 Below, and the passings of Bob Mackie and Duncan Sheik.
“This Week on Broadway” has been coming to you every week since 2009. It is the longest-running running Broadway and theatrical podcast with hundreds of shows giving thousands of reviews and interviews.
Subscribe to BroadwayRadio in Apple Podcasts by CLICKING HERE.
Patreon listeners get This Week on Broadway first, on Sunday afternoon before it is released to the general public on Sunday evening.
Panel:
Peter Filichia | peter@broadwayradio.com | Facebook PETER FILICHIA is a playwright, journalist, and historian with a number of books. Peter’s new day-by-day desk calendar – A SHOW TUNE FOR TODAY – 366 Songs to Brighten Your Year – is available at finer retailers!
Showtune for Today: Follow Your Heart from Urinetown
Michael Portantiere | michael@broadwayradio.com | Facebook MICHAEL PORTANTIERE has been a theater journalist for more than 50 years. The founder and editor of CastAlbumReviews.com. He is also a theatrical photographer whose photos have appeared in The New York Times and other publications. Additionally, Michael is known as a producer and director of shows at 54 Below, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, and other venues.
Note: This week we had listeners join us while recording. These listeners are Patreon members who support BroadwayRadio. If you would like to join us in the future, become a supporter at Patreon.com/BroadwayRadio.
Please let us know if you run into any problems or have suggestions.
Reviews:
MP: The Ford/Hill Project @ BAM, September 8-20, 2026 CREATED BY : Elizabeth Marvel and Lee Sunday Evans
“The Ford/Hill Project performs one of theater’s most noble and necessary functions: to shine a light on character itself, to attune the populace to how a person’s acts betoken who they are, and to prompt the polis to pay attention.” – DC Theater Arts
30 years apart, Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford provoked a reckoning about who is given the power to shape the future of our country by telling the story of one of the most private moments of their lives in one of the most public settings imaginable.
With an ensemble of four actors speaking from the verbatim transcripts of these pivotal hearings, these two women’s stories can be seen side by side in a new light in Waterwell’s illuminating new production which we are honored to bring to two of the country’s most prestigious theaters in the weeks leading up to the consequential 2024 election.
Long Wharf Theatre At Quinnipiac University & Southern Connecticut State University New Haven, CT September 19-27, 2026
Middlebury College Middlebury, VT September 30-October 1, 2026
Williams College Williamstown, MA October 2-3, 2026
The critically acclaimed production, and New York Times Critic’s Pick, will feature Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Lupita Nyong’o, Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Edie Falco, Tony and Emmy Award nominee Phillipa Soo, Actor Award nominee Hari Nef, and Tony Award nominee Susannah Flood, performing the alternating role of ‘A.’ The cast will also include Drama Desk Award nominee Greg Keller, Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith, and Drama Desk Award winner Sarah Steele, reprising their roles from the production’s run at the Connelly Theater. Nyong’o will perform the role of ‘A’ through September 26.
Pre-Existing Condition, written by Tony Award nominee Marin Ireland and directed by Tony Award nominee Maria Dizzia, offers an “unfiltered examination of how violence imprints itself on the body and soul” (New York Theatre Guide). The play centers on an unnamed woman, brought to life in sequential engagements by the formidable Lupita Nyong’o, Phillipa Soo, Susannah Flood, Hari Nef and Edie Falco, alongside a powerhouse returning cast featuring Dael Orlandersmith, Sarah Steele, and Greg Keller. Staged at the historic Greenwich House Theater, Pre-Existing Condition explores the quiet challenges and everyday indignities of moving forward after a life-altering relationship.
MP: 54 Sings Broadway’s Greatest Hits! @ 54 Below The performance on Sep 19: Gabrielle Baker (In the Heights at Playhouse on Park) Elizabeth Bedley (A Chorus Line and Bye Bye Birdie at the Wick Theatre) Ben Jones (Musical theater, opera, & symphony concert star) Ryan Knowles (The Lightning Thief) Philippa Lynas (Cirque Du Soleil’s Cirque Dreams Holidaze, Brisbane Fest) Tyler McCall (Fiddler on the Roof national tour) Zachary Santolaya Ann Stein
PF: The Body of Mary @ The Gym At Judson, through October 8, 2026 Written & Directed By Katie Cappiello
PF: Ben Franklin In Paris @ 54 Below, September 13, 2026 A Revolutionary Musical in Concert Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of America’s Independence Featuring: Tony Award® nominee Walter Willison (Grand Hotel, Pippin, Two By Two) Bistro Award winner Ann Kittredge (Dessa Rose, A Christmas Carol, King David) Keith Crowningshield (Grand Hotel, Jelly’s Last Jam) Tony Award® nominee Timothy Jerome (Grand Hotel, Me and My Girl, The Rothschilds) Keaton Miller (Somewhere, Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors at the Straz Center) Zoë Parrish (Steps the Play, NYC workshops of YES! The Musical and Zombie Musical) Ron Spivak (Regional: Man of La Mancha) Melinda Hopkins (Two By Two regional tour) Sheila Wormer (The Magic Flute at the Salzburg Music Festival)
Last Week on Broadway: Monday, Sept. 14, 2026
Sep 14, 2026
Show notes
‘Princess Bride’ musical to play Chicago in 2027, London ‘Sunday’ canceled, ‘Oh, Mary!’ to hit HBO
Every week, Matt Tamanini will bring you the biggest news from across the theatrical landscape and will prepare you for what’s ahead over the next seven days.
Any and all feedback is appreciated: Matt Tamanini:matt@broadwayradio.com | @BroadwayRadio
For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@broadwayradio.com and include the episode name.
This Week on Broadway for September 13, 2026: Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? @ The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey
Sep 13, 2026
Show notes
Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about Frank “Fraver” Verlizzo’s book, “Sanity Claus”, Ghostlight Players production of The Guys at Staten Island Academy’s Haugen Hall Theater, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? @ The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, New York, New York (1977 movie) @ Paris Theater, Molière in the Park: Don Juan @ LeFrak Center at Lakeside, and Garry Starr: Classic Penguins @ Studio Seaview.
“This Week on Broadway” has been coming to you every week since 2009. It is the longest-running running Broadway and theatrical podcast with hundreds of shows giving thousands of reviews and interviews.
Subscribe to BroadwayRadio in Apple Podcasts by CLICKING HERE.
Patreon listeners get This Week on Broadway first, on Sunday afternoon before it is released to the general public on Sunday evening.
Panel:
Peter Filichia | peter@broadwayradio.com | Facebook PETER FILICHIA is a playwright, journalist, and historian with a number of books. Peter’s new day-by-day desk calendar – A SHOW TUNE FOR TODAY – 366 Songs to Brighten Your Year – is available at finer retailers!
Showtune for Today: Legally Blonde Remix from Legally Blonde
How come Legally Blonde has not had a revival, and I don’t see it much in regional and community theater?
Michael Portantiere | michael@broadwayradio.com | Facebook MICHAEL PORTANTIERE has been a theater journalist for more than 50 years. The founder and editor of CastAlbumReviews.com. He is also a theatrical photographer whose photos have appeared in The New York Times and other publications. Additionally, Michael is known as a producer and director of shows at 54 Below, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, and other venues.
Note: This week we had listeners join us while recording. These listeners are Patreon members who support BroadwayRadio. If you would like to join us in the future, become a supporter at Patreon.com/BroadwayRadio.
PF: Garry Starr: Classic Penguins @ Studio Seaview, through October 11, 2026 International smash hit GARRY STARR lands in New York this fall, and he’s hell-bent on saving books from extinction – by performing every Penguin Classic novel ever written in under an hour, (mostly) naked. This event is strictly 18+. Please be aware that this production includes full nudity, strobes, haze, recorded gunshots, and sudden loud noises. Audience participation will be invited at the discretion of the performer and is voluntary. By purchasing a ticket, you acknowledge the inherent risks of voluntarily participating in a live performance, includingphysical activity and close contact with the performer, and release all producers and venue operator from claims based on negligence, except for gross negligence or willful misconduct. No photography or filming.
Good Time Charlie @ The Public Theater September 24, 2026 – October 18, 2026 Written by Ryan J. Haddad Choreography by Jennifer Rias Directed by Danny Sharron
Ryan J. Haddad returns to The Public with his joyous, moving new play GOOD TIME CHARLIE. As a young man, Charlie dreamt of a life on the stage, but his parents thought dentistry sounded better, so he channeled his passion for culture into his nephew Ryan—a fellow theater-loving gay kid with Broadway ambitions. Spanning more than three decades, GOOD TIME CHARLIE is a multigenerational story of gay men growing up, falling in love, and cherishing the arts. Directed by Danny Sharron, this comedic, theatrical love letter celebrates the people who teach us how to dream.
What are we looking forward to this fall?
Future Episodes:
Peter’s Brainteaser:
Gentlemen whose surnames were Kelly, Young, Fox, King and Hart created characters that were mentioned in a song in a 1980’s Tony-losing musical.
What’s the show and song? Name the characters, too.
Michael’s Musical Moments
Richard Rodgers Conducts “The Carousel Waltz” with NY Philharmonic (Columbia Recording, 1955)
For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@broadwayradio.com and include the episode name.
Jan Simpson | jan@broadwayandme.com | Facebook | Twitter Broadway & Me Jan Simpson is a theater journalist who writes the blog Broadway& Me and hosts the BroadwayRadio podcasts Stagecraft and All The Drama. She has twice served as a Pulitzer Prize juror.
Broadway Grosses and News: Sept. 10, 2026
Sep 10, 2026
Show notes
Breaking down the Broadway grosses and major theatre news
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