ON BROADWAY

I chat with Karen Mason about her career and latest recording, Karen Mason and All That Jazz!, which celebrates the songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb. I also play a few selections from the recording. Ms. Mason has starred on Broadway, Off-Broadway, television, in concert, and in the recording studio. She’s been praised for her “fierce emotion” by The New York Times, her “innate comic ability” by P...

chat with Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley, co-founders of the on-demand digital streaming service BroadwayHD . The company records and distributes live theater performances and previously recorded theatrical productions through its platform.

My guest on this week's episode of 'On Broadway' is Ellis Nassour. He is the author of the new book, Jesus Christ Superstar: Behind the Scenes of the Worldwide Musical Phenomenon .

The 20th, and final, 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, Rick and I discuss our Top 8 Stephen Sondheim musicals.

Just in time for Halloween, I chat with George Reinblatt, playwright, television and comedy writer and lyricist and co-composer to Evil Dead - The Musical.

I chat with with Joshua Rosenblum on his book, Closer than Ever: The Unique Six-Decade Songwriting Partnership of Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire. 

I chat with Laura Frankos, author of the book, Broadway Revival , a historical, fictional work that has an actor, David W. Greenbaum, go back in time to save George Gershwin from his early, untimely death.

I speak with Kate Navin, Head of Audible Theater. They just celebrated their 5th year anniversary producing works at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village.

I chat with Michael John LaChiusa, the American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for musically esoteric shows such as Hello Again , Marie Christine , and The Wild Party . We talk, primarily, about The Gardens of Anuncia , where he wrote music, lyrics, and book. The show is based on the life of Graciela Daniele, a prolific figure in modern musical theat...

In this episode, I interview Kevin Winkler, the author of On Bette Midler: An Opinionated Guide . Kevin chronicles her career from the New York City Continental Baths through her recording, stage and movie careers.

This week’s podcast episode is a conversation with Susan Dormady Eisenberg, the author of the historical fiction novel, One More Seat at the Round Table. Here’s a description of the book: Jane Conroy, tries to juggle her first theater job and her unexpected passion for a gifted singer in the chorus, Bryce Christmas. Part coming of age novel, part love story, part dish-filled history, One More Seat...

The 19th 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 musical Off-Broadway revue, Marry Me a Little . The show is a musical composed of outtakes from Stephen Sondheim's early musicals.

I chat with Robert W. Schneider, an award-winning Director, Producer, Author, Educator, Podcast Host, and Artistic Director of The J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company, about his new podcast – BROADWAY BOUND: THE MUSICALS THAT NEVER CAME TO BROADWAY . It features musicals that had set their sights on Broadway but missed the mark. The first season is entitled “Hooray for Hollywood” and looks at Bro...

This week I chat with Patrick Pacheco who helped the late Chita Rivera write her autobiography - Chita: A Memoir.  Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero – Chita – created some of Broadway’s most iconic roles, including Anita in West Side Story ‚ Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie , Velma in Chicago , Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman , and Claire in The Visit . Patrick and I talk about these shows and such l...

I speak with Matt Gould, composer and co-librettist, of the new Broadway musical Lempicka . We chat about the show and his approaching to writing music.

Author Stephen Cole talks about his fictional, time-traveling novel, MARY & ETHEL…and Mikey Who? , which has taken the real-life friendship with Ethel Merman and Mary Martin, tossed them into a blender and come up with a fantasy about a nerdy super-fan.

I chat with Martin Fitzgibbon, who was a young drummer in the band during the creation of the The Rocky Horror Show in 1973. In his memoir, Behind the Curtain: My Life and Rocky Horror, he discusses the show, giving his unique insight into how the musical and its participants became an overnight success and created a cultural phenomenon still going strong over 50 years later.

SoundsofBroadway's Stuart Brown talks about our current Bracket Challenge - Favorite Musical From the Golden Age (Oklahoma! in 1943 through the year 1964). Each week, listeners pick the winners in head-to-head matchups – just like ‘March Madness’ – until we narrow down the field of 64 to just one ultimate favorite. Vote now! Just go to SoundsofBroadway.com.

I chat with Van Dean, a Grammy and Tony-winning producer who has just launched a new record label, Center Stage Records . Previously, he ran Broadway Records. We talk about, among other topics, his new record company and the art of producing a cast recording.

The 18th 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 musical The Frogs. The show is a musical "freely adapted" by Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove from The Frogs, an Ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. The Frogs was originally performed in Yale University...

I chat with Brian Stoll, an uber Broadway fan who has seen over 285 shows in the past decade, all at under $60 a ticket. He has developed a presentation, “Broadway on a Budget,” that he has presented at libraries and other venues, where he shares his money-saving tips on how to see Broadway shows, his love for Broadway, and even the history of the Playbill.

I chat with the composer, lyricist, and librettist Douglas J. Cohen about his book, How to Survive a Killer Musical: Agony and Ecstasy on the Road to Broadway . The book chronicles his decade-long quest to bring his musical, No Way to Treat a Lady , to the stage—writing, re-writing, and shepherding it across the US and Europe amidst all manner of adversity and plain rotten luck.

The 17th 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 musical Saturday Night. This was supposed to be Sondheim's first Broadway show in 1955 until the untimely death of the lead producer scuttled the work.  

I interview theater journalist Eddie Shapiro about his new book,  “Here’s to the Ladies: Conversations with More of the Great Women of Musical Theater.”  In the book, a follow-up to his work,  “Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater,”  he sits down for intimate, career-encompassing conversations with yet more of Broadway’s most prolific and fascinating leading w...

I chat with Danny Kornfeld, one of the stars of the new Barry Manilow/Bruce Sussman musical Harmony . We talk about the show and his life in the theater.