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[0:00] Jeff Malone: Welcome to Half Hour with Jeff and Richie, the podcast where we explore the latest shows we see, sharing our insights and opinions on the performances, storylines, and everything in between. In today's episode, we're bringing you our Broadway and Off-Broadway 2025 recap episode and a look ahead to the Broadway and Off-Broadway 2026 show announcements and predictions and wishes. So if you're ready to dive into this production, stick around with us. I'm Jeff.

[0:22] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie. We're thrilled to be your hosts for this episode. But before we start the conversation, here are a few words from our advertisers. Welcome, everyone, to a new episode of Half Hour with Jeff and Richie. Today, we're kicking things off with our 2025 Broadway and Off-Broadway recap. Yes, Happy New Year to everyone. We're in 2026 as you're listening. And we figured we'd do a fun episode where we talk a little bit about our favorite moments and shows from 2025. And we give you a little bit of thoughts on what we think about what's coming up for 2026. It's just a general episode to kind of have a cool chat about the year-end wrap-up. Before we kind of start diving in, Jeff, into like our specifics of 2025, how do you feel in general that 2025 went theatrically for New York and Broadway and Off-Broadway?

[1:05] Jeff Malone: In general, I would say that Broadway and Off-Broadway was very exhausting. Last year, there was a lot. There was an overabundant amount of shows that came in last year. So I think a lot of people were overwhelmed. Many shows did not last. And I think it was great in terms of like, there's a lot of hunger for Broadway, but I think we need to kind of shift that whole narrative going forward and seeing like, how are we putting really great things on the stage so that they stay open a little bit longer than they have been, and getting more people to the theater to see new work.

[1:40] Richie Grasso: I will say that, yeah, I agree with a lot of that. I feel like this year was a whirlwind of so many shows opening and closing in the blink of an eye. It felt like one of the last years of a COVID backlog year to me of shows that were kind of supposed to come and were waiting and waiting and waiting, opening and closing so many shows so quickly. And I think that, you know, as we'll talk about this later in the episode, I think 2026 is looking a little more steady in terms of shows. It doesn't seem like an overabundance like 2025 was. But we did get some amazing things in 2025, and I'm really looking forward to kind of diving into what those specific things were.

[2:15] Jeff Malone: Me too. So let's kind of maybe volley back and forth a little bit. I just wanted to kind of start off by saying that for us, we went to the Tony Awards dress rehearsal this year. We also went to Broadway Bears. So those were two big events in June for us that were not Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, but obviously very important to the industry that I wanted to say were highlights for me. I really, really enjoyed being in those moments with you and seeing the industry come together, especially June, which is such a wonderful, joyous month, not only of the Tony Awards, but Pride Month and Broadway Cares, Broadway Bears and summer starting. And it's a great month for the industry. So I just wanted to kind of do a special shout out.

[2:52] Richie Grasso: Yeah, I wrote down that as like a favorite standout moment for us in 2025, especially for myself. I think we had a lot of goals in kind of coming to these special events and being able to go to the Tony Awards dress rehearsal, you getting to go to the actual Tony Awards, going to Broadway Bears and also going to the Jimmy Awards in June. I thought all three of those were huge standout moments for us. I mean, it was recapping the Broadway industry. It was celebrating the Broadway industry and it was seeing the future of the Broadway industry, which I think was so amazing.

[3:22] Jeff Malone: Totally. No, I really like that. And then kind of going through, I mean, I made, I kind of worked chronologically through the calendar year. Just a reminder to everyone, the Tony Awards season kind of goes like a school year. Whereas we're talking today about the calendar year. So if you hear us mention something or not mention something, it could have been something we saw in late 2024. So we're really just looking at the things we saw in the calendar year 2025, which is half of one Tony season and half of another. I know that's a little confusing for some people. I just wanted to kind of clarify that we're talking about 2025.

[4:04] Richie Grasso: It makes it a little complicated, definitely. But good thing we have a spreadsheet where we write everything down that we see and when we saw it. So yeah, I mean, I kind of grouped my things in my top plays, my top musicals, and my favorite off-Broadway productions, plays, and musicals. So I don't know if we want to kind of stay in that wheelhouse.

[4:12] Jeff Malone: Yeah, let's go to plays first. Broadway plays, favorite moments, favorite performances in Broadway plays, Broadway plays in general for 2025. What do you got?

[4:20] Richie Grasso: 2025, I had four standout plays for myself. I found that English was a huge standout play for me. I thought Stranger Things, The First Shadow was a huge standout for me. Seeing Liberation on a Broadway stage was amazing. And then my top overall play of the year was, oh, and also The Picture of Dorian Gray. So I had five, actually. My top overall play was John Proctor is the Villain. I think it was hands down the thing that really blew me out of the water this year, because I was like, I have no idea what this is about. It seems like it could be anything. And then there were like so many unforgettable moments because it had an amazing cast. It had one of my favorite Lorde songs playing in it, which I had no idea that that was going to be there. And I thought like the last five minutes of that show was one of the most moving things that I saw last year. I mean, I was at the edge of my seat. I was crying. And it was just amazing, you know, so.

[5:16] Jeff Malone: I had all those plays listed as well, except one more added to it. So for Broadway plays, I had English, for sure. That was early on in the calendar year. And I put some just down that I remember it being some incredible acting and the set. I remember being very cool for that, too. I mentioned Purpose here because I think that dinner scene in Purpose was one of the most wild, funniest acted and written and directed scenes. I was just very impressed with that whole show in general. But that specific dinner scene was really, really great. Dorian Gray, I literally wrote all, just the whole thing. It's hard for me to say just one thing because what a collaborative team effort, probably one of the biggest standouts of the year in terms of a team of people working together.

I'm really, really, really impressed with The Picture of Dorian Gray. John Proctor is the Villain I put in the last five minutes tears as well. It was very, very moving to hear the Green Light song at the end of that. That was a great, great play and I was very impressed with that. And then I also put Liberation as well. Really, really strong, moving storytelling. Very, very impressed with that. And those costumes. I obviously, the wigs and the costumes and everything in that show were great. And I put Stranger Things down as well. Really, really impressive, just design and performance. It was a machine, that show. And I want to go back and see it so bad now that we've just wrapped up the whole TV show to kind of go back and see how that play kind of incorporated its way into it. Really impressive stuff. Those were my top standout plays.

[6:39] Richie Grasso: Yeah. I mean, speaking of Stranger Things too, we did just watch the season series finale, which brings back moments of this play in there. So I know a lot of people were like, oh, what's the point of this play being on Broadway? And no, it really does add to the whole storyline. I think that changes. And, you know, a big thing that we were talking about with Stranger Things was, you know, I don't know if it really found its audience during its like beginning run right now, but now that the show is back, I mean, it just broke box office records at the Marquis Theatre. After being open almost a year. Yeah, this past Christmas week. And I just wonder if this momentum for the show is going to continue on because it's really great.

[7:18] Jeff Malone: Yeah, and I hope it will for sure. Yeah. If we go on to Broadway musicals, I'll give you, maybe I'll go first this time. Yeah. And there were a lot of musicals. There were a lot, but I wrote down my top. So Boop for starters, big Jasmine Amy Rogers fans here at Half Hour Podcast. So Jasmine, in 2026, we want you to come on our podcast. Please come on to our podcast. Boop was amazing. The costumes, the choreography. One of our best interviews I thought of the year for Half Hour Podcast was with Jerry Mitchell, who is the director choreographer of Boop. Really kind, wonderful person who just was wonderful to talk to about Boop and everything, amongst other things of his career as well. So Boop was a standout for me.

Just in Time was a standout for me. The Gracie Lawrence, Connie Francis moments, singing that incredible ballad to Jonathan Groff across the stage. And we were like, right in front of her. That was a moment I'll never forget. And that whole play is so, so, so great. Other standouts for me were Old Friends. And in particular, two moments of Old Friends, Beth Leavel's Ladies Who Lunch, which I don't know if I've ever heard Ladies Who Lunch better than that. Maybe Patti's version. Maybe Elaine's version, right? They're really all up there. But that was really, really great. And then also Bernadette Peters' Losing My Mind moment. I'll never forget that. I've always wanted to hear her sing that live.

So that was really special to me this year. And then other standout shows were Dead Outlaw. I just wrote all the whole thing. I thought that was very snubbed this year. It had difficulty finding its audience, but I thought it was a really, really well done show. And then Buena Vista Social Club, specifically its choreography, blown away by the choreography, telling a story like that, that Justin Peck can do the way he does. So those are my standout Broadway musicals.

[9:02] Jeff Malone: Do you have the same list?

[9:07] Richie Grasso: It's very funny. It's very funny. We have almost identical lists. I did not include Old Friends in it because I felt it was a little bit more of an overall review show. But I do think both of those moments were great. There were other great moments in Old Friends as well. But I did have top four musicals of 2025. And they were Boop, Buena Vista Social Club, Just In Time, and Dead Outlaw. I mean, basically, for all of the same reasons, they had such great moments. The choreography in Buena Vista Social Club, I still think about. Boop, I think if it opened this year, I mean, it would be thriving. Just In Time, I'm so excited to see who's taking over for Jonathan Groff, because I feel like the show was supposed to be limited.

And it has just has so much momentum behind it. And I also, you know, Dead Outlaw, I think we have such a sweet spot for because we did see it downtown, then it transferred. I mean, it was such an amazing experience as downtown, maybe it worked a little bit better. But when finding its Broadway audience, it just couldn't really get there. But I still think it's a big standout for me from going off Broadway to Broadway was a major achievement for the show.

[10:11] Jeff Malone: Yeah. And then kind of moving over to some off-Broadway. So maybe we'll volley back and forth a little bit here. What were a couple off-Broadway standouts for you of 2025? Let me look here and...

[12:02] Jeff Malone: Welcome back to "Half Hour with Jeff & Richie." Today, we're diving into our Broadway 2025 in review.

[12:32] Richie Grasso: That's right, Jeff! We have so much to cover, from standout shows to unforgettable performances.

[12:57] Jeff Malone: Absolutely! Let's start with some of the new works that really made an impact this year.

[13:17] Richie Grasso: One show that stood out was "John Proctor Is the Villain." It sparked a lot of conversations and really challenged audiences.

[13:42] Jeff Malone: And we can't forget "Buena Vista Social Club." The energy in that production was just electric!

[14:02] Richie Grasso: For sure! The music and performances were top-notch. It really brought the spirit of the original film to life on stage.

[14:22] Jeff Malone: Speaking of performances, let's talk about some of the actors who truly shined this year.

[14:42] Richie Grasso: Yes! There were so many memorable performances. I think we should highlight a few that really left a mark.

[15:07] Jeff Malone: One that comes to mind is the lead in "John Proctor Is the Villain." Their portrayal was haunting and powerful.

[15:22] Richie Grasso: Absolutely! And then there was the ensemble in "Buena Vista Social Club." They brought such a vibrant energy to the stage.

[15:47] Jeff Malone: It’s always amazing to see how ensemble pieces can elevate a show.

[16:07] Richie Grasso: Definitely! Now, let’s shift gears and talk about the Tony Awards.

[16:17] Jeff Malone: Yes! There were some really talked-about moments this year.

[16:27] Richie Grasso: One of the highlights was the surprise win for Best Musical. It really shook things up!

[16:47] Jeff Malone: And the acceptance speeches were so heartfelt. It’s always inspiring to see the passion from the winners.

[16:57] Richie Grasso: For sure! And let’s not forget how listener support has helped us grow this year.

[17:17] Jeff Malone: Yes! We doubled our audience from 2024 to 2025, and we couldn't have done it without our amazing listeners.

[17:27] Richie Grasso: Thank you to everyone who has tuned in and supported us!

[17:47] Jeff Malone: Now, looking ahead to 2026, what are you most excited about, Richie?

[17:57] Richie Grasso: I’m really looking forward to "Schmigadoon!" at the Nederlander Theatre. It’s such a fun concept!

[18:17] Jeff Malone: And "Cats: The Jellicle Ball" at the Broadhurst is generating a lot of buzz too.

[18:27] Richie Grasso: Absolutely! Plus, there are some new titles and revivals that could really shape the next season.

[18:47] Jeff Malone: We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on those.

[19:02] Richie Grasso: And we want to hear from our listeners! What are you most excited to see in the upcoming season?

[19:22] Jeff Malone: Share your thoughts in the comments on Spotify, and let us know what you’d like us to cover next.

[19:42] Richie Grasso: If you enjoy these post-show conversations, please follow "Half Hour" and leave a rating and review.

[20:02] Jeff Malone: Thanks for joining us today, and we’ll see you next time!

[20:42] Richie Grasso: That's my big bold prediction right there. I also put down "Fallen Angels" because I think Kelly O'Hara and Rose Byrne are like a duo. I think that's gonna be amazing. I don't know anything about it, but I just think those two are wonderful actresses, and I think that's gonna be great!

[21:00] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I mean this show really, the two names right here alone, it's like hi hello Hell's Kitchen Theatre District, Gay Boys Dream, get to the theater to see these two mothers, okay? And then my last show that I put I'm just really excited for is "Schmigadoon!" if you had that down too. I know everyone's like, oh the eye roll to the TV show. The TV show was cute, but I'm like this was really, really funny as a TV show. I know it had an out-of-town in DC and the adaptation to the stage. This is another limited engagement thing, but I think between having "Schmigadoon!" and "Omeri" and "Titanic" all on Broadway at the same time, if "Omeri" is going to keep going into the spring, we have these laugh-out-loud hilarious shows and that's what I think my prediction is in 2026.

I think the comedy line is going to be pushed and I think the drama line is going to be pushed. I think we're gonna go further with these pushes into the high-extreme comedy and the high-extreme drama because that's what people I think want. When they go into a drama, they really want the drama, and when they go to the comedy, they want the over-the-top comedy, and I think "Schmigadoon!" is gonna bring that. Plus, I mean we might get some great Tony nomination potential to that with period-looking costumes and big choreography and like, you know, that might be our golden age-esque feeling show. "Ragtime" has that feeling too right now, and that's even though that was written in the 90s, but "Rocky Horror" is not too golden age and "Cats" is not too golden age, so we're not really getting that like 1940s, 1950s golden age that we got with "Gypsy" last year.

Right, I think like this is like new modern, we're gonna probably get a full score with it as well with big lavish costumes. I mean the show is fun that we saw, and we didn't see the show, but the TV show is fun, so you know I think people, what's really telling right now for this upcoming year is I think that people need to just go have fun and laugh, and like that's the feeling that I'm getting with what's been announced. Now it's tough because we don't know too much coming past the Tony Award season. If you were to look beyond May and June, I don't know too many things that are like locked into a theater or confirmed selling tickets already, right? We're really in this like let's just see how the spring goes.

[23:12] Richie Grasso: Yeah, I mean we've heard a lot of like the lingering, we know the "Dreamgirls" revival is coming hopefully next fall. We've heard some like pre-announcements that like never kind of landed a theater, so I think there's things going on there, especially with like "Wanted." I also think that we're getting, well even like "Kolowski" was announced and then we never heard of a theater with that, so there's so many things. I think like we also have the lingering things from the West End that potentially are going to want to come. You know, there was so much talk about "Benjamin Button" coming and then it's supposed to be coming next year, we haven't heard much about that. "Paddington" is doing amazing over in the West End, so I wonder if they're gonna want to kind of try to come in next year.

Then you had like "Devil Wears Prada" and "Hercules," which didn't get the best reviews in London, they're probably sitting wondering are those the next things coming. We hear rumors of "Beauty and the Beast" or "Mary Poppins" may be coming back to Broadway at some point. These are all rumors, right? Like I'm just sitting here hearing what I hear.

[24:04] Jeff Malone: And also I will say, speaking of some of the London shows, we're very excited because we will be going. Now Jeff has been to London and I've been to London, but we've never been together before, and we do have a trip planned this summer to go to London. And we will be there, and now it's hard to tell what exactly is going to be running actually in London by then. A lot of things could be closed within or new things could be open, but "Half Hour" is going across the pond over to London, and there's tons of things that we want to see. I think we're only gonna have a couple slots to see a couple things, so we're sitting here like do we go and just see like the "Les Mis" and the "Phantoms" and all that, or do we go see like the "Starlight Express" if it's still running or "Paddington" if we can't even get into "Paddington."

"Hunger Games," I mean there's a lot. "Oliver," I've heard that's a wonderful revival, so like I'm excited to kind of see, but that is a prediction, a wish, it's coming true because we're going to London this summer, and we're very excited to tell you all that. And what are you both excited about the London trip?

[25:02] Richie Grasso: Just seeing what they have going on over there. I mean we hear so many great things that have been transferring over here. It doesn't always work when it comes here, so I'm intrigued to see. The only thing I ever did see when I went to London was a production of "Dirty Dancing," which I might not be the one that's playing now. No, it is not. It was the original one back in like 2009 when I saw it, so I did not like it. But yeah, I'm very intrigued to see what's going on over there, and like when we get into the spring and kind of past all of our Broadway season here, I think we're gonna do a little fun tally poll thing and kind of get everyone's thoughts on what we should see and what they actually want to hear us have a discussion.

[25:43] Jeff Malone: Follow us on Instagram because we'll post some things there too. Like we will be narrowing down some choices and you guys can kind of weigh in on what you think we should go see, especially if you listen to "Half Hour" podcasts over in England or in Europe in general. And with that said, I feel like there was one show I saw in London when I was there a while ago, and that was "The Mousetrap," and that is still playing there. It is the longest-running play maybe ever, yeah, and that's why I think it's so interesting that they keep rumoring and coming to New York too. Yeah, lots coming, and I think like also for 2026, I did write down some off-Broadway stuff because I think like off-Broadway again is going to be a place that has like many great moments happening.

I already am so excited for the Encores! season that has "High Spirits," "The Wild Party," and "La Cage" all coming up this spring, so that's great. I think "High Spirits" is soon, February, but that's gonna be starting. We also have "The Unknown" starring Sean Hayes, but that's a Seaview production, which is I think gonna be great. "Bigfoot," I don't know what to think about that, but it's a great cast. Off-Broadway is gonna have "Antigone," "Monte Cristo," and "Girl Interrupted." I mean I think there are some big names here that I think people are gonna be saying, oh off-Broadway again is kind of delivering and such a great thing to be happening in New York too because I think this is where we can start seeing some stuff that's getting incubated here in New York City first and then moving to the Broadway stage.

And we see that a lot, and it doesn't always have to be something that's coming from London. I mean a lot of things do come from there, but also I think it's nice to see what's kind of coming from homegrown here in New York and getting its feet before it can do a Broadway transition. Look at "Titanic," look at "Beach" is headed out of town, and a lot of these shows are growing here on Broadway, so it'll be interesting to see this year. I don't know, I'm very excited. I hope it continues strong. Broadway is going really strong right now, and you know that's one thing that I'm saying for my prediction too about the 2026-2027 Broadway season. I think that those announcements are gonna start coming in very hot.

I think we're kind of locked-ish now with the remainder of this year for this Tony season. There's not a lot of theaters left, and unless some big titles that have been running on Broadway are going to announce a closing date for anytime soon or some new stuff that has opened up, I don't really think we're getting anything else for the remainder of this Tony season. Maybe like a play or something here or there, but I think we're kind of locked now in musicals that are coming. So I think we're gonna start getting, like you said earlier, we don't really have a lot announced for the 26-27 Tony season, and I think those are gonna start coming. We'll see those announcements coming soon, and then my last one prediction here is that I think because of "Masquerade," I think there was going to be a very big immersive renaissance that happens in the New York City area because I think people are gonna look at this and they're gonna say, oh we need to do that now too.

So that's like another final, like I also think not only immersive but reinvention of pieces. We're seeing the Andrew Lloyd Webber collection every year, a new title kind of being reinvented. Even the Sondheim collection, we're seeing a lot of reinvention. We've even seen some like, you know, older pieces like when we saw "Oklahoma" reinvented with, or "Showboat" last year was redone in a way. When we see things kind of redone in that way, that's another prediction I'm gonna say too is that we're gonna be seeing some things reworked and redone and kind of changed in a directorial way, you know?

[29:13] Jeff Malone: Oh wow, what an episode! We just talked about a lot of theater. We see a lot of theater, we're very excited to see a lot more theater, and we hope you check out more theater too. There's theater all around you. If you can't get to New York, go or you see anything probably off where we go to regional theater, support your local community theaters and regional theaters. It's so important to keep going, and it makes the year full and fresh and fun. It's an art form that we love.

[30:03] Richie Grasso: Yeah, I mean, and that says touch on that, that's something that we decided like also what we're gonna bring into this new year is we are gonna try to get to a little bit more regional stuff that's happening in the area as well so that we can also have discussions about that, seeing what's happening in our own backyard here, what's happening in New Jersey, what's happening in Connecticut. There's so many great regional theaters even so close to New York City that we can get to. New York, Long Island, Pennsylvania, there's so many places. So that's another big thing, and another thing we want to bring into this year is that we want to kind of bring movie musicals more into our, and filmed plays that we want to bring into our podcast here and have conversations about them to keep kind of these legacy brands alive as well and kind of go more into a deep dive with that. Fun plan this year, so you better check it out, keep following and listening along.

[30:30] Jeff Malone: Well, that does wrap up our discussion for this episode. We hope you enjoyed our 2025 recap, and remember we want to hear from you. Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and TikTok at Half Hour Podcast, and drop us a comment on Spotify and let us know your thoughts on the upcoming 2026 year. Please also leave us a review. Your reviews mean so much to us, and remember to subscribe to our channel for past and future episodes. Until next time, I'm Jeff.

[30:56] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie saying ta-ta for now, happy new year!