Bottomless Broadway

It's a blast from the past as we come to you with another episode recorded prior to Tony nominations, where we discuss Suffs and Alice Paul's determination to "Finish the Fight" and get the 19th Amendment passed. You won't have to "Wait [Your] Turn" to see Suffs when you can hear us talk about it all right here! (spoilers ahead) -- The show that Christine talks about at the beginning is Lighthouse: An Immersive Drinking Musical (whose EP is definitely worth checking out!) If you (like us) saw Suffs on Broadway in early previews, you might be pleased to see that the horse Inez rides for the march now has a head! If you haven't seen Greta Gerwig's Little Women, be sure to do so! But this is the Amy March speech that Cindy references in relation to Doris in Suffs. Can't imagine Jenn Colella with shoulder-length blonde hair? Neither could we, but that's indeed what she was rocking when she was in Chaplin. -- Music featured in this episode: The Young Are at the Ga

It's been a while, but we're "Roaring On" with the season in our new episode on The Great Gatsby! "For Better or Worse", this episode was recorded before the Tony nominations were announced, so you'll hear our predictions on what we thought might get nominated (with some mixed results. -- This show marks the first musical of the big Great Gatsby adaptation wars of 2023, and the other one will start performances at ART Cambridge in June. Cindy thought Roarin' On sounded a bit like Blurred Lines, let us know if you agree! Despite not getting nominated for the category, The Great Gatsby had some of the most stunning set design this season, designed by Paul Tate dePoo III -- Music featured in this episode: Roaring On (rehearsal footage) Roaring On/New Money/Past is Catching Up to Me For Her/My Green Light Beautiful Little Fool — Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BottomlessBway, our blog at https://bottomlessbway.home.blog, or email us at bottomlessbway@gmail.com! You

This week, we come to you to present a double feature in an attempt to get through as many of the new Broadway musicals this season as we can before the Tonys. So join us as we go "Back in Time" to a show that opened last summer and then take it "Easy" with a show that just opened last week! Note: spoilers present throughout for both shows, along with discussion and spoilers for corresponding movies (00:00) Introduction (02:19) Back to the Future (22:31) Water for Elephants -- Despite Back to the Future winning the Olivier Award for Best Musical when it was in the West End, it ended up receiving lukewarm notices on Broadway. While we weren't impressed by many of the songs, it was still interesting to read through the song-by-song breakdown of the cast album (particularly that nugget of information about Jamie Lloyd being the original director). Cindy's impressions of circus-related stories hasn't been great, starting with the song in Matilda the Musical and peaking with Guiller

Are You Blue that Days of Wine and Roses is now closing early?  Well you now have until March 31 to catch this show on Broadway, but if you don’t get a chance to, we have you covered with our recap of what happens in the show and our thoughts on its very unique score! -- Sutton Foster's episode of Say Yes to the Dress is one that has come up recently in our feeds, so check it out if you haven't seen it! John McWhorter of the New York Times wrote a piece on the lasting impact "Forgiveness" had on him when he first heard the song, despite its unusual structure. Hear Kelli O'Hara and Brian d'Arcy James talk about the show and how it came to be on Variety's Stagecraft podcast. -- Music featured in this episode: Days of Wine and Roses (Original Cast Recording) Apple Music / Spotify / Amazon Music

This Is Our Time...to tell you about Harmony, and while the show has already closed on Broadway, you can listen to us tell you all about it if you take this podcast with you Where You Go! -- Have you heard of Damp January? The New York Times seems to think it's a worthy trend. Take a look at some of the history behind the real Comedian Harmonists, and there's now a podcast that goes through their history as well! Check out some clips from the earlier production of Harmony in LA that Christine got to see, featuring a very different direction than the version that made it to Broadway. It's interesting to see how New York Times gave Harmony a critic's pick in the off-Broadway iteration, while the Broadway production received a generally negative review from the same publication (though a different critic). -- Music featured in this episode: Harmony (The Cast Recording) Apple Music / Spotify / Amazon Music Marie - The Comedian Harmonists YouTube -- Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BottomlessBwa

In our first episode of the season, we’re talking about the Fabulous One…or is she?  Imelda Marcos may be just a Pretty Face, but Here Lies Love takes a look at how she rose to power and why she might’ve considered herself the "Star and Slave" of the Philippines. — Check out how the Broadway Theatre was transformed for Here Lies Love, as explained by set designer David Korins and take a look at some of the behind the scenes action where the ensemble has to run all the way around the stage area while doing a quick change ⁠ The other major immersive musical happening right now is Guys and Dolls over in London, which involves a similar standing room dance floor concept The original concept album is quite different from the show that made it to stage, and thanks to the Wayback Machine, we can see the original descriptions for each of the songs from David Byrne’s website Want to know more about the background of the show and context for the current songs? Take a look at the New York Theatre Guide artic

It’s 2024 and we’re back with an Off-Broadway highlights episode, showcasing two shows we saw last fall: Sondheim’s last musical, Here We Are, and a revival from Classic Stage Company of I Can Get It for You Wholesale!  Note that there are spoilers for both shows in this episode. — ICYMI: The Frank Rich piece on Vulture explains how Sondheim’s last musical finally came to be on stage. There are a couple of interviews that have been particularly interesting, featuring members of the Here We Are cast, which you can hear on NPR and WNYC. While Here We Are is based on two Buñuel films, two other films came to mind that seemed to fit in a similar vein: Bottoms and Triangle of Sadness. One of the greatest parts of seeing a show at Classic Stage Company is their in-depth show guide, which provides a lot of historical context about when the show was set and some dramaturgical points of interest. I Can Get It for You Wholesale is actually licensed by Concord Theatricals, and you can see a full synopsis of the show on

As usual for our final episode this season, we’re diving into the Tony Awards!  We try to predict all 26 categories, while also giving our picks for what we would choose to award, and we get a chance to discuss plays and revivals which we don’t cover in our regular season episodes.  So hit play and we’ll tell you who to watch out for on Sunday night! Because this is a long episode, there are chapter markers for you to use (assuming your podcast player supports them). -- Since the time of recording, a few more sites have come out with their Tony predictions, including Time Out New York and the New York Times survey of Tony voters (turns out they’re able to poll about a fifth of the voters!). The designer that Cindy was talking about in regards to the & Juliet costumes was Vivienne Westwood, whose style can be seen in this TikTok video. To get a sense of the infamous “doors” tap number from Some Like It Hot, check out this video, which also shows some of the tech going on behind the scenes. Sean Hayes is ac

Hello Again, as we’re back with our last regular episode of the season, on A Beautiful Noise!  But this won’t be a Song Sung Blue, so crack open some Red Red Wine and Play Me, as we talk through the latest entry in the list of bio jukebox musicals. -- Despite poor reviews from the critics, this show has been able to do quite well in the grosses, as you can see for yourself. We both loved the Bohemian Rhapsody movie, written by the same book writer as A Beautiful Noise. If you’ve managed to never have seen Shrek, this is how Christine was first introduced to I’m a Believer. Two of our favorite actors in this season’s shows, Robyn Hurder and Clyde Alves, are actually married in real life! Crunchy Granola Suite was such a revelation that it was also used in the Bob Fosse-choreographed revue Dancin'. And you can compare that to the award-winning choreography by Steven Hoggett, as performed on the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Turns out, the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn really did have a profound impact on Neil

This week, our episode features a show with a mix of corn puns bouncing off the Walls. Maybe Love is what you'll feel about that, or maybe you'll think it's just Bad, but it's OK because if you don't like it, Somebody Will. Some come join these two Friends as we talk through Shucked! -- Shucked has had a bit of a winding road to Broadway, but you can read all about it here. Additionally, they've taken a bit of a different approach to marketing and sales, as described by producer Mike Bosner in Deadline. Most notable in their ads were the fake pull quotes, like this one. If you're not sure what Cindy's referring to regarding (now-)King Charles and architecture, here's A Brief History of King Charles’s Vendetta Against Modern Architecture. Maizy's arrival in Tampa seems to be reminiscent of another girl's arrival in a new town. Which is funny because that girl also had a corn-related song. You can watch the choreography for Best Man Wins from the performance on the

If you're One of the Smart Ones, you might know that Music, Money, Love are the three things you need for Happy Endings, or so New York, New York the musical tries to tell us. So join us in this episode as we shed some Light on the show and its multitude of characters that try to make it here! -- Cindy had the chance to attend the BCEFA Easter Bonnet Competition this year, and you can check out some highlights (including the Bad Cinderella bonnet that she mentions). If you've followed along with the Hamildrops, you might recognize one of the songs in this show. One of the highlights of the show was a construction site dance number, that resolves to look like a familiar picture in the end. If you've never been to the Whispering Gallery at Grand Central, you can try it out for yourself. This score contains 13 songs of pre-existing material, as nicely outlined by Playbill (it was ultimately determined not eligible for a score Tony). -- Since the cast album hasn't come out yet, the music used in t

This week, we Bow Down to KPOP.  While it was far from Perfect, it’s definitely not a Waste of Time, so join us as we discuss which parts make it a Super Star in our eyes!  (And our apologies to all Korean speakers out there for our failure to pronounce the Korean titles.) We recorded this episode pre-Tony nominations, so a huge congratulations to everyone involved for their 3 nominations in Score, Choreography, and Costumes!  -- Listen to the original version of Blast Off, interspersed with news reports about the North Korean rockets. For a detailed account of the original off-Broadway version, check out the review from Lighting & Sound America. On Broadway, KPOP had a notoriously short run, which prompted this postmortem from the LA Times, discussing what the reason could've been. Or for another article charting the lifespan of the show, check out this one from American Theatre. The last Broadway show to contain a significant amount of non-English text was probably the 2009 revival of West Side Stor

With the weather in NYC warming up, some like it hot and hot is what we've got for you, with this episode talking about the new stage musical of Some Like It Hot! So what are you thirsty for? Grab a drink and join us as we try to vamp our way through some of the finer details of the plot. -- The ending to the original Marilyn Monroe movie is quite iconic and fairly different from this musical. Let us know if you've seen both and which one you prefer! Read about how Let's Be Bad ended up in the musical, and now that Smash has more concrete plans to come to Broadway, how do you think this song will be used? If you're not familiar with Adrianna Hicks, check out her performance as Catherine of Aragon in Six. Another episode, another round of us talking about New York Times critic Jesse Green and his review for this show, but read it for yourself and see if you agree! -- Music featured in this episode: Some Like It Hot (Original Broadway Cast Recording) Apple Music / Spotify / Amazon Music — Follo

It hasn’t been so long since the newest iteration of Cinderella started playing on Broadway, and we’re here to bring our thoughts on this reimagining where Beauty Is Our Duty, but also Beauty Has a Price.  Were the critics unfair to the show?  Let us know your thoughts! Christine was a bit congested when recording this episode, so apologies for the dip in quality! -- How intoxicated are you allowed to be while watching Bad Cinderella, in comparison to other social events?  This TikTok has all the answers. Apparently, the Hot Nuts song is a thing. If you want to hear Andrew Lloyd Webber’s origin story as told by Tim Rice, check out his podcast (also, can anyone tell us what Get Onto My Cloud even means??) Lyricist David Zippel is fairly accomplished in other theater projects, notably the recent stage adaptation of Disney’s Hercules which includes a new song, To Be Human As expected, Jesse Green of the New York Times did indeed hate this show. But the reviews weren't all bad... -- Music featured in this ep

Since U Been Gone, there’s a new jukebox musical on Broadway, and one that we think is Stronger than many of the others.  So if you need to Break Free from whatever else you’re doing right now, come take a listen to our episode on & Juliet! -- Want to know more about how David West Read put together the show? Check out this interview with BroadwayWorld! Cindy thought the trailer for The Banshees of Inisherin was hilarious, see if you agree. In a season with multiple non-binary performers on Broadway, Justin David Sullivan chose to opt out of Tony consideration due to gendered categories not being inclusive. Hear from costume designer Paloma Young discuss a couple of the costumes from the show. See some of the choreography for yourself in this (slighty modified) ⁠performance of Problem/Can't Feel My Face.⁠ Jesse Green of the New York Times had the most reluctant positive review we’ve ever seen (gift link) Something Rotten had a great social media campaign after losing the Tony for Best Musical. -- Musi

"This Time" it's the start of a new season so we take a Great Adventure to Kimberly Akimbo, one of the current frontrunners of this year's Tonys!  Just watch out for the "Inevitable Turn" into spoiler territory (though it'll be mentioned in the episode), and you can join us back at 1:10:43 if you'd like to tune in for Tony talk and final thoughts. -- Hear from David Lindsay-Abaire about how Kimberly Akimbo came to be, both as a play and as a musical: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Interview-How-Playwright-David-Lindsay-Abaire-Gave-KIMBERLY-AKIMBO-A-Musical-Makeover-20230203 A fantastic song in its own right, Better seems to come from a similar vein as Face Your Fears from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. If you’re concerned about check washing, here are some preventative measures: https://www.smartcapitalmind.com/what-is-check-washing.htm If you haven’t seen the new Puss in Boots movie, Seth in this show is essentially the dog in human form: https://youtu.be/UWAw5NYIYjQ -- Music featured in this episode: Kimb

We've made it back around to the Tonys again and we're here to give you both our choices and our predictions!  So follow along with your ballot and see how much our picks align with yours, or come back after June 12 to see just how wrong we were! We also have mini reviews for Girl from the North Country and Paradise Square as we didn't cover them in the regular season, so there might be minor spoilers ahead. --  MJ sound designer Gareth Owen really succeeded in creating a rock concert, using some new technology on Broadway.  And speaking of sound design, take a look back at when mics first graced the Broadway stage. Watch two Anne Boleyns of Six in conversation from either sides of the Atlantic. Hear about designing Hangmen's set from Anna Fleische and check out design elements from The Skin of Our Teeth, including a dinosaur and a giant slide.  (Errata: Christine mentioned Act 2 as being based on Coney Island, when it actually should've been Atlantic City.) Listen to Sam Mendes talk about

We're back to talk about the most recent Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, and while we can't promise any loops in this episode, you never know what might happen because we're back to talk about the most recent... -- Take a look at Blake Lively's Met Gala dress transformation, which disappointed Christine.  In contrast, you can see Zendaya's gown from 2019 which included a bit more pizzaz. See what Michael R. Jackson has to say about the piece in a track-by-track breakdown. Also learn more about the conception and writing of A Strange Loop with this article from The Cut. Hear directly from Michael R. Jackson and other creatives in this panel discussion at the Guggenheim, including Michael R. Jackson performing Inner White Girl and Memory Song. If you want to fall down the Wikipedia rabbit hole of what a strange loop is in the metaphysical sense, this article makes a good starting point. Or check out some of Christine's other favorite strange loops:  M. C. Escher's Ascending and Descending Ted Chian

Mrs. Doubtfire is "Rockin' Now" on Broadway so take a listen to hear "About [our] Time" there and how we felt about this show. Note: we do talk through the entire show so minor spoilers ahead (especially if you haven't seen the movie)! -- If you'd rather see what the pros had to say, the critics were also fairly mixed for this show, as told by the Did They Like It review roundup. Want to hear more about the behind the scenes of the show?  Here is the panel interview Christine references in this episode on Variety's Stagecraft podcast. Once again, Christine is recommending The Secret Life of the American Musical by Jack Viertel to get a glimpse of how musicals are structured. If you're interested in some. of the specific changes the show has gone through, take a dive into the Broadway World Message Boards, where users have cataloged the differences. -- While a cast album has been recorded, it has not been released yet, so music clips in this episode come from a variety of performances and rehearsal footag

In this episode, we "Pick-A-Little, Talk-A-Little" about the new Music Man revival starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, but rest assured that we'll be "Sincere" in our discussion on it.  So come take a listen if "Ya Got Trouble" of the kind that "Seventy-Six Trombones" might be able to solve! -- You can learn more about how the two leads landed their roles in this show with the Vogue feature on Hugh Jackman and an interview with Sutton Foster from Elle. Take a look at the discussion around some of the lyric changes made in this production and how it might subtly change the tone of the Iowa townspeople in this article from Slate. If you haven't read The Secret Life of the American Musical, Christine considers it a must-read for anyone interested in the history or structure of musicals. Check out the expanded lyrics of My White Knight, which you can hear on Barbara Cook's Carnegie Hall album. Did you know about My White Knight and Sadder-But-Wiser-Girl originally being a duet?  You can hear a snip