ON BROADWAY

The 14th episode in a series on the complete works of Stephen Sondheim. Rick Pender, the author of the The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia, is our musical guide. For this episode, we feature the original production of the 1987 Stephen Sondheim musical, Into the Woods, which ran for 765 performances on Broadway.

Interview with Michael Urie (Professor Robert Langdon) and Hannah Cruz (Cryptologist Sophie Neveu) who are starring in the American premiere of play based on the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code. The show is playing at the Ogunquit Playhouse (http://www.ogunquitplayhouse.org/) through September 23.

An interview with Greg Dassonville (https://www.dassonvogue.com/), a stylist who has revolutionized how people approach shopping and wearing clothing for all occasions. Since his start, Greg has provided styling for The Tony Awards, The Emmy Awards, Broadway Opening Nights, Concerts, Editorials, and various Red Carpets for Movie premieres. For the 2023 Tony Awards, Greg provided styling for Tony Award Nominee Betsy Wolfe of & Juliet and for Adrianna Hicks of Some Like It Hot. On the podcast, Greg will talk about how he started his business, his views of styling, the collaborative nature of his work, and some of the celebrities he has worked with on the red carpet. Pictures of his work will also be available on the BroadwayRadioPrograms.com website.

On our podcast this week, I chat with Seth Bisen-Hersh, composer/lyricist whose musical, Love Quirks, ran Off-Broadway last summer. We talk about the show and issues trying to mount a musical in New York City. We also discuss his new film project and his hobby of creating crossword puzzles.

The 13th episode in a series on the complete works of Stephen Sondheim. Rick Pender, the author of the The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia, is our musical guide. For this episode, we feature the 1965 Stephen Sondheim/Richard Rodgers musical, Do I Hear a Waltz, his last Broadway show where he only wrote lyrics.

The 12th episode in a series on the complete works of Stephen Sondheim. Rick Pender, the author of the The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia, is our musical guide. For this episode, we feature the 1962 Stephen Sondheim musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, his first Broadway show where he wrote both music and lyrics.

For this week’s On Broadway podcast, I chat with author and critic Elysa Gardner on her book, “Magic To Do: Pippin's Fantastic, Fraught Journey to Broadway and Beyond,” which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Stephen Schwartz musical.

My interview with Kristin Stultz Pressly on her book, I Can’t Give You Anything but Love, Baby: Dorothy Fields and Her Life in the American Musical Theater. Dorothy Fields was America's most brilliant and successful female lyricist. Working with thirteen different composers, Fields wrote the lyrics and/or librettos for unforgettable masterpieces, such as Annie Get Your Gun, Redhead, and Sweet Charity. Her more than four hundred songs include the standards "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Pick Yourself Up," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love."

The 11th episode in a series on the complete works of Stephen Sondheim. Rick Pender, the author of the The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia, is our musical guide. For this episode, we feature the 1971 Stephen Sondheim musical, Follies.

On this episode, I chat with Tony Award–winning designer Derek McLane and fashion and entertainment writer Eila Mell on their book, Designing Broadway: How Derek McLane and Other Acclaimed Set Designers Create the Visual World of Theatre. It is a richly illustrated and information-packed celebration of Broadway set design reflecting on some of the greatest stage productions of the past few decades.

We chat with Jack O’Brien, the former long-serving Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California (1981 – 2007) and multi-Tony Award winning Director, including the original production of Hairspray. We discuss his latest book, Jack in the Box: or, How to Goddamn Direct, where he talks about directing essentials as well as stories about theater personalities he has worked with including Mike Nichols, Neil Simon, Tom Stoppard and John Goodman.

The 10th episode in a series on the complete works of Stephen Sondheim. Rick Pender, the author of the The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia, is our musical guide. For this episode, we feature the 1959 Stephen Sondheim-Jule Styne collaboration, Gypsy, which starred Ethel Merman.

I chat with Ted Chapin, the author of the book - Everything was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies. Visit the show page at https://broadwayradioprograms.com/2023/01/interview-with-ted-chapin/.

I chat with Musical Director Andrea Grody who has helmed such Broadway productions as The Band's Visit and Tootsie. She also worked on the Off-Broadway musical SUFFS. In addition, Ms. Grody has written a musical about individuals on the autism spectrum, Strange Faces.

I chat with Jesse Green, chief theater critic for The New York Times and co-author of the Mary Rodgers memoir -- Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers. Visit the show page at https://broadwayradioprograms.com/2023/01/interview-with-jesse-green/.

The 9th episode in a series on the complete works of Stephen Sondheim. Rick Pender, the author of the The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia, is our musical guide. For this episode, we discuss the 1984 Pulitzer Prize winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George.

We chat with Peter Filichia, the author of the book - "The Book of Broadway Musical Debates, Disputes, and Disagreements." Peter is the former New York-based theater critic for The Star-Ledger newspaper in Newark, NJ and the author of six books on the musical theater.

We chat with Patrick Pacheco and Erik Forrest Jackson, the bookwriters for the world premiere musical, "Christmas in Connecticut," playing at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT through December 30, 2022.

An interview with Professor Dominic McHugh on his book examining the works of Meredith Willson - "The Big Parade: Meredith Willson's Musicals from The Music Man to 1491."

We talk with Robert W. Schneider, co-Editor of the book, Fifty Key Stage Musicals.The book provides a round-up of the fifty musicals whose creations were seminal in altering the landscape of musical theater discourse in the English-speaking world. Some of the choices are obvious – Oklahoma!, West Side Story, Hair, Company, A Chorus Line. Others, in my opinion, are headscratchers – The Secret Garden, Falsettos, and Seussical. Rob will delve into many of them.