The Shows Must Go On (and On!): One Writer Tackles the Busiest Week on Broadway

On Broadway, April is a time for the 20-something city blocks it covers to put on as much megawatt glamour as it typically reserves for its stages. The reason? The cutoff for Tony Award eligibility comes near the end of the month, this year on April 25. Think of it as a parallel to the way Oscar movies come out around the holidays so they’re fresh in voters’ minds in time for the ceremony.

The difference here is that the theater world has no Telluride, no Cannes, no Toronto. There’s no globe-trotting festival circuit for shows to rack up goodwill on their way to the big premiere. A few weeks of previews, an out-of-town tryout, maybe—but things can still change before they’re frozen into the finished work offered for consideration.

In short, audiences (and the darling critics among them) are gifted—or cursed, depending on how you look at it—with a maelstrom of new shows every April, and this year is particularly frenzied, with 12 openings in a nine-day final stretch beginning April 17. This means 12 sets of red carpets, curtain-call speeches, after-parties, and lots of publicity in a little over a week.

I’ve been covering New York theater for four seasons (plus, of course, being spiritually attuned to the ones that came before) and had never seen something like this. The ups: so much attention is paid to Broadway. The downs: Each show must fight for individual love, enough to draw crowds, earn good reviews, and hope the flurry of new productions doesn’t wear out audiences, who will need to stay engaged long after the Tonys if they are to survive.

The industry’s still shaken up from the pandemic and attempting to recover its pre-lockdown audiences and keep them coming. This means that, for its guests, opening season will be glitzier, stuntier, and more celebratory than ever.

For me, it means I’ll be running around midtown Manhattan, darting from carpet to curtain to cocktail—not always in that order or for the same show—trying to capture some of the magic spilling off the stages this season. (On top of my commitment to review a handful of these productions and juggle an unrelated day job, mind you.) Armed with a phone, notebook, and rotating set of press passes, I’ll provide a sense of what Broadway is like for its casts, crews, devoted fans, and drop-in celebs during this magical, maniacal time.

Wednesday, April 17

The Wiz, Marquis Theatre

We started big and, in a fun departure from typical carpets, not even red.

To celebrate the first Broadway production of The Wiz—a beloved all-Black retelling of The Wizard of Oz—in 40 years, a yellow carpet (get it?) was rolled out along the breezeway entry for the Marriott Marquis hotel, which houses one of Broadway’s biggest theaters. What the long alley (usually a great shortcut between 45th and 46th streets) affords an opening night is a long, uninterrupted stretch of property, in contrast with the cramped sidewalks on which most other carpets take place.

Black excellence was the name of the game here, young and old. The show’s cast and creatives began arriving around 3:30 p.m., and it was an exceptionally stylish crew. Oz-ian green ruled supreme across gowns, kufis, army fatigues, lavaliers, and tailored suits, with the ensemble dressing to show out, not just look good. There are 18 Broadway debuts in the cast, and everyone’s mom or auntie was behind the press line, phones out and cheering.

Phillip Johnson Richardson paid homage to his Tinman role with a futuristic look: silver grillz and chains and a loose-fitting, pleated off-white suit capped with a Russian cuff hat, no shirt underneath. (“I’m a little bit of a ladies man” is one trait he shares with his character.) Along with the Lion and Scarecrow (Kyle Ramar Freeman and Avery Wilson), they created an impeccably dressed lead foursome with the production’s Dorothy, the golden-voiced 24-year-old Nichelle Lewis.

Next to a sparkling Glinda (Deborah Cox) was the titular character, Wayne Brady, in a magnificent fur and fedora. Amber Ruffin, who updated the book, teased the upcoming Bigfoot musical she’s workshopping, as choreographer JaQuel Knight and producer Kandi Burruss made their way through the cameras.

The reporter next to me: “Oh my god, Ben is here.”

Me: “VEREEN?”

It was Ben Platt, scurrying across with boyfriend Noah Galvin, but Vereen was down the line, chatting up 1970 Purlie Tony winner Melba Moore and original Wiz Dorothy Stephanie Mills, who was 17 when she debuted the role. Other members from its 1975 premiere were there, like the always dapper André De Shields and Dee Dee Bridgewater. These are people with a bond beyond just outlasting trends in entertainment, having carved paths for Black entertainers in the latter half of the 20th century, and their familial conversations were a joy to watch.

That lineage stretched down to guests like Pauletta Washington and son John David, as well as LaTanya Richardson Jackson, LaChanze, and Kenny Leon. P-Valley’s Brandee Evans joked that she skipped shooting for this premiere, having already seen its pre-Broadway runs in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Touring the production was important for lead producer Brian Moreland and director Schele Williams, especially to cities with large Black populations that most tours skip over. “This show has created belonging for so many people,” Williams told me. “I want The Wiz to feel like it’s for everybody.”

Inside, she joined Hillary Rodham Clinton, coproducers and hip-hop pioneers Common and MC Lyte, and Appropriate playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins for a 6:30 p.m. curtain before easing on down to the Hard Rock Cafe for the after-party. No press allowed! But I was running over to 52nd Street to see how this new Cabaret reimagined the August Wilson Theatre as the Kit Kat Club…

Thursday, April 18

Suffs, Music Box Theatre

…more on that later. I was back on 45th Street right in time to catch Shaina Taub walk the purple(!) carpet at the premiere of Suffs, a cheekily titled musical about women’s suffragists. Taub wrote its book, music, and lyrics, and, appropriately, also stars as Alice Paul, a firebrand proponent of direct action. She told me she and the cast all came down with COVID when it debuted at the Public Theater in 2022, preempting any celebrations, so last night was two years in the making.

Tony-winner Nikki M. James was more than ready, having birthed the daughter she carried throughout its off-Broadway run and embodying the piece’s bold feminism in a dress whose sleek, vest-like bodice nicely contrasted with its embroidered tulle skirt. (These were paired with tall Valentino pumps and a silver, bulletproof-looking purse that reminded me of a ballot box.) She told me, “It was very meaningful to be carrying the next generation of women while being surrounded by these badass, beautiful women onstage.”

Grace McLean, who plays President Woodrow Wilson, has been with the project for almost a decade and said she was still wrapping her head around “what it would be like to move through the world with blissful confidence and walk into a room just expecting respect and deference.”

Naturally, all this drew the attention of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Malala Yousafzai, who signed on as producers for the show’s Broadway transfer. Clinton’s a known theater lover, but this is her first time getting involved (and becoming Tony eligible). Diplomatically avoiding what the cold weather was doing for my thin-cardigan-nothing-underneath look, she recounted the overwhelming experience of first seeing it at The Public and relating to both Alice Paul and the less confrontational suff, Carrie Chapman Catt.

“Carrie had worked for decades and played what we call the inside game to try to get to where she was headed,” she said. “Paul was young and energetic and passionate, and it was the two of them, together, that brought change about.”

Making her way down the carpet, Yousafzai also praised Taub’s ability to focus not on one character but on their “collective voice.” Melissa McCarthy first saw the show with her daughters a little over a week ago and was surprised to learn none of its women were mentioned in their school’s history classes.

A vision of Janet Jackson appeared—peppermint in a hair-up, white-blouse, black-leather-boot, dog-tag-accented look—and chatted with playwright Jordan E. Cooper, as Lin-Manuel Miranda and Rachel Brosnahan spoke to reporters and cast members ran up to the theater’s balcony for photos.

A producer on the show, Michelle Noh, called out to Nadya Okamoto, the 26-year-old cofounder of August, a company that sells eco-friendly period products, as they headed in. “What you’re doing is incredible,” gushed Noh, young daughter in hand, prompting Okamoto to offer them a tampon from a kit she was carrying.

Sara Bareilles was glad to show support after recruiting Taub’s help in writing an opening number for her and Josh Groban—who happened to be walking by after a performance of Kimberly Akimbo—when the two hosted the 2018 Tonys. She pointed across the street to The Notebook (scored by Ingrid Michaelson) and Kimberly (Jeanine Tesori) next door and, remembering where the industry was when she premiered her own Waitress in 2015, appreciated the advances made for women creators: “It’s not a straight line, but there have been some really beautiful efforts.”

After the show, everyone made their way down to the prom-like Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers around 10 p.m. Ben Platt and Noah Galvin were on the scene again, hoping—like all good gays have been this season—that Cole Escola’s play Oh, Mary! transfers to Broadway. Alex Edelman and Benj Pasek hovered around each other as I spotted Yousafzai and actor David Mattar Merten, from this season’s Enemy of the People, comparing their matching Artists4Ceasefire pins. Meanwhile, Dylan Mulvaney and D’Arcy Carden, who was earlier fanning out with Laura Benanti, were complimenting my guest, writer Ira Madison III, on his (lensless) glasses.

I learned this morning that Ken Burns was also present? Ever the behind-the-scenes guy, I suppose, though it makes sense he’d be drawn to a musical with an epic, historical scope. Maybe he’d like to record the six parties this weekend has in store.

Friday, April 19

The Heart of Rock and Roll, James Earl Jones Theatre, and Stereophonic, Golden Theatre

I’m 99% sure I saw Alicia Keys hop out of an Escalade and into the front door of the Shubert Theatre, home of her new musical Hell’s Kitchen, with the speed of a Broadway quick-change. I, myself, was running to another jukebox, The Heart of Rock and Roll, with music by Huey Lewis and the News.

This is where the season (and my schedule) enters The Shimmer from Annihilation: Due to scheduling, real estate, logistics, etc., Heart had its gala performance three days ahead of its official opening, when reviews will come out. So while its (fun!) hot pink carpet had me waiting to see an actual red one, its guests weren’t waiting up for notices.

The ’80s were well represented here, with fans (actually) screaming for Lorna Luft and Cyndi Lauper telling me the reason she first dipped into musicals back with 2013’s Kinky Boots. (“I got fed up with being told I wasn’t on the list, so I decided, ‘Okay, I’ll show you what list I am on.’”)

Arriving with longtime friend Jimmy Kimmel, Lewis reunited with the News, joking that the process of making a musical was “frustratingly collaborative.” Their 1988 deep cut “Give Me the Keys” was what most surprised him in the show, as well as seeing them reimagined as comedy numbers or full-out dance pieces by choreographer Lorin Latarro, who remembered kissing the Huey Lewis poster in her childhood bedroom.

I quickly learned Jackie Hoffman knows how to make an introduction: When presented to Lewis, she yelped, “It sure the hell is!” When introduced to me, in my Ivy Park cow-print jacket, she said I looked like a hippie cow. What brings the discerning Hoffman out to a show? Free tickets and “anything that reflects not now.” Ben Vereen, BD Wong, and composer Stephen Schwartz walked in for a 6 p.m. curtain as I retreated for a bit of rest….

Rest over. Time to catch an 8 p.m. preview of Mary Jane, which ran a bit over, so I wasn’t able to rush over to see the Stereophonic cast perform one of the play’s Will Butler–written tunes at their opening-night curtain call. But I did make it to the Hard Rock Cafe for Heart’s party, where Huey Lewis videos played and lead Corey Cott took pictures with his brother Casey. As Broadway favorite Tamika Lawrence chatted up Billions actor Daniel K. Isaac, I hailed a cab to the seaport, where the Stereophonic crew celebrated at Pearl Alley, facing the East River.

Now, theater parties are typically fun, often starry, but rarely are they cool. If I was irked at missing out on Stereophonic’s one-time curtain-call performance, the party made up for it. Playwright David Adjmi and the cast mingled with the likes of J. Smith-Cameron, Christian Slater, and Common in front of period posters for the play’s fictional band, which were pasted all over the low-lit, low-boothed venue’s walls alongside concert posters for Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd. Red Stripes filled up Igloo coolers spread throughout, and everyone, including Marin Ireland and Adrienne Warren, was dressed according to the play’s ’70s era, but thankfully not in a Party City way.

Saturday, April 20

Hell’s Kitchen, Shubert Theatre, and Cabaret, August Wilson Theatre

It’s been a spectacular season for vocals on Broadway, and perhaps the best example is Hell’s Kitchen, where an uber-talented cast is belting out Alicia Keys hits in a semiautobiographical jukebox at the Shubert Theatre. The royal blue carpet ran up Shubert Alley, with Keys greeting her cast and crew—including newcomer Maleah Joi Moon, the fresh-voiced 21-year-old who plays her avatar—around 4:15 p.m.

Costume designer Dede Ayite told me she based the production’s clothes on her own childhood, collaborating with FUBU to remake vintage items for the show, including the jersey Moon wears on its poster. Star Shoshana Bean repped her role as the hitmaker’s mom with a gold “Ali” ring and custom skirt bearing a graffiti-sprayed Yankees logo and Statue of Liberty, which she designed with a tattoo-artist friend. And the family love extended to real life, with Keys’s mother and husband, Swizz Beatz, walking the carpet alongside one of their sons, Genesis, who gladly mugged for cameras.

Keys grew up in the titular neighborhood, walking over to get cheap tickets at the Tkts booth with her mom between piano lessons. Her actual piano teacher, Aziza Miller, is in the show’s band and walked the carpet along Kecia Lewis, who plays the story’s more matriarchal, fictionalized tutor.

The Wiz’s Lion and Scarecrow, Kyle Ramar Freeman and Avery Wilson, popped over from the other side of the alley to fan out with screaming passersby. If they looked closely, they might have peeped Oprah and Danai Gurira snaking through the Shubert’s backdoors, past the Secret Service dudes looking out for Michelle Obama, somehow already inside, privately toasting Keys before taking her seat in the orchestra.

Gayle King, Reverend Al Sharpton, and Kara Young, star of this season’s Purlie Victorious, also made their way down the carpet for a 6:45 p.m. curtain, with Keys’ former Columbia Records boss, Clive Davis, hitting the step-and-repeat just in time. The after-party was again at Pier Sixty, with Swizz Beatz at the DJ booth—briefly interrupted by Keys to read the Times’s rave—as Bean was introduced to her real-life counterpart.

By this point, I’d left the bright lights of Broadway for a bit of a breather, but not before stopping to check out the first of two opening celebrations for the latest production of Cabaret, which performed two gala evening performances this weekend. A London transport with preshow performances and an elaborate multi-bar setup, it has (thankfully) transformed the rather ugly August Wilson Theatre into the dimly lit Kit Kat Club, in honor of the story’s fictional nightclub.

I arrived just after its 7 p.m. curtain call to see our latest Sally Bowles, Gayle Rankin, embody her “toast of Mayfair” character in an Art Nouveau look, as Rachel Zegler, Billy Porter, and Matt Doyle drank from mini Moët bottles topped with golden pourers. A small, reconfigured stage now sits in the center of the hall, and cast member Ato Blankson-Wood chatted up Solea Pfeiffer and Dylan Mulvaney amid its surrounding cabaret tables and banquettes. The next day would be its official opening, bringing about more revelers in Weimar-inspired makeup and, somehow, Fang bodysuits.

Sunday, April 21

Mary Jane, Friedman Theatre, and Cabaret, August Wilson Theatre

Getting closer to red with Cabaret’s maroon carpet. Angela Bassett and Bernadette Peters walked the previous day while I was at Hell’s Kitchen, but would that compare to seeing Lea DeLaria barreling towards Rachel Dratch, her POTUS castmate from two seasons ago, with a Baby Yoda backpack?

A musical about queerness and politics calls for an appearance by drag artist and former City Council candidate Marti Gould Cummings, who was excited to support fellow queen and Drag Race contestant Marcia Marcia Marcia, making their Broadway debut, out of drag, as Marty Lauter. Cummings got a selfie with Adrienne Warren as other drag legends Charles Busch and Peppermint made their way down the very long, rather awkwardly desolate carpet. The idea of having two openings always seemed odd, and combining forces for one blowout celebration might have packed it in. Though there are, of course, 53 listed producers and coproducers (some of which are production teams) and their guests, to appease with opening invites.

Stars were on hand, though, if skipping the full carpet. Robert De Niro, Bryan Cranston, and Jesse Eisenberg hustled towards the door as the Stereophonic cast and playwright got a group shot. Producer and red-carpet divo Jordan Roth paid homage to Sally Bowles in an elaborate look by Dilara Fındıkoğlu and Stephen Jones, which deconstructed a 1920s chandelier. (He channeled the Emcee yesterday, with a Boy George–ish bowler hat).

No other bowlers were seen, though many women wore brutalist bobs and thick eyebrows, one wearing a fabulous rhinestone cap. Many men were in suit jackets, sans shirts, with dark pleated skorts: the costume de rigueur for Kinsey 4s who want to telegraph queerness. Having had my fill, I walked down a few blocks for—finally a red carpet! One of our time’s best and brightest actors, Rachel McAdams, is making her professional stage debut in the first Broadway production of Mary Jane, written by Amy Herzog, who has translated this and last season’s buzzy adaptations of An Enemy of the People and A Doll’s House. The Friedman is a smaller house, owned by the subscription-based Manhattan Theatre Club, but this was in no way a humble affair.

Perhaps the strongest blend of stage and screen so far this week showed up for the 5 p.m. entrance, with Michael Imperioli and Constance Wu rubbing elbows with Jonathan Groff and Kenny Leon. TV faves like Elsbeth star (and True Blood favorite) Carrie Preston and Josh Radnor welcomed McAdams to Broadway with a coterie of theater powerhouses like Jocelyn Bioh, Steven Pasquale, Bryan d’Arcy James, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Brandon J. Dirden.

Of course, (nearly) every Noah and Ally pairing from this season’s musical take on The Notebook came through: Ryan Vasquez and Joy Woods, John Cardoza and Jordan Tyson, and the lovely Maryann Plunkett. Sarah Steele showed up with Kyle Beltran shortly after the arrival of a very attractive theatrical couple, Martyna Majok (taking a break from adapting Gatsby with Florence Welch) and Bobby Conte (between rock god-ing at The Who’s Tommy). It was a windy Sunday, so everyone was polite and quick to get in, preparing themselves for week two ahead.

Monday, April 22

Patriots, Barrymore Theatre

Yesterday was chill. It was a Monday. The weekend was a lot. It was a Monday, and it was Chilly. Perfect mood to settle into a diplomatic drama from The Crown writer Peter Morgan, whose new play Patriots opened at the Barrymore Theatre.

Ben Ahlers, from that other stately period drama, The Gilded Age, was among the first on the carpet, along with singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, who recently made her Broadway debut in Hadestown. The buzzy off-Broadway (for now…) play Job was represented by actor Sydney Lemmon and Stereophonic actors Sarah Pidgeon and Will Brill, completing a coterie of hot, young downtown theater denizens.

“I might need some Pedialyte to keep up,” quipped Jocelyn Bioh, the playwright behind Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, who has been making her rounds this opening season. Newly minted Drama League nominee Nikki M. James was on hand, looking as stunning as she did at her Suffs premiere. This time she wore a Soviet-red Prada dress with matching Manolos (“all upcycled and sustainable!” her stylist Brian Solis told me) paired with an elegant Rauwolf clutch. Booked-and-busy director Michael Greif and his Days of Wine and Roses star, Brian d’Arcy James, also walked the red carpet.

Netflix honcho Ted Sarandos arrived just before the 2 p.m. curtain, and I overheard him quote sitcom king Norman Lear to another reporter when asked about the relationship between stage and silver screen: “the secret is to know Broadway actors. He continued, calling the stage “a development space,” as Gillian Anderson, sans Margaret Thatcher wig, showed support for her former scripter.

And then mother—I mean, mothers—Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor (childless partners but, you know) arrived in glamorous pantsuits right as the curtain went up.

Tuesday is a rare off night, aside from Mary Jane’s official press opening, so laying low until the opening of a very starry Uncle Vanya from Lincoln Center Theater.