Stagecraft with Gordon Cox

In this final, super-sized episode of Stagecraft: Listen in on insightful conversations with Broadway's biggest talents, recorded during Variety's annual Business of Broadway breakfast presented by City National Bank. We've got Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter talking "Waiting for Godot"; Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher on "Chess"; Kristin Chenoweth, Stephen Schwartz, F. Murray Abraham, Lindsey Ferrentino and Michael Arden on "Queen of Versailles"; and John Clay III, Lear deBessonet, Caissie Levy and Brandon Uranowitz on "Ragtime."This is the final episode of Stagecraft as a regularly scheduled podcast, but host Gordon Cox will be contributing theater segments to Variety's daily news briefing, Daily Variety. And stay subscribed to this feed for occasional, standalone episodes of theater talk in the coming months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now kicking off her first season as artistic director of New York's influential Lincoln Center Theater with a revival of "Ragtime," Lear deBessonet talks spectacle, sacred space, community, the value of theater, her season line-up, and what she sees when she looks ahead to the future of LCT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a panel discussion recorded outdoors as part of the Backyard at Hudson Yards series, four actors who have starred in "Hamilton" over the years — Thayne Jasperson, Miguel Cervantes, Hannah Cruz, and Edred Utomi — celebrate the show's 10th birthday by sharing their experience of the show's legacy, telling backstage tales from their time in the show, and revealing their most embarrassing on-stage screw-ups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The recording artist and "American Idol" alum discusses his upcoming appearance as Judas opposite Cynthia Erivo in "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Hollywood Bowl, and shares stories of his early years as a musical theater kid before "American Idol" made him a rock star. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Felix Barrett, the artistic director of Punchdrunk and the creator of “Sleep No More,” takes listeners behind the scenes of “Viola’s Room,” the company’s latest genre-defying piece, and explains why the future of immersive theater might look a lot like videogames. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Isaacson, the artistic director of the Muny in St. Louis, on celebrating the 107-year-old institution's Tony win, how to survive St. Louis summer heat, and what shocked Heather Headley the last time she was there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three Tony-nominated actors from the cast of the Pulitzer Prize-winning best play nominee "Purpose" — LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Glenn Davis, and Jon Michael Hill — share the story of the show's development and reveal the challenges and joys of working with a playwright who can't help but rewrite up to very, very last minute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Emmy-winning actor and writer ("Better Call Saul") discusses his Tony-nominated Broadway debut in "Glengarry Glen Ross" — and shares his 30-year-old pitch to playwright David Mamet to do the play with a cast full of comedians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Huerta, one half of the Grammy winning band Jesse & Joy, and her co-songwriter Benjamin Velez discussing bringing the new musical "Real Women Have Curves" to Broadway — and share the surprising details of how the two of them wrote songs together, while apart, during lockdown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tony-winning Broadway favorite takes listeners on a tour of her dressing room, reveals her favorite part of her new musical “Redwood,” and reflects on “Rent,” “Wicked,” and what she’s most proud of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two of the creators of "Stranger Things: The First Shadow," writer Kate Trefry and co-director Justin Martin, talk through the complicated puzzle of making theater scary — and making good TV that’s also good theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Breakout newcomer Jasmine Amy Rogers and Tony-winning favorite Faith Prince talk Broadway nerves, the enduring legacy of Betty Boop, and how their new musical 'Boop' brings the iconic character to life in three dimensions and full color. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kandi Burruss, the former Real Housewife of Atlanta, is now a regular Broadway producer of shows including “The Piano Lesson” and the current “Othello” starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. Here’s how she hopes her work is helping to make a new Broadway for everyone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get to know the complete cast of the West End hit "Operation Mincemeat" — David Cumming, Claire-Marie Hall, Natasha Hodgson, Jak Malone, and Zoë Roberts — all now on Broadway in the New York transfer of the award-winning musical comedy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Toossi's Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy "English" now on Broadway, the playwright and her lead actor, Neshat, talk translation, Trump, representation, the power of comedy, and the one audience reaction that makes Toossi really, really mad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join the playwright, screenwriter and director for a wide-ranging conversation about her Broadway debut “Cult of Love,” the “gift” of her Seven Deadly Plays cycle, her thoughts on character vs. genre, her Star Wars series “The Acolyte,” the fans’ reaction to it, the seismic upheaval of motherhood, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Woods, a rising star of the New York stage, never thought much about "Gypsy" because she never thought there'd be a role for her in the landmark 1959 musical. Now she's appearing opposite Audra McDonald in the new Broadway revival — and finding ways to make the role of Louise her own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Shed, a relatively new multidisciplinary arts institution in Manhattan, has already made a habit of presenting buzzy theater productions — including the current, sold-run of "King Lear" starring Kenneth Branagh. Artistic director Alex Poots talks about how that show grew out of a years-along rapport with Branagh, and how the Shed's theater work fits into the broader landscape of Broadway and New York theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tony-winning actor James Monroe Iglehart on how he nails the legendary voice of Louis Armstrong in the new Broadway bio-musical “A Wonderful World” – and why he hopes his involvement as co-director of the show leads to more directing gigs in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The stars of the new Broadway musical adaptation of "Death Becomes Her" talk comic timing, macabre special effects, and why Hilty always knew "Death Becomes Her" would make a great musical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen, the stars of the new Broadway musical "Maybe Happy Ending," on cross-cultural storytelling, navigating their show's technologically complex set, and why robots are uniquely suited to telling a very human story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this supersized episode of Stagecraft, we bring you three conversations from Variety's Business of Broadway breakfast, featuring the stars, creators and producers behind some of the biggest shows on Broadway this fall.   In our first conversation, Erik Piecuch of City National Bank moderates a discussion with the producers Hunter Arnold ("Maybe Happy Ending," "Othello"), Caroline Kaplan ("Redwood"), Mara Isaacs ("Gypsy," "Hadestown"), and Sammy Lopez ("How to Dance in Ohio," "JOB").   In our second talk, Variety's Rebecca Rubin talks with four of the stars of the new Broadway revival of "Our Town": Zoey Deutch, Jim Parsons, Ephraim Sykes and Michelle Wilson.   And in our final interview, Variety's Brent Lang talks to two of the creative forces behind the buzzy new revival of "Sunset Boulevard," star Nicole Scherzinger and director Jamie Lloyd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tony-winning playwright and Oscar and Tony-winning director talk memory, loss and making “The Hills of California,” their latest Broadway play. Plus: the joys and pitfalls of franchise moviemaking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The "Lost" and "Hawaii Five-0" actor takes listeners behind the scenes of his return to Broadway, portraying a flawed, fictionalized version of the playwright David Henry Hwang in Hwang's comedy of mistaken racial identities, "Yellow Face." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeanine Tesori, the Tony winning composer of “Kimberly Akimbo” and “Fun Home,” talks about her upcoming Metropolitan Opera debut, “Grounded,” and what it’s like when a musical theater composer finds herself working with an 80-piece orchestra and 60-voice ensemble. Also discussed: the launch of the “Kimberly Akimbo” national tour, the revisions she and David Lindsay-Abaire made to “Shrek,” and why “Soft Power,” the musical she wrote with David Henry Hwang, is like the Renaissance Faire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a new tarot deck that brings Broadway to the tarot through the work of legendary caricaturist Al Hirschfeld — and I got a taste of the deck in action with a reading from its creator, Emily McGill, in a conversation about the spirituality of theater, the "casting" of theatrical icons as specific tarot cards, and how theater fans might use the deck for insight and self-reflection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking with Tony-winning Broadway star, who says she’s playing “an unhinged version of myself” in the new Broadway revival of “Once Upon a Mattress.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Behind the scenes with three of the creators of "Cats: The Jellicle Ball," the colorful, queer reimagining of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that's become a breakout hit of the summer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, the directing-producing duo behind the Tony Awards telecast, talk wowing the audience, innovating the staging, and why the Tonys always have the best acceptance speeches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tony-nominated star of "Appropriate," Sarah Paulson, and its nominated playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins share some real talk about Tony season, reveal how the extended run of "Appropriate" has changed things both for the actors on onstage and for the audiences in the house, and banter about why Paulson should maybe play Prince in "Purple Rain." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tony-nominated stars of "Cabaret" take listeners backstage for a peek at the "synchronized chaos" behind the scenes, and talk rowdy crowds, critics, and Redmayne's fourth go-round in the role of the Emcee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oscar, Emmy and Tony winning actress Lange, now on Broadway in a Tony-nominated performance in "Mother Play," discusses premiering a new play on Broadway, explains why she could do without Wednesday matinees, and reveals why her recent work has her feeling "wild and liberated." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a conversation recorded before the announcement of the Tony nominations, actors Espinosa and Iman talk criticism discourse, the irresistible allure of Lempicka, and the Broadway community that’s rallied around their show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now starring on Broadway in the critically acclaimed "Water for Elephants," Gustin shares what's most challenging — and most rewarding — about his first return to musical theater after nine years as the star of the long-running CW series "The Flash." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recorded live on the Broadway Cruise, musical theater icon Peters recalls the moment she fell in love with Sondheim's work, shares the biggest lessons she's learned in her career, and reveals the one Sondheim role she'd still love to play. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Soon to make her Broadway debut in the buzzy play “Stereophonic,” Canfield talks learning all those overlapping lines, telling an accidental lie on the way to winning her part in the show, the “Succession” diaspora on stage, and that one time the “Stereophonic” cast became a real band in Brooklyn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How the creators of the new Broadway musical adaptation of "The Notebook," Ingrid Michaelson and Bekah Brunstetter, aim to both satisfy and surprise—and why the show's theatricality makes the popular story even more universal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two theater influencers, Kristin Hopkins and Ashley Hufford, reveal the secrets of becoming a theater influencer. The first thing to know: There's not much money in it, but there's a lot of free theater. "If I wanted this to be my day job, I should have done beauty influencing," Hufford jokes.  Kristin Hopkins: @kristin_bria on Instagram, @kristinbhopkins on TikTok Ashely Hufford: @ashley_hufford on Instagram, @ashleyhufford on TikTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director-choreographer Justin Peck and Pulitzer winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury talk about making a nontraditional dance musical based on Sufjan Stevens’ “genre-defying” album “Illinoise.” The show is now having its world premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and will run at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan in March. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just as the acclaimed FX series "Reservation Dogs" was being developed, five of the writers involved in the show were premiering their first play. "Reservation Dogs" co-creator Sterlin Harjo and series writer Bobby Wilson, both members of the sketch comedy troupe The 1491s, reveal the backstory of their play "Between Two Knees" as the show makes its New York premiere in Feb. 2024.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stars Kelli O'Hara and Brian D'Arcy James on the joyous challenges of Adam Guettel's new Broadway musical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The storied Broadway composer shares his latest updates on the "Wicked" movie, the VOD release of "The Prince of Egypt," and the songs he's writing for Kristin Chenoweth in "Queen of Versailles." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a filmed version of the Broadway production of "Waitress" hitting theatres, the singer-songwriter-actor reveals all the ways that her involvement in the musical changed her work — and her life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actors James Monroe Iglehart, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer and Michael Urie detail the onstage (and backstage!) shenanigans in "Spamalot." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The actress and the director-choreographer talk working with Barry Manilow, the cast addition that changed the whole show, and how rare it is to hear a duet for a soprano and a belter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The "Hadestown" Tony nominee on his new solo show "All the Devils Are Here," working with hearing loss, and when he grew into that deep, deep voice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Presenting two lively discussions from Variety's 2023 Business of Broadway breakfast: In the keynote conversation, Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez reveal the reasons they work so well together in the buzzy revival of "Merrily We Roll Along"—and give each other a healthy dose of ribbing along the way. Before that, five producers behind some of this season's biggest shows share timely insights into the state of business. Sponsored by City National Bank, Variety's 2023 Business of Broadway breakfast was held Oct. 2 at the Pool in midtown Manhattan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Generous comedy, divine inspiration and life lessons with the "Hamilton" Tony winner who is now the star and producer of "Purlie Victorious." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bloom talks trunk songs, cut jokes, demo derbies and wrestling with mortality in "Death, Let Me Do My Show." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finn Ross and Nina Dunn, two designers responsible for the most striking video work now on Broadway, take us behind the scenes -- and behind the screens -- of "Back to the Future" and "The Shark is Broken." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices