The BSB Podcast

I remember reading S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders in school and being deeply moved by its core message. The importance of family, but not necessarily the family you were born into, but the friends who become part of your unit along the way. No matter the loss or the trials we go through, our family will be there for us, and together we can get through anything that happens. That strength remains in t...

There's nothing quite like all that jazz, and Broadway has consistently brought the heat since 1996, when Chicago made it's trimpuhant return to New York City. Having found a home at the Ambassador Theatre, Chicago has brought down the house night after night, with one of the most classic Broadway shows that you can still find in the Big Apple. So what is it about this show that keeps bringing peo...

Broadway's Chicago is truly all that jazz, and then some. Since its 1975 debut, this vaudeville-inspired musical has been winking at audiences while picking their pockets of sympathy, certainty, and any lingering faith in the justice system. In a show that turns murder into a media event and the courtroom into a cabaret, audiences are transported to a world as flashy as it is dark, reflective of t...

What would you be willing to risk for the truth? What a powerful question to think about, and for many of us, the answer might be just about anything. The White Rose plunges audiences into the story of two students who dared to defy one of history’s most brutal regimes. Inspired by the real-life resistance movement in Nazi Germany, the drama focuses on those who confront fear and doubt, and the te...

Are you ready for your next mission, agent? Should you choose to accept, we have the perfect assignment for you, one that, if done correctly, might just help us win the war! In your briefing, you'll find instructions to join in on our conversation about the music and stagecraft of this hilarious new Broadway musical, Operation Mincemeat! That's right, we're continuing our discussion of the Tony Aw...

I think it's safe to say that most people want to do good in this world. Growing up, my mother would always tell my siblings and me that one of our only goals in life was to "Do good, shut up, and go home," which ultimately meant we should aspire to do good for those around us and live a life we feel good about. Similar to a doctor's code of honor, she wanted us to do no harm and spread kindness,...

What's life without a little melodrama, amirite? Or I suppose I should be more specific...what is life without a little Southern melodrama in the form of a hilarious comedy? At least, that's what those over at Planet Ant are asking right now, as their production of As I Die and Wheeze! is currently playing in Ant Hall! While the cast and crew just celebrated their opening weekend, we had the pleas...

There are shows that are purely for entertainment, and then there are some that leave us feeling unsettled, like a current moving beneath still water. Kayak is one of those plays that leaves audiences deeply moved and introspective about the world they live in and the people they surround themselves with. As its title suggests, the play becomes a vessel carrying its characters across emotional wat...

So many plays ask big questions about love, identity, or ambition. However, What the Constitution Means to Me asks something even bigger: What does a document written in 1787 actually mean for people living right now? Perhaps this is a question we should ask ourselves more often, but we think about it far too little. Heidi Schreck's work answers this question, though it may be far more personal—an...

If the world of politics is a circus, then The Outsider by Paul Slade Smith is the main stage in the big tent! This fast-paced comedy throws audiences into the chaotic world of campaigning, where image is everything, and honesty is almost a liability.  With razor-sharp dialogue and perfectly timed farce, The Outsider pokes fun at media frenzy, political posturing, and the absurd mechanics of elect...

I've never ridden a train before in my life, unless you count the one at the Detroit Zoo, which seems like something everyone should do at least once in their life. However, if the train ride is anything like that in Murder on the Orient Express, I might think twice before stepping into the stagecoach. Stagecrafters' is bringing Ken Ludwig's adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel to their Main Stag...

Who doesn't love the works of Andrew Lloyd Webber? As the composer of some of the greatest musicals to ever hit Broadway or the West End, Webber has cemented his place in theater history forevermore. Acclaimed Countertenor, Terry Barber, is bringing this composer's works, as well as a few other iconic Broadway shows, to The Brighton Center of the Performing Arts with his The Best of Broadway: The...

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction, and those stories typically make the best shows. Operation Mincemeat is a musical that burst onto Broadway last season after transferring from the West End, based on a true story about how the Allied powers turned the tide of World War II. The story is so wild that the only way to do it justice is to put it to music, which somehow works! We recently ha...

There are some Broadway plays that seem impossible to describe, and Oh, Mary! is absolutely one of those shows. While it is most definitely a historical comedy, this show uses history more as a guiding aspiration than a hard-and-fast rule to operate by. It relishes the wicked delight of looking at the life and times of Mary Todd Lincoln through a lens that isn't often used in history: comedy. Ther...

The Algonquin senior living facility is in desperate need of some fun, and there are a few individuals living in the walls who have a plan to achieve that. A jukebox would definitely liven up the place, so a plan develops that ultimately explores themes of friendship, loneliness, and finding your tribe regardless of what stage of life you're in. St. Dunstan's Theatre's production of A Jukebox for...

Welcome to the family cottage, a quaint little house secluded in the English countryside, and immensely proud of it. For many, it promises rest and relaxation, either with the aforementioned family or a romantic getaway with your lover. It's in the latter that Sandy Rustin's play, The Cottage, exists, although not quite in the way you may think. Guests arrive here with suitcases full of hope, and...

In the bustling streets of New York City, at the turn of the 20th century, where ambition collides with prejudice and desire hides beneath layers of fabric, Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage tells a deeply human story about longing, love, and survival. What begins as a story about corsets and letters soon unravels into a powerful exploration of emotional, physical, and social intimacy. Rosedale Com...

Good evening, detectives, distinguished guests, and board game enthusiasts alike. Tonight, we’re gathered at Boddy Manor not just to solve a crime, but to investigate a mystery. Something's afoot, and it's up to us to figure out what's going on before the bodies pile up, but thankfully, we're not alone in this endeavor! No one knows what's going on in the manor more than Wadsworth, the trusty butl...

While theater has come a long way in the types of stories we're telling, there's always room for improvement. Representation in musicals and plays still has a long way to go, so it's important to shine a light on narratives that are often overlooked. The Chocolate Box Theatre Company is bringing Ntozake Shange's groundbreaking choreopoem, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Ra...

We're traveling one last time to Cobb County, to see what else the North American touring production of Broadway's Shucked the musical has to offer! Having previously spoken about the story and characters from this chuckle-fest of a musical, it's time to look at everything else that makes up this show! From the stage magic to the vocal gymnastics performed in so many of the songs, everything else...

Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf is not just a work to be read; it is an experience meant to be felt in the body, the heart, and the collective memory of Black womanhood. Through a sisterhood of voices, the author gives language to pain that has too often been silenced: abandonment, sexual violence, racism, self-doubt, and despair. Yet the w...

What better way to celebrate the new year than with a musical featuring the King of Rock and Roll's songs? Meadow Brook Theatre, in collaboration with Oakland University's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, is ready to slip on their blue suede shoes and grease their hair back, with their latest production, All Shook Up! We spoke with two of the leads of this Meadow Brook Theatre production, Nick...

What exactly is Shucked the musical about? Simple...it's a show about corn! Well, perhaps that's too simple; however, the marketing for this Broadway musical has focused on the fact that it's a show about corn and has not disclosed much else. Part of the show's appeal was the mystery surrounding it, leaving many to wonder exactly what Shucked was about. So, naturally, when it was announced that th...

It's time to grab your ultra clutch and get ready to make your hair as big as possible, as Hairspray is coming to Rose Above Theatre! For one weekend only, the cast and crew of Rose Above are looking to bring the fun-loving and free-wheeling musical to the Village Theatre at Cherry Hill! Hairspray delivers some incredibly important messages; however, it is packaged in one of the grooviest, most fu...

There's no better way to kick off a new year than with a musical, and so many local theaters are gearing up for an exciting second half of their current season! Birmingham Village Players is ready to hit the ground running in 2026 with another classic musical, Once Upon A Mattress. This 1959 musical is based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Princess and the Pea, though with a healthy do...