BROADWAY NATION

My guest again this week is author Andrew Erdman, whose captivating new book is Beautiful—The Story of Julian Eltinge, America's Greatest Female Impersonator. In this episode, Andrew continues the story of Julian Eltinge’s rise to the absolute highest realms of show business — and we especially focus on three musicals that were created especially for him by top Broadway talents such as Otto Harbac...

My guest on this episode is Andrew L. Erdman, who is the author of the new book: Beautiful — The Story of Julian Eltinge, America's Greatest Female Impersonator. In the late 19th and early 20th Century — long before the fierce television Drag stars of today — a specific style of drag performance known as Female Impersonation was wildly popular on stage and screen — in America and around the world....

This special encore episode of Broadway Nation was first released in the fall of 2022. My guest is PAUL SALSINI, who many listeners will remember as the founder and original editor of The Sondheim Review, the first and only quarterly magazine ever devoted to a living musical theater composer. Paul passed away earlier this month, at the age of 88, so I thought this was a very appropriate time to re...

 My guest this week is award-winning entertainer Richard Skipper, who joins me to talk about his new show, Still Going Strong—A Celebration of 60 Years of Hello Dolly!, which he will be bringing to various venues on several continents over the next few months, starting with Crazy Coqs in London on August 5th. As you will hear, it was Richard’s friendship with Carol Channing that inspired him to be...

Today I am excited to share with you the third and final segment of my conversation with author Kevin Winkler regarding his new book, On Bette Midler: An Opinionated Guide. In this engaging book, Kevin focuses on all aspects of Bette Midler’s career — on stage, recordings, film, and television. But in this conversation, again we focus primarily on her work as a theater artist. If you missed the ot...

On today’s episode author Kevin Winkler returns for the second part of our discussion of his fascinating new book, On Bette Midler — An Opinionated Guide. If you missed part one of this conversation, you may want to catch up with that before listening to this one. In that episode, Kevin and I touched on Bette’s childhood, explored her early years in the off-off-Broadway experimental and very campy...

This week I am excited to welcome author Kevin Winkler back to Broadway Nation to discuss his new book, On Bette Midler: An Opinionated Guide. This engaging book is a critical analysis of every aspect of Bette Midler’s career on stage, recordings, film, and television, but in this conversation, we focus primarily on her work as a theater artist. To date, Midler’s long career has been bookended by...

In this Encore Episode from 2021, author Rick Pender takes us inside the creation of The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia.  Rick Pender is a longtime member and former chair of the American Theater Critics Association. He first began reviewing theater in 1985 for a public radio station he managed at Northern Kentucky University. He later became the theater critic for CityBeat – Cincinnati’s alternati...

 My guest again this week is author BEN WEST who returns for the fourth and final segment of our conversation in regard to his exceptional new book The American Musical – Evolution of an Art Form.  As you will hear, in today’s episode, we move into what I call the Modern Era of Broadway from the 1970s right up to today and detail the major changes in the way musicals are made over the last 50 year...

This is the third segment of my conversation with author BEN WEST, regarding his new book: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL — EVOLUTION OF AN ART FORM. As you will hear this book is a comprehensive history of the American Musical from its origins in the 19th Century right up to the turn to the 21st Century. Along the way Ben West sheds new light on a myriad of shows, authors, directors, and performers includi...

Today’s episode is the second part of my recent conversation with author BEN WEST, regarding his his exceptionally comprehensive new book: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL — EVOLUTION OF AN ART FORM. This book traces the American Musical’s creative journey from its 19th Century beginnings through its 20th Century maturation, and on to the turn of the 21st century. Along the way, Ben West sheds new light on a...

My guest this week is author BEN WEST, who joins me to discuss his exceptional new book: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL — EVOLUTION OF AN ART FORM. This book is a comprehensive history of the American Musical that traces the form’s creative journey from its 19th Century beginnings through its 20th Century maturation, and on to the turn of the 21st century. Along the way Ben sheds new light on a myriad of au...

My guest this week is Jack Viertel who joins us to talk about his delightful new novel, Broadway Melody. This is one of a fascinating wave of novels that explore the history of Broadway though a combination of fictional characters and real-life Broadway figures. Jack Viertel began his theatrical career as a drama critic for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and then worked as a dramaturg at the Mark...

During an incredible Broadway career that stretched from 1953 to 1998, composer Cy Coleman created the music for 12 Broadway musicals. Unlike most Broadway composers, however, he was never part of an ongoing songwriting team but instead worked with seven very talented but very different collaborators. My guest today is one of those esteemed lyricists -- David Zippel who partnered with Cy Coleman o...

This is the second part of my discussion with Tony Award-winning Costume Designer Ann Hould-Ward in which we trace the legacy chain of Broadway costume design expertise that was handed down directly over a 100-year period from Aileen Bernstein to Irene Shariff to Patricia Zipprodt to Ann Hould-Ward, herself. If you missed the previous episode you may want to listen to that first.  During our discu...

To celebrate Women's History Month he is the first of two episodes recorded during the pandemic about the history of Broadway Costume design with special guest Ann Hould-Ward. Irene Sharraff is the legendary Broadway costume designer whose incredible 56-year career spanned from 1933 to 1989. She designed the costumes for more than 52 Broadway musicals including As Thousands Cheer, Jubilee, On Your...

My guest this week is Robert W. Schneider who joins me to talk about his new podcast, Broadway Bound — The Musicals That Never Came To Broadway. Each of the ten episodes in the first season of this wonderfully researched new series focuses on a high-profile musical that was on its way to Broadway but for various reasons never made it. Analyzing and identifying those reasons is part of what makes t...

My guest again this week is author Maya Cantu who returns for the third and final part of our conversation about her fascinating book: Greasepaint Puritan — Boston to 42nd Street in the Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes. In this episode we focus on Ropes’ 1934 novel, Go Into Your Dance, the third in his evocative backstage trilogy which also includes 42nd Street (the source material for bot...

My guest again today is author Maya Cantu who returns to discuss her book, Greasepaint Puritan — Boston to 42nd Street in the Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes. In this terrific new book Maya reclaims the life and work of vaudeville, nightclub and Broadway dancer turned novelist and screenwriter Bradford Ropes, with a central focus on his three long-forgotten backstage novels: 42nd Street o...

 My guest this week is author Maya Cantu who joins me to discuss her new book, Greasepaint Puritan — Boston to 42nd Street in the Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes. In this book Maya reclaims the life and work of Bradford Ropes, the author of the naughty, bawdy, gaudy, sporty, and very gay novel, 42nd Street, on which both the classic film and stage adaptation are based. That’s just the fir...

This is a special encore episode of Broadway Nation. 1970s Broadway experienced another blast from the past with the return of the Black Musical. More than a dozen hit black musicals opened during the decade, and three of them won the Tony Award for BEST MUSICAL. About half of these were new, original musical plays – mostly adaptations of popular plays or novels. All of them employed a combination...

My guest today is the prolific and award-winning book writer and lyricist Stephen Cole who joins me today to talk about his new novel: Mary & Ethel…and Mikey Who? I found it to be a terrific book, both wildly funny and very moving. And as you will hear, at times it feels like Stephen wrote this novel especially for me, and for the fans of this podcast. Stephen Cole is an award-winning musical thea...

My guest today is theatrical animal trainer Bill Berloni. Beginning with the original production of ANNIE in 1977, Bill has provided and trained animals of all species and sizes for 27 Broadway musicals and plays, as well as for countless Off-Broadway shows, National Tours, regional theaters, movies, television shows, commercials and the NYC Ballet – and he found almost all of those animal actors...

My guest this week is Ted Chapin whose captivating 2003 book Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical “Follies,” has recently been reissued in a revised and updated edition.  As you may know, this book is based on Ted’s first-hand experience as the production assistant on the original Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, & James Goldman landmark musical Follies. Of cou...

This is the second half of my conversation with author Liza Gennaro, whose fascinating book is titled: Making Broadway Dance.  If you missed part one you may want to catch up on that episode before listening to this one. Liza is currently the Dean of Musical Theater at the Manhattan School of Music and she also has had a very active and successful career as a dancer and choreographer. Interestingl...