Backstage Babble

Today, I am so honored to announce my episode with a Broadway star who I’ve been a fan of as long as I’ve loved theater, the one and only Queen Lesli—Lesli Margherita. Lesli is currently appearing at BroadwayCon through July 10, Broadway’s fan convention featuring unmissable panels and performances. You can find tickets to it here: https://www.broadwaycon.com/ Tune in today to hear her tell some o...

Today, I am so happy to announce Part 2 of my celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Grease,  featuring its producer, Ken Waissman. In addition to Grease, Ken Waissman’s other producing credits include Agnes of God, Torch Song Trilogy, and more. But before you listen, make sure to purchase Ken’s new book Grease: Tell Me More, Tell Me More: Stories from the Broadway Phenomenon, which can be found h...

Today, I am so excited to announce the first part of my celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Grease with it’s original director Tom Moore. In addition to Grease, Tom Moore’s Broadway credits include ‘Night, Mother, Over Here, and Frankenstein. If you want to hear even more about the creation of Grease, make sure to purchase the recently released book Grease, Tell Me More, Tell Me More: Stories f...

Today, I am so thrilled to announce my interview with the executive director of the Shubert Organization Charles Flateman. Charles is also the chairman of the board of NYC and Company, the CEO of Audience Rewards, and the co-founder of Broadway Inbound. Tune in today to hear some of the insights of his great career, including how theaters are assigned to different shows, Bette Midler’s special dre...

Today, I am so honored to announce my episode with Tony Nominee Jill O’Hara, whose many stage credits include starring in the original productions of Promises, Promises, George M!, and Hair. She shares so many of the stories of her wonderful career, including standing her ground with David Merrick, a funny encounter with Kristin Chenoweth, giving a note to Tom Bosley, the differences between the o...

Today, I am so happy to announce my episode with  Encores! Producing Creative Director and  Tony-winning set designer Clint Ramos. Clint’s current project is Encores!’ newest production, Into the Woods, which runs now through May 15. You can find the remaining tickets here:   Into the Woods   You can tune in today to hear some of the stories of Clint’s amazing career, including the art of designin...

Today, I am so happy to announce my episode with Chris Mouron and Anne Tournié, creators of The Little Prince. Chris is the narrator, adaptor, and co-director, and Anne is the co-director and choreographer. Tune in to hear them speak about the international success of the show, including the process of modernizing the book, the location where audiences had never read the book, what was added for t...

Today, I am so honored to announce my interview with  Jennifer Ashley Tepper, who has been  Creative and Programming Director of 54 Below since 2013. Today, she’s here to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the legendary cabaret room. On May 2nd, you can see a fabulous celebration called Ten Years of Musical Theater History at 54 Below:   Tickets Here   Tune in to hear some of the stories of her leg...

   Today, I am so excited to announce my interview with Linda Cho, recorded in October of 2020. You can see her highly praised costume design in POTUS, currently running on Broadway, which you can find tickets for here:   POTUS   In the meantime, tune in to hear some of the stories of her career, including the influence of Ming Cho Lee, working with Broadway’s first all-female creative team on The...

Today, I am so happy to announce my new episode with Sam Pinkleton, movement director of the current Macbeth and choreographer of Amelie, Soft Power, and more. Tune in today to hear some of the stories of his career, including why he chose not to be a performer, the unusual Macbeth rehearsal process, adding a dance break to Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, fighting his “musical theate...

Today, I am so happy to announce my episode with  legendary Broadway dancer and  choreographer Baayork Lee, whose credits include A Chorus Line, My One and Only, The King and I, Flower Drum Song, and more. Tune in to hear some of the stories of her life and career, including the song for her and Ronald Dennis that was cut from A Chorus Line, the Broadway directing job she turned down, the process...

Today, I am so happy to announce Part 2 of my episode with Broadway actress Beth Fowler, star of Sweeney Todd, Beauty and the Beast, The Boy From Oz, and more. Tune in today to hear more of the amazing stories of her career, including what it was like working with Whoopi Goldberg, her New York Times review for Inherit the Wind, the mistake with the revival of Bells are Ringing, her collaboration w...

Today, I am so happy to announce my interview with two-time Tony Award nominee and television star Beth Fowler. Tune in today to hear some of the stories of her legendary career, including: choosing between two Broadway shows, meeting a real Roosevelt during Teddy and Alice, bonding over Leonard Bernstein with Patricia Routledge, performing the Andrews Sisters’ repertoire with Maxine Andrews, her...

Today, I am so honored to announce the release of my newest episode, featuring Broadway and cabaret star Karen Mason. If you want to see Karen’s talents at work, you can buy tickets to her Birdland show, Kander and Ebb and All That Jazz on March 28 at this link:   Birdland Link   And you can find her new album, Let the Music Play, on Spotify and Amazon Music. In the meantime, tune in here to hear...

I am so honored today to announce my episode with one of Broadway’s foremost musical directors adnd author of the new memoir Facing the Music David Loud. The memoir is available here:   Facing the Music   And you can see the Lyrics and Lyricists tribute to him through the ticket link here:   Lyrics and Lyricists   But meanwhile, tune in today to hear him tell some of the stories of his long career...

Today, I am so excited to announce Backstage Babble’s 100th Episode! I want to send a sincere thank you to everyone who has listened to this podcast: without you, I could never have reached this point. And beyond that, it is thrilling to be able to present my interview with a Broadway icon, Harvey Fierstein. Tune in today to hear some of the stories of his legendary career, including the musical t...

I am so happy to announce the release of Backstage Babble's 99th episode with Tony-winning musical director and  orchestrator Ted Sperling. In addition to his Broadway career, Ted is also the artistic director of Mastervoices, under whose auspices he will be presenting an all-star concert of Anyone Can Whistle at Carnegie Hall this Thursday, March 10, starring Vanessa Williams and Elizabeth Stanle...

Today, I am so happy to announce the release of my interview with Broadway choreographer Liza Gennaro, author of the new book Making Broadway Dance, available here: Purchase Making Broadway Dance Tune in now for an in-depth study of Broadway choreography, including many of the stories of Ms. Gennaro’s long career, including: what she remembers about seeing the original Oliver!, why Smile deserves...

Today, I am so happy to announce the release of my episode with one of Broadway’s best living directors, the great James Lapine. Tune in today to hear him share some of the stories and wisdom of his legendary career, including what he wanted to fix about the original Into the Woods, why he chose to dramatize Act One, his influences in avant-garde theater, his collaboration with William Finn, what...

Today, I am so happy to announce the release of my episode with legendary stage and screen comedienne Jo Anne Worley, who has starred in such  illustrious projects as Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Hello, Dolly!, Grease, The Drowsy Chaperone, and more. Tune in to hear some of the wonderful stories of her long career, including the moment she knew Laugh-In was a success, vocalizing outside Carol Chan...

“Politics is like theater: if you can’t appreciate the little victories, you’ll never get the big ones.” Crystal Field has overseen victories large and small during her over 50 year tenure as Artistic Director of the Theater for the New City ( https://theaterforthenewcity.net ), and she details many of them on today’s episode of Backstage Babble. Among her fascinating stories: what it was like to...

Today, I am so happy to announce my episode with Broadway ensemblist and activist T. Oliver Reid. Tune in to hear some of the stories of T.’s long and legendary career, including his many auditions for Hadestown, how he founded the Black Theater Coalition and the work he hopes to do, working with Robert Goulet, working with children and animals in Once On This Island, the meaning behind Polly Berg...

It is a true honor to announce Backstage Babble’s first episode of 2022-and what better way to start the New Year than with the legendary Bob Mackie, a man who has created iconic outfits for all of the greatest names in entertainment: everyone from RuPaul to Judy Garland. Tune in today as he talks about his storied career: hear about what it was like to be an openly gay man in ‘70s Hollywood, what...

There’s no better way to send off 2021 than by listening to Part 2 of my episode with amazing choreographer JoAnn M. Hunter. Tune in today for a revealing and fascinating conversation about her choreography career, which includes such shows as School of Rock, Disaster, On a Clear Day, and more. Stories and insights abound: what she looks for in auditions, why it’s hard to cast child actors, prepar...

Today, I am so happy to announce my episode with one of Broadway’s most in-demand director/choreographers, Joann M. Hunter. On this episode, she discusses her career as a Broadway dancer, including the prank she played on Jonathan Pryce, why she loves working with Susan Stroman, rehearsing for 6 months with Jerome Robbins, putting Bebe Neuwirth into Chicago, what it’s like performing on the Tonys,...