This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Margaret Hall

The 2023–2024 season is the season of diegetic songs, with a wealth of diegetic music factoring in to some of the hottest tickets in town. But just what is a diegetic song?

Similar to the show-within-a-show trope, diegetic music is music within a show that the characters can hear: the characters know they are singing, and so does  anyone else observing them onstage.

This post was originally published on Playbill - News

Written by: Playbill Staff

See below to find out what’s playing on Broadway—and when previously opened shows are planning their return. For a list of all Broadway-related COVID-19 updates, please click here.

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Diep Tran

The song “Woman Is” from the new musical Lempicka contains some evocative lyrics: “Woman is speed, green, shattered / Woman is powerful.” That anthem is sung by the title character, Tamara de Lempicka, who is describing her lover and muse, Rafaela. As the woman who plays Rafaela, it’s been a delight for Amber Iman to internalize the adoration expressed in that song. “To know that that song is being sung about me, it’s like, ‘Whoa, look at me! I’m out here being a love interest!’” she exclaims with a laugh. “It just feels like a gift.”

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Logan Culwell-Block

Maria Friedman is a beloved fixture of the West End stage, with three Olivier Awards (London’s version of the Tony Awards) and a host of world class performances to her name. Over a career spanning more than three decades, she’s played such iconic roles as Dot in Sunday in the Park With George, Mary in Merrily We Roll Along, Fosca in Passion, Sukie in The Witches of Eastwick, Mother in Ragtime, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, and Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, among many others.

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Talaura Harms

Special Features

Actor Will Dagger is becoming an indie-theatre darling. He’s compelling to watch, imbuing his characters with a quiet earnestness that floats beyond the figurative footlights of the stage. But in his latest role in Ryan Drake’s you don’t have to do anything, there’s something dangerous lying beneath his simple delivery. Something that even Dagger himself finds it difficult to face.

This post was originally published on NY Times - Theater

Written by: Michael Paulson

Roundabout Theater Company, the biggest nonprofit on Broadway, said it would produce the three shows next season.

Roundabout Theater Company, the biggest nonprofit operating on Broadway, is planning to stage a jazz-inflected production of “The Pirates of Penzance,” Gilbert and Sullivan’s famed 19th-century comic operetta, in the spring of 2025, the organization said Tuesday.

This post was originally published on NY Times - Theater

Written by: Laura Collins-Hughes

Melanie La Barrie thought she would make it through her last performance of “& Juliet” without succumbing to tears.

She was mistaken — though contributing factors include that it was the end of a nine-show holiday week; that she originated the role of Angélique, Juliet’s nurse, in this British jukebox-musical riff on “Romeo and Juliet” in 2019; and that she made her Broadway debut in it, at 48, in October 2022.

This post was originally published on NY Times - Theater

Written by: Michael Paulson

The musicals of Stephen Sondheim often struggled at the box office during his lifetime, but since his death several have become huge hits on Broadway.

Stephen Sondheim, the great musical theater composer and lyricist, was widely acclaimed as a genius, but during his lifetime he had a bumpy track record at the box office, with many of his shows losing money.

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Margaret Hall

Special Features

This Month, the Imperial Theatre Turns 100!

Did you know the Imperial is one of the few Broadway theatre that has never been renamed?

100 years ago, Broadway’s Christmas wish came true with the opening of the illustrious Imperial Theatre. Situated on 45th Street in the heart of the theatre district, the theatre was the 50th to be developed by the Shubert Brothers in New York. In its hundred years of operation, it has become one of the premiere musical theatre houses.

This post was originally published on NY Times - Theater

Written by: Jesse Green

A promising Off Broadway jukebox musical features hits by the R&B star (including “Fallin’,” “If I Ain’t Got You” and “No One”) and a story much like her own.