The WhatsOnStage Podcast

This week Alex had a virtual sit down with musical legend Bernadette Peters ahead of her eagerly anticipated solo concert at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 12 August. Their discussion ranged from Sondheim to West End audiences, working with musical directors who know the difference between singing and making noise and Broadway Barks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the Edinburgh Festival begins, Sarah and Alex talk about their memories of festivals past - from great shows such as Fleabag!, Six and Baby Reindeer, to disasters, miseries and the rain. Is the Edinburgh Festival still really a hotbed for new talent or are prices and rents simply too high for the truly unknown to thrive? And what part did the Fringe play in the end of Alex's career as a pl...

In this guest episode, Sarah talks to playwright Roy Williams and the National Theatre's deputy artisitc director Clint Dyer about the three plays they wrote together that seem to sum up the spirit of the times. As Michael, Delory and Closing Time are performed together for the first time at Soho Place, the writers discuss what promted the plays, their struggles with illness, Covid and sheer bad t...

In a week of shock substitutions Alex and Sarah talk about James Corden at the Old Vic, Justine Mitchell at the Almeida and the way that history of theatre is filled with understudies who become the star. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a new production of Starlight Express taking over the Wembley Troubadour and Jamie Lloyd's radical Sunset Boulevard due to open on Broadway, Sarah and Alex ask whether the British composer is having a renaissance. Plus: does the seat you sit in change your feelings about a show? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex has been singing along to Taylor Swift and Sarah has been on a musical theatre adventure with London Theatre at Sea. Which got us thinking about the power of song and how it makes people feel. Why does that make musicals such a potent force and are our emotions being played on - with special reference to Ghost Quartet, Dear Evan Hansen and Next to Normal Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

In the second WhatsOnStage podcast, Sarah is literally all at sea but still finds time to talk to Alex about the most significant awards in American theatre - and how new thinking and some British input is changing Broadway. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In their brand new podcast the chief theatre critic of WhatsOnStage and the managing editor Alex Wood talk about the ties that bind them to the theatrical world. And to Coventry. Plus their plans going forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After 60 episodes, Nancy's going to leave As the Actress Said to the Critic - but Sarah is launching a new podcast with WhatsOnStage. They talk about what has surprised them, what they've learnt - and plans for going forward. Stay subscribed for new adventures. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Huge, enthusiastic queues are surrounding the Duke of York's theatre where Tom Holland, famous for Spider-Man is playing Romeo opposite Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet. Next door, veteran actor and star of Lord of the Rings, Ian McKellen is performing Falstaff for his own adoring fans. In this week's episode Nancy and Sarah discuss the two productions and what it shows us about Shakespeare - a...

Nancy and Sarah discuss their attitudes to food on stage and off. Does Nancy eat before a show? Does Sarah write hungry or stuffed? And are there perilous foodstuffs that you might want to avoid on stage? Plus: who would they both invite to their dream dinner parties? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nancy and Sarah discuss terrific new productions of Love's Labour's Lost at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Machinal at the Old Vic and Nancy reveals the secrets of memorising long parts - and why the writers whose words are hard to learn aren't always the ones that you'd expect. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah and Nancy have been watching the Oliviers on screen - and wondering why it's so difficult for television to catch the spirit of theatre. Plus Nancy has been to see An Actor Convalescing in Devon at Hampstead Theatre and Sarah has watched The Comeuppance at the Almeida which prompts a conversation about two great American writers - Richard Nelson and Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins - and how they find...

Sarah and Nancy talk about a new compelling new production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, starring Brian Cox and Patricia Clarkson, and the new play Underdog: the other, other Bronte - both stories that lay bare the rivalries and difficulties of family life. And what is the UK government thinking about with its latest plan to cut funding for creative arts courses at universitie...

The reviews of Opening Night, a new Rufus Wainwright musical starring Sheridan Smith, have ranged from utterly brilliant to absolutely abysmal. Sarah and Nancy talk about what this means about the state of criticism and whether this is a good or bad thing. Plus Andrew Scott's emotional speech at the Critics Circle awards Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a busy time for Nancy and Sarah, with Nancy recording a new audio drama that builds on new ways of listening to plays and visiting the Royal Shakespeare Company to say goodbye to long-time artistic director Gregory Doran. Meanwhile, Sarah has been to the Lyric Hammersmiith to see a fine revival of Brian Friel's great Faith Healer. Plus Keir Starmer has set out Labour's vision for culture...

Nancy and Sarah have been watching the Oscars - and the Oscar-nominated films. Although Oppenheimer won most of the prizes, all this year's best picture nominees - from Poor Things to Zone of Interest, from Barbie to Anatomy of a Fall - are some of the strongest films to watch today. And all reveal that though individuals win awards, film is a matter of pulling together. Hosted on Acast. See acast...

As Dodie Smith's Dear Octopus is revived at the National Theatre, Sarah and Nancy talk about family sagas they have loved. Does Star Wars count? Is this why The Simpsons is endlessly compelling? And why are Britain's playwrights turning their attention once more to this simplest and most interesting way of telling a story. Plus: Nancy reveals what happens at an R & D workshop on Shakespeare. I...

This week Nancy and Sarah discuss criticism itself, inspired by a new, updated version of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People starring Matt Smith which encourages its audience to enter the debate - and by Sarah's review of the musical Hadestown which pitched her into an unexpected online controversy. Just how important is it to express strong opinions? Is it possible to disagree agreeably or does hones...

Nancy and Sarah are hooked on One Day, the Netflix adaptation of David Nicholls' best-selling novel. What is it that makes it so great and why are romcoms very much back in fashion? All of which leads to a conversation about the romcoms they have loved, past and present. Plus a bit of Shakespeare. Nancy's been to see The Midsummer NIght's Dream (perhaps the original romcom) at the RSC while Sarah...

As the Young Vic's Kwame Kwei-Armah becomes the latest in a list of artistic directors to announce they are leaving the theatres they have run with great enthusiasm and distinction, Nancy and Sarah discuss whether standstill funding and the effects of Covid are bringing British theatres to their knees. There are a lot of reasons to fear that Kwei-Armah is right when he warns that without governmen...

In this special episode from the US, Nancy and Sarah talk to the legendary Jonathan Groff, currently starring on Broadway in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along with Daniel Radcliffe and LIndsay Mendez. We talk about singing Sondheim, playing King George in Hamilton, the joys of a long Broadway run, and voicing Kristoff and Sven in Frozen. And yes we do talk about the spitting! Hosted on Acas...

As the Oscar nominations are announced, Sarah and Nancy ask whether 13 nominations for Oppenheimer, the treatment of Barbie and the omission of Greta Gerwig from the best director list reveals a reversion to type in Hollywood's attitudes to women. And they talk about Nyad, a film which has brought Oscar nominations for both Annette Bening and Jodie Foster - who is also on TV in True Detective. She...

Nancy and Sarah talk to their special guest Kate Waters, aka Kombat Kate, one of a handful of female fight directors working in the UK today. She's worked on more than 300 productions on stage - and is the fight director for Coronation Street and Emmerdale. Her recent shows include Macbeth with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma and King Lear, which is about to open at the Almeida Theatre. In this fas...

In this special episode, to mark the return of the television series Father Brown in which Nancy has featured since 2012, she and Sarah talk about the appeal of period detective shows including Father Brown and Poirot and why they are both comforting and reflective of real social change. Plus, Nancy explains what it's been like to be part of such a long-running series, how she views the character...