The OnStage Blog Theatre Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Rachel and Jax examine the show selections of 33 community theatres nationwide for the 2025-2026 season and grade each theatre's announced season based on show quality, diversity, entertainment factor, and more! Listen to the episode here or watch on YouTube, where Rachel shares her PowerPoint on all 33 seasons discussed! onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/o...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel and Jax review the live stream of "Good Night, and Good Luck" on CNN and HBO Max, including George Clooney's excellent performance, Ilana Glazer's puzzling non-comedic performance, and more. Read more Broadway and theatre content on onstageblog.com! onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/onstageblog instagram.com/onstageblog https://www.you...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel and Jax recap the 2025 Tony Awards, pick the best, worst, and funniest moments, and much more with Broadway By Ghostlight's Marc Bonanni and One Man's Opinion's Tim Leininger! Read more of OnStage Blog's coverage of the Tony Awards at onstageblog.com! Broadway by Ghostlight:  ⁨@broadwaybyghostlight⁩ One Man's Opinion:  ⁨@onemansopinion8135⁩   onstag...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel and Jax share their thoughts on the Patti LuPone controversy with actress Sajda Waite! They weigh in on Patti's career, her open letter, her apology, and much more. Read more of OnStage Blog's Coverage of Patti LuPone here: https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/2025/5/27/reconciling-art-amp-the-artist https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/2025/5/26/patti-we-get-...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel and Jax have OnStage Blog Founder Chris Peterson on to discuss his ranking of the top 50 movie musicals to date, as of May 2025. Rachel and Jax share where they agree and hammer out their disagreements! Read Chris's rankings of #50-#25 here:https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/2025/5/4/the-top-50-movie-musicals-of-the-past-25-years-50-26 #25-#11 here: https://www.ons...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Wagner and Jacklyn Collier update where their Broadway Bucket List stands in May 2025, and count down the remaining shows they still have left to see.  onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/onstageblog instagram.com/onstageblog https://www.youtube.com/@onstageblog8213

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Wagner and special guest Marc Bonanni of Broadway by Ghostlight (@bwayghostlight Instagram, X, Threads) react to the 2025 Tony nominations, including their analysis of the snubs, surprises, and where the nominations got it right. Also, Marc explains why Maybe Happy Ending is one of the best shows he has ever seen! onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/onstage...

Send us Fan Mail In Part 1 of the Community Theatre Pet Peeves Podcast, Jacklyn Collier, OnStage Blog Theatre Podcast co-host, ranks her five biggest pet peeves against directors, with community theatre director veteran Chris Peterson responding on behalf of directors everywhere. Check out all of OnStage Blog's community theatre content on onstageblog.com onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageb...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel interviews theaterloversexperience.com's founder, Megan Gutierrez, about how she pulled off watching 11 Broadway shows in 5 days, including hit shows Othello and Glengarry Glen Ross, and discusses her reviews of each. The 11 shows Megan watched and discussed on this podcast are as follows: Real Women Have Curves John Proctor Is The Villain The Picture Of Dorian Gray DR...

Send us Fan Mail In a special Jane Austen-themed episode, Rachel Wagner interviews the playwrights of two Jane Austen plays she saw and discusses the challenges and thrills of producing Jane Austen's works for the stage. 1st Guest: Melissa Leilani Larson, Pride & Prejudice https://www.melissaleilanilarson.com/pride-and-prejudice 2nd Guest: Laura Bedore Lerwill, Emma (26:24) onstageblog.co...

Send us Fan Mail Theatre Critic Rachel Wagner and OnStage Blog's Chris Peterson preview the new Broadway productions coming to Broadway this Spring, including BOOP The Musical, Dead Outlaw, The Last 5 Years, Pirates! The Penzance Musical, and more!  onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/onstageblog instagram.com/onstageblog https://www.youtube.com/@onstageblog8213

Send us Fan Mail OnStage Blog Founder Chris Peterson and Actor/Acting Coach Jacklyn Collier give advice to readers and reddit users asking for advice on all things theatre-related. Greg Ehrhardt guest hosts.  Questions answered include: What to do if you can't make callbacks (https://www.reddit.com/r/Theatre/comments/1j4ukv2/question/) What to do if you don't have any chemistry with your...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Wagner and Jacklyn Collier analyze the 2025 Olivier Award Nominations, which recognize the best of London Theatre. They also run through the latest shows they have attended or watched in the last few weeks, including the most recent national tour of Les Miserables, The Book of Mormon, Beautiful, Prince of Egypt, English, Gypsy, and more.  onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstag...

Send us Fan Mail On a Community Theatre edition of the OnStage Blog Theatre Podcast, Rachel and Jax sit down with OnStage Blog editor Chris Peterson to discusshow theatres can evolve in the wake of Trump's second term, how theatres should select shows for their seasons, important etiquette tips all performers should practice, and much more! onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel and Jax discuss and debate the merits of the three movie musicals nominated for Best Picture for the 2025 Oscars: Emilia Perez, A Complete Unknown, and Wicked. For a complete breakdown of Wicked Part One, listen here . Check out all OnStage Blog's Wicked and movie musical content on onstageblog.com! onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/onstageblog insta...

Send us Fan Mail In a special edition of the OnStage Blog Theatre Podcast, Editor-In-Chief Chris Peterson and Editorial Staff member Greg Ehrhardt react to the news that Donald Trump intends to fire many of the board members of The Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts and appoint himself Chairman of the Board.  Can he do this? Does it matter? Are the arts nationwide in trouble? Chris and Greg gi...

Send us Fan Mail OnStage Blog's Greg Ehrhardt joins Rachel Wagner to talk about his experience seeing "Harry Potter and The Cursed Child" on Broadway and why all future Harry Potter stories should only be adapted on stage in the future. Then, Broadway actress Zurin Villanueva joins Rachel and co-host Jacklyn Collier (17:20) to talk about her career, lessons she learned about when to...

Send us Fan Mail To kick off 2025,, Rachel Wagner and Jacklyn Collier preview the 2025 Winter Broadway Season, including Redwood, Smash on Broadway, Boop, and much more.  onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/onstageblog instagram.com/onstageblog https://www.youtube.com/@onstageblog8213

Send us Fan Mail  In a special podcast exclusive, OnStage Blog's Rachel Wagner and Greg Ehrhardt sit down with Dave Solomon, the associate director of Elf: The Musical , to discuss his journey from a high school theatre enthusiast to a Broadway career. They explore the challenges of adapting Elf from screen to stage, his career highlights, and much more.  onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageb...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Wagner recaps her trip to Broadway and reviews the shows she saw, including Drag: The Musical, Elf: The Musical, The Rockettes, Death Becomes Her, and more with co-host Jacklyn Collier. Check out all of OnStage Blog's reviews on onstageblog.com! onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/onstageblog instagram.com/onstageblog https://www.youtube.com/@onstagebl...

Send us Fan Mail Broadway By Ghostlight's Marc Bonanni joins Rachel Wagner and Jacklyn Collier to break down all of the songs, dances, and everything Broadway-related that they saw in this year's Thanksgiving parade in New York City. Find out more about Broadway history from Marc Bonanni on his YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/@broadwaybyghostlight and stay up on all of the latest theatre...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Wagner and Jacklyn Collier explain why the cinematic adaptation of Wicked is a movie musical masterpiece and what made it work so well. Yes, it's that good! Check out onstageblog.com for more commentary on Wicked on stage and on screen! onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/onstageblog instagram.com/onstageblog https://www.youtube.com/@onstageblog8213

Send us Fan Mail Rachel and Jacklyn talk with critic Mark Woodring of the Utah Film Critics Association about all things Evil Dead and how well the adaptation works on stage.  Check out Mark's podcast on his website today!  https://vsmoviepodcast.com/ onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/onstageblog instagram.com/onstageblog https://www.youtube.com/@onstageblog8213

Send us Fan Mail Rachel and Jacklyn of The OnStage Blog Theatre Podcast take a deep dive into Stephen Sondheim's hit, "Sweeny Todd."  onstageblog.com facebook.com/onstageblog twitter.com/onstageblog instagram.com/onstageblog https://www.youtube.com/@onstageblog8213

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Wagner and special guest Chris Peterson, the founder of OnStage Blog, discuss the controversy surrounding Cynthia Erivo calling out a fan-made Wicked Poster covering her eyes and changing the color of her lips.  They also discuss Chris's viral editorial on the topic, which you can read here: https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/2024/10/17/dear-cynthia-erivo They also...