Last month, Closing Night went live at 54 Below here in New York City, exploring the songs and stories of the Marquis Theatre with Broadway performers and singers—many of whom have performed in shows at the Marquis and some of them even joined us this past podcast season. Patrick Oliver Jones / Diego Prieto - "I Am I, Don Quixote” (Man of La Mancha) Jane Summerhays / Patrick Oliver Jones - "You Would If You Could" (Me and My Girl) John Bolton - "The Good Old Days" (Damn Yankees) Jonathan Shew - "What Do I Need With Love?" (Thoroughly Modern Millie) Lisa Howard - "Get Out and Stay Out" (9 to 5 ..read more

The second season of Closing Night is set to premiere this June. But while we all eagerly await the curtain rising on our next act, here's a story about a show that famously closed on its opening night. There are actual plans to do a future season about Broadway productions that only lasted one performance. But now there's one show to take off the list of potential episodes, all because of the podcast being sharing today, a podcast that feels like a time machine, whisking us away to different eras, and immersing us in captivating stories of yesteryear. It’s called History Daily, but it isn't y ..read more

Get ready for a night of Broadway magic as 54 Below Celebrates the Marquis Theatre on March 19th! The concert will feature performances by those who were there at the Marquis, like Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin from Thoroughly Modern Millie, Tony Award winner Richard Maltby, Jr. from Nick & Nora, E. Clayton Cornelious from Wonderland, Leah Horowitz from The Woman in White, and Lisa Howard from 9 to 5 and Escape to Margaritaville. Patrick Oliver Jones will be hosting as well as singing that night, which just happens to be his birthday, so you don't miss this exclusive one-night-only event ..read more

In an enjoyable BroadwayCon encounter this past summer, I found myself in the heart of all things Broadway, rubbing shoulders with the stars and hosting live interviews for the Broadway Podcast Network. While my conversation with Jelani Alladin about Frozen and Hercules has already been shared in a previous episode of Why I’ll Never Make It, today we delve into my interview with the talented Broadway actress Sharon Catherine Brown. I had the pleasure of working with her on a new musical last year, and in this bonus episode we chat about that a bit, but the primary focus is on her time with Jek ..read more

One of the most enduring and iconic tales of the Christmas season comes from famed British writer Charles Dickens. His 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol, would become his most famous work, and the character of Scrooge is part of our lexicon now, being synonymous with someone who doesn’t enjoy the holidays. With many so stage and screen adaptations of this story, it surprised me to find out that its first appearance on Broadway wasn’t until 1981—a musical by Michael Legrand and Sheldon Harnick. Famed British actor and Star Trek captain, Patrick Stewart, would bring a one-man version of the Dickens ..read more

Over the history of the Marquis Theatre, three musicals have closed during the month of December. Two of them we've already covered here on the podcast: Me and My Girl and Nick & Nora. The third one was The Drowsy Chaperone and is the focus of this bonus mini-episode. It starred Tony Award winner Sutton Foster was cast as Janet Van De Graff, Emmy-nominated TV star Georgia Engel was Mrs. Tottendale, British actor Edward Hibbert played Underling, and the inimitable Beth Leavel took on the title role of the Chaperone. My goal was to keep this under 15 minute ..read more

Welcome to the final episode of Closing Night’s first season! We’ve covered eight different Broadway musicals at the Marquis Theatre that closed too soon, with our final show being Victor/Victoria, written and directed by Blake Edwards and starring his wife Julie Andrews. And in this interview episode we're featuring two members of that Broadway cast. Darren Lee - We talk about his experiences working with legendary leading ladies like Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, and Raquel Welch, including the rehearsal process, behind-the-scenes dynamics, and the impact of star power on the overall show ex ..read more

Ever since he burst onto the Broadway scene in the 1990s, Frank Wildhorn has remained an intriguing figure in American Musical Theatre. But Wildhorn’s journey is far from a conventional success story, nor was it a typical path to the Broadway stage. But among his seven Broadway musicals, three of them have appeared at the Marquis Theater: Victor/Victoria, Wonderland, and a 2013 revival production of Jekyll & Hyde. (In fact, the title of this episode comes from a New York Times review of that revival by Charles Isherwood.) Now, Victor/Victoria will actually get its own episode to close out ..read more

To take you further behind the scenes of this Broadway production, I’m sharing my conversation with Leah Horowitz, who was a swing in The Woman in White and an understudy for leading actress Maria Friedman. In the previous episode, we explored this lesser known Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, and Leah was a big help in putting that episode together. Now, you’ll get our full interview, full of anecdotes and tidbits I couldn't fit into the mail episode. You'll learn about how she was cast in the show and even more about what was going backstage during rehearsals and performances. And as someone who ..read more

When Bad Cinderella closed in June of this year, it signified the first time in 43 years that Broadway was without an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, and it became the second shortest run ever for one of his musicals on Broadway. Bad Cinderella also represented the second collaboration between Lloyd Webber and lyricist David Zippel. Their first show together was The Woman in White, which began in London in 2004 (starring Michael Crawford) and then opened at the Marquis Theatre the following year (starring Maria Friedman). By the time Woman in White came to New York, it had been 10 years since Sun ..read more