The Unauthorized Critics Circle

F or every podcast, there comes a time to wrap it up. U ntimely demise, you say? C onclusions happen in their own time. K eeping with our raison d'etre, we saw the 2024 production of Audra Gypsy. N ow we humbly offer our thoughts and takes one final time. I n this episode we discuss motherhood, passerelles, and key changes. C ome listen as we head out to the great white way in the sky. O pen your...

Homosexuals... women with children... short insomniacs... and a teeny tiny band. No, that's not the description of my recent sex life – The Unauthorized Critics Circle is covering Falsettos! Tune in to this week's episode as we cover James Lapine's hugely popular revival of the work he himself directed a quarter century earlier, and listen to our anecdotes of Joshua's bar mitzvah,...

How it’s taken us this long to get to this we’ll never know. Joshua and Dan have FINALLY donned their Sunday clothes (Dan naturally in full headdress) to talk about none other than Donna Murphy in the most recent Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! Tune in next time when we discuss Falsettos; specifically, the pro-shot recording of the Broadway revival from January 2017! Contact us: unccpodcast@gmai...

Coming live from the Big Apple, hosts Joshua and Dan.... you know how some days are hard and you don't always think you can come up with terrific pithy descriptions? today is one of those days. we discuss the new Broadway musical New York, New York. John Kander wrote it. the man is a level above National Treasure and attention must be paid, if one has to quote Arthur Miller. Fred Ebb, as ever,...

Toot toot! Hop on the rag ship with Joshua and Daniel and make your way over to the five-star resort of Ellis Island, as we all explore the magical world of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s Ragtime together! Basking in the beautiful glow and optimism of turn-of-the-century America, our hosts relish in the warmth and social harmony of this world as they touch upon the idea of a musical theatre ep...

Asserting their relevance like never before, Dan and Joshua are FINALLY getting to the hottest ticket in modern musical theatre - the 1928 Kern and Hammerstein musical Show Boat! Now that the embargo has finally dropped, our hosts are free to talk about this groundbreaking new work in a production recorded at the San Francisco Opera. Even if you haven't had the chance to check it out yet (we&#...

Hosts Josh and Dan offer their appraisal on the current running Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd. Will Josh Groban raise the material up, or will this be another chapter in the history of wrong guys? Did the production cut the song Johanna as Anthony is literally Waving Through a Window during the number and the latter better plays to Jordan Fisher's strengths? What really is the Stranger Thin...

Would you believe it - New York Theatre Workshop has room for a cast of twenty-three, ten musicians, Jonathan Groff's perfectly spherical ass, and our two co-hosts! No wonder it felt so cramped. Daniel and Joshua break the cardinal rule of at least two Stephen Sondheim musicals (never look back!) and reflect upon the Broadway-bound production of Merrily We Roll Along. With a production that's Brit...

In this episode hosts Joshua and Dan cover the Plays from the Fall season on Broadway in 2022. Topics include: Arthur Miller aging, Audra McDonald's virtuosity, and which Dog was really on Top. PLUS: A report from the front (Toronto) regarding whether the upcoming Room is a musical or a play. Tune in to next week's episode when the Cavalcade continues and we cover Merrily We Roll Along from the Ne...

In this episode hosts Joshua and Dan cover the Fall 2022 Broadway Musicals and impart their usual pointed and specious thoughts. Shows covered include: & Juliet KPOP Almost Famous Kimberly Akimbo Into the Woods 1776 Some Like It Hot Tune in to next week's episode when the Cavalcade continues and we cover the Fall 2022 Plays on Broadway Contact us: unccpodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @unccpodcast In...

Welcome back to the latest iteration of The Unauthorized Critics Circle's end-of-season celebration: the Second Annual Critter Awards! Yes, the annual Bertram C. Critter Awards for Excellence in Broadway Adjacent Podcasting, more commonly known as the Critters, are back and they're bigger than ever! This ceremony promises fireworks, dancing chorines, free loot bags, and every celebrity name droppe...

Fasten your seatbelts - it's going to be a bumpy episode. Tonight's viewing party of the Encores! mounting of Applause, the musical adaptation of All About Eve, is already off the rails. Co-hosts Dan and Joshua have each had too much sherry to drink and they're throwing catty (and deeply clever) insults faster than the human eye can see. In one of their more chaotic episodes, sit for a quiet chat...

**THIS EPISODE WILDLY AND VASTLY SPOILS THE PLOT OF GLASS ONION** This week, the Unauthorized Critics Circle is covering co-host Daniel's favourite musical of all time - Matilda the Musical! Tim Minchin's musical, which Dan loves a lot, was recently adapted into a motion picture, and Joshua and Dan (who has famously loved Matilda since the first time he saw it on stage) are on the pulse to review...

Description 1: This week, co host Joshua has to get flowers while Dan tries to bake a cake. Will either be successful? Tune in and find out! Description 2: Renee, Kelli, and Joyce. Oh my! How did the three divas of our hearts fare in Kevin Puts and Greg Pierce's The Hours? Tune in and find out! Description 3: The Unauthorized Critics Circle goes to the opera. Some are in town and went in person, w...

December 8th. 9pm, Eastern Standard Time. From here on it, we bitch and moan and spew all of our regular shit - see if anything comes of it. Dan and Joshua wade back into the warm, familiar, teenage angsty waters of RENT with the original cast. There's no day but today to discuss the life of this show in our current cultural and social environment, and in doing so kvell on a few other fun points l...

In light of the year that has passed since Stephen Sondheim left, Dan and Joshua convene to talk about what the year has looked like with his absence. Touching upon PBS' broadcast of the 2010 80th birthday tribute concert, the co-hosts reflect on the year that's passed and make their usual comments about such topics as the current Broadway revival of Into the woods, musical theatre fan service, an...

Join hosts Joshua and Dan this Thanksgiving as they cover a towering work of theatre written by a towering man. As everyone sits down at the table, the traditional holiday question of "what is Mother Courage thankful for this year?" is asked. The conversation zigs and zags to many places as the hosts discuss what a Mother Courage musical would look like, Ethel Merman (as always), and why certain t...

After a poor night out following a few too many glasses of Prosecco, hosts Dan and Joshua find themselves stuck in the drunk tank only to be released upon recounting the strange affairs of the Man of La Mancha (but specifically Brian Stokes Mitchell’s take, because Goulet slurred his words too much.) Hop on your pantomime horse and embrace delusion as our hosts trudge through the blazing hot Spani...

Happy Halloween! To commemorate the most spooky-ful time of the year, we decided to turn on one of the biggest horrors in all of musical theatre (which proved to be true, universally). Tonight, we sit through Carrie: The Musical. We ask you to Do Us A Favour and endure the show through Erik Champney's expertly-crafted master-cut, and join our conversation where we lament upon the Sisterhood of the...

This week hosts Joshua and Dan are putting themselves on the line, yes, they're putting themselves on your line to cover A Chorus Line from it's pre-Broadway run at the Public Theatre. Will Joshie swipe his dance card to find out he was rated Looks: 3, Hips: 2? Will Dan's knees give out in the middle of the audition? Why is Colorado Senator Michael Bennett such an unentertaining disgrace to the le...

And you thought our hosts got aggressively passionate about a musical before? Well, buckle the hell up baby! Our two hosts talk about *the* perfect musical of all time, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Sunday in the Park with George. Dip your toes into the blue-purple-yellow-red water as we talk about Roundabout’s revival (not the original? Gasp!) and how the hell you can mount this show withou...

In a special post-Rosh Hashanah pre-Yom Kippur miracle BONUS episode, The Funny Girl Symposium (which NEVER rests) continues as Joshua and Dan enact their Critics LIVE! format to see Lea Michele and Tovah Feldshuh take over the August Wilson theatre in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl. Is Lea doing a mitzvah for Broadway? Where does the production stand? Whomst among us HAS read many books? Tune...

Hosts Dan and Josh drift back to a different time when revivals had budgets and stars were appropriately cast in this week's episode of Annie Get Your Gun. Reba McEntire makes a Broadway debut. Peter Stone rewrites a book. There's a trapeze act. Who could ask for anything more? (Wrong Merman) Topics include the ubiquity of Irving Berlin, the death of Jerome Kern, and Dan reveals his constantly-dri...

Grab a drink and grab a date, cuz tonight you can find our hosts at the Dogfight! Our critics give this musical the critical treatment it never got as a child as we encounter multiple fresh faced artists, all on track to do works of increasing popularity and varying qualities. Treat yourself to a gawdamn steak dinnah as we discuss the Pasek and Paul discography, the ten best musicals of the 2010s,...

Joshua and Dan have it out to decide who the real succubus is on this podcast as they discuss the legendary duo of Halston/Busch. While reviewing this special benefit performance that included the legendary play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Josh and Dan are inspired to take no prisoners just like Halston & Busch. Topics include Theatre of the Ridiculous, tanning salons, and the futility of rehea...