Latest news with #Oh
Time Out
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Oh, Mary! director Sam Pinkleton on comedy, truth and the right kind of wrong
"I'm obsessed with rollercoasters," says Sam Pinkleton, the director of the Broadway smash Oh, Mary!"Much more than theater, unfortunately." He's semi-joking about that last part, but it does give a sense of the sensibility he has brought to Cole Escola's zany pseudo-historical farce about Mary Todd Lincoln—who, in Escola's fevered comic vision, is a raging boozehound clinging to delusional hopes of stardom as a cabaret chanteuse. It has been Pinkleton's job to keep the play on track as, not unlike a rollercoaster, it races through Mary's wild highs and lows, evoking screams of laughter. The assignment is harder than the result makes it look: not only to keep the comedy rolling, nearly without stopping for breath, but also to sustain the right tonal balance of irreverence and celebration, and even to tease out latent strands of feeling. Pinkleton has worked on nine Broadway shows, but mostly as a movement director or choreographer; he earned his first Tony nomination for his excellent works Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. Oh, Mary!, his Broadway debut as a director, has earned him a second nomination this year. We talked with him about about actresses, camp and what makes Oh, Mary! such a wild ride. In advance of the Tony Awards on June 8, Time Out has conducted in-depth interviews with select nominees. We'll be rolling out those interviews every day this week; the full collection to date is here. You've had projects on Broadway before, but they've been as a choreographer. This is your Broadway debut as a director. And it seems to have gone very well! It has, definitely. It has objectively gone well. Because it's a farce, the movement is very tightly orchestrated. Would it be fair to call it choreographed? It's definitely rigorous and calculated. We're going after a very specific thing with it. But it felt—not to be reductive about it—it just felt like directing a play. It felt like directing a play that had a lot of extreme physical assignments and requirements that we wanted to approach with honesty and stupidity. Thinking about it as meticulously choreographed came after the fact. At no point at the beginning of it, when Cole and I were talking about it, was I thinking, "Well, I'm a highly experienced choreographer and that is gonna really come in handy." It was just, Oh, Let's roll our sleeves up and throw our bodies around. And Cole is only capable of performing at 125%, so with Cole at the center of it, it could only be a Super Bowl physical event. I had the pleasure of seeing Betty Gilpin as Mary during her stint as a replacement, and she gave an immensely physical performance as well. I mean, that shouldn't be a surprise—because she was in GLOW for goodness' sake, which couldn't be more physical—but it was interesting to see her in the part because she was a very different Mary. Betty Gilpin is an Olympian in every way. She is the most exacting and fierce—I mean, she learned how to wrestle professionally for a TV show, and that's the energy she came in with. She and Cole—and Tituss, in a way—are very similar in that they're athletes. They approached the play like athletes. And it's not pleasant psychological work. It's like working in a butcher shop. When Cole is playing Mary, it has a protective coloration of camp in a way that's just inherent to Cole's sensibility and presence on stage. Whereas with Betty, it felt really raw and emotional. She was still very funny, but she was really invested. Because Mary seems bipolar or something, if you take her literally. I keep saying I've had to direct the play four times now—which has been great. I hope to direct the play 30 times—but Betty, because she was the first, taught me how good the play is, if that makes sense. Because all of a sudden there's a great actress who shows up to work with a script and is taking it at face value, and it's like, Oh yeah, right! This is about a woman in crisis who has this incredible need, who will do anything she can to get what she wants. And that sounds like every play I've ever heard of before; it's the bones of good drama. And I totally agree with you: She played it straight. She just did it. And that made me really excited about seeing actresses do it. Because you know Cole; Cole loves an actress. And I don't even mean on Broadway—I mean seeing that lady in Cleveland who was amazing in Ibsen do this. Yes! I wanna see the regional theater ladies get their fingers on this because it's such a juicy part. I mean, Cole wrote it for themself and is glorious and perfect as Mary. But it turns out it can work well even without them. Completely. I think we've talked about this so much that people are tired of hearing about it, but it's true: In rehearsal, the thing we did was take it dead seriously. We tried to make it as honest and as deep as possible. The means of doing that were often completely idiotic, but we weren't trying to make gags. We were trying to really approach this woman with love. And I do think Betty really anchored it in gravity. But yeah, I wanna see all those regional theater ladies do it. I also wanna hear them say cunt. [Laughs.] They don't get to say cunt in Ibsen. Not as often as one would like! Someone should do it in Hedda Gabler, maybe. But Oh, Mary! is very much a comedy, which is one of the things that makes the Tony race for Best Place so interesting this year. I liked all five of the nominees a lot, but they are very, very different. It's always a crapshoot, but comedies are historically at a big disadvantage. Yasmina Reza won for Art and God of Carnage, but it's hard to think of others. Neil Simon never won until his late-career dramedies. Tom Stoppard won for Travesties and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which are sort of comedies I guess, but they have such a literary bent. Yes. We're like that, Adam! What's the difference? [ Laughs. ] I just mean that if Oh, Mary! were to win Best Play, that would really be kind of unprecedented for the kind of hard comedy it is. And yet it feels like the show is really in the running. As you say, it's a crapshoot. It's been an extraordinary season, and I love all of the plays that were nominated, which is strange and rare. Plays that are not regurgitated! So I don't know what's gonna happen, and I certainly can't try to predict that. But I have watched the play get taken really seriously by audiences over the life cycles of it. When we decided to come to Broadway, we were like, Okay, we're gonna do it for a very short amount of time just so that more dumb gay people can see it. But over the last year, I have watched tourist families enjoy our show and I've watched people who read The New Yorker and go to every play enjoy our show. And I'm sure there are people who don't enjoy our show, but it has been a really pleasant surprise—and frankly, quite moving—to see the show get embraced by an audience that is quite a bit broader than what Cole and I were thinking about when we started making it. Because the play is oddly sincere and uncynical, and it's made with a lot of love. It's made by people who—I am so tired of hearing myself say this, but it's unfortunately true—it's made by theater nerds. It's not like, "Fuck you! We're doing this play!" I think part of why it works is that Cole loves the form so much, and our designers love the form so much. The production strikes such a tricky balance, because to some extent it's gonna be tongue-in-cheek; it's designed and performed in a kind of low-tech style that knowingly verges on amateurism, which is part of its camp sensibility. You don't want it to be perfect, because then it just is the thing itself; it has to be something that aspires to be the thing but in some way isn't quite the thing. Camp is so complicated and we don't need to go down a long rabbit hole about it—I mean, I literally spent an hour at Julius' last week trying to explain to a straight Marine. Wow, that is a community service. Yeah. Well, first I said that something was kitsch, and he didn't know what that meant, so I said, Well, it's a little like camp for straight people, but not quite, and then he didn't understand that at all. So I had to step back and find some kind of beginning… But also you explaining all this to a stray Marine at Julius is camp. So the snake is just biting its tail. [ Laughs.] Right? But it's actual camp—it's not campy, if you know what I mean. And there really isn't an exact defining line for any of these things. The production deliberately seems a certain way. You have set designers who very much know what they're doing and would be capable of designing a more realistic set if they chose to. Same with the costumes: They should look like they're out of a trunk, and the beards shouldn't look like perfect fake beards. So where does that line approximately sit for you? I have to be honest, It's a real tightrope walk. It came from a ton of trial and error, and it has been refined a lot along the way. When I look back at the pictures from tech when we did it downtown, I'm like, This is embarrassing! This wasn't a good show! 'Cause it was the wrong kind of wrong, you know? And we've been trying to find the right kind of wrong. And one thing that's really important to me is that it doesn't feel like we're mocking something. It doesn't feel like we're rolling our eyes or taking the wind out of something. We're actually embracing it and loving it. In our first conversations, Cole and I talked about doing theater in high school, when you're like, This set is completely amazing! And you look back at it in pictures and actually that set was really shitty. But it was made with love. And we talked about going to community theater where people are putting effort into something. That was the biggest thing. When community-theater designers and directors and actors make a show, they're not making fun of it. They love it. They're doing the absolute best they can with the tools they have. So yes, the bookshelf is flat and painted, but it's cared for. I think that has really been the line. And we had the privilege of refining it Off Broadway; a lot of details really changed on Broadway, actually, even though I hope it still seems like the same show. But as a group of collaborators, we got very good at feeling like, Oh, that is the show, but that's a step too far or that feels cynical or that feels like we're just trying to make people laugh or that's too good, as you say. But I think that's every show: You find that weird sweet spot and it can be kind of chemical. There's a bit of a Mickey and Judy quality. The joy of it is that they're putting up a show in the barn, and if you go to that barn show and sniff that it's not up to Ziegfeld Follies standards, you're getting it wrong. The limitations of the Lortel informed a lot for us, and also the kind of big-eyed wonder—when you're making a show in a barn or your high school or whatever—of, 'We're gonna have a set change.' But you can really only have one, so that means you just spin the set around. And that worked at the Lortel. But when we moved to Broadway, one of the first things I said to the designers was, We can't apologize for being on Broadway. The Lyceum is so beautiful, and it looks like it was designed for the play. The theater itself is funny; it looks like The Muppet Show. So I want to embrace that we're on Broadway. I want to embrace that there are people on that top balcony as opposed to, 'Yeah, we're doing this crazy downtown thing uptown, 'cause it's a prank!' It's not a prank. It looks beautiful in that theater. And the big surprise at the end of the show—you know what it is—was completely redesigned on Broadway, because we wanted to embrace the scale of the room. And if we had done what we did downtown, it would've felt like, 'Ha ha, isn't this shitty? Ha ha ha.' And that's not the story. The story is that her dreams come true. Right? And if Cole were not themself like Mary in some sense—if Cole had not actually spent 15 years performing in cabarets around the city—then it would feel quite different, I think. It would feel false. It would feel like a lie. Cole has always been so magical. I was trying to think back to the last time I saw a lead performer in a Broadway comedy who commanded the stage and the audience so completely. I'm probably forgetting someone, but the one that came to mind for me was Linda Lavin in The Tale of the Allergist's Wife. I was just about to—! As you were saying this, I was like, It's really Linda Lavin. Yes, and then I remembered that you worked with Linda! The other major production I've seen that you've directed was You Will Get Sick with her in 2022. And you were also involved with The Lyons when it was on Broadway in 2011. What was your experience of working with her? I actually told this story very recently. I met her on The Lyons, which was at its heart a comedy but went to dark places. She's the hardest worker in show business. But she was so exacting about timing and physical comedy: If I turn my head here, they'll laugh, but if I do this, they won't. Like a mad scientist, obsessive with details. And it was the coolest thing in the world to watch—to sit between her and [the playwright] Nicky Silver, who is also super exacting about comedy, and old-school: bah-pah-da-pa-dah and boom, everybody laughs. That was grad school for me, especially because we got to do that play twice. So I spent a year watching Linda make comedy, and when I asked her to do You Will Get Sick, which was ultimately her last play, she said yes very quickly, which was cool, because she wanted to do weird, unexpected things with new writers. She was 85 and had three-page monologues and showed up on the first day off book. At the beginning of every rehearsal, I make everybody do an idiotic physical warmup to pop music—no opting out. And Linda Lavin at 85 was very happily jiggling around to Rihanna. I talked to Cole about her all the time because they sadly didn't know each other. After Cole, she's the funniest person I've ever met. She would do the show and then go to the bar and continue to make you laugh. She was a very major loss for me. She became a very good friend in the last few years of her life. Did you know her at all? No. I got to meet her a couple of times, but no. Well, all the rumors are true. We just finished the Linda Lavin memorial tour: four different events, each gayer than the last. And all anyone could say was just what a hard worker she was and how rigorous and not-accidental it was. I think that's a thing she really shares with Cole. It's easy to come see Oh, Mary! and say it's hilarious. Adam—it's so much work. And there is no detail too small. It's a very old-school thing. And there definitely is an old-school quality to Cole's sensibility. That's evident in every aspect of their personality. And that's part of the secret in this show, I think. Oh, Mary! seems like a weird new thing on Broadway, but it works because it has deep Broadway roots—like Hamilton does, or Company. These shows that change the game can't be completely off the map, because then they wouldn't work. Totally. This is made by theater people. Cole and I are theater people. When we were designing it and teching it, the things we were talking about were, like, Jerry Herman musicals and boulevard comedies and—plays! Plays. I probably shouldn't say this, but for something that has been lauded for being so unconventional, it's really conventional. It sort of sneaks in. By the end you realize, Oh wait! This is a play! It's a play with a couch! And I appreciate you asking about it being serious as a play, because that is a thing I really care about. I care about it because I think it's such an exacting piece of writing. It's certainly serious about being entertaining. But there isn't an obvious message. I mean, a lot of plays have a feeling of importance because they're about something important. Everything is an issue play now, or else people don't think it's important enough to be on Broadway. But I don't know what the issue is in Oh, Mary! I don't think there's an issue that's like, 'We're upset about healthcare policy so we gotta fight it out in the streets of Detroit.' But we talked a lot in rehearsal about how the story was gonna end for her. And there were a lot of different versions of it. And it became very important to me and Cole that she won. That she got it. And I have grown to be very moved—watching, like, my dad from Southern Virginia watch Oh, Mary! —by the very simple thing of, like: It's about a woman who wants something and everybody thinks she's crazy. Everybody thinks she's crazy and she's fucking not. And that is meaningful to me. Well, she's not un -crazy. She's not—well— I think I would say that it's not, for me, that she's not crazy. It's that crazy people deserve things too. Totally—yes. Yes. And I do feel very moved by that. There's a little speech in a scene in the middle of the play with Mary's teacher, where she talks about the highs being too high and the lows being too low, and how being with Abe is this steadying thing because she can't have a great day. I do think that if you peel back all the layers of total fucking buffoonery, she's a character that any weirdo or anyone who has felt like a weirdo can relate to. I think Cole has gone on the record about the oddly autobiographical nature of the character and of the show. So the bones of it are rooted in truth. That's cliché, but it's absolutely true. If they weren't, we would have a 10-minute sketch. It would be a delightful 10-minute sketch, but it would be a sketch and you would get tired of it pretty quickly. Right. And this somehow keeps a comic momentum for 85 minutes, which is almost impossible these days. The pacing is relentless. But I imagine there's no good way to answer the question of how you keep that up, because it's just moment by moment, I guess. Moment by moment. And not treating the audience like idiots. Cole and I are obsessed—capital-o Obsessed —with the game of staying ahead of the audience. Part of the development of the play—because we carve away at it through previews downtown and even through previews on Broadway—is that the minute it feels like the audience is ahead of it, move on, move on, move on. And that is a science. It can be hard because there might be things that you love doing, but the fun of the ride is staying ahead of the audience. I reread every Agatha Christie book during the pandemic, and I sometimes feel like many plays are secretly mysteries. Who did what, and when? Where is it going, and why? And like in a mystery, the show plants the clues as it goes along so you can look back at the end and it all makes sense. Totally. It's the theater. It shouldn't be a passive experience. Give people something to do. It's fun when it's a ride. But you don't want the clues to stick out too obviously, or it's boring. Yes. But the ride—I actually just ran into somebody on the street who was like, 'I've seen the play eight times.' And I was like, Well, first of all, you have a sickness. But I hear that a play has a ton of secrets, and part of the fun is discovering those secrets. But it's like riding a rollercoaster. And if you love a rollercoaster, you love to ride it over and over again, even if you know where it's gonna go.
2 days ago
- Entertainment
Sarah Jessica Parker shares how she and Matthew Broderick advise son James as he pursues acting
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are fully behind their son James Wilkie Broderick as he embarks on an acting career. In a recent interview with E! News, Parker shared that she and her husband offer "advice specific to conversations" their son brings to them as he begins navigating the entertainment industry. "I really want my children to be educated in the ways that are fulfilling to them," Parker said. "I don't think that there is one way to be an educated person or to be equipped to be an adult and try to fashion a life for yourself after what would be considered 'finishing college' -- let's say 22 years old." She added that her ultimate hope is for her children to find happiness and fulfillment in whatever path they choose, whether that's acting or something else entirely. "You want for them to be pursuing things that are exciting and challenging and hard and gratifying and to be able to ultimately take care of themselves, support themselves -- emotionally, financially," she explained. "And that they can be in the world and be a reliable person to themselves and to other people. And so we talk about work like that." Parker also reflected on the value of choice for young people today. "I'm curious to see what they all do, but I hope that they feel -- I hope all young people feel -- to some degree, that they have choices, and that there isn't one way," she added. In addition to their son, Parker and Matthew Broderick are also parents to 15-year-old twin daughters, Tabitha Hodge and Marion Loretta Elwell. "Oh, Mary!" on Broadway, the New York City premiere of " Some Like It Hot," and the premiere of " And Just Like That."
Korea Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
Acting president calls for restoring 'inclusive' economic environment amid global uncertainties
Acting President Lee Ju-ho on Thursday called for concerted efforts by countries to restore a "cooperative and inclusive" economic environment that benefits all, amid complex crises and uncertainties threatening to undermine prosperity. Lee made the call in a virtual message to an international forum taking place on the southern island of Jeju, underscoring the importance of seeking "new solutions" to the many challenges arising from ongoing conflicts and a shift in the international order. "The ongoing armed conflicts in Europe and the Middle East pose serious challenges to the rules-based international order, while the climate crisis fundamentally threatens the sustainable prosperity of humanity," Lee said in the keynote speech during the opening session of the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity. Lee pointed out that the global economy now faces "structural instability," driven by rising protectionism and economic nationalism, supply chain bottlenecks, and volatile financial markets. "We must move beyond the logic of power and strengthen the rules-based international order and global governance. We must also work to restore a cooperative and inclusive economic environment," he said. Lee, the education minister, noted that the rapid advancement of cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence, is opening up new opportunities for humanity, while at the same time, posing serious challenges to social and ethical norms. Lee underscored the need to enhance international solidarity to achieve carbon neutrality and narrow the digital divide, while strengthening cooperation on cybersecurity and establishing global norms for the ethical use of AI. "In today's hyper-connected world, it is time for us to seek new solutions to overcome these intertwined crises," he said. Oh Young-hoon, governor of Jeju Province, voiced hope that the forum will become a platform for solidarity to overcome conflicts and uncertainties, and move toward peace and sustainability. "Conflicts around the globe are no longer confined to their regions. They are creating political and economic ripple effects worldwide," Oh said. "We must seize opportunities within the crisis and take immediate action toward innovation. Without innovation, we cannot achieve security, sustainable development, overcome structural violence like poverty and discrimination, or realize lasting peace," Oh said. "Jeju is rapidly growing into a global hub for international dialogue ... We will continue to work with the international community to tackle shared challenges and build a more sustainable future," he added. (Yonhap)
New York Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Nick Kroll reveals devastating details about John Mulaney's ‘brutal' intervention: ‘Scared' he was going to die
Nick Kroll helped save John Mulaney's life. The 'Big Mouth' star, 46, appeared on the new episode of Dax Shepard's 'Armchair Expert' podcast and opened up about staging a drug intervention for Mulaney, 42, in 2020. 'It was so scary and brutal to go through,' said Kroll. 'He was in New York. I was in LA. It was at the height of the pandemic. So it was incredibly, literally, stressful to be in the midst of that, trying to literally coordinate and produce an intervention, bringing a bunch of people together, friends from college.' Advertisement 7 Nick Kroll, John Mulaney at the 'John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in L.A.' Netflix FYSEE Photo Call in June 2024. Variety via Getty Images Kroll recalled that Mulaney, his longtime friend and collaborator, 'was running around New York City like a true madman' at the time. 'And I was so deeply scared that he was gonna die,' he added. Advertisement 7 Nick Kroll on 'Armchair Expert.' Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard/Youtube The comedian explained that he 'orchestrated' the planning of the intervention which was 'f—ing stressful.' Kroll also said that the process gave him new insight into the pair's friendship. 'All of a sudden, you're going back, being like, 'Oh, oh, oh — that's why I've had an inconsistent friend for the last X amount of time. Oh, this explains that,'' Kroll shared. 'And so, it gives you both empathy for them, and also a tremendous amount of anger because they've been lying to you.' 7 John Mulaney and Nick Kroll attend the afterparty for 'Oh, Hello On Broadway' in 2016. Getty Images Advertisement 7 Nick Kroll and John Mulaney attend the Michael Che and Colin Jost's Emmys After Party in 2018. Getty Images for Google Recalling an emotional conversation he had with Mulaney days before the intervention, Kroll said, 'I just sat on the ground, on the phone with him, both of us crying. I said, 'I'm so scared you're going to die.' And I could feel him feeling the same way, but also like — 'Yeah, yeah, yeah…anyway, I gotta go. I'm at a new Airbnb.'' Mulaney believed he was going to a college friend's dinner when the intervention took place in New York City. Some of his closest friends were there, including Kroll and Seth Meyers. 'When he came out of rehab and started doing standup all about it, he was still pretty f—ing pissed about the intervention cause he was having a good time,' Kroll recalled. 'So he was pretty angry.' Advertisement 7 Nick Kroll and John Mulaney at the 33rd Film Independent Spirit Awards. Penske Media via Getty Images The 'Saturday Night Live' alum went to rehab for his addiction to cocaine and prescription pills for two months in December 2020. He poked fun at the experience in his 2023 Netflix special, 'John Mulaney: Baby J,' which didn't sit well with Kroll. 'All of a sudden, I was like, 'Oh, I don't know if I like having jokes about me,'' said Kroll. 'But then we talked about it and I was like, 'I don't like how you're representing this,' and he was like, 'I hear you. I totally hear you.'' 7 Nick Kroll and John Mulaney at the Keep It Clean To Benefit Waterkeeper Alliance in March 2018. Getty Images for Waterkeeper All 'And everyone's process and art is different,' Kroll noted. 'So what he's willing to share is what makes him so f—ing funny and dynamic and intoxicating as a performer. He's giving you a written version of his life, but he's giving you access to elements of himself. But it's what makes him such an amazing standup.' Mulaney has been sober since leaving rehab. He married actress Olivia Munn in July 2024 and they have two children together, son Malcolm, 3, and daughter Méi, 8 months. 7 John Mulaney and Olivia Munn at the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party. WireImage Munn, 44, told GQ last year that she staged her own mini-intervention for Mulaney before he went to rehab. Advertisement The 'Your Friends and Neighbors' actress also shared that she still randomly drug tests Mulaney to help keep him sober. 'It's like a relief,' Mulaney said in the GQ interview. 'I like to be able to not even have that be a question in her or anyone else's mind. Something about peeing in that cup is like, I'm walking this walk. It gives me confidence.'
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Broadway's Returns Are up and the Tonys Are Proof It's as Diverse as Ever
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. "In this day and age, where the arts seem to be a little bit under attack right now, I, more than I already did, understand the importance of the arts," says Audra McDonald, who recently picked up her 11th Tony Award nomination for her take on Mama Rose in Gypsy. "The importance of telling stories and audiences coming together and experiencing our own humanity." The COVID-19 pandemic hit the arts hard, but particularly New York City's iconic Broadway. Theaters were dark for 18 months, the longest shutdown in history, with a loss of billions of dollars. The climb back from that has been slow. But the energetic vibe of the 2024-2025 season has box office data to reinforce the sense of optimism. What's also notable about Broadway bouncing back is the range of shows that are box office hits. While politicians and institutions target diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the recipe for success on Broadway and at the Tonys in 2025 seems to be all-out diversification. Audra McDonald and Joy Woods in "Gypsy." Audra McDonald and Joy Woods in "Gypsy." Julieta Cervantes "People are just hungry to be surprised," Conrad Ricamora, Tony-nominated for Oh, Mary! says. "I'm just happy that we're finally telling the truth about our first Filipino gay president, which was Abraham Lincoln." [laughs] Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola's send up of Mary Todd Lincoln and her path to cabaret stardom, is just one example of a Tony-nominated show proving it can be diverse and financially successful. There's Maybe Happy Ending, the South Korean musical starring Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen as two futuristic robots in love; Purpose, the Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a prominent Black political family in Chicago; Yellow Face, the semi-autobiographical play by David Henry Hwang starring Daniel Dae Kim; the campy musical take on the film Death Becomes Her; and, of course, the revival of Gypsy, what many consider the best musical of all time, now with an all-Black cast, helmed by the most awarded performer in Tony history, six-time winner McDonald. Buena Vista Social Club performs on stage. Buena Vista Social Club performs on stage. Matthew Murphy 'Fever Pitch' Broadway's 2024-2025 season hit $1.8 billion in box office revenues, surpassing its previous record from the same week in May during the 2018-2019 season—for the first time since the pandemic. "The grosses have not overall exceeded 2018-2019, which had been our high-water mark," Jason Laks, president of the Broadway League, tells Newsweek. "Season to are ahead of where we were in 2018-2019, which is wonderful. John Pirruccello and Kieran Culkin in "Glengarry Glen Ross." John Pirruccello and Kieran Culkin in "Glengarry Glen Ross." Emilio Madrid "It is worth noting that 20 percent or so of our box office is reflected by those three star-driven plays. So those numbers are really buoyed by Good Night, and Good Luck; Glengarry Glen Ross and Othello." These revenue numbers were hard fought for an industry battered by the pandemic, and the impact of this success can be felt by the talent. "It's so exciting, especially bouncing back from the COVID of it all," Jonathan Groff, Tony-nominated for his performance in Just in Time, says. "I know that the theater community and the city is still coming back from that. So, the fact that this wave of this year is reaching that fever pitch is really, really exciting." Broadway's "Death Becomes Her." Broadway's "Death Becomes Her." Franz Szony "It feels like Broadway's really back," Megan Hilty, Tony-nominated for her performance in Death Becomes Her, says. "The audiences are really back." But Laks is quick to caution being overly optimistic. "I don't think we are all the way back. I don't think we can say that. We're out of the proverbial woods, as it were, I think we are returning as New York City is returning." The cast of "BOOP!" The cast of "BOOP!" Matthew Murphy That said, Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, notes that shows like Oh, Mary!—which is unconventional and doesn't have household-known Hollywood talent—has proven to be a hit. "Oh, Mary! is not a star-driven thing, and it is a hard ticket to get. And that was built, I think, completely by word of mouth, starting off-Broadway, coming to Broadway and then got extended, extended, extended. So I think we are seeing a success story." "It's a really interesting celebration of how so many rivers can lead here," says Jacobs-Jenkins, Tony-nominated author of Purpose, which first opened in Chicago. "Not everything starts on Broadway. But Broadway gets to benefit from the kind of hearts and minds of so many pockets of this broader field." Christine Cornish, Jonathan Groff and Julia Grondin of "Just In Time." Christine Cornish, Jonathan Groff and Julia Grondin of "Just In Time." Matthew Murphy/Evan Zimmerman Diversity Equals Bank "If you look back in the history of the Tony Awards, anytime there was diverse content, for the most part, it recognized it," Hitchens says. "Jason [Laks] and I talked about this a lot; when you do the right thing over a long period of time, and you make people feel welcome, then we get bigger and broader. "People talk about diversity and inclusion, and they say it's not a program, it's a principle; it's been a principle of this entity for a long time." Left to right: Jon Michael Hill (Naz), Kara Young (Aziza), and Harry Lennix (Solomon) in "Purpose." Left to right: Jon Michael Hill (Naz), Kara Young (Aziza), and Harry Lennix (Solomon) in "Purpose." Marc J. Franklin From Kim becoming the first Asian American to be nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for Yellow Face to Oh, Mary!'s gender-fluid portrayal of history, this year's Tony nominees represent a year that will not only be remembered for its box office successes, but also the principle of diversity Hitchens is referring to. "I didn't know that there was a space for a show like this [Oh, Mary!] on Broadway," Ricamora says. "But I think the thing it's teaching me is that people are hungry for authenticity." For Kim, the celebration of diversity leads to a greater understanding of the moment we're living in politically. Daniel Dae Kim, left, in "Yellow Face." Daniel Dae Kim, left, in "Yellow Face." Joan Marcus "These are stories that we're hearing in the news right now. We're hearing of stories of American citizens being deported, and these are things that Asian Americans have faced since we've been in this country." He's also very aware of what his historic nomination means. What some of the stars up for a Tony Award have to say about their nomination. What some of the stars up for a Tony Award have to say about their nomination. Theo Wargo, Bruce Glikas/WireImage via Getty Images "It's part of the story of being Asian American. Traditionally, we have been overlooked, and we have been made to feel invisible at times.... I look forward to the day when it's not just a nomination, that there's an Asian American who actually wins this category." Real Women Have Curves' Justina Machado can relate. "People that are used to seeing themselves do not understand how important and powerful it is," Machado says. "You just don't get it. And then when somebody does, it affects them." Tony Macht, Cole Escola, Conrad Ricamora and Bianca Leigh in "Oh, Mary!". Tony Macht, Cole Escola, Conrad Ricamora and Bianca Leigh in "Oh, Mary!". Emilio Madrid But that change isn't just felt on stage, it's also having an impact in the audience, says Celia Keenan-Bolger, Tony-award winning actress and recipient of the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her advocacy work. "Wherever you live, you could come to New York City and you could see something that's for you, and you could sit next to somebody from a different state who might not have the same set of beliefs as you, and you could share an experience together. And these days, that is something." And for many, like Will Aronson, co-writer of Maybe Happy Ending with Hue Park, the very essence of live theater is rooted in diversity. Danny Burstein with McDonald in "Gypsy." Danny Burstein with McDonald in "Gypsy." Julieta Cervantes "One of the things that I think drew us to writing for musical theater in general was that it seemed like this really big tent, for lack of a better word, where you could have Sweeney Todd, Hairspray—you can have these vastly different things that are all great and all really different. This year is like a perfect example of that." 'Thrilled' To Be a Part of It "I am not the queen. There is no queen of the Tony," says the most Tony nominated and the most awarded performer in Broadway history, McDonald, when praised for her domination. That sense of humbleness is felt among this year's nominees. "All of this talent, all these different shows all happening at the same time in one city. It's so special to be in this city at this time," says Groff, who won the Tony last year for Merrily We Roll Along. He's a longtime fan of the awards. "I watched the Tonys as a kid. Recorded them on VHS." Jonathan Groff at the opening night after-party for Bobby Darin musical "Just in Time" on Broadway on April 23, 2025, in New York City. Jonathan Groff at the opening night after-party for Bobby Darin musical "Just in Time" on Broadway on April 23, 2025, in New York City. Bruce Glikas/WireImage And it's the power and impact of a nomination that matters the most to first-time nominee Kim. "It gives me goosebumps, literally, because I think that's the power of what we do as storytellers. We get to speak truth to power in a way that is not in a classroom, is not in a way that tells you about the experience of America, it actually shows you, and I think that's a really effective way of spotlighting and increasing our understanding of the world around us." Similarly, Death Becomes Her's Hilty says she's just hoping to give audiences a break from whatever is going on outside the walls of the theater. Daniel Dae Kim attends the "Yellow Face" screening at Whitby Hotel on April 14, 2025, in New York City. Daniel Dae Kim attends the "Yellow Face" screening at Whitby Hotel on April 14, 2025, in New York City. Theo Wargo/Getty "We don't require anything of the audience, other than to check your troubles at the door and come laugh with us and at us for a couple of hours." Time will tell whether Broadway will be able sustain these successes in both the box office tallies and who gets to tell their stories on the big stage. "We are going to enter some difficult times," Hitchens says. "But at the end of the day, what I believe in is that this should not be partisan, because everything that theater touches, it makes better. It makes the economy better. It makes education better. Nobody's been able to come up with something that it doesn't make better. Megan Hilty receives her caricature in honor of her performance in "Death Becomes Her" on Broadway, at Sardi's on April 24, 2025, in New York City. Megan Hilty receives her caricature in honor of her performance in "Death Becomes Her" on Broadway, at Sardi's on April 24, 2025, in New York City. Bruce Glikas/Getty "Sadly, we learned what it was like to have a day without art and theater, which is that [COVID] affected all of our local businesses, the economies.... I think this is a moment for us to own that we entertain the hell out of people." And for the relucent queen of the Tonys, McDonald, she's most focused on the present state of theater and how the Tony Awards reflect that. "It's an incredible, incredible group of nominees, in all the categories, and not just the nominees. Everybody who is doing work on Broadway and off-Broadway and in any theater anywhere is a special soul, and so I'm just thrilled to be a part of that community."
