Broadway Press Day with Ruthie Fierberg

Our awards season series “5 minutes of a Tony nominee” returns with more interviews than ever before. From now through the Tony Awards on June 7, 2026, Broadway News will be releasing multiple episodes each day. Listen in for conversations with actors, directors, designers, writers, choreographers and producers from this year’s hottest shows. We're talking “Liberation,” “Schmigadoon!,” “The Lo...

Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire returns to Broadway with a world premiere! The Balusters officially opened on April 21 in a production from Manhattan Theatre Club. “The Balusters” follows the board of a neighborhood homeowners association across several of their monthly meetings. This neighborhood is the fictional Vernon Point, a historic, landmarked district...

Welcome to Schmigadoon “where the sun shines bright from July to June” and it's a musical every day. Based on the Apple TV+ series of the same name, “Schmigadoon!” now comes to Broadway. Created by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul, Paul says that he had always intended the show to be a stage musical, but TV came first! The original musical follows a modern-day couple who end up trapped in Schmigadoon...

Gina Gionfriddo’s dark comedy “Becky Shaw” first bowed Off-Broadway in 2008 and went on to become a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Now, the play is on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre with an intimate ensemble cast of five that stars Patrick Ball (The Pitt), Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’s Tale), Alden Ehrenreich (Ironheart), Linda Emond (Cabaret, 2014) and Lauren Patten (Jagged Lit...

The smash, long-running musical “Cats” returns to Broadway in brand-new and glorious form as “Cats: The Jellicle Ball.” This is not your grandparents’ “Cats.” There isn’t a feline to be found, in fact. The 2026 revival, which started Off-Broadway at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, sets “Cats” in the the context of a ballroom competition. (Think FX’s “Pose.”) Co-directors Zhailon Levingston an...

“Beaches” made a splash in the cultural lexicon when it debuted in cinemas in 1988. The film starred Bette Midler as Cee Cee Bloom and Barbara Hershey as Hillary Essex, two best friends who met as children under the Atlantic City boardwalk and then weathered life’s trials and tribulations together for decades — until one of them falls fatally ill. But the truth is, “Beaches” was a novel before it...

Vampires return to Broadway with the new musical “The Lost Boys,” an adaptation of the 1987 movie, which starred Jason Patric, Kiefer Sutherland and Dianne Wiest. The musical stars newcomer LJ Benet, Ali Louis Bourzgui and two-time Tony Award nominee Shoshana Bean. The story follows the Emerson family: mom Lucy, played by Bean, and her two sons Michael (Benet) and Sam (Benjamin Pajak). Michael fal...

The interactive solo play “Every Brilliant Thing” has become a famous title around the world. In February 2026, the dramedy makes its Broadway debut, starring Tony Award winner (and forever Harry Potter) Daniel Radcliffe. Written by Duncan Macmillan with Johnny Donahoe, the play is structured as a list of all of the things worth living for as told by a child whose mother suffers from chronic depre...

In 2025, host Ruthie Fierberg gathered five leader of top-tier Broadway advertising and marketing firms for an advertiser roundtable. That foundational conversation raised even more questions and led to this Part 2. Fierberg chats with Liz Furze, chief executive officer of AKA NYC; Callie Goff, managing director and chief creative officer of SpotCo; Jeremy Kraus, managing partner of Situation; Ile...

Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominee Carrie Coon returns to Broadway for the first time since 2013 with “Bug,” a psychological thriller by Pulitzer Prize and Tony winner Tracy Letts. In this episode, host Ruthie Fierberg talks to Coon about her “Bug” character, Agnes, and the differences between Agnes and her famous characters from “The Gilded Age” and “The White Lotus.” Plus, Coon declares “...

A new, original musical has arrived on Broadway: “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).” Book writer and lyricist Kit Buchan and composer Jim Barne have brought their musical romcom to the Longacre Theatre — inspired by movies like “When Harry Met Sally,” “Crossing Delancey” and Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy. “Two Strangers” started in the U.K. before coming to America. It follows a...

Nearly 40 years since “Chess” debuted on Broadway, a revival of the musical by Sir Tim Rice (“Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Evita”) and Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA) has opened on Broadway. But this “Chess” is more a revisal — It features the songs of the original (albeit in a different order) and a brand new book by Emmy Award winner Danny Strong (“Game Change,” “Dopesick”). In this episod...

Tony Award-nominated playwright Bess Wohl ("Grand Horizons") and Tony-nominated director Whitney White ("Jaja's African Hair Braiding") each return to Broadway with the new play "Liberation." The ensemble play premiered Off-Broadway in the spring of 2025 and played a sold-out run with the Roundabout Theatre Company. Now, "Liberation" has transferred to B...

Two-time Tony Award nominee Bobby Cannavale, Tony winner James Corden and Tony winner Neil Patrick Harris return to Broadway in the first revival of Yasmina Reza's Tony-winning play “Art.” A comedy about male friendship, “Art” begins when Serge buys a white painting for $300,000. The purchase creates a crack in his longtime friendship with Marc — how could Marc be friends with someone who valu...

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter became best buds 40 years ago when they starred in what would become the first movie of the “Bill & Ted” franchise. Now, the two are on Broadway together in the latest revival of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.” As Reeves tells host Ruthie Fierberg, doing the play with Alex and director Jamie Lloyd was his idea. Here, Keanu explains why he reveres the play; Al...

After years of building Broadway back after the COVID-19 shutdown, the industry enjoyed a resurgent 2024-2025 season. But the business is also at a turning point. Those who work in entertainment know about the “crowded landscape” and the need to “break through the noise.” As Broadway turns toward a new chapter, Broadway News wanted to learn from the advertisers themselves. What are the challenges...

In July 2011, 18-year-old Jacob Dunne was a renegade, running amok, selling drugs, partying and always looking for a fight. But one night, when he joined a brawl, he threw a single punch that killed James Hodgkinson. Jacob went to prison and, upon his release, nearly returned to the aggressive life he'd been living. But then James’ parents reached out with questions. What ensued was a restorat...

In 1999, “Mamma Mia!” debuted in London’s West End — and musical theater was never the same. It was the first show of the modern era to use a single artist’s catalog, namely pop sensation ABBA, to tell an original story that had nothing to do with those artists. “Mamma Mia!” became a massive hit and transferred to Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre in 2001. Today, “Mamma Mia!” has returned to the Wi...

Best known as Comedy Central’s “roastmaster,” comedian Jeff Ross will make his Broadway debut with his show “Take a Banana for the Ride.” The show begins performances on Aug. 5, 2025, at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre. Here, Ross speaks with Broadway News executive editor Ruthie Fierberg about what to expect from “Take a Banana for the Ride,” why it’s different from his usual roasting and what ins...

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, located at Lincoln Center in New York City, opened in 1965. It houses collections like the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, Music and Recorded Sound Division, Billy Rose Theatre Division as well as a circulating collection. According to the branch’s executive director, Roberta Pereira, it houses the largest known collection of theater photography...

Each year, the Tony Awards recognizes outstanding achievements on Broadway with special Tony Awards. This year, one of those was bestowed upon the illusions and visual effects team of Broadway’s new sci-fi thriller “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.” To watch “The First Shadow” is to witness innovation in design and technical theater — in addition to its dramaturgical and performance accomplishme...

The Muny opened its first production on June 16, 1919. This year, 106 years later, the Muny received the 2025 Regional Theatre Tony Award. Current artistic director and executive producer Mike Isaacson joined the Muny in 2011, launching his first season in 2012. Isaacson is only the third person to lead the Muny in  its history . Here, Isaacson talks about what makes the Muny special, how the thea...

“Sunset Boulevard” opened at Broadway’s St. James Theatre on TK, after a successful run in London’s West End. The four principal actors from the London production transferred to Broadway: Nicole Scherzinger, Tom Francis, David Thaxton, Grace Hodgett Young. Scherzinger and Francis are nominated for Tony Awards for their individual performances and “Sunset Boulevard” is nominated for Best Revival of...

Costume designer Holly Pierson made her Broadway debut this season with the runaway comedy hit “Oh, Mary!” by Cole Escola. Prior to Broadway, Pierson designed for television, including the comedy series “At Home with Amy Sedaris.” Learn how Pierson designed character through costume for “Oh, Mary!” in this chat with host Ruthie Fierberg, executive editor of   Broadway News. Want to be the first to...

After making his Broadway debut with “English,” Knud Adams earned his first Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Play. Sanaz Toossi’s play started Off-Broadway and won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Hear more of the director’s insights, including counsel for directors taking on the work in this conversation with host Ruthie Fierberg, executive editor of   Broadway News . Want to be th...